The internet reminds me of a buffet. You walk along, browse, and get what you like. Some things taste better than others, but the best part is, it’s always changing! When I visit Twitter, it’s like having a waitress bring the meal to me. Sites flow through my Tweet stream because I follow {stalk!} people whose interests are in gifted education and educational technology. What they share lands on my plate! Here are ten great {FREE} resources that I have discovered lately and may try to incoroporate in my classroom this fall:
1.) Simple Diagrams: Create graphic organizers that look like chalk on chalkboard…only without the dust!
2.) ScreenJelly: Easily record movements and voice on your screen for up to 3 min! Students could make their own tech tutorials!
3.)Tagxedo: turns words — famous speeches, news articles, slogans and themes, even your love letters — into a visually stunning tag cloud, words individually sized appropriately to highlight the frequencies of occurrence within the body of text.
4.) Professor Garfield Comics Lab: Create comics with Garfield!
5.) Timetoast: Awesome timeline creator!
6.) On This Day in History (NY Times): Kids will love checking this out each day and the only thing you have to do is link it to your site! It could be a great starting point for further research and exploring new interests!
7.) Creaza: Movie editing, cartooning, sound! How could I have never seen this before? Creativity jackpot!!!!
8.) LiveBinders: Gather resources and files easily on the web. This has some major possbilities for students to collaborate! It could even be a quick, easy way to write a webquest! Check out the sample one to see what a set up binder looks like: http://livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=13560
9.) Photo8: WOW! Great collection of photos!
10.) Dropbox: Store files and access from any computer! *Because my flash drive is ALWAYS someplace other than where I need it!
…and just like a good buffet, I am absolutely stuffed after that!
