Time savers and cool tools

BY KEVIN HODGSON

We all leave behind a trail of digital footprints when we use technology, whether it is from searching with Google, adding a comment to a blog post, or logging into a social network. While most adults might be cognizant that, given the archiving abilities of the internet, our trail will never really go cold, it is doubtful that many young people realize this. Sites like MyFootprints are designed to fill that gap by giving students the tools and experience to understand that what they are doing today with technology might have ramifications for tomorrow.

MyFootprints is pretty basic, but it has the potential to open up discussions between teachers (or parents) and young people. The site features videos from high school and middle school students who talk about digital identity in an engaging way, and it also has a page of activities that are appropriate for elementary school students by using puppets for characters.

I liked that the site pushes for privacy, noting that everyone should keep a “top secret folder” with information they should not give out to anyone. The list of nine items in the top secret folder are:

1. your full name
2. your photograph
3. your address or location
4. your school
5. your phone number
6. your email address
7. passwords
8. where your parents work
9. your mom’s name before she married your dad

The site also urges teachers to work with students on designing a handbook for protecting your footprints online. Topics include purchasing items at e-commerce sites, appropriate online conduct, security issues, and more.

All in all, MyFootprints is a good place to start when it comes to discussing digital identities and the trail we all leave behind us as we develop an online presence.

MyFootprints

Secure your internet and educate yourself with NetSmartz

Net Cetera: A handy cybersafety booklet from the FTC

Help stop cyber pressure: Thats Not Cool

Believe me, one day you’ll regret all those bathroom mirror photos

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BY JASON DON FORSYTHE

There are many ways to increase a person’s vocabulary, from the classic pick-a-word from the dictionary each day (my father’s preferred method), to the little desk calendar with a daily vocabulary word on each page. But in this day and age people aren’t always working from the same desk each every day, and lugging around an unabridged Oxford English dictionary isn’t practical.

Enter EasyWords, a free downloadable application that helps you memorize and learn new words right from your computer. EasyWords runs in the background and, at an interval that you set, presents you with a vocab question. Once you select the correct answer, it goes away again. It’s pretty unobtrusive — you can just click close if you don’t want to be bothered right then.

The words can be everything from very basic to GMAT stumpers. You get to pick how hard you want to push yourself. There are also word sets for testing your German and Turkish, with more languages planned for down the road.

If you always wanted to expand your vocabulary but think you never have the time, give this nifty little program a try and see if it works for you.

EasyWords

Ditch the flashcards — review with Smart.fm instead

Expanding your vocabulary with VocabSushi never tasted better!

Video vocabulary with BrainyFlix

Beleaguered with vocabulary test prep? Try VerbaLearn

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BY JASON DON FORSYTHE

If you’re teaching English-language learners in your class — which includes pretty much every teacher in every school — then you need to check out the great resources at ESL Basics. English is an incredibly frustrating language for many to learn, what with its hundreds of synonyms, and spelling and grammar so complex that even most native speakers can’t master them. Well, for those trying to learn English, ESL Basics is a great free resource to try and make sense of the oddities of the language.

ESL Basics has oodles of video-based resources, all made by the same dedicated ESL teacher, Andrea. Check out the video tab and you’ll quickly see the scope of what she has done. You’ll find videos on everything from the basics to idioms to tongue twisters. I don’t suggest just turning a beginning ESL student loose on the site, though. It will be the most useful if you do some assisted navigation or select a few particular videos you want to work on with your ESL students.

There are a lot more resources than just videos at ESL Basics, too. Andrea keeps up blogs, resource listings, and her tips for teaching ESL in the classroom. If reaching English Language Learners is a priority in your classroom, you’re sure to find something useful here.

ESL Basics

Help others learn English with the English Language Portal

Karaoke to learn English? I thought it was Japanese?

BY CHRISTOPHER PANNA

Should animals have the same rights as people? Should the English-speaking world adopt American English? There are some topics on which everyone has an opinion. Offering a controversial debate question is a great way to energize your students and open their minds to multiple points of view.

Whether you want to have an impromptu class discussion or explore an issue in more depth, a pair of online resources can serve as starting points. Opposing Views is a veritable marketplace for all things debatable and The Economist is a news magazine with a debate section on its site. Both provide conflicting opinions from verified experts in a point-counterpoint format.

Like any resource, each has their pros and cons. Opposing Views has questions that are relevant to most kids’ lives, but finding the debates can be tricky amid all the news stories on the site. The Economist, on the other hand, features a more user-friendly interface but focuses on current event topics that require background knowledge.

Should governments provide stronger guidance in food choices? Is torture ever justified? Open the door to a lively debate and show your students that even the experts disagree.

Opposing Views

The Economist

Argue landmark Supreme Court cases in Argument Wars

The candidates answer tough questions about science at Sciencedebate 2008

The art of the argument: Debatepedia

Defeat Poor Arguments with FallacyFiles.org

Photo credit: nathancolquhoun on Flickr.

