Free Webinar On Scratch… A Free Program From MIT… Imagine, Program, Share!

Are you  itching for ways to engage and empower students and their inherent creativity? Scratch will bring instant relief to a classroom of kids  ready to collaborate, innovate, and create! Please join me as I present some Scratch Basics while informing educators how to get students Scratching across the curriculum! This Scratch Webinar sponsored by the awesome people at the  Siemens Stem Academy and the Discovery Education Network is bound to create a rash of enthusiasm. I also wish to thank in advance both Steve Dembo and Hall Davidson, two of the very best, for the moderation they will be providing. The date and time is Tuesday, November 30 at 7:00 PM EST! Please join me, and while you are at it, subscribe to this 21centuryedtech Blog by either RSS or email. You can also check out my 21centuryedtech Wiki or follow me on Twitter. Most of all, please register for this free Scratch Webinar and join me for a journey into 21 Century Learning! Have a great week! – Mike

When was the last time you got a good smell of a Crayola Crayon? It really doesn’t matter the color! Just the scent will turn on the imaginative juices possibly lost since Kindergarten!  Or perhaps you remember the hours you spent with Tinker Toys. An adventure filled with a constant flow of  unchecked time  building, tweaking, and tinkering!  Then there was the Easy Bake Oven. A true childhood dream of combining, remixing, and creating. The brilliant inventors at MIT’s Life long Kindergarten Group have found a way to repackage, reinvent, and integrate these same concepts and come up with an ingenious package called Scratch. It is a mix of on-line experiences,  computer programing, animation, game creation, multi media, fine arts, science, social studies, language arts, math, and collaboration. Join me in this Scratch Webinar to discover why Scratch is a must for every 21st Century classroom!

Do you want to build a game? Scratch can do it. Do you want to create a work of art. Count on Scratch to allow you to fit together the Master Pieces! Do you want to discover mathematic? You can count on Scratch to make sense out of numbers and number theory. Do you want to tell a story? Scratch can do that with pictures, sounds, and movement! Do you wish to experience sound and music? Scratch will carry quite a tune!  There is simplicity for elementary, challenges for middle school, and complexity for the older students. Educators can help students Scratch their way through any level and curriculum.

Perhaps your school is fascinated by STEM, or intent on pulling in the fine arts by creating STEAM! Possibly your classroom is venturing into the world of Project and Problem Based Learning. It may be the 21st Century Skills that you are building with students each day. Scratch can be used as a tool to promote all of these awesome  avenues that promote student centered high level learning!

This really is a must attend webinar where you will learn…

1. Scratch basics

2. Why you must incorporate Scratch

3. How to get the free program and more

4. How to get students started

5. How to get students far ahead of you

6. Opportunities in every curriculum at all levels

7. Ways to promote 21st Century Skills

8. Methods to promote community and on-line collaboration

9. The art of creating, remixing, and innovating

10. Ways to explore resources at MIT and beyond

You will discover how to get students a basic beginning and later get them involved in animation, drawing, interactive art, games, math, music, simulations, and even a possible contest. You will view student creations while listening to their experiences. Most of all this webinar will introduce you to a vast amount of resources and ideas to send you and your students on a quest that will allow them to imagine, program, and share! I will even show you ways to bring Scratch outside of the computer’s environment allowing interaction in awesome, inspiring, and relevant ways!   While this webinar will only “Scratch” the surface, it will provide the foundation to incorporate Scratch into your curriculum and get students excited about STEM education and opportunities.

Please send and retweet  this post to educators across the internet and share with other colleagues in your building! When you sign up for the Scratch Webinar, be sure to also subscribe to this Blog. Be on the look out for my up-coming post  bringing you links to resources uncovered in the Scratch Webinar. In fact, that is just one more reason to turn on the RSS feed or email subscription to my 21centuryedtech Blog. You will also find information and resources at my 21centuryedtech Wiki and I hope you are itching to follow me on Twitter at mjgormans!  Again, please join tthe educators that will participate in this free Scratch Webinar from Siemens, Discovery Education, and yours truly! I look forward to sharing and learning from you! I am also excited to view your comments, replies, and back channel chat on Tuesday, November 30 at 7:00 PM EST! As always, thanks for stopping by and keep progressing, as you continue to transform your classroom for the 21st Century! – Mike

Part 3 … Amazing And Valuable Techniques Using Google Advanced Search

Welcome to the third post in my  Googal In Google Series giving an in depth view of the Google Advanced Search Engine. In this third of a three part posting, I will cover some great techniques many people do not know or seldom use in the Google Advanced Search.  As always,  feel free to subscribe to this Blog by RSS or email, follow me on twitter at (@mjgormans), and also discover some great resources at my 21centuryedtech Wiki!  You will also find my other postings at Tech and Learning Magazine. Also please mark November 30, at 7PM on your calendar. I will be presenting a free webinar about MIT’s free program, Scratch, in conjunction with Discovery Education. Please click here to learn even more! Now let’s advance our knowledge and uncover even more great techniques in using the Google Advanced Search!  Have a great week – Mike

I sure hope you enjoyed the other three posts in this Google Search Series. If you missed them then check out the links below.

Ten Items All Should Know When Using Google Basic Search…. Far From Basic!

Part 1… The Google Advanced Search.. Basic Student Skills And Learning

Part 2 … The Google Advanced Search.. Uncover Awesome Searching Secrets For Teaching And Learning

This is the third in a series of articles on the Google Advanced Search. In this post I wish to cover that part of the advanced search you see when clicking on the blue highlighted area called Date, usage rights, numeric range, and more. You will find a host of valuable tools to help make any search, even better.

Date (How Recent The Page Is)

This is very valuable for finding timely information. Students looking up a current event or news breaking story may want to use this feature. Remember, the default is (anytime). It is also a great way to emphasize whether currency of information is relevant to the research topic.

Usage Rights

This is a goal mine for those wishing to use, share, modify, or remix information.  Also, a great way to teach students about copyright and creative commons rights. It is important to observe the rules governing how an item may be shared, and to make students aware of this. This is especially helpful when searching for pictures in the Advanced Image Search. It allows the user to search for pictures that can be used in their own publications. Please note that even with permission the creator of any material should always be credited.

