Wouldn’t it be great to invite authors into your classroom or library to video chat with students before, during, and/or after reading their books?  Author Mona Kirby and School Media Specialist Sarah Chauncey developed a website to help schools and authors connect, the Skype and Author Network.  See list of authors here.  

Arrangements for Skype visits are made via email and/or phone between the author and the teacher or media specialists.  Authors offer two types of visits:  free “meet the author” visits lasting 10-15 minutes, or longer in-depth visits with the time and fee determined by each author.   Enjoy!

Image from Superkimbo in BKK, Flickr Creative Commons license

Teachers:  Are you on the hunt for YouTube-like videos that you can use for instructional purposes in your classroom?  Do you want to have your students create projects and view videos that will help them learn academic content?   As you know, there are many educational videos on YouTube (and other sites), but these sites also have inappropriate videos… those you do NOT want your students to access.  WatchKnow may be the answer for you.  It is a new wiki portal that categorizes short videos by topic.  There is also an age filter; search for only those that are appropriate for the age in years of your students!

This is a community where users make it better by contributing, so be sure to register for an account and add videos as you find those that are useful for your classroom.  Sources could be YouTube, TeacherTube, GoogleVideo, National Geographic, HowCast, SlideBoom, SchoolTube, Graspr, 5 Minute LifeVideopedia, InternetArchive, and eHow.  

The advisory panel includes experienced teachers and experts in educational media and library science.   This group reviews media and moderates the online community. 

Enjoy!

Here’s an example of how I use the site.  I was browsing the books of some of my Shelfari friends and kept seeing the book Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds.  I read the reviews:  Presentation Zen:  Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter).  I’m counting on it helping me create more effective presentations for delivery of teacher professional development, and according to the reviews on Shelfari, it will do just that.  I ordered it from Amazon and it should arrive any day! 

Google Earth released new and updated imagery and higher resolution 3D terrain for many locations, including Michigan!   If you have not visited Google Earth lately, you need to check it out!  I took a quick screenshot of Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes (NW Michigan’s Lower Peninsula).  I have vivid memories of running up and down the dunes with my family as a child.  It’s time to go back for a visit!  Does this sound interesting to you?  Visit the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Visitors Bureau website.

The first person I bumped into told me that the MACUL Conference was the best conference she has ever attended. She told me that the Alan November keynote was the perfect start to a fantastic conference. Last weekend, she spent some time exploring some of the new tools she was introduced to at the conference and shared a video she made with GoAnimate (a very cute invitation to her son’s birthday party).

Many people in my district were only able to attend the pre-conference. They appreciated the in-depth hands on approach. Several were wowed by Jason Ohler’s digital storytelling session. One teacher stated “I was impressed with his focus on story over glitz. His framework offers a boost to teachers who believe they do not have the time, money or skills needed to encourage students to create stories of their own.” Someone else said “His story mapping models are a great way to help kids organize ideas into something with meaning.” Teachers from one of our middle schools have already scheduled a digital storytelling workshop to offer teachers at their building. Another teacher has plans to transform a poetry unit into a poetry digital storytelling unit.

Several people were introduced to Google Docs. “I think that GoogleDocs has lots of possibilities for the classroom. Its ability to have users revise the same document in real time is incredible. Peer editing will be so much fun!” 

“Steve Dembo had tons of cool things to share. His energy and knowledge are inspiring. The most important thing I came away with from his presentations is a better idea of how fast the tool kit is growing and the idea that the educational applications of the new web need to be developed and then shared with others.”

 One teacher used a clever metaphor. She said, “I learned about many web 2.0 tools which I liken to snorkeling: I have seen the surface of the web, but there is so much more underwater.” My advice is to pick one and give it a try; soon you’ll be swimming for more!

• ArtsEdge (the arts)
• EconEdLink (economics)
• EdSitement (humanaties, foreign language, social studies)
• Illuminations (math)
• ReadWriteThink (literacy)
• Science NetLinks (science)
• Smithsonian (history)
• Xpeditions (geography)

Teachers of all grade levels can easily find lesson plans, interactive activities, worksheets, rubrics, media, primary source documents, and reference materials from all these content providers with one search. 

Additionally, Thinkfinity has separate web portals for students, parents, and after-school programs.  Teachers can encourage parents of their students to utilize Thinkfinity resources at home to deepen understanding of concepts.

Check it out!

You can also access Street View from Google Maps.  I just virtually traveled to the waterfront shops in Detroit.  Yes, there really are some beautiful areas in Detroit!  Wouldn’t you like to take a scroll down this street? 

How-to directions for using Street View in Google Earth are available from Google Earth’s web page. 

To access Street View from Google Maps, click and drag the yellow figure/man on the left side of your screen.