Social Learning with Edmodo

Edmodo is a free, secure, social learning platform for teachers, students, schools and districts.
It is an easy way to post class materials, share links and videos, and access homework, grades and school notices. It is free of cost and is extremely easy to use and setup. There are some sites that try to do everything, edmodo knows what it can do and does it extremely well.

Online Quizzes with Testmoz

Have you wanted to have your classes take online quizzes without the hassle of signing up for them? Well then testmoz is just right for you. It is easy to use and setup a quiz. You can choose from 4 types of questions, True/False, multiple choice, multiple response and fill in the blank. You type in the questions, select the right answers and then generate the quiz. A link is generated and you can just have your students go there to take the exam. You have the option of setting up a password so that you do not have random people taking the quiz. After the quiz, you can view a detailed report on how each person who too the quiz did.

I had the class practice on a sample before taking the actual test so that there were no problems with the technology for them.

Start a wiki for your class with Wikispaces

Wikipedia is not the only wiki that should raise an eyebrow in your classroom.
With Wikispaces, you can start your own wiki for your classroom. They offer a free upgrade for wikis that will be used in the classroom.

If you do not know what a wiki is, here is a video that will explain it for you
What is a wiki?

I have been using it with my class this year, and it has been a useful resource for collecting homework and getting them to interact online. I think it can have a lot of uses and I am still discovering them.

Qwiki: a new way to present information in class.

Are you looking for a new way to view information? Qwiki is a new webapp that reads articles to you while showing a slideshow of pictures on the topic.You might wonder what the use is? But if you have a class in your classroom, and just a few minutes to gather your information, Qwiki might be the app to get you a cool slideshow in under a minute. Try this site out and see how it makes a difference in your classroom.

Prezi: The Most Exciting PowerPoint Alternative

Have you used Prezi yet?
If you have not, prepare to be wowed.
It is a new way to put presentations and is totally different from PowerPoint and it is pretty cool too.Prezi has a special on offer for teachers, an EDU enjoy subscription which gives you 5 times the space of a regular free account and the ability to create student accounts. Go and try this out, you will not regret it.

Here is a sample from their site telling you why it is time to move from simple slides.

Why should you move beyond slides? on Prezi

The 7 best free guides for book summaries

There are sometimes when we are unable to read every book for class. At times like that there are 2 guides that come to mind. SparkNotes and CliffNotes. If you want to check out a different point of view or some different resources I have found 5 more sites that are worth checking out.
This is my first 7Best guide

1.SparkNotes
The old faithful for students who need to do some last minute cramming.

2. CliffNotes
Another website that is used all the time. No need to say any more.

3. Pink Monkey
With over 460 free study guides, book notes, and chapter summaries, PinkMonkey is a great resource for students, It also contains detailed summaries. If you can ignore the unusual name, it is worth checking out.

4. Shmoop
Shmoop is one of the best sites on the Web for learning about not only literature, but also other school topics like U.S. history, poetry, civics, biography, and even current bestsellers. The website provides a brief “in a nutshell” introduction to books as well as in-depth summaries. Other features include exploring the story’s themes, quotes, characters, and literary devices, along with plot analysis and study questions.

5.Grade Saver
GradeSaver is another great place for students in need of help. A well-written summary and analysis is provided for the book’s chapters, with other helpful additions like a glossary of terms, character list, and major themes.

6. Bookrags
BookRags has a sizable collection of free literature summaries and study guides. Along with chapter summaries, the site covers author/context, plot summary, major characters, objects/places, and quotes. Important topics about the book are also tracked and analyzed throughout the summaries.

7.FreeBook Notes
Free Cliff Notes, Free Book Notes, Free Book Summaries, and Free Study Guides for over 1600 books!

Free Ready-made Presentations

Sometimes you just don't have the time or the resources to create a presentation from scratch. But you are determined to use it in class in a few hours/minutes.
Where do you go?
Fortunately the internet has a plethora of resources available for you in this state.

Here are the top 2 that I use.

1. Slideshare.net SlideShare is the world's largest community for sharing presentations. Upload and share on blogs, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. 45 million people use SlideShare every month for research, sharing ideas, connecting with others, and generating business leads. SlideShare also supports documents, PDFs, and videos You need to create an account, but you can sign in with your facebook account too.

