12 Screencasting Tools For Creating Video Tutorials Ever wondered how people show you so clearly what is happening on their computer, like in the Photoshop Video Tutorials we shared with you? Thanks to screencasting software, anyone can do it. So what's stopping you now from making your own how-to videos? Try out one of these 12 tools and get to making your first video! Free AviScreen - As the name would imply, this capture program records the video into AVI files, but can also do BMP photos. CamStudio.org - An open source program for capturing your on-screen video and audio as AVI files. Copernicus - A free program for Macs that focuses heavily on making quick and speedy films by recording the video to your RAM for quicker access. JingProject.com - Beyond recording video, Jing allows you to take a picture of any portion fo your desktop, draw on it, add a message, and immediately upload your media to a free hosting account. Wink - Screencasting software that focuses on making tutorials with audio and text annotation abilities. Commercial
Printable Graphic Organizers Use the hamburger organizer to design the perfect paragraph. The main version has lines to write on. If you'd like a version without lines, click the "Alt" button below. 2nd and 3rd Grades Here's another hamburger paragraph writing organizer. This is yet another version on the hamburger writing activity. Main idea or topic sentence goes in the middle. Same paragraph-writing flower as above, but this version has lines for writing. Students organize their writing by putting their details in the ice cream scoops. Write the main idea on the robot's body. This organizer will help students plan their persuasive writing essays. 3rd through 6th Grades This is the same worksheet as above, except this version has lines in the boxes on which students can write. Write your main idea in the center of the web and include four details. This web includes space for a main idea, topics, and details. This web has a circle in the center for main idea and four large circles for supporting details.
The Race Card Project ® - Submit your 6 Word Essay on Race Hello and thank you for visiting My idea was to use these little black postcards to get the conversation started. But I quickly realized once I hit the road on my book tour that I didn’t really need that kind of incentive. All over the country people who came to hear about my story wound up sharing their own. Despite all the talk about America’s consternation or cowardice when it comes to talking about race, I seemed to have found auditorium after auditorium full of people who were more than willing to unburden themselves on this prickly topic. So the postcards that were supposed to serve as a conversation starter wound up instead serving as an epilogue. I asked people to think about their experiences, questions, hopes, dreams, laments or observations about race and identity. The submissions are thoughtful, funny, heartbreaking, brave, teeming with anger and shimmering with hope. Here’s the answer. I am grateful for the tremendous response. Go ahead. Michele Norris
Wikis for Everyone - Wikispaces PowToon : Create Animated Presentations Online Top 10 Most Popular Graphic Organizers Graphic organizers help your students visualize and understand concepts more effectively. Print the organizers in this gallery of our Top 10 Most Popular Graphic Organizers, or browse our entire collection of to find ones that meet your class's needs. Help students write five-paragraph essays with a graphic organizer. This printable is customizable. Use this analogy organizer when teaching new concepts to your class. Use this graphic organizer to describe and order the steps in a process. Use this three-part Venn diagram to identify differences and similarities. This simple KWL chart can be used in all curriculum areas and all grade levels. This graphic organizer will help your students identify the main idea and supporting facts in three paragraphs. Students are asked to identify cause and effect of a story with this graphic organizer. Assign a topic and ask students to complete the grid with as many words as they can think that fit in each square on the topic.
Free Technology for Teachers Sayings "The urge to comprehend must precede the urge to reform." -- Aldo Leopold "Never tell people how to do things; tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity." -- George S. Patton "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." -- Will Rogers "The woods would be silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." --John James Audubon "The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary." --Vince Lombardi "Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but no one can count the apples in a seed." -- Anonymous "People's minds are changed through observation and not through argument."
80+ Google Forms for the Classroom If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my weekly newsletter. Thanks for visiting! Google Forms is a great tool for the classroom and this post from 2008 has always proven popular on my blog. I have created example forms for each of the different topics, follow the links in each of the ten sections. 1 ) Get to know your class Use this form to gather some indication from your new class about their likes and dislikes, their favourite lessons or after school clubs they enjoy. 2 ) Emotion graph An emotion graph is a simple line graph comparing a range of happiness to sadness against different points (time) in a story or film. Use a Google Form to gather the children’s responses to different parts of any type of linear narrative, written or visual. 3 ) Spelling test For your weekly spelling test use simple 1-10 or 1-20 numbered form (with a name question too of course) and ask the children to type in their answers as you read out the list of words. 4 ) Comprehension questions More Ideas
The ABC’s of … Lesson | Creative Educator Students create an alphabet book to share knowledge they have learned, organizing their writing using the ABC’s. Apps: Wixie®, Pixie® or Frames™ Task If you have ever visited an aquarium or museum gift shop, you have probably seen an ABC book, such as The Ocean Alphabet book. After researching and learning about a topic in your classroom such as biology, ancient civilizations, or even the unique history and geography of your state, have students create an ABC book to share their knowledge with others. Engage This lesson serves as a performance task you can use to evaluate student comprehension of information they have learned during a unit of study. As you complete the unit and introduce the performance task to your students, share a few examples of Alphabet-style informational texts. If you are creating an informational ABC book as an entire class, assign each student a single letter to complete. Create Have students use a digital publishing tool to design and share their page. Share Read.
!!Apps!! To get the best bang for your buck, go for these apps that push your students to create and innovate. These are my favorite creation apps... as of today. They are all cross-curricular and cross-grade level so they can be used time and again - not simply for just one unit or content standard. For more on app value, check out this post. PaperPort Notes- Free Read and annotate PDF documents. PoppletLite - Free Concept mapping, idea webs, bubble organizers. Evernote - Free & Penultimate - Free as of 1/2013! Doceri - Free & Doceri Desktop - $30 I just moved to using this app over Educreations and ShowMe because it has more features and you can save directly to the photo roll or to an LMS like Schoology. Schoology - Free This is a great Learning Management System that not only allows you to create assignments, discussions and assessments for your students - but is also a one-stop workflow solution. Book Creator - $4.99 This app allows you to make beautiful iBooks right on your iPad!
Tip of the Week: Embed Voki on Google Site Are you looking for different ways to share your Voki? You can always embed your Voki collection to your Google Site! If you attempted to embed your Voki on your Google Site (and failed), continue reading to learn how! Just follow these simple steps and you can show off your Voki collection to everyone! Go on www.voki.comPublish your Voki.Select your Voki size.Click to copy your Voki embed code. Now your Voki is embedded on your Google Site! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for Voki, shoot us an email at feedback@voki.com! Happy embedding! The Voki Team Like this: Like Loading... Voki Tip of the Week: Voki on PowerPoint Many teachers use PowerPoint in their lessons and want to put Voki into their presentations. In "Embedding" Voki Tip of the Week: Voki on Wikispace Do you have a Wikispace? In "Tip of the week" Voki Tip of the Week: Voki on Glogster Is there a way to embed a Voki on Glogster?
Graphic Organizers Worksheets Graphic Organizers Worksheets Practice This is the graphic organizers worksheets section. Graphic Organizers are a pictorial way of organizing information. They allow you to have a visual representation or frame to better organize the information you read. Here is a graphic preview for all of the graphic organizers worksheets. Here is a graphic preview for all the kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade Graphic Organizers Worksheets. Here is a graphic preview for all the 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade, 9th grade, 10th grade, 11th grade and 12th grade Graphic Organizers Worksheets.