Local District 4 Instructional Technology News

There are numerous sites with free images, but few are considered pubic domain.  Here is a list of ten sites with great quality images and multimedia content.  This list was put together by Garr Reynolds on his blog Presentation Zen.  These sites have large versions of their images for you to use with your lessons or have your students use as they create podcasts, movies, digital storybooks, etc. Large images are better than small ones because it gives you the flexibility to resize them if they are too large for your project or if you simply want to crop a section of the photograph to highlight a particular element.  As educators, we are able to use most images for educational use, but it is always good practice to check the terms of use, just to be safe.
• Earth Observatory (NASA). So much goodness here. I’m sure every teacher already has this site bookmarked.
• Visible Earth (NASA). This is a new collection of earth imagery from NASA.  Click on the image to get a much larger size.

• Great Images in NASA. A collection of about a thousand images of historical interest scanned at high-resolution in several sizes.
• NASA multimedia. Includes many high-quality photos as well.
• Photos by Astronauts. A gazillion cool images from space.
• NOAA Photo Library. Search the site or browse through “collections” at the top. Hundreds and hundreds of historical photos in there too.
• Uncle Sam’s Photos. A directory of the U.S Government’s free stock photo sites.
• The (US) National Archives. The National Archives has more than 30 million photos stored in several buildings in the US, many of them are available online. High-rez photos of The Constitution and The Bill of Rights, etc. as well as loads of photos from WWII in general and Japanese American Internment, and so on. I think I have seen some of the WWII images in Ken Burns’ s documentary The War (highly recommended).

• WWII posters. Not too many high-rez images here, but very interesting. Sizes may be good enough for slides.

• Public Domain Pictures. A repository for free public domain photos. Easy to search.

If you know any other public domain sites that offer good quality in the form of historical archives, etc. please share your links in the comments section below. Thanks.

Tags: free, images, pictures, public domain, Resources

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

Here is a list of web resources I came across to help you manage your time and integrate technology at the same time.  Most of them are free of charge and some require a small fee or a subscription.

AfterClass

This site allows the teacher to have an online classroom.  Learning does not have to end when the bell rings at the end of a period or at the end of the day.  Teachers can set up multiple classrooms for various topics and have their students sign up for the class.  It is a place for teachers and sudents to post to a classroom blog, upload files, podcasts, and engage in meaningful discussions.  For teachers, it is easy to set up and even provides pre-written posts related to the class.  At the end of the day, each participant gets an email with all of the days activities for the class.

Teachscape XL

Teachscape is an online professional development site designed to help teachers, administrators, coaches, and any other educational leader interested in improving their practice.  Get feedback from educators and researchers on issues and concerns you are having.  Get ideas and resources for your lessons.  Check out this video for more details. Teachscape

HotChalk

HotChalk is a learning environment for K-12 teachers, students and parents that includes a learning management system (LMS), a rich library of teacher-contributed lesson plans, premium digital content like NBC News video, and professional development for teachers in a Web-based environment. Available through any Internet browser, the HotChalk Learning Environment is an easy to use system and brings teachers, students and parents together to improve education.

Free Rice

Free Rice is an educational game website where a correct answer can help feed a needing family.  The website allows students to select the content they want to be quized on.  For every correct answer given, 20 grains of rice are donated through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger.  The more answers you get correct, the more rice is donated.  If you answer incorrectly, you lose all of your rice… Just kidding! You don’t loose anything.  The website will simply give you feedback as to what the correct answer should be.

National Geographic

We have all seen or used a National Geographic magazine at some point in our lives or in our classrooms, but did you know you can access hundreds of resources specifically designed for education for free?  The National Geographic website has resources for educators and students. You can view videos, pictures, listen  to podcasts, download lessons, get maps, etc.  There are tons of resources available for you to use to help enhance your lessons.  The website also has additional programs available such as The Jason Project and The National Gegraphic Bee.

Google Knol

This site is designed to verify the authorship of articles, so every knol will have an author or group of authors who put their name behind their content.  Authors can collaborate on an article and any reader can suggest edits.  It is up to the author to accept, reject, or make modifications to their work.

Imprint Studio

Imprint Studio is a fairly inexpensive software program that will enable you to use your existing printer to print poster sized images.  It runs for about $22 and works only on Macs running OS 10.5 or newer.

Tags: blogs, collaboration tools, Education, Resources, software, teachers, web 2.0, websites

We are all familiar with YouTube and some of you may be familiar with TeacherTube.  But have you heard of HotChalk and SchoolTube?

HotChalk is a free site for teachers, students and parents.  This site offers access to decades of news archives, including direct news footage and discussion opportunities to be used in the classroom from NBC.  The site also provides training videos and other professional resources for teachers.

SchoolTube is another source for educational videos.  It has been endorsed by the National Association of Elementary School Principals for promoting a safe media sharing across the country.  There are numorous categories to search through, but what sets this site apart from others is the category dedicated to elementary schools.

Tags: Education, Resources, video

Spark Notes is a website with tons or notes on just about any subject. Sorry Cliff Notes, but you are a thing of the past. Spark Notes is an online version of Cliff Notes in a way. Students and teachers can look up Study Guides for Writing, Literature, Math, Science, Shakespeare, Test Prep, etc. You do not need an account to view the material. They’re free. If you wish to download the article, you can purchase it for a small fee.

Think about all of the struggling students trying to figure out what Shakespeare is trying to say. With Spark Notes you’ll have no fear. No Fear Shakespeare puts Shakespeare’s language side-by-side with a facing-page translation into modern English—the kind of English people actually speak today.

Need help writing out a Binomial Expansion?, not a problem. You can find sample problems on Spark Notes. Okay, if you know what a Binomial Expansion is, then you are either a Math Major or you need to get out more often. In any case, ceck out the site. I’m sure you’ll find it very useful. Go to www.sparknotes.com.

Tags: notes, Resources