Group items tagged

"Skype is a great way of calling people from all over the world. However, it lacks the call-record feature. One way to utilize this feature is to use the MP3 Skype Recorder program. This software can automatically record all your incoming and outgoing Skype calls. The output audio's format is MP3, so it's easy for you to listen and share the recorded call. You can use it as a podcast or as an instructional audio."

"Laments about our schools are nothing new; everyone is an expert, it seems, when it comes to education. While most critics point to the lack of funding or the shortage of teachers, John Taylor Gatto insists the problem goes deeper; we've turned our schools, he says, into "torture chambers." If that sounds abrasively radical, consider this: Gatto, with almost thirty years' experience as a public-school teacher, has just been named New York City's Teacher of the Year for 1989. Gatto teaches seventh grade at Junior High School 54 on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Something of a local legend, he's a chess player and a songwriter - and he grows garlic. He was once named Citizen of the Week for coming to the aid of a woman who had been robbed. He has lectured on James Joyce's Ulysses at Cornell University and has taught philosophy at California State College. Perhaps it's not surprising that he's been approached by a film company interested in making a movie of his life. Gatto once ran for the New York State Senate on the Conservative Party ticket, and some of his ideas are quite traditional: he stresses "family values" and questions increased funds for education. But he's too much of a maverick to be easily labeled. At a recent hearing in New York, he castigated the school system for "the murder of 1 million black and Latino children," and was met with a standing ovation. What follows is the text of the speech he gave upon being named Teacher of the Year."

The Graphic Novel Creator: Comic Master is a portion of the Read Me program (learn about it here). This is a really cool online comic creator, the interface is fun to use and very intuitive. It is obviously geared toward students with a great look and even an embedded music player. I love the details on this site, including the headline "Reading isn't only in books, it's everywhere!". Using the Graphic Novel Creator, students can create their own multi-page graphic novels with interesting backgrounds, characters, props, and customized text. The graphic novels can be saved and printed out. You don't need an account to print, but you do need to sign up with an e-mail address if you wish to save your comics.

Awesome

Worth Monkey works by searching data all over internet regarding the current asking price and selling price of the used goods you're looking for. It then brings back all of that data and performs calculations on each piece and on the data as a whole, giving you the average low, middle, and high price of the product. As an added treat, it also shows you where you can purchase that product for the highest average price or lower, leveraging your purchasing options and saving you time and money.

"YouTube is still the undisputed king of video sharing on the web, so it only makes sense that there would be a slew of tricks and tools for it. From Adobe AIR applications that let you download videos to Firefox extensions that protect you from RickRolls, and much more, here are over 100 tools and resources to help you enhance your video experience."

sweet list of YouTube power-ups

"Animated charts, if done well, can help you grab the attention of your live audience. With PowerPoint, you can add some basic animations to your charts but the workflow is not as easy as you would like it to be. If you are therefore looking for an alternate charting tool that's more intuitive and one that can generate impressive animated charts but in considerable less amount of time, try oomfo. Oomfo is a free plug-in that lets you create Adobe Flash based animated charts right inside your copy of Microsoft PowerPoint. It supports all the recent versions of Microsoft Office including Office 2010."

sweet

PikiKids provides a variety of layouts to which students can upload images then edit the images or add text bubbles and titles. The comics that students create can be embedded into a blog or website as well as be shared via email. PikiKids is free to use, but it is a for profit website as it offers options for buying tee-shirts or mugs with user-created comics.

Download this. Print it out. Highlight it up. Add notes to the margins. Study it. Then help to make it happen with a teacher in YOUR bulding. This is FREE PD.

Download the free ebook based on the Atomic Learning series that Vicki did on how to get your classroom connected.

Removes all the UI elements from a YouTube video and presents everything in a stark black or white background. It also throws in some nice features that advanced users will like, such as the option to change the color scheme or the aspect ratio, default to the HD or HQ stream, auto-play the video, and pick the precise time when it should start.

The Copyright Alliance believes that copyright law promotes creativity and job creation and strengthens the U.S. economy. Those who create, render, and publish copyrighted works rely on the copyright law and its enforcement, for their creative and financial success. Without it, these creators would likely cease to exist, or at the very least, cease to produce these important works that are enjoyed by billions of people around the world.

Noteflight, LLC is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is dedicated to reinventing the way that people create, share and use written music. Our product doesn't merely improve on other music notation software: it lets written music take advantage of the full power of the web as we know it today. Noteflight is a powerful full-featured application to edit, display and play back music notation in a standard web browser, integrated in an online library of musical scores that anyone can publish, link to, or embed.

Clive Thompson - NYTimes.com

Interesting!

Dipity is the easiest way to make and share interactive timelines about the people and things you care about.

Not only can you create your own timeline, but it will show a timeline of whatever is in the news. Check it out TODAY!

FindSounds.com is a free site for finding sound effects and musical instrument samples on the Web. It is a Web search engine, like Google and AltaVista, but with a focus on sounds. It provides powerful features, yet is simple and easy to use, and suitable for all ages. Note to parents: audio files containing obscenities are filtered out so this site is safe for children. To learn how to search the Web using FindSounds.com, visit the Help page.

ImageStamper is a free tool for keeping dated, independently verified copies of license conditions associated with creative commons images. You can use it to safeguard your use of free images from license changes, or to prove you are the original image creator.

The only problem with it is that it seems to require an email address. Maybe someone can contact them to find out how schools can use this without that. Or, the teacher can create a generic account that the students can use. Maybe? (This was on the Clif Notes list)

With fear, uncertainty and misinformation dominating the discourse of copyright and intellectual property, fair use has become one of the most vexing issues in today's academic landscape. What can we do to demystify its mysteries and debunk its supposed dangers?

Creating your own interpretation of Shakespeare in one minute - make a film or audio, take a scene or whole play, keep it classic or make it modern, it's up to you.

"This site was honored because of its comprehensive coverage of most of physics, the creative use of multimedia and linking, and the impact it has had on students worldwide. Online tutorials cover a wide range of physics topics, including modern physics and astronomy. Material is organized through extensive concept maps."

An electronic reference desk on Latin American countries. It includes a Subject Directory for specific information pertaining to Latin America, such as its agriculture, arts, business, and government.