Where Your Keywords Show Up

This is a tool that can be real useful in narrowing down results. First, the default is (Anywhere In Page).  This includes all the possibilities, but may actually be to broad in scope. When getting a large number of returns, one could narrow down returns by requesting that keywords be listed in title. This will narrow the search and possibly lead users to a more specific subject, since keywords in a title tend to emphasize content in an article. In the same way, URL and Links to a page may lead the researcher to a more specific and relevant information.

Region

This is one of my very favorite tools in the Advanced Search. This is a great way to teach students about bias and regional differences. This part of the search engine allows the student to look up web pages published in a specific region or country. This technique is great for current event, allowing the searcher to get information from the country of origin. A teacher should encourage students to compare and contrast the same news story coming from two different areas or regions. Students can study a subject, such as the American Revolution, from a British, French, Russian, or United States perceptive. What is Russia’s take on the Space Race,  Cuba’s thought’s on the Bay of Pigs, or China’s research on Global Warming?  This really is a  tool that a teacher can build a unit around and is very valuable for teaching 21st Century skills.

Numeric Range

Perhaps a researcher wishes to search between a set number of years, such as 1800-1900. Specifying a dollar amount such as $250 – $500 or searching for a distance range 10 miles – 100 miles could be valuable in finding needed information. A student may even wish to look  up a range of page numbers. These are just some of the ways that numeric range can be used in an Advanced Search.

SafeSearch

As the name implies, Google attempts to determine the integrity of a web site. If a website is considered unacceptable Google will not list it. This is a good tool to have turned on for students at both school and home.

Page Specific Tools

These are both very useful tools. A user that really finds a particular site useful may want to enter that pages’s URL into the Find Pages Similar To The Page line. This may lead to other sites that provide needed research information.

Using the Find Pages That Link To The Page may also lead the user to other useful sites. This Link To The Page tool can also be used to evaluate a website by determining the number, and type of pages linking to it. In fact, I teach people to use Find Pages That Link To The Page when evaluating Web Pages using what I call  Good Links.  (Starting with a space before entering the address in the Find Pages That Link To The Page form  will yield different and sometimes better results)  You can also learn more about web evaluation in my upcoming Evaluating a Web Page Series. I am certain it will be a series you will want to share with your students and other teachers.

Thanks for joining me in this third article uncovering the Google Advanced Search. Feel free to print this and use it with your students. Please share this posting URL with other educators and encourage them to subscribe!  Prepare yourself for my Evaluating a Web Page Series which I promise will be a hit. Please take a moment to comment and subscribe to this blog by RSS or email, share with others, and as always follow me on twitter (@mjgormans). Please remember to join me at Discovery Education for my webinar entitled Learn, Create, and Innovate with Scratch. Until next time… transform, educate, and inspire! – Mike

Part 1… The Google Advanced Search.. Basic Student Skills And Learning

Welcome to another post that is a new entry in my Googal In Google Series. In fact, I was ecstatic about the enthusiastic responses from my  Ten Items All Should Know When Using Google Basic Search… Far From Basic posting. (If you didn’t see it, give it a click.) In this first of a three part posting I will cover some great things to know about Google Advanced Search. I will even try to convince you that perhaps you will increase student understanding by teaching them to search with the Advanced Search Page! As always,  feel free to subscribe to this Blog by RSS or email, follow me on twitter at (@mjgormans), and also discover some great resources at my 21centuryedtech Wiki!  You will also find my other postings at Tech and Learning Magazine. Now let’s take a moment and advance to some of the advanced search strategies using Google Advanced Search! – Have a great week – Mike

Many of us never get beyond the Basic Search Page. In fact, if you use the suggestions from my posting Ten Items All Should Know When Using Google Basic Search… Far From Basic,  the Basic Search Engine should serve you and your students well! However, I invite you to take the plunge and prepare yourself and your students to advance in Google. In fact using the Advanced Search Page can actually provide students with a more concrete learning example even before using the Google Commands in a Basic Search. I highly suggest starting students out with the Advanced Search because it can really help in developing this true understanding. As you begin to use it I am sure you will see the point I am trying to make! Getting to the Advanced Search is easy, just click the Advanced Search Text, and you will magically enter a land of extreme, but highly understandable searching! In this first of three articles I will cover the basics of an advanced search. The next two posts will go beyond the basics by explaining tools, ideas, and techniques to use the Advanced Search to its very fullest. First, let’s sees what you encounter after you push the button!

The Advanced Search Part One – The Basics And Student Learning

So you clicked the button! Good for you! At first you will note some choices that help drive home concepts I detailed in Ten Items All Should Know When Using Google Basic Search… Far From Basic. Under the Find Web Pages That Have and the But Don’t Show Pages That Have sections; some important techniques are used that are helpful in finding good web site (see image below). Not only that, the skills learned here are transferable to the basic search page. Starting students with the Advanced Search may help them better understand how to search and make their search much more productive and reliable! Let’s take a look.

Let’s explore the section entitled: Find Web Pages that have…

In this section you will note that there are three areas to enter text. They include;  All these words, This exact wording or phrase, and One or more of these words.

1. All these words – Google looks up all the the words and finds web pages that have all of the words in them. (Note that small words such as articles are omitted – a, the, of, an, as… etc). Google is not concerned with putting these words in order next to each other. It is only concerned that all major words are somewhere in the article. Note that Google never uses the command AND in either the Basic or Advanced Search.

Example – I enter the blue bird of paradise (I did not capitalize anything because Google does not pay attention to upper or lower case) Since the and of are minor common words I might as well have just entered blue bird paradise.

Google will return pages that have blue, bird, and paradise anywhere in them. The words do not have to be together or even close to each other in the site.

2. This exact wording or phrase – Google will look at websites and will return only pages that have the words next to each other in the order stated. This is called a phrase or string and is used with quotes in a basic search. No quotes are needed in the advanced search.

Example: I enter the the blue bird of paradise (I included the and of because it is part of the phrase I am looking for.

Google will return any page that has the blue bird of paradise as a group (or string) of words all together in the same order.

