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

A Gold Mine Of Free Prof Dev Webinars… A Great Maine Idea!

I am sure other states are developing networks that support professional development, but this week I must tip my hat to the outstanding educators in the state of Maine. I have been aware for quite some time of the wonderful contributions from Maine. Examples include Richard Byrne’s Free Technology For Teachers which is replenished almost daily with outstanding free educational resources, and, of course, Cheryl Oakes, Alice Barr, and Bob Sprankle’s award winning podcast site that has a mission to grow professional development called Seedlings (Check out the interview they had with me at bottom of this link), and their awesome Maine One To One Initiative. I have just recently learned about The Maine Learning Technology Initiative. I hope you are ready to learn some neat PD ideas and as always follow me on twitter at (mjgormans).  I will return the favor and we can learn from each other! Also please visit my 21st Century Ed Tech Wiki, my attempt at building a collection of free and inexpensive resources to facilitate 21st Century Learning! Have a great week! – Mike

The Maine Learning Technology Initiative and their Webcast Link should be one of your Maine sites for professional development and a Maine idea when planning how to better facilitate PD in all states and countries. Maine121.org is owned and operated by the Maine Learning Technology Initiative at the State of Maine Department of Education.  It is dedicated to providing professional development support and resources to the teachers of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI).  The MLTI staff is using web-based technologies to communicate and collaborate with educators interested in engaging in conversation around teaching and learning with technology. This type of WebCast provides an economical way for educators to participate  interactively in a live virtual environment,  right from the comfort of their own computer desktops. My purpose in this post is to encourage other individuals and organizations to follow  this type of innovative professional development.

At this time, MLTI WebCasts are  held each Thursday at both 3:15 pm and 7:15 pm are approximately an hour long. Topics are updated, as well as links to full descriptions, for each WebCast listed on the web site about 2 weeks prior to the event date. You can subscribe  and view the  Calendar and even visit an Archive of all past sessions. The archived section is an easy click (Adobe Flash Player 7 should be installed) with no sign up required.  In respect to their bandwidth and other possible limitations, the archived section is a good choice for those out of state. For educators in Maine,  registration is required for  attendance at a live webinar. Launched in October, the  present size of the library is over twenty webinars and growing each week! The webinars are organized in five categories of  focus including 1) Making Meaning, 2) Writing Process, 3) Research Process, 4) UDL & Accessibility, and 5) Digital Storytelling and Media Production. Each week one of these areas of study is visited in a live webcast. Past archived Webinars include investigations in UDL, the writing process, digital storytelling, the research process, making meaning, understanding images in time, digital citizenship, leadership, and data. A sample of upcoming Webinars includes titles such as  Evaluation of Resources, Fair Use and Copyright, Digital Storytelling and Media Production: Voices That Sing, Voices That Tell,  Access to Classroom Learning by Students with Blindness and Low Vision, Blogs, Wikis, and Social Media, and Digital Storytelling and Media Production: Images In Action.

The people at MLTI state that  all of their content (unless otherwise noted) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license. You are encouraged to  take what MLTI produces, remix it and reuse it to help  teachers and students in a nonprofit manner.  MLTI welcomes your feedback, and encourages you to share your remixes, experiences, and thoughts on any of their  materials through the MLTI blog.  I really do think the the people at MLTI have come up with what could be a Maine idea for future professional development!

Thanks for joining me and have a great week. Best of luck in  facilitating professional development for others as you grow in your own !  Please feel free to share your ideas and, as always, follow me on twitter at (mjgormans), I will return the favor and we can learn from each other! Also please visit my 21st Century Ed Tech Wiki, my attempt at building a collection of free and inexpensive resources to facilitate 21st Century Learning!  Have a great week! – Mike

It’s Free To Read-Write-Think : A Site That Is More Than Language Arts!

Welcome to another midweek post which I am very excited to share with you. ReadWriteThink is more than just an awesome Language Arts site filled with outstanding resources. It goes beyond Literacy and shows ways to integrating technology to support 21st century learning and core curriculum. For instance, Teaching with Blogs, Teaching with Podcasts, Online Safety, and Reading Online are lessons that many will find useful no matter the core content being taught. Take a moment and check it out, also be sure to follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/mjgormans), I will do the same and we can learn from each other. You are always welcome to join me at my 21centuryedtech Wiki. Have a great week! – Mike   

