National Geographic MapMaker Interactive Featured 5-4-11

If you’ve played around with Google Earth at all, you know that it is an amazing mapping tool, but with all its features it can be quite overwhelming for students to use.  Next time you want students to incorporate maps in their projects, consider this instead.

MapMaker Interactive

Through National Geographic, students can create different types of maps (physical, climate, population, etc.) and include their own markers and text.

While you’re there, browse through the other offerings of the National Geographic Education website.  You can find videos, lesson plans, and a wealth of other information regarding world news and geography!

Diigo Featured 8-18-11

Does it frustrate you that your bookmarks are not available when you log on to a computer in the lab? 

Do you resent the time you waste having to search for that youtube video again?

Have you ever discovered an online article with a gem of information hidden in a sea of clicking, then never been able to find it again?

Would your content area team benefit from easily sharing each others’ findings on the internet? Check out:

“Diigo is a next generation social bookmarking and annotation service where you can highlight, tag, add sticky notes and comment on any webpage. With emphasis on collaboration and the power of the community, Diigo greatly improves how people discover, remember, collaborate, and share on the Internet.”

Glogster Featured 8-25-11

You want your students to demonstrate and display their new knowledge, but posters and projects can be expensive and wasteful with our resources.  A better option might be to create a virtual poster with glogster!

  

This website allows students to display visual information, photos, text, even animations in a compact format.

The homepage is full of helpful information, student example posters, and even lesson plans and rubrics designed around this program, not to mention step-by-step instructions on how to create the posters! 

Bit.ly Featured 4-27-11

So you found an amazing article or website that you want your students to visit, but the url is a gazillion characters long!  The kids will never be able to type it correctly.  What a headache!  Try this!



Copy that long url and paste it into bit.ly to get a shortened version for your students to use!

I took this url - http://www.amazon.com/Little-Vampire-Women-Louisa-Alcott/dp/0061976253/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303929735&sr=8-1 and entered it into bit.ly to get a much more manageable http://amzn.to/muWWic

Try it next time you have a grizzly address for an amazing website!

Joliprint Featured 4-20-11

So, you’ve found a great article for your students on the internet!  But, when you go to print it out there are menus and ads cluttering up the space… Now there’s a solution!

Simply cut and paste the url of the article you want into joliprint.com and this free program will create a clean PDF for you to save and/or print!  If this is a feature you will use often, you can even put a browser button on your toolbar that makes the process one simple click! 

KETencyclomedia #3 - KET On Demand Featured 4-13-11

KETEncyclomedia Feature #3  KET ED On Demand

           

KET ED On Demand is another resource for finding streaming video on the web.  This is also where you will find listings for KET programming and showing times for recording from the television.  Again, much of the offerings are accompanied by teacher resources and links to KY educational standards.

 

KETencyclomedia #2 - Teacher's Domain Featured 3-30-11

KETEncyclomedia Feature #2  KET Teacher’s Domain

The Teacher’s Domain is another great resource for digital media from Public Television.  The clips provided on this site include NOVA, Frontline, Cyber Chase, and several other great shows.  All clips come with teacher resources, discussion questions, and a list of the core content standards that apply.

Similar to United Streaming, this site allows you to save videos in personal and group folders, so if you need any help researching, let me know, and I’d be happy to do some digging for you!

Prezi Featured 9-1-10

So, you've been using PowerPoint for years... ready to take your presentations and those of your students to the next level? 

This website allows you to create presentations that flow, zoom in and out, move from one spot to another in a unique and pleasing manner. 

Please don't be intimidated by its impressive display.  Prezis are easy to make and the website provides step-by-step instructions.

Wordle Featured 9-8-10

Literature is art!  Prove it to your students with this week’s unique and fun web tool. 

This program generates word art from the text you provide and gives more prominence to the words that appear more frequently.  You can change the colors, fonts, and layouts to fit the design that your work inspires.

This would be a neat way for students to display poetry or even to be aware of their word usage when writing essays. 

 I created this wordle just by pasting the previous text into the program.  Pretty neat!

What Should I Read Next Featured 9-15-10

It’s only September, and some kids are already having trouble finding something that interests them to read.  Well, if you have a kid who asks you just direct him or her to this week’s featured web tool.

Type in the name of a book or author that you have already enjoyed, and this site will provide a list of similar books from which to choose!  You can also create an account and save lists of books that you like and don’t like, and the program will use that information to narrow its suggestions even further!  Very cool!