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This is one of two sites that I will be using in my Graphic Organizer and Presentation. This site is a compilation of various astronomy resources, games, and presentations for kids. I love it because it has very bright graphics and is easy to navigate. This will be the introduction to the Solar System which will give the students information to use in their authentic assessment. They can view this via my laptop with the LCD Projector and a large screen. Although it will be a visual or graphic, it will also be part of the presentation. The graphic organizer will be the actual tabs that will show pictures of the different planets and then we will click on each planet to view more information which will be needed in the authentic assessment. Cynthia

Google Sites can be used for students to create digital electronic portfolios. These portfolios can be used as authentic assessments because the students can display their work, pictures, videos, add narration, and actively show what they learned. I like this site because it is free, easy to use, and there are many online resources that help the students learn how to create them.

Graphic organizers come in many different forms and are specific for the types of ideas or concepts they represent.Graphic.org presents the different types of organizers in a semantic feature analysis table. You can determine which GO works best for you and click on links for examples and resources. A great "stumbled-upon" resource

This website provides a chart for determining the type of graphic organizer to use. It also provides examples of many different types and styles of organizers. This is the most complete website I found on graphic organizers.

Creating an online photobook is an excellent way to authentically assess your students. Mixbook is a free online resource that can be used to create this photobook. Students can import photos, decorate that pages, choose their own layout, and even order a hard copy. Parents and administrators love to see what the students are doing, and teachers can use the books to visually see what was accomplished and learned. I like Mixbook because it is easy to use, free, and creates great looking photobook "digital electronic portfolios".

FreeMind is an excellent resource for building graphic organizers of all types. Easy to use and free, FreeMind allows the user to create free-form maps, concept maps, flowcharts, and the functionality to do much more. The software also allows the user to save in a .jpg file format for easy retrieval from Mac and Windows machines.

Zoho is a free online tool to create presentations that look like PowerPoint presentations. You can create slides, add graphics, sounds, and videos. I like this resource because it is free, easy to use, and creates great looking presentations that can be shared.

Quick video tutorial for getting started with Rubistar the online rubric generator.

Prezi is a web-based presentation tool using a map layout and zooming to show contextual relationships.

What it is: Prezi is an online presentation software that allows collaboration among multiple users to create unique multimedia presentations. Why it's better: Instead of a traditional slide presentation, Prezi provides a platform to create presentations that are as creative as each individual user. Images, sounds, videos, and text can all be mixed together to create the most effective presentation possible.

Prezi is a presentation tool that can either be created online or offline. It offers collaboration among users and has zoom features to highlight information. Presentations can be viewed from a desktop, iPad, or iPhone. One way that Prezi can be used for essential learning is to segment a presentation to make it learner-paced. This website offers a better product for keeping learners engaged.

Created by Yale University human resources, but can also apply to other organizations.

This presents content and recommendations of a fundamental planning outline for creating a multimedia presentation. * Plan your project * Develop your content * Create your e-Learning deliverable * Test your deliverable * Deliver your deliverable It then provides a very nice list of resources for websites to use when creating the project: www.adobe.com (Premiere and AfterEffects) www.macromedia.com (Flash and Captivate) www.techsmith.com (Camtasia Studio) www.seriousmagic.com (Visual Communicator) www.microsoft.com/Education/PPT2003Tutorial.aspx (creating enhanced multimedia presentations in PowerPoint) www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/faculties/EDUC/jdnowlan/home.htm (designing multimedia presentations)

This site contains numerous links to outside sources (downloadable/web based, online interactive and pre-made) for creating graphic organizers. Links are also here for Inspiration, Kidspiration and SmartIdeas. I prefer sites that are a "one-stop" resource for the tools that I am looking to use. Since I use PowerPoint a lot in my area of work, this site also provides a link to a comprehensive list of pre-configured PowerPoint templates to create charts and diagrams.

Vocabulary A to Z- Custom Vocabulary Builder http://www.vocabularya-z.com/ I believe that Vocabulary A to Z can be used for pre-training because before I ever start anything new I need my students to be aware of and know the definitions for words that will be introduced and by doing vocabulary before I start the new information front loads my students to be prepared for the information to come. Vocabulary A to Z is a site that offers a free trial for 30 days and then requires a low annual payment of $19.95. I have found this twenty dollars a year to be indispensable when I consider the types of products that I am able to create with it. The wonderful thing about Vocabulary A to Z is that it offers so many different types of resources for all different subjects, grade levels and disciplines, but the feature that I love the most is the custom vocabulary builder they provide. I can enter my list of vocabulary words for any given novel, text book chapter, poem, anything and this custom builder helps me to organize and produce high quality and visually pleasing handouts and information sheets for my students.