This is a great method for looking up names, books, movies, famous sayings, places, and anything else that may rely on a phrase.

3. One or more of these words – Google will look for web pages that include one or more of the words, but the page does not have to include all of them. This is the same as using OR in a basic search

Example – I enter blue bird paradise. Since the and  of are minor common words I did not include them.

Google will return pages that contain just blue, just bird, or just paradise, and also pages that contain all three. In this way, you will find a common bluebird, and a Blue Bird of Paradise, a bird that flew through through the blue sky, or just a blue sky with no bird.

Now lets explore the section entitled: But Don’t Show Pages That Have

This portion of Advanced Search will prove to be real useful. It is important for students to learn that “Less is More”. The goal is to have less quality web pages that reveal essential information

This is the section that eliminates web pages that may have a word in them that is returning  unnecessary or undesired results in a web search.. The Basic Search engine does this by putting  a minus (- ) in front of the word. In the Advanced Search Engine the words are typed in the But don’t show pages that have … any of these unwanted words section. This is used  in conjunction with the Find Web Pages that have… section that is found above it and discussed earlier. Words must be put in to one of those three sections first ( Three sections are: All these words, This exact wording or phrase, and One or more of these words.)

Example: The below graphic illustrates how the two sections are used together. When searching for the Blue Bird of Paradise, I only want to find information, but was getting too many pages with pictures of the Blue Bird of Paradise. I would use the two sections together in this way:

Another example – I am looking for the country Turkey but do not want to find articles about the bird. (Note that any article about birds in the country Turkey will be eliminated.)

This concludes the very first posting of the Google Advanced Search. Having students practice in this portion of an Advanced Search will help them understand such statements as OR, NOT, AND, and STRING, build the importance of how to properly use the Basic Search Engine, and give them a better understanding of the importance of constructing a well thought out search.

Thanks for joining me in this first article uncovering the Google Advanced Search. Feel free to print this and share it with your students. Please share this posting URL with other educators and encourage them to subscribe! Be on the lookout for my next Google Advanced  Search Post that will reveal some of the real power in a Google Advanced Search. Also prepare yourself for my Evaluating a Web Page Series. You can also find a variety of my postings under Blogs at Tech & Learning Magazine.  Please take a moment to comment and subscribe to this blog by RSS or email, share with others, and as always follow me on twitter (@mjgormans). Until next time… transform, educate, and inspire! – Mike

Changes At Glogster… Great Info and Links For All Levels Of Users

First there were Blogs, then even Phlogs, and of course there are Glogs. While many educators are aware of Glogster, they may not know of the changes that have come and are coming to this awesome tool.  The basic edition is still free, although there is even a change coming to the free edition. As always,  feel free to subscribe to this Blog by RSS or email, follow me on twitter at (@mjgormans), and also discover some great resources at my 21centuryedtech Wiki!  You will also find my postings at Tech and Learning Magazine. Now lets take a moment to check out some good gab from Glogster! – Have a great week – Mike

OK, I Am New – What is Glogster? (Or, Just Skip Down To Next Bold Heading  Because  You And Your Students Are Already Glogging)

What do you get when you mix up the whole genre of  multimedia, smack it into a blog, and then artistically arrange it into an awesome interactive on-line poster. The results as all of you may know is a Glog, made popular by the people at Glogster!  The benefits of using Glogster in the education include the opportunity for students to use a dynamic, multi-sensory learning program that fulfills Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, enables standards mastery, provides differentiated instruction and so much more. Are you a newbie to Glogster, or just want to get your class started?  Then be sure to visit Glogster EDU, because that is where the free sign up resides for educators. What are the educational benefits of Glogster?  First, students can become engaged in any curriculum by  creating a Glog (interactive poster). Let your lesson plans run wild! It could be a book review, a science fair project,  a biography of a famous person, a timeline, or an interactive report on anything! Perhaps you wish to work on the 21st Century Skill involving collaboration. Then start a class project Glog involving a project based learning activity or a unit of study!  Glogster allows for school-level teacher management of students and classes claiming a private and safe student environment.  Glogster really does allow for engagement of students in fun and creative activities which can be aligned to national educational standards along with those ever-important ISTE NET-S Standards. Take a moment and make your own test Glog and then more importantly, sign up!

The First Big Change … 50 Reasons To Sign Up Now For A Free Educational Glogster Account!

The free Educational Glogster Account allows teachers to create accounts for 100 student users! Beginning in November 2010 Glogster is lowering the number of student accounts to 50 per teacher. Sign up now and you have 50 more student accounts then in November. That really is 50 reasons to get a Glogster Edu Free account Now!

Most Gloster Changes Are In The Premium Account… And They Look Not Only Good… But Great!

OK, not everything is free… although the free version of Glogster really is pretty amazing! If your school or classroom wants to step its Glogging experience up a notch then you may want to investigate Glogster Premium For Education.  In addition to the Free Version’s 100 student accounts, student account management, comment management, profiles management, and a public for all feature; Glogster Premium For Education includes a host of extra features. Some of these include direct teacher access to student work and nicknames  along with classroom, project, and assessment management resources. There are also tools for presentations, portfolios, and class messaging.

The Other Changes!

On September 15, 2010  edu.glogster.com launched a new product interface and partnerships that will now allow teachers to share students and projects with each other at the school level. As part of this new solution, teachers and students can now be interconnected in a school-based educational network enabling them to work on collaborative cross-curricular projects within dynamic teacher accounts. Teachers can even share students with other teachers, create class projects, construct engaging homework assignments, and encourage the building of student portfolios.  Glog presentations can be produced by teachers and students and better yet,  teachers can invite students to participate in projects at the school-level as well as expanded classroom activities. Glogster claims these changes allow for a real school virtual environment, but in a safe, online setting. Martin Santorcl, Co-Founder & Product Director at Glogster states, “Our new Portfolio & Presentation features allow educators to file and sort many Glogs in one Digital Glog Book. This is the next step for digital literacy because now schools can easily create curriculum utilizing appropriate interactive multimedia books and then archive them for future teaching.”

