Group items tagged

"National PTA® created the guides for grades K-8 and two for grades 9-12 (one for English language arts/literacy and one for mathematics). The Guide includes: Key items that children should be learning in English language arts and mathematics in each grade, once the standards are fully implemented. Activities that parents can do at home to support their child's learning. Methods for helping parents build stronger relationships with their child's teacher. Tips for planning for college and career (high school only)."

These guides are available in English & Spanish to help parents understand the transition to the Common Core: what it means for their children and how to help at home.

twiducate.com is a free resource for educators. Developed in 2009, our goal is to create a medium for teachers and students to continue their learning outside the classroom. We attempt to fill a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners in a social networking environment. We understand that many social networking sites exist, however the control of content is limited for teachers. Also, many of these social networking sites are continuously being blocked by school firewalls and administrators. Our service proudly differs in that only teachers and students may view classroom posts, thus creating a private network for you and your students and a safer online learning environment.

Cloudworks is a social networking site for finding, sharing and discussing learning and teaching ideas and designs. A Cloud can be anything to do with learning and teaching. Each Cloud is 'social' in that it is possible to have a conversation around the Cloud. A Cloud could be: a short description of a learning and teaching idea, information about resources or tools for learning and teaching, detailed learning designs or case studies of practice or a question as a starting point for a discussion. Clouds can be aggregated into 'Cloudscapes' associated with a particular event, purpose or interest. For example you can have Cloudscapes associated with a conference aggregating Clouds about conference presentations or tools and resources referenced. A Cloudscape can be set up for a workshop where Clouds might include workshop resources, tools or activities. Cloudscapes can also be more general for example to stimulate debate about a particular teaching approach. Clouds can be associated with more than one Cloudscape.

Great Source iwrite is a collection of writing resources and support for educators, students in grades 5-12, and parents. For Educators - Quick access to powerful writing lessons and assessments For Students - Step-by-step support for completing writing assignments For Parents - Tips for helping your child become a better writer, thinker, and learner

VodBurner Features * Create complete video productions directly from Skype calls. * Record both sides of any Skype video conversation, directly to your hard disk. * Captures at full frame rate and maximum resolution for the best quality possible. * Once the call is complete, generate a single complete video, incorporating both sides of the call, with just a couple of clicks. * Edit the video prior to publishing, using the built in Post-Production Console. * Alter which camera is used at any point (this side, other side or both sides). * Trim portions of the call so they do not appear in the final production. * Add text captions to the final production, with the ability to alter font, color and background. * Add pictures to the final production. * Add background audio to the final production, with professional fading options and volume control. * Generate ASF/WMV files suitable for uploading directly to YouTube and other services. * Upload directly to YouTube for public or private sharing. * Generate video with your choice of aspect ratio and resolution. * Anti-drift technology keeps both sides of the call in sync. * Ideal for podcast interview recording. * Ideal for recording shared desktop sessions.

Cheat sheets have a bad rap as a way for students to succeed on tests without actually knowing the information, but now it's time for them to have a more positive place in education. Cheat sheets can offer a succinct way for students to study their lessons and provide an excellent boost to what you are already teaching them in class. Cheat sheets can provide helpful information for teachers too.

"Enter your question or calculation and Wolfram|Alpha uses its built-in algorithms and a growing collection of data to compute the answer."

Wolfram/Alpha is to be the first web-based tool that can find answers to all systematic knowledge in the world. For educators, this "computational iknowledge engine" can find objective and fact-based answers for a variety of subject areas. Type in "Newton's Law," for example, and the formula for force is explained. Enter in an equation for a line, and the site plots the line on a graph. Ask "What is the GDP of the United States and Canada?" and a chart depicts a side-byside comparison of the nations' economic data.

"Although YouTube has been blocked from many/most schools, for obvious reasons and not so obvious ones. YouTube does provide great resources and content for teachers and students. View the list of the Top 100 Videos for Teachers. This list is provided by SmartTeaching.org, a leading online resource for current teachers, and aspiring education students and student teachers."

Extensive collection of digital storytelling resources, including tutorials for iMovie and MovieMaker, resources for pictures/music, and even suggestions for where to host the final product.

Extensive collection of digital storytelling resources, including tutorials for iMovie and MovieMaker, resources for pictures/music, and even suggestions for where to host the final product.