• RT @dogtrax: Common Craft video on passwords and security http://bit.ly/c3wg12 thx to Free Tech for Teachers for the link #
• Simply Noise drowns out distractions for better productivity: http://bit.ly/aHi3gQ #
• Top Secret America
  The Washington Post examines the massive unseen world of homeland security and counterterrorism http://bit.ly/a09X5g #
• The NCSTA is accepting nominations for Outstanding Science Teachers and for Distinguished Service Awards till July 31. http://bit.ly/a9W23S #
• RT @francesca0477 A salad spinner centrifuge. Genius! Kudos to these ladies of science. http://yhoo.it/dt6I8i #
• Students, Meet Your New Teacher, Mr. Robot http://nyti.ms/aTEAso #
• RT @dogtrax: New blog post: Book Review: Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology http://bit.ly/bCm7wu #
• Arne Duncan announced an initiative to create a National Learning Registry that organizes digital educational resources http://bit.ly/aTRkoD #
• RT @dogtrax: The Newsweek Inforgraphic about how far the digital world has come in 10 years http://bit.ly/bvjmcW #
• Shapeways lets you design and create 3-D objects using 3-D printing technology. It’s not free, but seriously cool. http://bit.ly/9oZA2E #
• Paleo-Future presents the scientastic future that never was. Flying cars, moving sidewalks, you get the picture. http://bit.ly/6fpEio #
• Why The Next Big Pop-Culture Wave After Cupcakes Might Be Libraries: http://n.pr/9EQI1t #
• RT @TheEngTeacher Try Out Google’s Chromium OS On Your Laptop Or Netbook With Flow http://bit.ly/bSMutv via @makeuseof #
• The American Association of School Librarians’ list of Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning http://bit.ly/bUKJKh #
• RT @rmbyrne Ten Uses for Drop.io in Education via Free Technology for Teachers http://tinyurl.com/38bmtlk #
• STEM teachers, take a free online course from NASA. From NASA, people! http://bit.ly/dvEgyv #

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BY JASON DON FORSYTHE

Do your students need to study for that upcoming geography test? Perhaps the SATs are coming up? Well, flashcards are so 1994. It’s time to head over to Smart.fm. Smart.fm is a free learning and review system that is like your own personal study partner — a study partner that happens to have a super-slick multimedia review system in her backpack.

With a wide variety of subjects ranging from the anatomy of the brain to the provinces of China, Smart.fm can be tailored to help students learn and retain information in the style that best fits their methods of assimilating information. I took it for a test drive in my bread-and-butter subjects, geography and vocabulary. I was extremely impressed with the presentation, which uses a variety of ways to assess whether you have mastered an item before moving on, and if you prefer certain methods over others you can select them à la carte. I dropped the spelling part of the geography quiz because I stink at spelling to begin with, and trying to figure out how to spell Uzbekistan with a timer is just too nerve-wracking.

The nice thing is that community-driven content is not only encouraged, but it comprises a large chunk of the site. From perusing the collection I would say its biggest strength is foreign language instruction, but like I said before, there is a lot of content here so students are sure to find many helpful resources.

In order to track your learning and get feedback on your accomplishments you need to sign up for a free account, but you can use the site anonymously if you wish. Either way, getting your students to use Smart.fm is the smart thing to do.

Smart.fm

Expanding your vocabulary with VocabSushi never tasted better!

Create dynamic online quizzes at Quiz School

Get Your Students Ready for the SAT on the Cheap

BY KEVIN HODGSON

Organization is often the key to collecting and sharing websites and web-based resources. Many of teachers have sites we want to share with colleagues or students, but printing out a sheet of URLs will likely motivate people to merely toss it in the recycle bin. A site like LiveBinders is one possible way to organize information and present it in an easy and user-friendly way. The metaphor that LiveBinders uses to explain its site is that of a “three-ring binder” that is stored on the internet.

Just like we gather notes and papers into our three-ring binder (hopefully, you don’t stuff your binders like my students stuff theirs), LiveBinders easily gathers websites and other elements of the Web together, and then provides you with a single web address you can share with others. When someone clicks on your LiveBinder, it immediately opens up all the websites and resources under one “roof,” so to speak.

The site provides easy-to-use tabs that allow you to toggle from one site to another. LiveBinders will also give you an embed code that lets you link to your binder from your class or personal website. Here is a binder I created for students at a recent Webcomic Camp so that they could explore some comic creator sites.

LiveBinders is useful both as a teaching tool, where students can only explore the sites that you provide in that one binder, and as a presentation and resource collection tool for students. Students could document and share their primary research sites with the teacher via a LiveBinder, then use the LiveBinder for discussing their projects with the class or with the teacher.

LiveBinder

Diigo: The “G” in the Name Stands for Groups

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BY REBECCAH HAINES

While reviewing another space-related website, I came across this one, Starry Night Sky Chart, and decided it was cool enough to warrant its own post. At this site, you can enter your ZIP code and get a picture of what the night sky will look like in your area.