Still More Changes… Glogster Has Also Enlisted New Partners

Are your students  creating wikis? In its latest integrative application, Wikispaces users can now add a Glog to their wikis with one click from any Glogster EDU account. Now teachers, students, librarians, and other educators can make their Wikis even more powerful, and do it with ease. Are you an Edmodo user?  Glogster EDUcators can now move their Glogs into their Edmodo live feed clicking the  button under each Glog (“Edmodo this Glog”). This allows educators to easily showcase their multimedia content.

Ten Glogster Links To Check Out

Glogster Education Resource Library – The Glogster EDU Educator Resource Library is a 29 page PDF document of outstanding examples of Glogsterlesson plans and rubrics, standards alignment activities, and Glog building media resources. It has been built by and for the Glogster community of educators.

Glogopedia – The very best of educational Glogs. A great place to get inspired  and create Glogs to be used in the classroom and activities for students.

Glog Categories – Check out thousands of Glogs by subject. A lot of wonderful ideas reside in these teacher and student works.

Certified EDU Glog Ambassador – Are you already working hard teaching students to Glog and providing Glog expertise to other professionals? Take a look at this program with a lot of perks, including a free premium upgrade!

The G Lab – Great place to share your Glog Experience while learning from others.

Glogster Tutorial – A great five minute tutorial for educators on how to set up an educator account and use Glogster by Traci Blazosky

Discovery Education On Glogster – Great short tutorial presented by Discovery’s Steve Dembo and company.

Adding Video and Audio To Glogster – Short tutorial video on using open source Camstudio to import video and audio into Glogster.

ABC News – An excellent news story on Glogster

Make A Virtual Science Fair – A fantastic way to use Glogster to create a Digital Science Fair project using Glogster.

Hope I was able to provide some new Glogster information for those just starting and those pro gloggers!  While I am a free user, I will saving my pennies to invest in that Premium Account.  Be on the look out for my Advanced Google Search and my Evaluating a Web Page Series. You can also find a variety of my postings under Blogs at Tech & Learning Magazine. Take a moment to leave a comment and also subscribe to this blog by RSS or email, share with others, and as always follow me on twitter (@mjgormans). See you soon and happy Glogging! – Mike

Free Down To Earth Resources For Science And Social Studies

Welcome to the eighth in a series of summer posts dedicated to bringing you the biggest collections of national and international resources you will find anywhere. Summer is a  perfect time to examine what you just might want to include in next year’s lesson plans that will engage your students. I plan to share resources that will cover all the curricular areas. Each article will give an in-depth and informative visit to one of these sites. Make sure you bookmark, copy, RSS, subscribe by email and visit my 21centuryedtech Wiki! You will want to share! If it is not summer where you are, then you can jump right in and facilitate learning with some new material  tomorrow. I will announce each post on twitter at (mjgormans) so be sure to follow. – Mike

A visit to the US Department of Interior’s USGS Education Website , The U.S. Geological Survey, provides scientific information intended to help educators. Exploring this amazing site  is certainly a grand voyage in itself. Teachers of Social Studies, Geology, Geography, Biology, Statistics, and History will find themselves engaged in a a collection that literally covers the Earth! The mission of the USGS is to educate the public about natural resources, natural hazards, geospatial data, and issues that affect quality of life.

Your students can discover what a satellite can really see as it passes over our planet.  Unlike many popular satellite imaging programs,  students will see pictures in near-real time with the USGS EarthNow Landsat Image Viewer. This program incorporates mesmerizing, near-real time satellite imagery from the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites as they pass over North America. Discover how to make it happen by watching a high-resolution, 1-hour public lecture, Looking Down On Our Planet: New satellite imagery reveals a changing global surface. A teacher may also want to design a unit around Earthshots: Satellite Images of Environmental Change. This is an educational site focusing on before and after satellite images (emphasizing environmental change) with detailed information for the classroom. Perhaps you want to help your students Explore the Arctic.  They will discover the many new facts scientists are learning ever day about its changing landscape.  Don’t miss the countless other Featured Topics that contain exciting and engaging lessons ready for classroom use. It will be worth your time to take a moment to download this recently published PDF File citing over 22 major resources supplied to education from USGS.

Teachers will discover great  lessons for K-6 and 7-12 involving Ecosystems, Biology, Geography, Geology, and Water. Wish you could take more field trips? Perhaps you may want to check out  your own schoolyard filled with great geologic features! School Yard Geology is filled with activities and examples of what to look for to turn your schoolyard into a rich geologic experience. Supplement just about any lesson with over 130 engaging and downloadable Podcasts covering such topics as Twittering Earthquakes, Mt. St Helen, Arctic Ice Shelves,  and Global Warming. Most USGS videos and animations  are posted on the USGS Multimedia Gallery and even have captioning.  Browse through this database containing a collection of USGS videos and animations that are especially appropriate for classroom use. This list provides a broad representation of USGS research available through their own visual media. Remember, USGS is a Federal agency and cannot copyright its products. With one exception, all the products in this database are considered public domain and may be viewed, downloaded, and reproduced free of charge. What an opportunity for student remix and creativity! Be sure to visit Lessons & Activities for Exploring the Earth with Maps It will allow you to make maps and geography concepts come alive inyour classroom! Speaking of maps, why not Find A Map that fits the exact topic you are teaching? Using Find A Map educators will browse a site containing links to popular USGS map resources and map databases, including the: The National Map, and The National Atlas. You don’t have to stop at the USGS education site, find even more information at the main site for the USGS. It really is time for you to bring your curriculum down to earth while providing engaging opportunities for all students.  You will find that the USGS Education Website is filled with resources that will allow you to facilitate 21st Century Learning in your classroom today!

