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Project Gutenburg is one of the oldest communities for the spread of the written word on the internet. For its inception, PG has been in the process of digitizing literature in the public domain and continues to update its library of over 45,000 free ebooks daily. This is an amazing resource for the majority of ELA courses, distance learning, and online classroom management systems. It has been truly invaluable in British Literature because almost the entire curriculum has been converted to digital form. It is also amazing for distance learning like Plato and Odysseyware that do not always provide the text with the learning software. If you would like these books in audio form, check out Librivox.

Project Gutenburg is one of the oldest communities for the spread of the written word on the internet. For its inception, PG has been in the process of digitizing literature in the public domain and continues to update its library of over 45,000 free ebooks daily. This is an amazing resource for the majority of ELA courses, distance learning, and online classroom management systems. It has been truly invaluable in British Literature because almost the entire curriculum has been converted to digital form. It is also amazing for distance learning like Plato and Odysseyware that do not always provide the text with the learning software. If you would like these books in audio form, check out Librivox.

Librivox might be my favorite of all open source, copyright free resources for the Language Arts classroom. Started as a non-profit to benefit the blind, Vibrivox has created an amazing database that allows readers to record individual chapters of a novel or story that is in the public domain. These files are then made available to the visually impaired or anyone in need of an audio version of a written work. I use this resource extensively for students who are reading below grade level or have significant processing difficulty. I have also had several students "donate" their readings to the database as a community service project to benefit the overall community. If you are looking for public domain eBooks for your classroom, Project Gutenberg is another great resource.

Discover Yale Digital Content's site contains images from Yale's museum collections. The site describes itself as "a way to search across Yale's collections of art, natural history, books, and maps, as well as photos, audio, and video documenting people, places, and events that form part of Yale's institutional identity and contribution to scholarship." Often literature is intimately connected to history and historical events, art work, geography, etc. Using these images can help students form connections with the time in which a particular work of literature was written, helping to deepen their knowledge.  Discover Yale's copyright policy: "The mission of Yale University is to create, disseminate, and preserve knowledge. Increasingly, this knowledge is in digital form. The Discover Yale Digital Content site is intended to promote discovery of digital content from across the University. Yale's policy on open access to digital representations of works in the public domain from museum, library, and archive collections is a commitment to provide unrestricted access to such content as it becomes available through normal work practices. Yale University will not restrict use of items digitized from its museums, libraries and archives collections which have been made openly available through the University's electronic interfaces, and which are no longer under copyright, except where other rights or restrictions apply."

Sound Jay has an assortment of great sound clips to use in flip charts, presentations, or videos.  The sound clips are extremely realistic and so practical.  Students and teachers can really enhance their products with these well-placed sound bites. Did you know that fire had a sound?  Need a certain sound for a website button?  Students and teachers could use these very realistic sounds to accompany their video clips that do not have sound.  A literature class could have an audio assignment where the students create a scene from the book and these sounds would be the perfect addition to the podcast. The downloads are available in wav and mp3 format and they download very quickly.  The clips are typically very short and students might struggle with extending the sound in a loop.  The downloads are free, but there are a lot of advertisements and other "pay" options that might confuse younger users.  I would recommend this site for middle or high school students.

This is free educational blogging site. It could be used for any subject and grade level, but it is probably best for students ranging from 3-12 and higher education. It contains images, videos, audio, and visuals. This online resource allows students and teachers to collaborate, share thoughts and ideas, and so much more! There are tools within this site that allow you to upload quizzes, set due dates, and post assignments or required readings from the web. This website can be used to facilitate discussions about lessons you teach in class. For example, after reading a story or book with your students, the teacher can pose an open-ending discussion question on the blog. Students would then be asked to answer the question during center time or even for homework. Other students in the class will be able to read and respond to each other's posts to create a rich discussion. Teachers can also use the blog to post upcoming events, tests, or quizzes in the classroom and parents can use it to stay informed. Teachers can also use the website to post videos, podcasts, and documents they create. Students are able to view these things at home. This is especially helpful when parents are unsure how to help their child with homework because they do not understand the concept you taught that day. For example, if you introduce a new concept in math and assign homework that night, parents and students can watch a lesson you recorded to get a better understanding of the material. Using Edublogs is a safe and easy way to integrate technology in the classroom! As I reflect, I think about the possible difficulties this resource could possess. Being that it is not a program you can purchase and install on your computer, problems could occur with the being able to connect. Since it is a resource that anyone could use, a lot of people can be on the website at one time and cause it to "crash" or free up. Also, I think about routine maintenance or updates that must be d