The web site readwritethink states its mission “to provide educators, parents, and afterschool professionals with access to the highest quality practices in Reading and Language Arts instruction by offering the very best in free materials.” Its sponsors include the International Reading Association, The National Council of Teachers of English, and Thinkfinity. It is evident that the site is built on professionalism. The site clearly states that every lesson plan has been aligned not only to the IRA/NCTE Standards for the English Language Arts but also to each individual state’s standards. Two main areas of the site include Classroom Resources and Professional Development.
Under Classroom Resources there are four main subsections. The impressive collection of **Lesson Plans**contains nearly six hundred classroom ideas all aligned with national and state standards for grades K-12. There is a wide selection of lessons include reading in content areas using textmaster strategies, connecting with an e-pal, creating a biography, writing fractured fairy tales, and exploring fictional technology. Another resource in the Classroom Section is **Student Interactives**. These interactives include some amazing activities to engage children in the classroom. Examples include comic creators, letter generators, story maps, poetry constructors, biocubes, and constructor letters. The **Calendar Resource** is definitely not your everyday calendar. This resource provides events in literary history, authors’ birthdays, and a variety of holidays. Best of all, the calendar is integrated with related activities and resources that make them more relevant to students. The calendar can be viewed by the day, week, or month. The Calendar Resource includes authors/texts, historical figures/events, holiday/school celebrations, and literacy-related events. The **Print Out** Resource Section houses an outstanding selection of printable sheets from assessments to organizers. These Print Outs are all classroom-tested and easy for students and teachers to use. While this is a vast collection, some of the more popular Print Outs include topics such as Diamante Poems, Persuasion Maps, Editing Checklists For Self and Peer Editing, Book Review Templates, Essay Maps, Alphabet Charts, and Tips For Movie Maker.
The second main area includes materials and resources for professional development. The Professional Development area is also divided into four resource areas. The first, Strategy Guides, is perfect if you are looking for new teaching strategies or are just interested in becoming more familiar with strategies you are already using in the classroom. These strategy guides define and provide a wealth of resources to facilitate effective literacy teaching. Three main areas include Differentiating Instruction, Teaching with Technology, and Teaching Writing. My interest in technology caused me to investigate strategies in Online Safety, Reading Online, Teaching with Blogs, and Teaching with Podcasts.
The last of the three areas under presfessional development for the most part include member services, publications for sale, paid webinars, and conference calendars. They include a Professional Library, Meeting and Events, and Online Professional Development. Don’t forget some of the Podcast series such as Chatting about Books. This series chats with kids, parents, and teachers about the best in children’s literature for ages 4 through 11. Another is Text Messages that is aimed at teens. Text Messages is monthly podcast providing educators recommendations they can pass along to teen readers. Each episode features in-depth recommendations of titles that is bound to engage and excite teen readers. Readwritethink is a site that should interest not just language arts teachers but all teachers that focus on writing across the curriculum and technology integration ideas. It is well worth the time to take the opportunity to readwritethink!

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and learn. Be sure to return, and as always leave any comments you feel are worth while. You are always invited to  follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/mjgormans), I will do the same, and we can learn from each other. You are also welcome to join me at my 21centuryedtech Wiki  filled with awesome resources!  Have a great week! – Mike

Free Project Based Learning Resources That Will Place Students At The Center Of Learning

I am an advocate for Project Based Learning in the classroom. True Project Based Learning is a process that puts the student at the center of their learning. In this post I wish to share with you some of the top sites I found on the internet that promote true PBL. Since my research I have bookmarked a few more and will be sharing those in a later post. Please share this post with others and as you find other outstanding sites on the internet that refer to PBL, please share with me. Your comments are always appreciated! You can follow me on Twitter at @mjgormans and as always please feeel free to visit my 21centuryedtech Wiki filled with resources- Mike

Edutopia PBL – Edutopia is a site containing outstanding educational content for teachers. It contains an area devoted to Project Based Learning. Edutopia defines PBL, “as a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges, simultaneously developing cross-curriculum skills while working in small collaborative groups.” The site contains a brief article, along with videos entitled “Projecty Based Learning Overview” and An Introduction To Project Based Learning. The Edutopia main PBL web page contains real life examples and this Big List containing article and blogs relating to PBL activities, lessons, practices, and research. Upon review you will note that Edutopia does live up to its statement “What works in public Education”.