2. Scribd

Scribd is another site where you can either read or download documents or upload your own. Scribd goes beyond just presentations and you can download all sorts of documents. This site too needs an account, your facebook account will be enough.

Education videos on youtube

There are so many times as a teacher that I want to get my students to be able to interact more, become more immersed in the class activity and engage them further. It seems to me that they have to develop a school, education brain.. that means sit quietly in class listen to lectures and take notes, and the part to them that comes on after school and involves in them using technology and being creative.

Today I would like to share 2 short videos related to education that I have watched on youtube.

The first is a short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes
they will experience in their lifetime. Created by Michael Wesch in
collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University.

The second is about why we need to use technology in the classroom.

"This video describes why I believe technology is so important in our
schools. Technology prepares students for lives in the future. It also
engages students. Students expect to be engaged in this way."

Free Online Gradebook

If you have access to the internet all the time from your classroom, you need to try this program.

In addition to being a gradebook, it is a free set of web-based tools for educators allowing them to manage their classes online while providing parents and students with 24/7 real-time online access.

Features include a free online gradebook, attendance book, homework calendar, secure SPAM-free messaging, file uploads, progress reports, and more. Engrade has over 2.2 million registered users and is used by elementary schools, high schools, and universities from all 50 states and countries around the world.

New Teacher tips from Scholastic

Are you a new teacher in search of ideas? Scholastic has a section of their website devoted to resources, tools and tips for new teachers.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/newteacher/

Rubrics from Rubistar

Rubrics are scoring tools for subjective assessments. They are extremely useful for teachers. Some of us have time to make great rubrics, but for all of us who do not have the time to create them, we have Rubistar.
It is a free tool to allow a teacher to make exemplary rubrics in a short amount of time. There are 10 topics with templates to enable the rubric making process to be simpler.

Atomic Learning Computer Tutorials

I discovered this when I was looking for some Windows movie maker tutorials to share with my class.
It has a very comprehensive list of video ( screen capture video ) tutorials ranging from simple to advanced.
Atomic Learning Browse Results - Atomic Learning

Thousands of Free Lesson Plans and Educational Resources for Teachers

Thousands of Free Lesson Plans and Educational Resources for Teachers | Verizon Thinkfinity.org

This site is sponsored by the Verizon Foundation.
"Each site includes lessons for teachers, activities to use in and out of the classroom, games for young children and teens, adult literacy resources and reference materials for anyone in the education field, as well as for parents and afterschool practitioners."

Educational tools from National Geographic

Here are some great tools to enhance your geography class. Tools provided by the National Geographic Society. There are lesson plans from K-12, a whole lot of activities and there is an atlas with hundreds of printable maps.
All the lessons and activities fit in with the The U.S. National Geography Standards.

Xpeditions @ nationalgeographic.com

DropMocks

DropMocks

DropMocks is the easiest way to create and share beautiful image galleries online.

Just drag your image files onto the page, and th gallery can be created.

Khan Academy

Have you ever checked out Khan Academy?

Here is what the founder has to say about the site:
"With over 1600 videos, it is easily the most exhaustive collection of instruction on the Internet allowing learners to know that they can fill in almost any of their "gaps" with the content on this site. The content is made in digestible 10-20 minute chunks especially purposed for viewing on the computer as opposed to being a longer video of a conventional "physical" lecture."

Check this out and make sure to use it.

132 books free from Kaplan

132 Free Ebooks from Kaplan
by FreeKaplanEbooks.com
This offer has been floating around since 4th of January this year, so I'm quite late in covering this. Nonetheless the good news is that the offer was extended till 17th of January, so you still have a couple of days to get your free ebooks. Their range of ebooks are supported by most of the popular reading devices out there, namely Barnes & Nooble NOOK, Amazon Kindle, Apple Ipad & Sony eReader. They do provide great step by step instructions on how to get these free ebooks to your devices, so no worries there. The layout of their site is pretty well laid out, giving users direct options on where to go and how to proceed.
Among the categories covered in this list of ebooks, include:-

1. College (27)
2. Education (21)
3. Graduate (22)
4. Legal (16)
5. Medicine (31)
6. Nursing (15)

For the list of free ebooks offered – CLICK HERE.

To start downloading, click on the link below:-
132 Free Ebooks from Kaplan (Hurry! Offer ends 17th January 2011)