Recipe for Time

Another six days flew by, and here I am compiling the resources I have bookmarked for all of you. Before I launch into the list, I would like to answer a question I received via email. “Aly, how do you find all these things?” Perhaps some of you are imagining me scouring the Web, conducting endless Google searches on anything educational. Not so. I subscribe to several excellent blogs using Google Reader. Bloggers are sharers, and they share what they have found (as I am doing here!). I also use a social Web-based bookmarking site called Diigo, and within Diigo I belong to several collaborative groups. We all share what we have found. I check into Twitter now and then to see what links have been posted. Tweeters share what they have found. As I find something, I bookmark it myself (tagging it with key words so I can search and find it again in Diigo). I then drop the link in the draft of my Day Six Deals, which is always an open tab in my web browser. Resource discovery and sharing is a natural, fluid, useful, and FUN part of my regular day — seven days a week!

YS folks: If you forget how to get to this blog, please remember that you can go to http://techspace.yssd.org — I am archiving all my posts in TechSpace.

Here we go –

FOR ALL:

If Your Kids Are Awake, They’re Probably Online: This is a very interesting read. You could use it to argue for MORE tech use in school; you could use it to argue for LESS. But really, it’s not HOW MUCH we use, but rather HOW we use it. Our students are SO very connected to media….how can we work that to their educational advantage?

Mac Keyboard Shortcuts for Special Characters: Do you have students who use Macs and need to type special characters? Think foreign language, science….here you go! PDFs of all the great keyboard shortcuts for special characters.

Multimedia Quizzing — EASY: You can use Photopeach to create a quick slideshow of pictures you have saved. The site offers music if you want it. You can then type captions that become multiple choice questions as kids watch the slideshow. They click on their answer and wait to hear if they got it right. NOTE: Photopeach is currently blocked by Lightspeed, but you can override. You will have to override to see her embedded example. I think it is worth the effort. What a neat activity on a SMARTboard!

FutureMe: Send an email to yourself in the future. This might be great for personal productivity — have kids set up reminder emails at the beginning of a big project?  You could also ask students to compose an email with goals for the upcoming semester or year, and then have that email arrive later in the year. In this way, it can be a cool tool for reflection and self-motivation.

ShowMeWhatsWrong: This one gave me GeekBumps. At your prompting, the site generates a URL and you send it to someone else. They are prompted to click “record” and the tool captures their screen as a screencast and automatically emails it back to you. Aside from the potential here for tech help — imagine if you post the URL in Moodle and ask your students to record themselves as they click through a brief presentation. Their finished screencast lands in your inbox. Wow!

Bloom’s Taxonomy Resources: The goal is to move UP on Bloom’s — the challenge kids to think and deliver at higher levels. This is a great collection of rubrics organized by the level of Bloom’s that they hit. Terrific!

Self-Grading Quizzes in Moodle: Are you already using Google Forms for gathering student data? How about using it to grab self-graded quizzes? Please remember to ask students not to post their real name since this is student data on the Internet.

FOR ELEMENTARY — (but check out links listed by subject below, too!):

CarrotSticks: I can’t wait to share this with my own three kids at home. What a cool site for math practice! Kids can even challenge another player online (no personally identifying information). Talk about FUN! (PS: Full disclosure…I played it. I am ashamed to admit I took on some second grader somewhere in the world….won’t say who won….).

Time for Time: Great for use with your SMARTboard — use this when you get to those lessons on telling time!

FOR HEALTH and/or FACS:

Still Tasty: Food safety! Food storage!

Food Safety Videos: These are so cute. How to cook burger sung to the tune of “The Gambler.”

FOR SCIENCE and MATH:

AllMeasure Measure Converter: Extensive web-based conversion tables

JUST SCIENCE:

Global Climate Data: Compare climate/weather data that goes back as far as 300 years.

Learning Science: Nicely organized and categorized resources for science

GSK ActiveScience Site: Glaxo-Smith-Kline offers many interactive modules on various science topics of interest. This could be useful for a wide range of student ages and areas of study.

Lessons on Motion and Forces: Lots to explore here.

Galley Proofs Science Site List: This science blogger posted a list of science sites — feel free to explore.

JUST MATH:

Geometry Resources: I like the approach to studying geometry by studying quilts and quilt design.

Labyrinth: This game is designed for middle school pre-algebra students.

Teaching Math with Technology: This site provides some justification and guidance for teaching math with technology. The site bills itself as “A Resource Guide for Extending Mathematical Understanding in Secondary Schools.”

FOR SOCIAL STUDIES and ECONOMICS:

Financial Markets: Yale offers this FREE course online. You can use it in pieces. Students view video segments and access other course resources. Fantastic!

Placefy: Study Geography through pictures — the site shows you a picture of a landmark, asks a questions, and you click on the answer from a list of options. Neat!

FOR ENGLISH and LANGUAGE ARTS:

Poets Online: The site offers a poem for you to read and study, information about the poet, and then a prompt for you to be the poet yourself. Finished poems can also be submitted to the site.

That’s it! Enjoy! And if you would like assistance, let me know. I will make time for you!