Another way to download Youtube videos

Here is another quick and easy way to download Youtube and other videos from the Internet and save to your computer. Clipnabber is a web based tool so you don't have to download anything to your computer. Youtube downloader is a great tool for downloading videos but you have to download the software, it only takes a minute and use the tool from there. Also with Youtube downloader you are limited to just being able to download videos from Youtube and no where else. Another problem is that if you move to a computer that doesn't have Youtube downloader you either have to download it or not have it.
Clipnabber is easy to use and you can download more than just Youtube videos with it. Just copy the URL of the video into the Clipnabber box and select what type of file you would like it to download as and you are done. (flv, mp4 or mobile formats)
Here is a link to Guiding Tech that explains this process in more detail.
Give it a try!

Social Networking Goes to School

Interesting article from Education Week. Discusses the many ways teachers and students are using social networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook. I am trying to work this out with administration to get a Facebook page for FR that I can post sports scores, building events and other FR related information.
I am still trying to figure out a way to use Twitter for professional development here at FR. I personally find it to be the best professional development tool I have ever used.

What have you learned?

I was thinking about all the new things that I have learned this year and how several of them have positively impacted my classes. So I thought this would be a good end of the year question,
"What have you learned this year that has had a positive impact on your classes?"

Educational experts everywhere are constantly talking about how important it is to make our kids "life-long learners". If that is the case shouldn't we as educators also be life-long learners? If you took a video of your classroom this year and your classroom from the year 2000 how has it changed? What do you do differently? If seems to me that if the two classrooms looks very similar then something is wrong.
We constantly have to be learning and our classrooms evolving to improve the educational experience for our students. And today with tools like Twitter, blogs, RSS feeds there is no excuse for not being a constant learner. "I don't have time" is no longer a valid excuse. As an educator in 2010 you have a constant stream of learning experiences available to you through your phone or computer, USE THEM!

It is time to consider what is truly best for your students and not what you are willing to do to make your life easier.

What will you learn this summer?

Mathematics and Multimedia

Mathematics and Multimedia is a math blog that provides some interesting information and several "how-to's" for creating math tools using PowerPoint add Geogebra. There are several links to other math resources also available.
The author of this blog is now organizing a Mathematics and Multimedia Blog Carnival.

Here are some of the topics that they will be discussing:
1. integration of technology in teaching mathematics;
2. connections among different topics and mathematics as well as connections of mathematics to other fields;
3. explanation of the ideas behind concepts in mathematics;
4. problem solving and proofs;
5. pedagogy and teaching mathematics.

The author is looking for math teachers to submit ideas, questions, comments etc. See the blog for more information and to participate. It begins on July 5th.

World Language Resource

LangMedia offers some interesting resources for a multitude of languages. This site offers videos of common everyday interactions in the language and even breaks it down by countries. For instance, Spanish in Argentina, French in France, and many, many more. Foreign lanugage and English language transcripts are provided for each video. There are also photos of signs that would be seen in a number of public situations, restroom signs, emergency signs, banking, post offices, and many more.
Would be a great resource for world language students and teachers to view short interactions in whatever language they might be studying.
Great Resource!

Spanish Resource- Lingus.tv
Lingus.tv provides a selection of videos about everyday interactions spoken in Spanish. Videos are embeddable for use on a webpage, wiki or blog.

Teaching and Learning Spanish
This blog posts a variety of resources for Spanish teachers. Seems like a great resource for up to date online Spanish resources. Provides links to Children Websites, other Spanish blogs to follow, foregin language advocacy group links, and teacher resource links.

Shmoop-Awesome Resource

I know I have shared this before but after seeing it again I had to share it, again! Shmoop is an awesome resource for a variety of currriculums; LIterature, Poetry, Shakespeare, Bestsellers, US History, Civics, Biography, and Music. These are all free resources. They also offer AP Exam Review resources for a small fee. Shmoop includes Summaries, Themes, Quotes, Characters, Analysis, Questions, Photos, Relevant Websites, and Opinions on a variety of topics and books. Some sample content/books; Huckleberry Finn, Animal Farm, The Catcher in the Rye, World War II, the War of 1812, Biographies of famous people and so much more.
If you usually pass up the sites I offer on this blog please don't pass this one by.

Learn Vocabulary for 9 Different Languages

WordSteps - Learn Vocabulary for Nine Languages

WordSteps is a resource for learning the vocabulary of your choice of nine languages. To start learning vocabulary with WordSteps select the language you are trying to learn then choose a set of vocabulary words in that language. WordSteps provides six types of practice activities for each set of vocabulary words. The sets of vocabulary words are called dictionaries by WordSteps. You can use the dictionaries made by other WordSteps users or create your own dictionary. WordSteps can be used without creating an account, but in order to create your own dictionary you must create an account.

The languages supported by WordSteps are English, French, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, German, Japanese, Italian, and Portuguese. The vocabulary practice activities are Flash Cards, Translation Variations, Words Variants, Alphabet Soup, Write Translation by Word, and Write Word by Translation.

Applications for Education
WordSteps could be useful as an independent study tool for foreign language students. If students have a set of words that they must learn for a class they can enter that list into WordSteps and have six types of practice activities ready for them to use. If students are trying to learn a language on their own then the public gallery of vocabulary lists provides a ready-made learning opportunity

Multimedia Timelines

Here are 5 tools for creating multimedia timelines. Great resources for students to add images and videos to timelines and great for teachers to eliminate the older poster timelines.

XTimeline
Allows students to collaborate, just as they would when creating a wiki, to build a multimedia timeline. XTimelines can include text, images, and video.

TimeGlider
Offers nicer layouts than XTimeline such as, staggering or indenting events below each other in sequence. TimeGlider also makes it easy to display the relative importance of an event by increasing its size compared to other events on the timeline.

Time Toast
Very easy to learn and use. To add events simply click on the "add event" button and a simple event box pops up where you can enter text, place a link, or add a picture. Lacks advanced editing feature that are present in XTimeline and TimeGlider. This is a more suitable choice for elementary or middle school students.

Time Rime
Allows users to create timelines that include text, images, audio and video. One of the better features is that you can have more than one type of media for each event on your timeline. You can also select which media type you want as the feature piece of each event. You can also embed the timeline in a blog or email it.

Dipity
This is a great tool that allows users to incorporate text, images and videos into each entry on their timeline. Also incorporates a mapping feature that allows users to place a related Google Maps bookmark for the timeline. Built in collaboration option for sharing projects. Able to add multiple types of media which allows users to add more detail and information than in a traditional timeline.

How are you using technology? Part Deux

Here a few ideas, 130 to be exact, for how to use social media in the classroom. I thought I should follow my previous post with some resources.

100 Inspiring Ways to Use Social Media in the Classroom


30 Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom

Enjoy and as always please let me know if I can be of any help.

How are you using technology?

I was talking with a teacher who is doing Socratic seminars in class. Students select a book that they read and then run a Socratic seminar with their class. Here are a few of the student comments in their Socratic, interesting what our students see...

"Teachers here think that just because they have us use a computer, they are using technology. It is so much more than that. It is using technology to develop real-world skills and solve problems that we might face in the future.”

"Yeah my teacher projects notes on the promethean board and thinks he uses technology. He isn’t. How about letting me get out of my seat and discover something on my own. Isn’t that teaching."

I just found this to be interesting commentary. thanks and have a great week!