Thus, my focus, to share with you vast resources such as USGS this summer! Take some time to investigate and possibly implement in the school year,  or tomorrow! I will continue to bring thought, reflection, and amazing web apps along with this summer series. Please share with others, visit the21centuryedtech Wiki, follow on me twitter (mjgormans), and subscribe to this blog by RSS or email . If you have resources that you feel need to be included please leave a reply!  Enjoy, relax, play, and smile…. also take a moment to transform education toward 21st Century Learning! – Mike

Free Resources… Integrate The Arts In Every K12 Subject Area

Welcome to the seventh in a series of summer posts dedicated to bringing you the biggest collections of national and international resources you will find anywhere. Summer is a  perfect time to examine what you just might want to include in next year’s lesson plans that will engage your students. I plan to share resources that will cover all the curricular areas. Each article will give an in-depth and informative visit to one of these sites. Make sure you bookmark, copy, RSS, subscribe by email and visit my 21centuryedtech Wiki! You will want to share! If it is not summer where you are, then you can jump right in and facilitate learning with some new material  tomorrow. I will announce each post on twitter at (mjgormans) so be sure to follow. – Mike

What could all teachers find on a site devoted to integrating the fine arts? The answer, new lessons to engage students while facilitating Project Based Learning, STEM activities, and 21st Century skill acquisition. ArtsEdge is an amazing site that contains science activities such as, How Many Cells are Born in a Day? and Acoustical Science, plus Language Arts activities with titles like Comparing and Contrasting Fables and Characterization in Literature. Physical Education teachers may want to try Street Games while math teachers have their students discover Melodies & Math: Telephone Improvisations.   With ArtsEdge you won’t forget to put the A in STEM in order to STEAM it in to full power! Language Arts teachers will bring out student creativity through amazing projects, while social studies teachers can make history come alive.  This is an all encompassing resource from the Kennedy Art Center! ArtsEdge, the National Arts and Education Network, has a mission to place the Arts  at the center of the curriculum and further, advocates creative use of technology to enhance the K-12 educational experience. Artsedge claims that it “empowers educators to teach in, through, and about the arts by providing the tools to develop interdisciplinary curricula that fully integrate the arts with other academic subjects.” These are the neccessary ingredients to qualify as an outstanding resource for any 21st Century Classroom intent on student centered learning.

Artsedge offers free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom, as well as professional development resources, student materials, and guidelines for arts-based instruction and assessment.Check out a powerful searchable data base of lessons, standards, weblinks , and how-to’s. All of  this content is searchable by art curriculum, other core curricular content, and grade bands. The lessons under the Art Curriculum include Dance, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts. The Other Subjects include Foreign Language, Language Arts, Math, Physical Education, Science,  Social Studies, and Technology. I invite you to click on your content area in the preceding sentence and guarantee you will be amazed at the creativity found in the lessons. Lessons are also searchable under grade bands that  include elementary, middle, and high school. All lessons are linked to the Arts Standards. Educators must also investigate the over 200 web links of resources divided into the categories of Instructional, Multi-media, and Research. There is also an amazing collection of Teacher How-To’s including such content as Classical Music across the Curriculum, Coaching Youth Storytellers, The Language of Photography, and Filmmaking: Creating and Organizing the Story.

There is an area of Artsedge that allows educators to Connect with Articles/Reports that give valuable information about Arts Education. The Contacts Section can put teachers in contact and provide resources covering over 60 Art related organizations. Advocacy Essentials gives talking points articles on Art promotion for education. A third area allows educators to Explore Artsedge. From here close to fifty activies are available including such titles as, Abraham Lincoln and Music, Corridos, Art/Space, and Art of the Explosion. You may want your students to check out Art Days in history, meet the Artist,  or discover over 250 Art Quotes from various people. There is a small, but growing collection of podcast also available. Be sure to take a look at the Spotlight area and the section entitled Looking Back. Here you will find a collection of their most requested lessons, resources, and activities. Artsedge  is truly a site devoted to Art appreciation and integration and will make all curricular areas  rich in purpose, meaning, and ready to engage your 21st century students.

Thus, my focus, to share with you vast resources such as ARTSedge this summer! Take some time to investigate and possibly implement in the school year,  or tomorrow! I will continue to bring thought, reflection, and amazing web apps along with this summer series. Please share with others, visit the21centuryedtech Wiki, follow on me twitter (mjgormans), and subscribe to this blog by RSS or email . If you have resources that you feel need to be included please leave a reply!  Enjoy, relax, play, and smile…. also take a moment to transform education toward 21st Century Learning! – Mike

Click Your Classroom Into The 21st Century At Kids.gov

Welcome to the fifth in a series of summer posts dedicated to bringing you the biggest collections of national and international resources you will find anywhere. Summer is a  perfect time to examine what you just might want to include in next year’s lesson plans that will engage your students. I plan to share resources that will cover all the curricular areas. Each article will give an in-depth and informative visit to one of these sites. Make sure you bookmark, copy, RSS, subscribe by email and visit my 21centuryedtech Wiki! You will want to share! If it is not summer where you are, then you can jump right in and facilitate learning with some new material  tomorrow. I will announce each post on twitter at (mjgormans) so be sure to follow. – Mike

Kids.gov is the official kids’ portal for the U.S. government. This giant repository links to over 2,000 web pages from various government agencies, schools, and educational organizations, all geared to the learning level and interest of kids. This amazing site is maintained by the Federal Citizen Information Center (FCIC) in Pueblo, Colorado. Learn more about FCIC by visiting www.pueblo.gsa.gov. At first glance you will enjoy a link to the Kids.gov site of the month. In just one click you will enter a high quality site featured each moth of the year. Now this is just one site that Kids.gov points you to! In reality, Kids.gov really is a country of resources and is organized into three audiences: They are Grades K-5, Grades 6-8, and Educators.  High School teachers will still find a large selection of resources in the Educator’s Section. Each of these audience sections is divided into subject area disciplines that include  Art, Careers, Computers and Technology, Government, Health/Fitness/Safety, Math, Science, and Social Studies. This multiple collection of resources across the disciplines really does make Kids.gov a mega site for education. Within each subject, the websites are grouped as either government sites (Federal, state, military) or other resources (commercial, non-profit, educational). The sites listed under the other resources category are maintained by other public and private organizations.