PBL-Online Is a one stop solution for Project Based Learning! You’ll find all the resources you ne​ed to design and manage high quality projects for middle and high school students. This site includes information on how to Design your Project. It assists teachers in planning rigorous and relevant standards-focused projects that engage students in authentic learning activities, teach 21st century skills, and demand demonstration of mastery. It also provides a search for projects developed by others (small collection) or the ability to contribute projects to the PBL-Online Collaboratory and Project Library. Teachers can Learn what defines Project Based Learning and the PBL-Online approach to successful project design. There is also an area to Review research and find tools to support effective Project Based Learning. There is also an area to purchase the BIE //Project Based Learning Handbook// and Starter Kit which are a foundation for the PBL-Online website. A nice collection of videos is also available on the site. The PBL-Online is maintained by the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) which is a non-profit, research and development organization dedicated to improving the practice of teaching and the process of learning.

BIE Institite For PBL – The main Buck Institute of On-line Resource Site is a must visit for anyone serious about PBL. There is some good information on the professional development . Explore the BIE Project Based learning Handbook, order a copy, or just explore the links on the page. Be sure to check out the downloadable documents and forms found in the book. There is also a web resources link page that will supply abundant information. There is an excellent forum page that and another area with Advice From Teachers. This is truely a great site to become more informed on Project Based Learning and works well with other other BIE site.

PBL: Exemplary Projects – A wonderful site for those wanting practical ideas to infuse PBL into the curriculum. This is the creation of a group of experienced teachers, educators, and researchers whom you may contact as resources. This team includes people who are also actively doing and creating new exemplary PBL projects, pre-service and continuing teacher professional development, and integration of technology into the curriculum. This site has a great listing of national technology and content standards to review. There is also a large selection of rubrics to look over as you investigate assessment. For those interested in research be sure to check out the page reserved for reflective thought and planning. While on the site be sure to take a look at the exemplary projects along with the other great projects listed.

4Teachers.org PBL – This site has a contains some useful information on supplying sound reasoning for PBL in school. Especially interesting are articles on Building Motivation and Using Multiple Intellegences. One very useful resource in this site is the PBL Project Check List Section. Writers of this site maintain that these check lists will help teachers start using PBL, by creating on-line downloadable age-appropriate, customizable project checklists for written reports, multimedia projects, oral presentations, and science projects. The use of checklists assists in keeping students on track and allows them to take responsibility for their own learning through peer- and self-evaluation. Be sure to check the main 4Teachers Web Site for all of their great sets of tools including other resources that can support PBL. This site is published by Altec which also has a host of resources.

Houghton Mifflin Project Based Learning Space – This site from publisher Houghton Mifflin Contains contains some good resources for investigating PBL and was developed by the Wisconson Center For Education Research. Included is a page on Background Knowledge an Theory. There is also a link to a small number of comprehensive projects. Last for those attempting research there is a large numbers of professional articles related to project based learning.

Intel® Teach Elements: Project-Based Approaches – If you are looking for free, just-in-time professional development that you can experience now, anytime, or anywhere, this may be your answer. Intel promises that this new series will provide high interest, visually compelling short courses that facilitate deep exploration of 21st century learning concepts using and PBL. The program consists of animated tutorials and audio dialogs to explain concepts, Interactive knowledge checking exercises , offline activities to apply concepts. You can take the PBL course online, or order the Intel PBL CD, Take a moment and read more about project design. Intel provides an awesome data base of stories that relate to project ideas. Anyone interested in project based learning must explore the Intel site, one of the most up-to-date resources for PBL on the internet.

New Tech Network – I have personally visited the New Tech Schools in both Napa and Sacramento California. I was impresssed with more then the technology. A positive and effective culture for learning is what New Tech does best and it is based around PBL. Take a look at the news releases on the New Tech site. Some that caaught my interest were Wall-to-Wall Project-Based Learning: A Conversation with Biology TeacherKelley Yonce » from Learn NC, The Power of Project Learning » from Scholastic, and Students as Smart Mobs along with It’s All about me both from Phi Delta Kappa. Last check out the New Tech video entitled NTN School Overview and I Am What I Learn for a good informative look at PBL and New Tech.
High Tech High School – These high schools also operate using a project based learning model centered around 21st century skills. I have included projects they came up with from a $250,000 California grant to institue PBL in non-charter public schools. You will find a description of the project along with the seven major projects and various others. The included PBL assessment page is also very interesting along with how PBl supports literacy in the High Tech Model.

GlobalSchoolhouse.net – Great site to begin PBL using the web while cooperating with other schools.   Harness the ability to use the web as a tool for interaction, collaboration, distance education, cultural understanding and cooperative research — with peers around the globe.  Start out with an explanation of what Net PBL really is. Find out how to make partners. Be sure to check out all the videos and tutorials.