Teachnology- Web Quest Maker http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/web_quest/ Teachnology is a website designed by educators for educators that has endless resources including a Web Quest Maker. This website is absolutely one of the simplest ways to create a web quest that I have found. To use the Web Quest Maker one just need to fill in the appropriate fields with the information they would like to use. Web quests are one way to introduce new topics and information in an exciting and engaging way for students at any grade level. I found Teachnology's Web Quest Maker easier to use and more thorough than any of the other web quest makers that I found. I also especially liked the fact that the creation took place all on one screen and that the host provided pictures and clip art for visitors to use.

* Teachnology- Web Quest Maker http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/web_quest/ Teachnology is a website designed by educators for educators that has endless resources including a Web Quest Maker. This website is absolutely one of the simplest ways to create a web quest that I have found. To use the Web Quest Maker one just need to fill in the appropriate fields with the information they would like to use. Web quests are one way to introduce new topics and information in an exciting and engaging way for students at any grade level. I found Teachnology's Web Quest Maker easier to use and more thorough than any of the other web quest makers that I found. I also especially liked the fact that the creation took place all on one screen and that the host provided pictures and clip art for visitors to use.

Virtual Dub http://www.virtualdub.org/ Virtual Dub is a free downloadable online movie editing software for PC users that allows the manipulation and revision of avi files, jpeg and bmp files, and mp3 files. It is a website that allows you to quickly and easily design short videos to present to students or to create personal slideshows set to music. Either way Virtual Dub provides an opportunity to educators to take presentations past PowerPoint and to the next level of engaging video presentations. For the students of today we know and understand the importance of presenting our learners with the fast paced and visually stimulating graphics that they have been raised with. I chose to incorporate Virtual Dub because it is a free resource that is very effective that produces high quality presentations with an easy to use format. Another feature of Virtual Dub that I really appreciate and use frequently is the batch operation feature. This feature allows me to upload many photos or files all at once. Virtual Dub also allows users to edit their photos with advanced filters such as blur reduction, sharpen, emboss and many other features giving the final presentation a more clean cut and professional look.

Xtimeline www.xtimeline.com The second website that I have chosen to share for authentic assessment activities is Xtimeline. Xtimeline is an online timeline creator that allows users to plot dates, events, plot details and other linear occurrences. Xtimeline is a great tool for authentic assessments because the students create the timeline from scratch and build on their timeline as they continue to work on it. Xtimeline also provides access to previously created timelines for research and background purposes. Xtimeline is capable of creating advanced, organized and visually advanced timelines for free. I especially appreciate the fact that Xtimeline lets members (membership is free) upload pictures to add to the timeline making them much more appealing and interesting to look at. I like Xtimeline because it helps me to observe the linear thinking process of my students. I have used Xtimeline for plot diagramming lessons as well as biography mapping. Xtimeline is a resource that I believe social studies teachers would find extremely useful and purposeful in their classrooms. I also like the physical set up of Xtimeline the tabs, categories and search engine make using this site easy for any user no matter their experience.

Google docs is a great way to merge existing documents, with the ability to create and organize documents online. It is better than a lot of other options because it is free, and transfers across computer platforms.

Google docs is a web based productivity platform that allows the creation of documents, spreadsheets, diagrams and forms. Multiple users can access files simultaneously, allow for collaboration.

Google has a ton of free resources that have the same functionality as Powerpoint or Keynote. One of the great components of Google Docs is the ability to collaborate with others through real time chat or make comments/revisions to a document. For a presentation, Google Docs has a presentation tool that is easy to use, free, and accessible from any location with an internet connection. Although the presentations are not flashy, they help teachers incorporate multimedia into their instruction and make the technology accessible for all of their students.

Headline Spot is a collection of website links to places in the web dedicated to news for young learners. The site is learner centered, offering young researchers a plethora of resources to obtain information. Even though these are accessible through the exclusive use of online computing devices its purpose is to be useful in facilitating access to information. Instructional design is important for effective use of this website, where the learner would be expected to collect and analyze information from various sources, interpret it critically and transform it into unique and original pieces of knowledge.

This is one of the best portals for core curriculum lesson plans, activities, ideas, pictures, pod and vidcasts, access through a group of 10 consortium partners. The partners include: the Smithsonian Institution, AAAS, National English Teachers Association, National Association of Teachers of Math, National Endowment for the Humanities, Verizon, National Geographic, and The Association of Economics Educators. The site has its own search engine which can be used to find material across the disciplines, with links that are all peer reviewed. The site is free and open to anyone who wishes to use it.

This site from the University of Houston offers a very good guide to Digital Storytelling. Links to resources, tutorials, examples, articles and products make it a very complete resource collection and a must for any serious classroom producer.

This website provides an overview to digital storytelling as well as essential areas in include, was to create digital stories, was to evaluate them, examples, lists of possible software, and most importantly an extensive background in copyright.