Pennsylvania Coaches

Shared today on... where else?... Twitter

Watch the video from the home page

Shared today on the listserv

Neat Chat is the easiest and fastest way to have an online conversation with a group of friends or colleagues. No signups or software installs are required. You simply use a web browser to communicate via Neat Chat.

Over the years we have seen little time or funding devoted to professional development (PD) that might equip teachers with the skills required to make smart and productive use of new technologies. What little PD we have seen was devoted mainly to the learning of software and how to operate the latest toys. We have too often placed carts before horses. Managing learning in the laptop classroom requires considerable savvy. This article explores the dimensions and characteristics of such classrooms, identifies the chief challenges facing teachers in such space, and suggests moves, tactics, strategies, tricks and scaffolding designed to optimize student learning.

Email results to a student, or any email address, from a google form script

Be sure to watch the demo screencast in the top menu bar area. (youtube video)

Open source photo booth software.  Basically a server for a webcam. Very simple and friendly.

"Popcorn Maker brings the power of popcorn.js and its plugin system to a graphical user interface, with familiar timeline controls. Completely free and open source, popcorn maker offers a collection of useful templates, but since it's built from standard HTML, you can customize it to your heart's content."

This tool is still in Alpha stage. Still, it's great fun to play with. Read more about it here: http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2011/11/create-virtual-tours-with-street-view.html

Add video and audio to your PowerPoint slides and share with a link.

However, the TOS agreement gives the rights to your content!

A list of 100 sites from 2011 that will surely keep you busy.

ChronoZoom is the Zoomable timeline for Big History With ChronoZoom, you can browse history, rather than digging it out piece by piece. ChronoZoom is a timeline for all of history: From the Big Bang, to the time of the dinosaurs, to the present.

Good Typing is a free online typing skill development program. Good Typing provides 27 graduated lessons designed to help students learn to use their entire keyboards correctly. Unlike some free online typing programs, Good Typing offers support twenty different keyboard styles including US style, Japanese style, and several European languages.

resourcesforhistoryteachers is maintained by teachers and students who are part of the History Teacher Education Program in the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Nice article for teachers to manage your Google Docs classroom.

The World Wonders Project enables you to discover 132 historic sites from 18 countries, including Stonehenge, the archaeological areas of Pompeii and the ancient Kyoto temples. In addition to man-made sites, you can explore natural places: wander the sandy dunes of Australia's Shark Bay or gaze up at the rock domes of Yosemite National Park in California.

Free printable math games

The issues surrounding copyright have never been more visible. But the classroom presents its own copyright-related challenges, for students and teachers alike. How is an educator to know what the rules are? How do those rules apply in the classroom? And how can we make sure that students know the rules as well? To help educators answer these questions, the Copyright Alliance has established the Copyright Alliance Education Foundation.