The main point of any post I write is to give you some of the amazing resources that you might not find at first glance. In this case it could be the Free For Teachers Page that is filled with ever changing ideas such as the lesson plan of the month. While you are there you may want to check out all the other free information from the FCIC. This site could provide you with an activity starter or just a great place to garner information for data collection. Explore the Hot Topic Resources that cover  Government , American History , Earth Science – Environment , Games and Activities , Careers , Social Studies , and Money . In fact the State Websites is a great place to begin to facilitate student research and creation of projects based on the fifty states found in the USA. You will even find a link to White House 101, complete with info on Presidents, Fun Facts, and even First Pets. There is even a look at all the ins and outs of this historic residence. Don’t miss an important link to FREE (Federal Resources for Educational Excellence).  At FREE there are links to collections of  animations, primary documents, photos, and videos.  This link is worthy of a post in itself.  Looking for research? There is a link that may lead you to some academic research on education with-in ERIC, the Educational Resource Information Center. An amazing  link to Teacher’s First could find you exploring for resources the rest of the day.  How about data for students  to organize and portray in a graph,, information for a report, exciting lessons and activities, and even podcasts? You will definitely find it, since I have really only covered less then a dozen of the over 1200 links provided. Kids.gov gives you and your students the opportunity to jump in and find great information and ideas to build activities that will connect to almost any content standard!

Kids.gov truly is a gateway that takes your students to a mountain of sites. While the  majority of the links are from government sites, there are some links to commercial and other non-government sites. It may be time for you to take that mouse in hand and click you way through Kids.gov and its many links to classroom adventure. I guarantee that you will find yourself  linking your students to a world of 21st century activities and resources.

Thus, my focus, to share with you vast resources such as Kids.gov this summer! Take some time to investigate and possibly implement in the school year,  or tomorrow! I will continue to bring thought, reflection, and amazing web apps along with this summer series. Please share with others, visit the 21centuryedtech Wiki, follow on me twitter (mjgormans), and subscribe to this blog by RSS or email . If you have resources that you feel need to be included please leave a reply!  Enjoy, relax, play, and smile…. also take a moment to transform education toward 21st Century Learning! – Mike

Free Quality Multimedia Resources … Learn and Create In The Teachers’ Domain!

Welcome to the fourth in a series of summer posts dedicated to bringing you the biggest collections of national and international resources you will find anywhere. Summer is a  perfect time to examine what you just might want to include in next year’s lesson plans that will engage your students. I plan to share resources that will cover all the curricular areas. Each article will give an in-depth and informative visit to one of these sites. Make sure you bookmark, copy, RSS, subscribe by email and visit my 21centuryedtech Wiki! You will want to share! If it is not summer where you are, then you can jump right in and facilitate learning with some new material  tomorrow. I will announce each post on twitter at (mjgormans) so be sure to follow. – Mike

Teachers’ Domain definitley qualifies as a mega site from the people at PBS station WGBH in Boston. As described on the website it really is “an online library of more than 1,000 free media resources from the best in public television. These classroom resources, featuring media from NOVA, Frontline, Design Squad, American Experience, and other public broadcasting and content partners are easy to use and correlate to state and national standards.” Resources include video and audio segments, Flash interactives, images, documents, lesson plans for teachers, and student-oriented activities. Teachers can personalize the site using “My Folders” and “My Groups” to save resources into a folder and share them with your other teachers or their students. Some of the resources even allow downloading and remixing for teacher mash up presentations. There is a strong effort at integrating lessons with technology to engage student learning.

Educators will excited to find that the site contains even more then countless amazing and engaging videos. On entering Teachers’s Domain there is an area set up for K12 curriculum. In this area teachers can find lessons devoted to Arts, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. The Arts reveals multiple resources and lessons exploring dance, music, theater and the visual arts.  Investigate the power of language in the English Language Arts Section!  This collection of video segments, activities and engaging lesson plans focuses on literacy skills for early childhood readers through high school students. Best of all these resources correlate to state and national English Language Arts standards. Students can become a  math whiz with a wonderful collection of Mathematics resources! This new and expanding collection of media resources  explore main concepts in elementary mathematics and correlate to educational standards. Broaden you and your students  knowledge of science content and effective inquiry-based methodologies.  The Science area  offers over 1,500 media resources in science, engineering, and technology as well as standards-based professional development courses. This area is certainly worthy of its own blog posting by itself! The Social Studies area allows classrooms to journey back in time and around the globe! This ever growing collection of video segments, activities and lesson plans  brings alive selected topics in U.S. and world history and also correlates to state and national standards.

Teacher Domain also provides avenues towards professional development. Educators can even earn continuing education credits and college credit. Check out Teachers’ Domain Professional Development area that offers K-12 teachers new ways to inspire students, broaden content knowledge, and integrate technology into classrooms. Especially interesting is an area devoted to teaching strategies. This contains awesome videos covering English Language Arts,  Innovative Strategies, Integrating Technology, Science, Media Resources, Guides/Tutorials/ Workshops, and  Professional Development Activities.

I believe this next paragraph could be invaluable as a free resource. I want to introduce you to some of the awesome collection of public media series filled with great videos, lessons, and activities found at Teachers’ Doman. Explore the links I have included for some great resources. You will be amazed! NOVA on Teachers’ Domain is the most popular science series on public television while  podcasts about science are available from PRI’s The World . Discoverd epic stories about Americas past and present that will engage students at American Experience,  and check out a collection of adventures and history lessons from Antiques Roadshow that will provide some amazing adventures in history detective work. For early readers Between The Lions has twenty great clips or engage students with Cyberchase the Emmy-winning math mystery show. You may wish to study immigration using Faces Of America or meet America’s most extraordinary young musicians aged 8 to 18 at From The Top. Any course that includes current events and debate should include Frontline, and science classes will enjoy the powerful documentaries found at Nature, along with the fast-paced, innovative, and entertaining science program featuring timely science and technology stories entitled Nova Science Now. Students can also follow the life and contributions of Percy Julian, and explore the power of language while building reading and writing skills using video segments drawn from the Poetry Everywhere series. Your students can gain awareness and understanding of the diversity of religions and religious experiences by viewing Religion and Ethics and will appreciate the workings of the US judicial system from The Supreme Court. Last, enrich the study of Global History by using contemporary examples as jumping-off points to engage students with historical themes that were as relevant in the past as they are today through the integration of Wide Angle.

