Top 100 Tools for Learning and Best of the Web

Okay, what are some of the top rated tools for learning? Each year, lists come out, and one such list is published by Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies. Its 2011 Top 100 Tools for Learning gives top billing to Twitter, third year in a row.  YouTube comes in second followed by Google docs and Skype. Skim the list. Which tools are your favorites? Which have you been meaning to try? Which are ones you have not considered, but pique your interest?

Other online lists of top winners include The Best of the Web, which offers links to find educational online websites across grade levels and subject areas. Check it out. Let us know what you like. There's plenty to explore, given most of the links go to gateway sites, listing a host of resources.

Image from: jeffreyhill.typepad.com

Reminder: Free Technology for Teachers

If you have not already bookmarked or created a feed to Free Technology for Teachers, which describes free to use online sites, offers free lesson plans, and categorizes access by an index of subject areas, such as science, math, and so forth, it is time that you have. This is a site worth checking regularly, and it has over 25,000 readers, not surprisingly! New posts appear almost daily. Educators find this site an indispensable resource. Once you have time to explore, let us know what you find of value.

Free Technology for Teacher is maintained by Richard Byrne, and his site has won numerous awards. If you don't find what you are looking for the first time around, check back later. This is not the first time I have posted a blog about Free Technology for Teachers. Just wanted to post another reminder about a blog chock full of resources.

Image credit: banner on Free Technology for Teachers

Lesson Plans

Two sites with lesson plans including ones that use computer software and websites:

The Educator’s Reference Desk offers lesson plans by discipline. Lesson plans use a variety of instructional materials, including websites and software programs.

Scholastic.com provides a variety of lesson plans in different disciplines. Plans can be found by discipline or grade level. Plans are also featured by month.

Black History Month Links

Here are some links for exploring sites related to Black History Month offered from NCTE. Let us know which sites you find particularly helpful. These sites should be useful beyond the month of February.
General Background Information
African American History Month, from The Library of Congress
Black History Month, from Biography.com
Black History Month, from EDSITEment
Black History, from The History Channel
Culture and Change: Black History in America, from Scholastic (includes a video interview with Christopher Paul Curtis)
Literature
A Brief Chronology of African American Literature, from San Antonio College Lit Web
African American Poets, from Famous Poets and Poems
African American Women Writers of the 19th Century, from The Schomburg Center at the New York Public Library
African-American Women, from Duke University Library
Black History, from Academy of American Poets
Twenty-Eight Days Later, A Black History Month Celebration of Children's Literature, from The Brown Bookshelf (Check the archive links on the right for celebrations from 2008 & 2009 as well as a poster you can download and print)
Video Interviews with children's book authors and illustrators, from Reading Rockets (includes an interview with recent Caldecott Medal winner Jerry Pickney)
Historical and Nonfiction Texts
African-American Quotations, from InfoPlease
African-American Sheet Music, 1850-1920, from the Library of Congress
African American Cultural Heritage Tour, from the Smithsonian Institute
American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology, from American Studies Hypertexts at the University of Virginia
The Church in the Southern Black Community, from Documenting the American South
Electronic Text Center: African American, from the University of Virginia (Note this site includes texts about African Americans as well as by African Americans, so you will need to help students choose wisely to avoid mistakes.)
In Those Days: African-American Life Near the Savannah River, from the National Park Service
North American Slave Narratives, from Documenting the American South
Notable Speeches and Letters by African Americans, from InfoPlease
Personal Histories
Experience War: Stories from the Veterans History Project, from the Library of Congress
Buffalo Soldiers: The 92nd in Italy
African Americans at War: Fighting Two Battles
Oral Histories, from the National Visionary Leadership Project, including histories from Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Sonia Sanchez, and Faith Ringgold
StoryCorps Griot, from National Museum of African American History and Culture
Blogs and More
Sharon Draper's Blog Read details on the author’s trip to Africa, and comments on her books Just Another Hero and Sassy.
Nikki Grimes Fan Page Check the Wall for responses from the author to comments posted by her fans.
Alice Walker’s Blog Find new poems, fiction in progress, and a tribute to Walker’s friend, historian Howard Zinn, who passed away last week.

2010 African-American Read-In

The annual International Reading Association (IRA) and National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) are once again sponsoring the Black History Month Read-In, and providing suggestions for activities to do throughout the month. Check out the events and activities. What are your thoughts on NCTE, IRA, and other educational organizations sponsoring suggested activities, lesson plans, and resources in honor of Black History Month? Let us know of other online resources for celebrating Black History Month that you have found. (Photo of Langston Hughes)

7th Grader's Sample Photo Story 3

Below is a sample of a Photo Story 3 video created by a 7th grader (Lauren) using Photo Story 3 for the first time. The video was created as one part of a unit in the social studies curriculum on the American Revolution. Within the unit of study, students were to assume the role of an American Revolution War figure and create a presentation from that figure's point of view. Students were required to include in their presentations specific points, for example, factual information about the various battles and background on the War. Students had the option of using PowerPoint, Photo Story 3, MovieMaker, or iMovie for the project. The teacher recommended Photo Story 3 for those who felt competent with PowerPoint but were not quite ready to use MovieMaker or iMovie. The teacher used a rubric with numerous component parts to evaluate the final project and required that students submit a written copy of their narration and a complete bibliography showing all sources used and where they were used in the presentation.

Let us know what you think of this use of Photo Story 3 to complement the social studies curriculum. To what extent do you think the creation of the video contributed to enduring understanding, long-term learning of concepts central to the curriculum?

Teachers Selling Their Wares on the Internet

Social network sites, such as Nings, allow teachers to share lesson plan ideas. Many teachers maintain websites where their lessons are readily available to others. But what about the selling and buying of lessons plans online. Check this front page article in the New York Times today: Selling Lesson Plans Online Raises Cash and Questions. Let us know what you think?

Image from the article, credit and photo caption:

Ruby Washington/The New York Times, Ms. Bohrer has sold 31 M&M counting exercises, which come with directions, sorting mats and work sheets, for $3 each.