Thanks for taking the time to investigate and I hope impliment a PBL unit in the classroom. I am interested and also wish to learn from you. If you are aware of an outstanding PBL site please comment or send me a message. Please follow me on twitter at mjgormans and I will be sure to follow back. I am always ready to network and learn! As always, you are invited to explore the resources on my 21centuryedtech Wiki.  – Mike (mgorman@sacs.k12.in.us)

Pondering Podcasts? : Free First Class PD Videos On Podcasting!

Another mid week blog highlighting some of the best of the web. This week I focus on a fantastic site put out by Learning and Teaching Scotland. Learning and Teaching Scotland is sponsored by the Scottish Government and emphasizes information, guidance, and resources to promote learning in Scotland. While I have not explored the entire site, there is a portion at this site on Podcasts. It is certain to be an asset to any educator interested in producing their own podcats or engaging students by assisting them in producing their own podcasts. As always thanks for stopping by, please feel free to comment, and join me at my 21centuryedtech Wiki  filled with resources. You can follow me on twitter at @mjgormans, I will be sure to follow you back and we can learn from each other! – Mike 

How about a site that has 15 podcasts devoted to teaching teachers how to podcast? Or, how about over two hours of free professional development broken into 15 segments guaranteed to assist teachers towards integrating podcasts in the curriculum? Better yet , how about  podcasts that can be streamed to a computer or downloaded as quicktime movies in two different file sizes. It should also be mentioned that these tutorials are filled with outstanding  information, colorful graphics, and a mix of enjoyable music with wonderful narration. If this all sounds interesting then it is time for you to check out Podcasting from About Learning and Teaching in Scotland. While the series is designed for using podcasts in the modern foriegn languge classroom, most tutorials cover podcasting in general. The few geared toward foriegn language could make a case for adaptation in any subject area. Explore topics in five different series, many with multiple podcasts. Series one includes Why Podcast?, while series two includes reasons for students, teachers, curriculum, and classrooms to use podcasts. Series three provides ideas for podcasts intyegrated for a  foriegn language emphasis. In the fourth series, six different podcasts introduce teachers to equipment needed, Audacity as a pod production tool, integration with  a blog (Typepad), and the use of Podomatic to host and produce a podcast. Last, series five has three videos dedicated to producing podcasts with out a computer, pod safe music sounds, Voicethread (always use the educational servce), and Voki  (make avitars speak on a vodcast). Stop pondering and take a virtual trip to Scotland in order to perpetuate the use of podcasts in 21st century education.

Thanks for stopping by my 21centuryedtech Blog once. Please return or subscribe to an RSS feed. Remember to follow me on twitter at @mjgormans, I will be sure to follow you back and we can learn from each other! – Mike (mgorman@sacs.k12.in.us)

 

The K12 Online Conference – More Then Two Weeks Of Free PD – You Set The Pace!

The K12 Online Conference , with this years theme “Bridging the Divide” is an exciting way to network and facilitate your own professional development.  The conference is free and  includes the weeks of, December 7-11 and December 14-17,  encompassing over fifty presentations. This is a conference  filled with innovative ways  to use Web 2.0 , reflect on best practices, and  learn about technologies that can be used to facilitate 21st century learning. Events and their  scheduled times  are posted ,and as an added extra, they all remain on-line to serve as an archive. In fact, an archives’ page  serves as an outstanding  permanent resouce and  includes over 122 presentations from 2008,  2007, and 2006 . Check out and join  the conference Ning to interact, and read the  conference blog  for good information. The conference wiki is a great place to get started. All of these serve as a place to  view, download, and discuss ideas from the conference. There are  also three live events presented as  “Fireside Chats” and they  are listed on the events page of the conference Ning and Facebook fan page. Live events will  even continue in 2010 through twice-monthly “K-12 Online Echo” webcasts on EdTechTalk. You can also follow the K12 Online Conference on Twitter and Facebook!  There is a great first timers page that provides some helpful information on how to get the most out of this conference. For those interested in PD credit , there is a page  that can give you more information. You can even make  one or more of the presentations a school professional development event. Get together with colleagues to view the conference sessions and discuss.  There is sure to be a session that fits your  interests and school ‘s goals. Remember, the conference and all past conferences  are mostly asynchronous (not happening in real time), so you can catch up with the conference at anytime using the archives. I have included a link to different PDF files that can be printed or emailed (select the one for your time zone). Make sure you check this out and I hope to see you on the Ning! – Mike