Just when you may think you have discovered all of the resources there are other amazing links which I know you will find valuable. Students can explore 21st Century careers at ATE or discover a unique Alaska’s Native perspective on earth and climate. There is also an area devoted to Native American perspective on global warming at Where Worlds Touch The Earth. There are resources on  Biotechnology, and students can explore Cool Careers in Science,   or study impacts of Global Climate Change and Warming. Watch participants in the National Science Foundation’s Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers program, (ITEST), as they learn science by doing it. Check out some early age literacy at Literacy 360 or take a moment to inspire some Middle School Literacy. Explore themes in science, literacy and language arts, fine arts, and social studies through the perspective of culturally diverse communities in these resources from the Education Through Art, Culture, and History (ECHO) initiative. The Civil Rights Collection provides archival news footage, primary sources, and interview segments filmed for Eyes on the Prize, this collection captures the voices, images, and events of the Civil Rights movement and the ongoing struggle for racial equality in America. Learn about the Arctic, the Antarctic, and why scientists are so interested in studying Earth’s polar regions by visiting Polar Sciences Collection. Students can learn about personal finance with this collection of video resources, interactive games and lesson plans at the The Citi Collection for Financial Capability. My favorite, encourages students to create their own multimedia using Building Blocks,which are short downloadable video segments that students can edit and embed into their own presentations.

While you are at Teachers’ Domain check out some of their local links. You will find great resources such as Keystone eMedia, an outstanding KQED Science Media Collection, resources from the Ohio Collection Of Digital Media, and this Teacher’s Guide designed to help you make optimum use of video in your classroom. Teachers’ Domain is currently converting video to full screen. They also offer tutorials for teachers using  Teachers’ Domain in the classroom. They include topics such as Introduction to TD, Using TD in the Classroom,Technology Guide to Using TD, Using Folders and Groups, andCreating User-Generated Media. You may also wish to check out this promotional video to learn even more, then register for your free account! Be sure to read more about Teachers’ Domain including its mission, contributors, and usage policy. Possibly the best feature of Teachers’ Domain is that it has been constructed to integrate in and across curriculum while allowing teachers to use the important video segments for teachable moments. It incorporates lessons that are engaging and provides opportunities to not just consume the technology but to also create. It really is time for you to explore and incorporate Teachers’ Domain as part of your 21st Century Classroom!

Thus, my focus, to share with you vast resources such as Teachers’ Domain this summer! Take some time to investigate and possibly implement in the school year,  or tomorrow! I will continue to bring thought, reflection, and amazing web apps along with this summer series. Please share with others, visit the 21centuryedtech Wiki, follow on me twitter (mjgormans), and subscribe to this blog by RSS or email . If you have resources that you feel need to be included please leave a reply!  Enjoy, relax, play, and smile…. also take a moment to transform education toward 21st Century Learning! – Mike

Free STEM & PBL Resources… eGFI Is Dreaming Up The Future!

Welcome the third in a series of summer posts dedicated to bringing you the biggest collections of national and international resources you will find anywhere. Summer is a  perfect time to examine what you just might want to include in next year’s lesson plans that will engage your students. I plan to share resources that will cover all the curricular areas. Each article will give an in-depth and informative visit to one of these sites. Make sure you bookmark, copy, RSS, subscribe by email and visit my 21centuryedtech Wiki! You will want to share! If it is not summer where you are, then you can jump right in and facilitate learning with some new material  tomorrow. I will announce each post on twitter at (mjgormans) so be sure to follow. – Mike

If you have been trying to dream up some great STEM and PBL related material then eGFI, brought to you by the the American Society For Engineering Education (ASEE), is a great place for you to visit! This first class organization who’s mission is to dream up the future, is committed to promoting and enhancing efforts to improve K-12 STEM and engineering education. At first glance it is apparent that this web site is a dream of student centered and actively engaging resources. It now time to go beyond that first glance. You will be amazed at the number of videos, resources, lessons, and activities that are ready for you to integrate.

Once you are done moving  the different pictures of resources around on the entry site, a great place to start is at What’s New.  In What’s New, you will beintroduced to some of the most amazing cutting edge inventions, or perhaps you will want to visit E-Tube filled with video titles like Engineers Are Cool, Stanford Researchers Make Paper Battery,  The Great Space Elevator, and Robot Football! In fact E-Tube contains over one hundred engaging videos covering the major topics of competitions, cool stuff, TV shows, in the field, and in the classroom. Perhaps you want to connect instruction with careers. Then dream on with Trailblazers, a place to connect studies with people in the field. Here you will find interesting people and the interesting things they do related to STEM careers.  If that doesn’t get you dreaming then be sure to check out the lower right hand corner of the page that will take you to 15 different STEM related industries through a funky, yet fun interface. Dream on with eGFI’s amazing Student Blog! This highly engaging blog assists upper elementary, middle and high school students as they explore the various fields of engineering and STEM related fields, plan their own projects, and get the information they need to decide whether an engineering or STEM related career is right for them.

Engineer Your Path provides a great place for students to dream about a possible STEM related future. Here you can meet a student, discover 10 essential steps toward getting in a STEM field, discover what it is like to be on the job, and just get great advice. Great information for schools interested in exploring career pathways! Be sure to read the magazine, filled with cool topics and linked to great videos. You may wish to join the thousands of teachers receiving fresh lesson plans and activities, news, feature articles and web resources every week by email. Check out this archive of teacher newsletters and then sign up here. Do your students want to learn more about The Making of Avatar, 3D Printing, and the The Kepler telescope. Each week, the eGFI student newsletter presents fun and interesting engineering innovations, STEM related topics, and great discussion topics for class. Sign up for the student newsletter and encourage your students to do so, as well. You can check out past newsletters here.

If I have you are dreaming of future possibilities for your classroom then be sure to check out the for teachers link!  This will turn your dreams into a reality! This hard to spot link in the upper right corner of the What’s New Page is one you do not want to miss. You will find close to 100 amazing lesson plans for K12, another large selection of activities that will put your students at the center of project based learning,  over 300 outreach organizations and events, close to 300 web resources devoted to STEM,  special feature articles that feature STEM related education, and some great K12 education news. eGFI is an amazing teacher resource area that could keep you dreaming all season long! If you or teachers you facilitate have an interest in STEM and PBL, then eGFI is a great place to get both you and your students dreaming up the future!

