Local District 4 Instructional Technology News

When looking for videos to enhance instruction, we try to find an appropriate DVD movie to bring in to class to share with our students.  Some of you are probably still using those antiquated VHS tape movies. In either case, you still have to track down the VCR or DVD player to play the movies in your class.  This method might have been fine several years ago, but with so much rich media content freely available online, there is no need for any of the previous formats.
Many of you have seen or heard of YouTube.  There is a lot of content on that site.  Some good, some bad.  Unfortunately, in many cases, YouTube is blocked in school districts.  This is the case in LAUSD. So in an earlier post, I talked about TeacherTube as an alternative to YouTube. TeacherTube has become a great resource for educators when looking for safe, teacher/student created videos to be used in a classroom setting.   Additionally, I had also mentioned SchoolTube.  This is another great site for educational videos.
Here is yet another great alternative to YouTube, Edublogs.tv.  From the creators of the Edublogs blogs, comes Edublogs.tv.  This is a video hosting site designed for educators to share educational videos.  Visit the site and register for your free account.

• Edublogs.tv

  tags: youtube, edublogs, web2.0, edublogs.tv, teaching, video_sharing, e-learning, for_educators

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Does your school need extra funds?  How about getting paid for recycling items you normally throw away.  With the Funding Factory, you can recycle ink cartridges and old cell phones.

http://fundingfactory.com

Celebrate Cesar Chavez day with your students.  Visit the Cesar Chavez Foundation website for music, videos and lesson activities for both elementary and secondary students.

• CESAR E. CHAVEZ FOUNDATION

Share with others how you celebrate Cesar Chavez Day? Post your suggestions here for others to read.

tags: chavez, cesar

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Thank you for your efforts to get the word out about InfoTech.  Some of you have signed up to Showcase student work and others have simply signed up to attend.  If any of you would like to assist us in making InfoTech a success again, I am looking for volunteers to help us out with Logistics, Registration, Student Showcases, and other areas.  If you are interested in helping out, send me an email or give me a call.

Tags: infotech, itaf, LAUSD, LD4

If you are a student in Kindergarten through College you can get free live homework help from a trained tutor in these subjects:

• Math
• Science
• English
• Social Studies

Available from 1:00pm to Midnight every day.

All it takes is a County of Los Angeles Library Card. Need a Library Card?

More Resources – check out our Databases and Online Resources.

Tags: help, homework, students, tutor

Do you have a SmartBoard in your classroom?  Do you need resources to help you use the board more effectively? Whether you are an expert or just beginning to use one, I have added a collection of web resources to help you maximize its use in the classroom.  Go to the Tech Documents tab or click here to access the links.  If you have any other sites you would like to share, send them to me and I will add them to the list.

Tags: Interactive Whiteboard, LD4, Lessons, Resources, SmartBoard