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"The website www.documentarytube.com is an excellent place where viewers can go and find documentaries on a variety of subjects. There are hundreds of movies available in full length form to watch right on the computer. This website is user-friendly and allows people to navigate through its impressive collection. One of the best advantages of this site is that it is absolutely free. Visitors to www.documentarytube.com are able to choose different subject matter from the content menu. There are twenty-two categories in which the documentaries are divided. These include such interesting subjects such as art, health, science, travel, history, and several others. Each documentary in the menu includes a cover picture as well as a brief blurb that describes the movie's content. Again, they are all full-length features to enjoy; not just little excerpts. There is also a search field where users can type in a subject or the name of a documentary to see if it is available on the website. Each week, the website features the top 100 documentaries that are being viewed. Some of them are basically entertaining information while others present emotionally-charged issues. There is a section of www.documentarytube.com that invites visitors to submit documentaries that they have produced and made themselves. The submissions are reviewed by the websites editors to see if it is something that would be appropriate for the site. This feature broadens the variety of views and subject matter for viewers' consideration."

EduPic Graphical Resource was launched in September 2006 as a source of free images for teachers and their students. Now with over 6000 different photographs and education illustrations, EduPic is used everyday all over the world. All the photographs are taken, and all the drawing and web publishing is done, outside of my day job as an educational professional. The images on EduPic are "free for use by educational professionals and the students they serve without permission." Educational professionals would include those persons employed by a school, public or private, and college or university, (i.e. teachers, media specialists, administrators, etc.) with regular direct contact with students. Students may use the images on EduPic for any educational purpose, even in published and distributed works, such as a student created website or conference poster. Educational use would also include public service education such as might be done by environmental education centers, churches, and other non-profit organizations. If you are not sure, please ask. I enjoy getting emails from people who want to use my images!

"The We Do Listen Foundation offers free animated stories, games, and lessons for children. The books and their corresponding lessons are designed to help young children learn about things like how to be a good listener, what to do about bullies, and good sportsmanship. All of the books feature the character Howard B. Wigglebottom. The We Do Listen Foundation's games are a mix of matching activities, spelling games, and pattern recognition games. Children can create their own Howard B. Wigglebottom stories on the We Do Listen Foundation's website. The foundation provides online tools and templates for writing and coloring their stories. You will also find templates that you can print out and have students color offline too."

"Animated Videos Use Moovly to create a corporate video, a product presentation, an attractive tutorial or a how-to video in an easy and straightforward way. Add voice, sound and music and synchronize everything using the simple timeline interface. Publish your video on YouTube, Facebook, put it on your website or download it for offline use. Presentations 3.0 Forget about slides. Focus on your subject and add the visuals in a compelling sequence supported by attractive transitions and animations that hold the attention of your audience. Support your presentations in a totally new but simple way. Easily convert your presentation into a video and vice versa."

"Classtools.net allows you to create free educational games, activities and diagrams in a Flash! Host them on your own blog, website or intranet! No signup, no passwords, no charge!"

Most parents and educators are always encouraging our youth to get off the couch and do something! DoSomething.org is an organization that helps teens with social causes they care about. This is the generation of "doers" and this organization provides an avenue for young adults to make a difference in the community they live. They have 3 rules: No money, no car, and no adults! The organization provides tons of resources on their website including a directory of clubs in each state that are already setup, but teens are encouraged to start their own project as well. I came across a video online on "How to Use Social Media for Good" by Monique Coleman, in a section called DoSomething U, which helps people starting not-for-profit organizations or social enterprises. That got me to their site and from there I found all these amazing clubs our youth is organizing and most importantly, doing. They also have the Do Something Awards which were earlier this year on VH1. They select 5 nominees that receive a $1,000 towards their cause and the Grand Prize Winner receives a $100,000 grant for funding for their project. The 2010 Grand Prize winner is Jessica Posner who started a community center in the second largest slum in the world, which is in Kibera Africa where 66% of girls there trade sex for food as early as 6 years old. But not everyone needs to cure cancer or fight AIDS to participate; any student can start a project they care about in their own community or simply search for volunteering opportunities near them. Since one of the rules is no adults, I would suggest sharing the site with your students and letting them run with the ball from there.

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