Take a look at
Top 100 Tools for Learning, which rates educational learning tools based on votes provided by educators. Compare this year's results with that of the last two years'. Use the
2008 and
2007 links to access those lists. Note also the box, "25 TOOLS: A TOOLBOX FOR LEARNING PROFESSIONALS, " with these two links:
25 tools,
25Tools Ning Community.
Slideshare, a site for storing PowerPoint presentations and other slide displays, gets a top billing, and
Nings are receiving increasing attention as professional development tools. Twitter moved to first place from 11
th in 2008. PowerPoint went from 8
th place in 2008 to 12
th in 2009, a sign that emerging Web 2.0 tools are overtaking Microsoft Office products.
Slideshare is in 7
th place this year, above PowerPoint by 4 spots. YouTube in 4
th place this year was in 18
th in 2008, a significant climb. Delicious, a social bookmarking site, slipped to second place this year from 1st last year as Twitter moved to the top. Let us know which of the multitude of sites you incorporate in your teaching or plan to consider for the future.
We will devote one night in class to
Blogger/Blogspot, in 14
th place; it's one of the easiest blogging tools to learn.
The top 100 for 2008 is also available to view on SlideShare, and the 2009 list should be in
SlideShare soon once the voting closes. In fact, you have until Nov. 15, 2009 to cast your vote for this year's winners.
Remember to bookmark
Top 100 Tools for Learning for reference. There's lots to explore. I will soon update my list of "Education Websites" on this
blog's second sidebar, and for class, you need to create your own annotated lists of valuable sites for teachers and students. The
Top 100 Tools and the second sidebar on this blog might help you find some sites you want to include.
Image from the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies
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.
e images and music into a movie. One drawback to the site is that to make full use of it, you need to pay a fee, and as you work yourself through your first free movie, the site reminds you of the upgrade. The free version allows for producing only a 30-second movie. Take a look at the site, and let us know what you think. I did a quick video with the site, and had mixed reactions to the final product. Have any of you used the site, or know of anyone who does? If so, what have you heard?
Need some time to relax and play like a kid. Try out the MakeBeliefs Comix.com site. Create your own comic strips easily. Then imagine young children using the site to create comics, practicing their literacy and imaginative skills. In addition to writing in English, students can write in Spanish, Italian, and other languages. There's a Teacher Resource section. Check out "About the Author" to learn about the site's writer and illustrator. 
Try creating a few panes in a comic strip with the options available: characters, text boxes, think bubbles, objects, sizing, moving, and backgrounds. Remember to give your strip a title and to list yourself as its author. Use the Next feature when you are ready to print, or email your creation to a reader. It takes a little trial and error to get going, but it should not take you long to create your first comic. Have some fun and a few laugh! Let us know what you think.
Take a look at Top 100 Tools for Learning, which rates educational learning tools based on votes provided by educators. Compare this year's results with that of the last two years'. Use the 2008 and 2007 links to access those lists. Note also the box, "25 TOOLS: A TOOLBOX FOR LEARNING PROFESSIONALS, " with these two links: 25 tools, 25Tools Ning Community.
Museum of Humor, which offers teachers a host of lesson plans. The left sidebar on Free Technology for Teachers offers a list of links for resources in teaching social studies, English/language arts, math, science, and foreign language, while the right sidebar has links to a variety of resources. The site's designer boasts: "In 2008 Free Technology for Teachers was awarded the Edublogger Award for 'Best Resource Sharing Blog.' Free Technology for Teachers is read by an audience of more than 8000
subscribers." I know this is one blog that I have bookmarked and follow weekly. Hope you do too, and share with us helpful resources you find through the blog. Yesterday, October 29, the blog's main post was on the Crash of 1929, with the 80th anniversary of the Black Market marked on that date. A link to CNN Student News to a short segment and a PBS series American 
Experience with an hour long video about the stock market crash of 1929 were provided as well as this offering for watching an American Experience: The Crash of 1929 by clicking here. I also learned about the
Science Netlinks - Dozens of Science Lessons, including ones for integrating science into the elementary school classroom.
