Monday, May 9, 2011

Monday Funday

I’ve been finding lots of cool stuff on the web lately, each of which could be its own blog post as I situate it in my toolbox of learning opportunities. Many educators I know are either in the process of taking or preparing for big assessments, and I thought this would be a good time to share a few things at once...either to learn as you plan instruction after the test, or just to let your students “figure out” how they may use them for learning.

Google Forms for Classroom Use
This is from Tom Barrett, of the “Interesting Ways” series. He has created sample forms for you to use and manipulate, on topics ranging from getting to know your class to guided reading records! (Also, why you’re on his website, check out his other great Interesting Ways modules!)

Present.me
Tell your story, create your presentation, share it with others in a new way! Their website shares that Present.me is a really easy way to record and share your presentations!

Learn How To Make An Infographic
Infographics are becoming the go-to visual in articles, marketing, and presentations. Learn some tools in this article to create them, either for yourself or to help students learn to “informate-” collect and connect information and discern the message or decode new information from it.

Voz.me
Voz.me is a site that turns text into speech. It defaults to English, but also lets you do the same with a few other languages as well, including Spanish, Hindi, and Italian. Also this is good time to remind you about the Free Dragon Dictation app for the iPod and iPad, which turns speech into text!

Rocket21
From their website: Kids have big dreams. And Rocket21 is designed exclusively to nurture those dreams. Within a safe, protected space, Rocket21 provides tweens and young teens with unprecedented access to world-class experts – the very people who do the incredible things kids dream of doing.

21 Things that will be Obsolete by 2020
What you can cut, keep, or create now that you know this? ;-)

Download Music Legally and Free!
Use for instruction or as part of presentations. (Still have to attribute though!)

Brickify
Just a fun website that lets you “Brickify” an image...think of it as turning your images into a “Lego” version!

Draw With Your Voice
This post is a couple of years old, but I thought it was cool to play with. It reminded me of the amount of time I wasted playing with THISISSAND.com (click the little gray box in the corner to get started.) Websites like these may be useful for relieving stress (perhaps during testing week!) or as a way to calm students that may have differening sensory needs. The AQUARIUM is a good one too...if for nothing else than to just project and enjoy!


Happy Monday everyone--hope it’s an AWESOME week!

-Mike
On Twitter
At CMI2011 - July in Saratoga Springs!

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