A Google a Day

Google is now offering a great resource for educators and students.  It is called A Google a Day and it is a very simple idea but can be great for students and teachers.  Google a Day offers one question per day and students use their search skills to help them answer the question.  The students search using Google and the question stays with them at the bottom of the page as they search.  Once the students find the answer they can have Google show them what the correct answer is including directions on how the question should be answered and the proper way to search for it.  This is a great tool for students, not only will they learn something from the questions that are asked but they will also learn how to use Google to find the answers that they need more efficiently.

Online Children's Museum

FRABOOM!!!!!

I know it sounds like something went wrong but this website is totally right! Fraboom is a fun interactive website for children of all ages.  Fraboom is free for the most part but they do offer some other features for a monthly fee. With the free version of Fraboom students and teachers will have access to live classes that are taught by teachers, the classes change on a daily basis. Fraboom also has games that are educational and videos that help explain topics like the solar system.  You will also have the ability to check out some pretty cool interactive books that read the book to you if you choose.  Within the book you also have the ability to click on different parts for more information on that topic.  All of this is part of the free version and really with the paid version all you really gain is the ability to watch a few more videos, participate in the live classes and keep track of your points that you can earn by playing the games.  The choice is yours but it is definitely worth checking out.

Interactive Periodic Table of Elements

High school Chemistry would have been so much easier if I would have had this tool in front of me!  ptable.com offers a great interactive Periodic Table of Elements.  Click on any of the elements and it will give you a complete description of what the element is and how it is used.  Not sure what the Alkali Metals are just hover over the Alkali Metals tab and ptable.com will highlight all of the metals for you to quickly view. This is a great resource that not only teachers can use within their classroom but also a great study tool for students as well.

Quick Presentations

Qwiki is a fairly new website that could change the way that we search for information.  It is unlike all other search engines that I have come across.  Qwiki is very different website that lets you type in your search terms and then it will actually take wikipedia entries and photos and turn them into a fairly decent presentation.  It is still in its beta version but I think that with a little more work this can be a very valuable website.  The best part of Qwiki is the ability to type in what you would like to search for and have a pretty good explanation within just a couple of seconds.  It is very easy to use and it will definitely save you some time.  Qwiki now also offers an iPad app that will do the same things as the website but bundled into a nice easy to use application.

Let Google Docs and Flubaroo do the Grading!

Why do all of the grading when Google Docs and Flubaroo can do it for you. If you use Google Docs there is a great new tool that can be added to your Google Docs account, the name may sound funny but what it can do will amaze you.  Flubaroo.com provides a very nice set of instructions on how to use their tool located here.  Once you have the script installed and you have created your form you will just click on the grade assignment and then tell flubaroo what answers you are looking for and it does the rest for you.  Imagine grading 160 assignments in less then two minutes.  Sounds good to me!

Check out the video!

14 Minute Webinar

How to Engage Your Students with 21st Century Projects

Simplek12.com is offering another webinar that you may be interested in .  This webinar is based on 21st Century Projects and ways that you can help engage your students using these great tools.  According to Simplek12's blog post this webinar will only take 14 minutes.  You can choose from three different days.  The webinars are Tuesday, March 22 at 5:00 PM, Wednesday, March 23 at 9:00 AM and Saturday, March 26 at 11:00 AM.  To register for the webinar just go to this link.  

Discussions in Google Docs

Thinking about using Google Docs!  Here is another great reason to start using it.  As you may know Google has a feature within Google Docs that allows a collaborator to comment on the document itself.  The comments are placed in the margins of the document.  Well now Google has set up discussions that can take place within the margins of the document.  For example I can comment on a student's work and then they can reply to my comment as to what they were thinking when they were writing the paper.  This is a great way to help your students fine tune their writing skills and also a way that students can help each other with writing projects.  Check out this video if you would like to see more.

Transforming Education through Technology

For the past year I have been receiving a wonderful publication from The Journal that I would like to recommend to everyone.  The Journal whose goal is to Transform Education through Technology is a great way to learn about new tools that are available in this ever-changing world of Education and Technology.  Each month you can choose to receive the digital or the print version of the magazine.  Within every issue there are many ideas that may help you implement technology into your classroom.  This is a great way to learn about new ideas that will help push you towards having a 21st Century classroom.  If you have a minute visit The Journal website and sign up for this free publication.