My first summer session of graduate school is complete. Session II begins on Monday with class only four days a week. Summer courses are different because when teachers share their resources with me, I am actually able to go home and try them out. During the school year, I am beyond exhausted after teaching all day and class until 8 p.m. The last thing I want is to spend more time on my computer. Since many of you teach, here are some resources you might find helpful (with some time left to test them out).
Prezi A creative way to make presentations. It’s a more entertaining approach to the boring PowerPoint. Prezis are public (unless you purchase an account) so you can use other peoples’ Prezi creations as a resource if you’re teaching that topic.
Visuwords This resource is an awesome vocabulary tool. Type in the word and a web is created with antonyms, synonymous, causes of that word, examples, and so much more. It’s a great visual explanation defining a word’s meaning.
Newswordy The website offers a news media-related vocabulary word each day. It then ties that word to current news stories as well as people’s tweets with that word. You can follow “newswordy” on twitter, too. (Reliable, quick resource for journalism and social studies teachers.)
Inspiration This free 60-day trial allows you to make graphic organizers, charts, maps…etc. I’ve used it over and over again for web reading strategies. It has graphics and loads of font and color options. There is another version called kidspiration that is also a 60-day free trial. I was told they are similar, so I’ll probably download that one when my trial expires.
EducationalTechnologyGuy this blog has endless resources for technology in the classroom. It is a great resource for project-based learning and lots of 21st Century Learning. He love google and all of its applications.
Thanks for the great resources:)
No problem! I tweeted at you with a specific post from EdTechGuy all about project based learning. I hope it’s resourceful for you!
Thanks for posting these. We actually have the Inspiration software at school (or we did) in the LMC lab. Prezi was the website I discovered last year and tried to play with on my own. I love, love the Visuwords link. That will be very helpful this next year!
Thanks do much!!
I totally forgot we had Inspiration. Thanks for the reminder. Prezi is cool. I’ve only made one, but all of my professors use it instead of google presentation or power points. I’m glad you might be able to benefit. I have a CW idea for next year. Look forward to an e-mail when I get my thoughts together for it. Yes, it’s not until January, but the time is now to plan.