This website is part of a larger website, Starry Night Education, that offers extensive (paid) resources for teaching space science and astronomy. However, the interactive sky chart is free. Its operation is pretty simple. Enter your ZIP code and you will be presented with a picture of what the sky will look like at approximately 9 p.m. as you face south on that day. You can change the viewing time and a few other simple options, like labeling constellations and planets.  You can also see what the view would look like if you were standing on the moon — how cool is that?

There are some other free resources provided that you might enjoy as well. There are some interactive astronomy tutorials that can be viewed right in your browser, and even a downloadable, 192-page introductory text on astronomy.  These plus a few other free resources can be found here.

I came to this website because I found the Sky Chart and thought it was really neat and worthy of passing on. Then, I found the aforementioned additional free resources. I hope that you will find something interesting to share with your students as well.

Starry Night Sky Chart

Other free resources from Starry Night

Related stuff

Bring the planetarium to the classroom with Stellarium

Peek into space with Windows on the Universe

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BY BILL FERRIS

Forty-one years ago today, man first set foot on the moon. Could Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin have known that less than half a century later we’d all be living on cities on the moon, driving flying cars to work?

Until science catches up with science fiction, your students can still get excited about the space program and science with Moonbase Alpha, a 3-D multiplayer game from NASA. Moonbase Alpha puts students in the role of astronauts living on the first human base on the moon (hence the name). A meteorite has debilitated the life-support system, and they’ve got 25 minutes to fix it before everyone runs out of air. At their disposal are various robots, tools, and replacement parts to once again make the base fully operational.

If it sounds like a big task, kids don’t have to go it alone. They can team up with friends and collaborate on how best to get the base ship-shape.

The graphics are top-notch, down to the loping, low-gravity astronaut walk. I found the controls a little clunky, but in gamer years I’m pretty old, so your students may do better.

Moonbase Alpha is a great way to get kids interested in science, astronomy, and the space program. Even if you can’t find time for it in class, it’s fun enough that kids may want to play (and learn) on their own time. Moonbase Alpha is a free download, but to run the game students will also have to download the online-game platform Steam (also free). They’re big downloads, but the game is well worth the wait.

Moonbase Alpha via NASA

Steam

Moonbase Alpha download

Relive the Apollo 11 mission at We Choose the Moon

Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing with Google Moon

NASA giving away free Journey to the Stars DVDs to educators

NASA eClips shows videos of science in action

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BY AARON FOWLES

Have you ever gone deep into a cave and experienced absolute silence? It’s a zen moment, certainly: no light, no noise, just perfect absence.

Now, think about your classroom. Have you ever experienced anything like the vacuous silence and dark within the four walls of a school building? Since you haven’t, and nobody has, the folks over at Simply Noise have given us free access to auditory bliss.

It’s an easy-to-use white-noise generator that blocks out distractions and creates a quiet, workable atmosphere. Just adjust the volume slider to a comfortable level and you’ve got white noise. If you’re not familiar with it, white noise is sound that is equal at all frequencies, creating a base layer of noise that dulls the ambient coughs, shuffles, and chair adjustments within the classroom. It’s a great alternative to playing soft music while students work — no  matter what songs you pick, you can’t please everybody, and listening to music that kids don’t like can be more distracting than regular ambient noise. It’s a difficult phenomenon to explain: adding noise to subtract noise, but it works.

When using white noise in class, I recommend not telling your students that you’re playing anything and just see what happens while they are engaged with independent work. You can experiment with brown and pink noise, too. With luck (and fewer distractions), they’ll be able to concentrate harder on their work. If you want to gauge the noise’s effectiveness, just turn it off and wait a minute.

Remember this: you must keep the noise quiet. Too much volume and you’re bombarding the kids’ sense of hearing, which will result in the exact opposite of the intended effect. Used properly, Simply Noise can give your classroom the kind noise it needs.

Simply Noise

RT @dogtrax: Common Craft video on passwords and security http://bit.ly/c3wg12 thx to Free Tech for Teachers for the link

BY BILL FERRIS

Every day at Instructify we try to tell you about a website, application, or teaching practice that’s helpful or just plain cool. Unfortunately, there’s a lot more helpful and cool stuff out there than we have time to write about. As an experiment, we’ve started a new Instructify Twitter account that we’ll use to briefly spotlight things that we think are useful or interesting but don’t merit a full article.

In case you’re not on Twitter, we’ve set up the tweets to post directly into the blog under the tag, “in the news.” We hope you find these links informative, and that they turn you on to new practices and ideas that make you a better, more engaged teacher.

Follow Instructify on Twitter

Get a free download of AnyBizSoft PDF to Word Converter if you become their fan on Facebook: http://bit.ly/aOo9H2

The Creativity Crisis. Research shows kids are becoming less creative, says Newsweek. http://bit.ly/desV0O