Thus, my focus, to share with you vast resources such as eGI this summer! Take some time to investigate and possibly implement in the school year,  or tomorrow! I will continue to bring thought, reflection, and amazing web apps along with this summer series. Please share with others, visit the 21centuryedtech Wiki, follow on me twitter (mjgormans), and subscribe to this blog by RSS or email . If you have resources that you feel need to be included please leave a reply!  Enjoy, relax, play, and smile…. also take a moment to transform education toward 21st Century Learning! – Mike

Be Part Of ISTE 2010: Check Out Classroom 2.0… And Engage!

In the future I will feature a blog on ISTE2010 (formerly called NECC)! It was after listening  to one of the informative webinars at Classroom 2.0 in an Elluminate Room that I felt compelled to make a contribution by providing readers an awareness of the wonderful services that Classroom 2.o provides at and around the ISTE conference.  As always, please take a moment to follow me on twitter (@mjgormans) and don’t miss the hundreds of free resources that will compliment 21st Century learning at my 21centuryedtech Wiki. Now, let’s take a trip to Classroom 2.0 and learn about their involvement in the ISTE Conference in Denver!  – Mike

I write this especially for you people who may be new to PLN’s, ISTE, and Networking, but want to become more involved and learn more.  A great way to start is to become involved in ISTE and at the same time explore Classroom 2.0, a social network for those interested in Web 2.0 and Social Media in education. Classroom 2.0 is a free, community-supported network. It is the mission of the organization to engage those who are “beginners” and provide a supportive, comfortable place to start being part of the digital dialog.  Exploring Classroom 2.o is something I just recently began and, believe me, it would be a whole other post! Instead, I wish to introduce you to Classroom 2.0 activities at ISTE2010 and please note that you can be involved whether you come early, stay through the entire conference, or never come at all.

The highlights of the webinar I mentioned earlier are archived for listening at your leisure at Elluminate (another service I must write a post about). I have included descriptions as stated by Steve Hargadon, Elluminate’s Social Learning Consultant, and the founder of the Classroom 2.0 social network. I couldn’t resist putting in some of my own editorial thoughts.

EduBloggerCon – EduBloggerCons are about conversations that teach. Questions are asked, problems posed, experiences shared, and everyone learns. It is like a constant series of Socratic Seminars. You don’t have to be a blogger and it is a perfect place for someone new to network and build the foundation of a PLN. No advanced registration is required but you may want to take a moment to sign up. This  all day event on July 26 begins in the  Colorado Convention Center thanks to the generosity of ISTE. There will be access to free wireless, but bring extra computer batteries or make sure you’re fully charged up because this is a BYOP (bring-your-own-power) event.  Sorry no wireless electricity, yet! Check out the website for EduBlogger.

Bloggers’ Cafe – A center of synergy in a comfortable setting where conference attendees meet, network, share, laugh, or just carry on a stimulating conversation. If you’re new be sure to introduce yourself, after all you will be family here!  New this year:  a live webcam and mic so that those not at ISTE can say hi and chat with those who are.

ISTE “Unplugged” – Never presented at ISTE, never presented anywhere? Here is your opportunity! Perhaps your proposal was not accepted, or you learned something new that you just have to share! You may be a perfect candidate for ISTE Unplugged. This is found near the Bloggers’ Cafe, on the same timetable as the conference. There is a small presentation area where you can sign up to present to both a live and a remote audience (those not at ISTE can watch all the presentations via Elluminate).

OpenSourceCon –  First time ever experience for those interested in Open Source in education. That is an idea right down my alley! Check it out at  http://www.opensourcecon.com. It runs at the same time as the EduBlogger on July 26 and you can even go back and forth between the two. Consider it a parallel FREE all-day unconference for those interested in Open Source in education. Steve Hargadon, creator of Classroom 2.o, is looking for volunteers who wish to help. He states that  http://www.opensourcecon.com is where the details will emerge as they become available.

Classroom 2.0 Birds of a Feather Meeting – The date is Tuesday, 6/29/2010, 4:45pm–6:15pm.  This is your opportunity to meet other members of Classroom 2.0 and have some fun as everyone has an opportunity to share with each other.  Be prepared for a BIG crowd for this one, but no hiding allowed!

Classroom 2.0 LIVE Broadcast – Time and date to be determined.  This is  a live show from ISTE that features YOU as the guests. Great opportunity for those at home to connect at ISTE and for attendees to connect with those back at home!

Open Source Pavilion, Speaker Series, and Playground Area – this  is a terrific speaker track, supported generously as a formal part of the ISTE conference now. It is a must attend event for Open Source enthusiasts or wanna-bes.  They need volunteers also, who can help to man some of the playground stations!

Global Education Poster Session – This is part of the amazing 5-day online global education conference in November that Classroom 2.0 is  just starting to announce.  There will be a poster session table on Sunday night to give details and make connections with the larger community. Volunteers also needed for this!

As you can see Classroom 2.0 is not only encouraging you to attend ISTE2010, but allowing for you to be a part of it! As I often tell teachers, students learn more when they are  contributors and part of their own learning. A big thank you to Steve, his volunteers, and staff for making this learning opportunity happen at such a premiere conference as ISTE! Whether you are new, a seasoned veteran, in Denver, or as far away as Denmark, make sure you network with Classroom 2.0 and enjoy all it has to offer and become part of the energy at ISTE2010!

Thanks for joining me on another journey in the satisfying quest for 21st Century education knowledge! I invite you to my session at ISTE on Tuesday, July 29 from 1:00 – 3:00 PM. You may have guessed it, I will have free and inexpensive resources to share! Be sure to stop by, I would love to meet you! In the meantime, please follow me on twitter (@mjormans) and at my 21centuryedtech Wiki packed with free resources! Perhaps I will even see you someplace in Classroom 2.0 as there sure are lots of places to be! Have a great week! – Mike