Many teachers are now using blogging with their pupils or students. There are a whole range of types of blog post and these can be used to develop a range of writing styles and text types particularly in non-fiction writing. These ideas have been taken from the slideshow The 25 Basic Styles of Blogging by rohitbhargava.

Keyboard shortcuts help you save time by allowing you to never take your hands off the keyboard to use the mouse. You'll need a Standard 101/102-Key or Natural PS/2 Keyboard to use the shortcuts.

The Shape Shifter WEB application allows you to create frame-by-frame animation through the use of black and white geometric shapes. The shapes can be manipulated so that you can change their size, angle, and placement in reference to the other chosen shapes, allowing you to create an animated character or image of your choice. After creating the image you can add sound, save your creation on the website, and send the link to your friends. You can also receive ratings from the other viewers. All this can be done online without having to download the application onto your computer.

Google making Waves across all its Apps?

Why Teachers Use Twitter At the 140 Character Conference in Los Angeles last month, Parentella hosted a discussion panel with four educators that are in my PLN. During the panel discussion these four educators discussed how Twitter is changing education. The video is embedded below. Thanks to Beth Still for sharing the video.

Dynamic Paper Need a pentagonal pyramid that's six inches tall? Or a number line that goes from ‑18 to 32 by 5's? Or a set of pattern blocks where all shapes have one-inch sides? You can create all those things and more with the Dynamic Paper tool. Place the images you want, then export it as a PDF activity sheet for your students or as a JPEG image for use in other applications or on the web.

MOST of these are free!