"...focuses on some of the lesser-used Google tools options like publishing an online quiz using Google Docs. In all there are 33 pages containing 21 ideas and how to instructions for creating Google Maps placemarks, directions creating and publishing a quiz with Google Docs forms, directions for embedding books into your blog, and visual aids for accessing other Google tools."

t's the 21st century and I'm sure your school district has been embracing technology. With budget cuts, however, can your school keep up with the need for new and updated computers? I work in Bergen County (N.J.) where we have the highest property taxes in the nation, and yet this fall I'm not sure whether or not our media center will see more computers for our students. (Thank you, Governor Christie) I know of districts where every student has their own laptop. Not where I am. Still, I try to use what we have to prepare our students for when they graduate and go out into the world. No matter what they will do in their career, whether it's an auto mechanic or a lawyer, they will need these digital skills. If you are still wary about technology, it is time to jump into the water. We don't want you and your students left behind.

"The International Association for K-12 Online Learning's (iNACOL) Director of Policy, David Teeter, recently published "Online Learning: Top 5 Federal Policy Issues Brief," which takes a close look at reforms to improve student-centered, competency-based policies for online learning." iNACOL Releases 5 Policy Reforms for Online Learning http://t.co/YPHJl3Iw

Article has a variety of apps for K-12 students. Some are for secondary and others are for elementary.

"The NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing honors young women at the high school level for their computing-related achievements and interests. Awardees are selected for their computing and IT aptitude, leadership ability, academic history, and plans for post-secondary education.:

"All of the books available for online reading are children's picture books appropriate for children through age ten. There is a mix of fiction and nonfiction, a range of authors, and an equal balance between read-alouds and books for independent readers. We'll be adding news books every month, together with special seasonal offerings. We are dedicated to delivering award-winning books empowering you to read and share beautiful stories with children in your life. With age-appropriate content for young readers, our goal is to create memories that will last a lifetime."

BlastFollow enables you to follow Twitter users who share your interests en masse. This is accomplished by searching for users who have tweeted with a particular hashtag recently. For example, if you are interested in ISTE 2010 conference, you may want to search for users whose tweets have included the hashtag "#ISTE10". This would be useful if you are using Twitter in your classroom for students to follow a particular class thread.

Mashpedia is a web encyclopedia enhanced with cutting-edge functionalities and sophisticated features such as multimedia content, social media tools and real-time information; it's free to use and open for public participation, allowing users to discuss specific topics, post and answer questions, share relevant links or contribute in new creative ways. Mashpedia integrates a variety of online services and applications like Wikipedia, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Google News, Books, Blog Posts, and further contextual information into a single slick interface, presenting an organized outlook of live content feeds for every topic, thus providing a broad spectrum of services and features that eliminate the user's need to visit each service separately. Mashpedia provides articles for specific topics such as concepts, subjects, personalities, events, places, companies, products, etc., but not for broader, unspecific searches.

"This is a new version of the original 50+ Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story that was created in 2007. As of Oct 24, 2010 5:18 pm there are 65 Ways! If you are a person that likes watching DVD extras or seeing "The Making of..." I have a story for you, the History of 50+Ways... In this new version, I have made more places for you to directly add to the site, including your own story examples, sources of media, and advice for others you might be interested in a tool you used. See How to Contribute for more details."

I like that this new version has a section on the process of digital storytelling 1-2-3. 1 is Outlining the Story Idea, 2 is Finding Your Media (with a ton of copyright free resources linked), and 3 is finally Picking Your Tool. Excellent resource!

"KooBits is a software company specializing in e-publishing. Our aim is to make interactive ebooks the norm, and to create an immersive, engaging new way for people to enjoy ebooks. Products KooBits 4.0 is an ebook software that lets users read, organize and manage all of one's ebooks. Available for both Windows and Mac, the interactive software is the first of its kind to provide shelving solutions for your virtual books. KooBits Editor is a rich media editor that enables users to easily digitize ideas into interactive creations. Whether for scrapbooking or slideshows, designing can also include animations and multimedia. "

Ed-tech administrators and educators looking for original and third-party web resources can use the educational Technology Clearinghouse as an online launch pad. The tech Ease resource, for example, is a self-help guide that shows how to use many common technology tools in the classroom. Similarly, the No String Attached option offers a variety of video demonstrations about how to use wireless technology and laptop computers. In addition to the tech-development pagegs, FCIT's site offers portal space that hosts thousands of clip-art images and PowerPoint presentation files that can be reused by teachers under a friendly license, which allows them to be used for free for educational and other noncommerical purposes.