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"What you see here are candid submissions from people who have engaged in a little exercise. Here's how it works. Think about the word Race. How would you distill your thoughts, experiences or observations about race into one sentence that only has six words?" This National Public Radio blog makes the perfect starting point for a multicultural lesson for ESL/EFL students. The entries are sheer poetry and give a great deal of content to think about the issue of race and one's place in society, for better or worse. Each 6-word "poem" makes us, as one contributor said, "Look past race to underlying humanity."

"ScheduleHangout is great for scheduling group hangouts on Google+ Invite your guests, give them a few date options and ScheduleHangout does the rest. We'll help you organize the Hangout session around your friends/colleagues optimized availability." This may be a way to organize Google+ a little.

"VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVD, audio CD, VCD, and various streaming protocols." From R. Davis and R. Wilson: "One of the best features is that there is a portable apps version that you can load onto a thumb drive, and thus you can play streaming media files in locations where you do not have administrative permission or rights to download the VLC player or other applications to computers at work or school." For Windows-based PCs.

The article suggests capturing your Prezi with a screen capture tool to create a video. a work-around, but could be useful. I find screen captures are usually pretty fuzzy, however.

You can put a question up on the website and then students reply with their webcam. It's a nice tool for oral language practice, digital storytelling, debates, etc. R. Stannard shows how to use the tool and suggestions for lesson plans. He notes that you will need a fairly fast internet connection. The site allows you to keep statistics on who answered.

"This list of five things that you may not know about QR codes contains some simple ideas that definitely pack a punch. These tips include strategies for differentiating instruction, distributing materials, and keeping families up to date on classroom activities. If you've tried one of these QR tips or have another to add to the list, the comments section of this post is the perfect place to share!" The article also tells how to make dynamic QR codes requiring a login, for example, for a daily lesson assignment, using Kaywa.

"Description: A breAthtAking ArrAy of 'leArn to code' Apple, Android And Windows phone Apps. LeArn C++, Python C#, HTML, SQL, JAvAScript, JAvA, CSS, php And Swift viA the site or Apps. These Are 'must try' tools for Anyone stArting out with coding. The site even hAs A 'Code PlAyground' to experiment with your code." I hAven't hAd A chAnce to try out Any of these, but this should be An interesting stArting point to get students coding.

This blog entry shows two examples, one of a teacher-created rubric, and the other of a rubric created with the help of the students. The comparison shows that the students had a slightly different idea of what was being evaluated -- always good information to have. See also Parts 1 and 2 on creating assessment rubrics.

"Each day author/teacher Bill Zimmerman is offering excerpts from a new ‘’Make Beliefs’’ book aimed at encouraging students to express their thoughts through writing and drawing, as well as to spur their creative imaginations. They are in the form of comic strip panels in which comic characters raise a provocative question and students can write their responses by creating comic strips at MakeBeliefsComix. com, a free educational resource. " These are imaginative prompts and many could also be used for stand-alone creative writing activities.

"Transform your class presentation with video and images: a 5-minute makeover (video)" Well, it takes a little longer to find the images and video that liven it up, but the helpful templates inside of PowerPoint can be used to much better effect than you might believe.

"We all know Google Presentations is a great tool for making multimedia slideshows. But did you know it can also be used to make interactive quizzes and "Choose Your Own adventure" style stories? With Google Presentations ability to link to specific slides you can build a non-linear slideshow that allows the user to make choices and go to different slides depending on their choice. Learn tips and tricks to make this work best, and see how this can be used for you or your students to make interactive quizzes and stories." This looks like fun. Users warn that some of the links to help files don't work, but give it a try.

R. Byrne: "Wikispaces recently added a Quizlet widget to the library of widgets that you can embed into your Wikispaces pages. Quizlet is a free flashcard service that anyone can use to create and share flashcards. Quizlet offers a massive library of flashcard sets created and shared by other users of the service. and now you can search for Quizlet flashcards, embed them into your wiki, and use four different study modes while those cards are embedded into your wiki. The screenshots below provide directions for adding Quizlet to your Wikispaces wiki." Quizlet can handle various types of media, so it makes for interesting flashcards. This step-by-step visual explanation makes the embedding task easy; creating the flashcards at Quizlet takes some work and thought.

Many of these sites/apps have surprising features, such as the ability to insert a poll, educational portals where student accounts can be created, easy embedding of a collage or slideshow in a blog, student response systems within the slideshow, video mash-up, animation, video narration side-by-side, mobile apps, etc. Far more than Powerpoint can do.

A short lesson plAn -- how to do A role-plAy in clAss. This is A nice model thAt cAn be revised And used for other situAtionAl leArning role-plAys.

This is a good article on what makes a good teacher, but see my comment on it to understand why outstanding single examples of good teaching are not enough to create reform of a whole system.

This is the big question. See my comment below about the problems involved, however. --EHS

Another wAy to use tAgging. if it cAn be found in A seArch engine, you will see it displAyed on A visuAl wAll, As in this exAmple from the WebheAds in Action: http://spezify.com/#/webheAds MAkes using tAgs of All kinds even more importAnt. Be sure your students select reAlly unique tAgs. (In this exAmple, there is A YouTube video And other mAteriAls relAted to Spider-MAn, whose fAns Are Also cAlled "WebheAds.") ExtrA nice feAture--click An imAge to expAnd. If you click elsewhere, the video or whAtever will stop plAying.

A lesson plAn for writing diAlogue/short plAy online At A cArtoon creAtion site.\n\n"Lesser controlled computer room writing Activity. This Activity cAn be AdApted to the level And grAmmAr AreA of your choice.\n\nLevel: IntermediAte & Above\n\nLocAtion: Computer room\n\nTopic: Writing direct speech in A cArtoon\n\nLAnguAge Focus: Direct speech, present tenses etc\n\nTime: 30 minutes"

Poetry Forge has online (Flash) tools for generating instant poetry, as well as a downloadable version of the tools to use on the desktop. It's really fun to add some words to a list and then have the poetry-maker pop up your new poem. Students can learn a lot about metaphorical language here.