WSD eToolBox

"Most educators hope that their teaching touches students in exciting ways so that the information conveyed makes an impact. One sure way to engage students is to make their educational experience fun. New teachers just starting out as well as experienced teachers who could use a breath of fresh air in their curriculum will love all the great tools available on the Internet to help make their teaching more entertaining. Some of the following tools will have teachers and students exploring wikis, open courseware, Twitter, blogging, comics, videos, and incorporating plenty of other tools that will help make learning fun."

"FillAnyPDF.com is a website where you upload your PDF form and link to it so other people can fill it out and sign it online. No software is needed. Any PDF form can be used, even if it's not "interactive", so you can get started right away. You can even invite a group to fill out your forms and track the results. Anyone that collects signatures or filled out forms will find FillAnyPDF.com to be a valuable time-saving resource. "

I figured it was appropriate to make number 800 one that is likely to be the most popular post that I've published since I've begun this blog - the annual one highlighting The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education.

"This Wiki contains links to technology and Web 2.0 resources and tools that would be useful to the K-12 teacher. Classroom integration ideas are also included."

"Where educators interested in Moodle can meet, learn and teach!"

"Technology and Instruction Interwoven" A boatload of resources on a variety of topics for technology integration.

Welcome to Discovery Box, This site provides the tools for you to build up an argument or description of an event, person or historical period by placing items in a virtual box. What items, for example, would you put in a box to describe your life; the life of a Victorian Servant or Roman soldier; or to show that slavery was wrong and unnecessary? You can display anything from a text file to a movie. You can also view and comment on the discovery boxes submitted by others.

Here's another poster to help get you thinking about how you can apply Bloom's higher-order thinking skills in your classroom. This poster shows the segments of an orange with each segment relating to a thinking skill and some helpful verbs to serve as prompts.

n 1994, Dr. Christopher Moersch developed the Levels of Technology Implementation (LoTi) scale in an effort to accurately measure authentic classroom technology use. This scale focuses on the use of technology as an interactive learning medium because this particular component has the greatest and lasting impact on classroom pedagogy and is the most difficult to implement and assess. The challenge is not merely to use technology to achieve isolated tasks (e.g., word processing a research paper, creating a multimedia slide show, browsing the Internet), but rather to integrate technology in an exemplary manner that supports purposeful problem-solving, performance-based assessment practices, and experiential learning--all vital characteristics of the Target Technology level established by the CEO Forum on Education and Technology.

Assessment is a huge topic that encompasses everything from statewide accountability tests to district benchmark or interim tests to everyday classroom tests. 3 In order to grapple with what seems to be an over use of testing, educators should frame their view of testing as assessment and that assessment is information. The more information we have about students, the clearer the picture we have about achievement or where gaps may occur.

SMART product videos

Successful teachers know how useful graphic organizers are in every subject. Now you can edit your graphic organizers before you print them out! This is a great tool for creating example worksheets for your class; you can fill out an entire graphic organizer to use as an example or answer key, or you can just fill in a few of the blanks to get your students started. Or, have your students fill out each graphic organizer on their own computer, making unreadable handwriting a problem of the past. Feel free to customize these printable graphic organizers to fit your needs and your classroom instruction.

Mathematics illuminates the patterns that abound in our world. The Museum of Mathematics strives to enhance public understanding and perception of mathematics. Its dynamic exhibits and programs will stimulate inquiry, spark curiosity, and reveal the wonders of mathematics. The museum's activities will lead a broad and diverse audience to understand the evolving, creative, human, and aesthetic nature of mathematics.

A nice reference of kid friendly search engines. Great to use with students.

"In order to make it on this list, the criteria was pretty simple - it offers and easily navigable collection of Web 2.0 tools for education in a way accessible to non-tech-savvy teachers. Here are my picks for The Best Collections Of Web 2.0 Tools For Education:" -- Both the eToolBox and Perk Up Your Projects are on there! :)

"Welcome to the Mnemonicizer, the Mnemonic Device Device. A mnemonic device is a sentence that helps us to memorize a string of words. For example, music students use "Every Good Boy Does Fine" to remember the order of notes on the treble clef. (E, G, B, D, F). Math students use "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" to remember the order of arithmetic operations (Parentheses, Exponent, Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract.). But the range of usefulness extends beyond music and math. They are an invaluable resource whenever you are trying to remember something."

From its humble beginnings as an elementary teacher's classroom website, on through the present, the KidsKnowIt Network has always had one goal, and that is to make learning free. Founded in 1998 in order to provide student's with a fun and educational way to spend their free time, a teacher's classroom project has grown into a worldwide platform attracting several million visitors every single month. Every website developed is pain stakingly researched for accuracy, and appropriateness. This process begins with the planning and development of materials, activities, and articles by parents and educators, and ends with the final editing and approval of experts in the field being explored. Please come along with us, and enjoy exploring our universe.

"Knowitall.org is ETV's educational Web portal, a collection of fun, interactive websites for K-12 students, teachers and parents"

"Customizing your teaching to suit each child makes eminent sense. Kids are different, they learn differently, so we should teach them differently, right? But when you're staring out at 20 or 30 students as individual as snowflakes, you may find yourself asking that ever-daunting question: "How?" The short answer is: one step at a time. Teachers at Forest Lake Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina, have made it their mission for the past decade to differentiate instruction for their diverse students. They started small, and they've grown and honed their strategies each year. Here are their tips -- combined with some advice from Edutopia bloggers and members of the Edutopia community -- on how you can get started. And please use the comments field below to ask questions and add your own suggestions! "