Language Arts

Freemake Video Converter

— Ellora Assets Corporation

-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://www.freemake.com/free_video_converter/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

Convert, edit, and save video files with Freemake Video Converter. The video converter supports over 300 file input formats including video, audio, and image files. Use templates provided to turn photos or images into slideshows with a chosen soundtrack. Other features include the ability to clip and rotate video, upload to YouTube, and convert files to burn and save on Blu-ray or DVD. Be sure to watch the video on the site with directions on how to use this tool. It is a YouTube video so you may need to watch it somewhere other than at school.

In the Classroom

Share with students for use with any multimedia or presentation project. Use this tool to backup videos on your YouTube channel. Bookmark and save this video converter for use as an alternative to Online-Convert, reviewed here. This tool and Online-Convert are both used to download and save videos at home that you wish to show to students, especially if they are blocked at school. If you want to use the video at school, you may need to save the conversion to a USB stick, if a CD drive isn’t available.

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Tag(s): multimedia, video, movies, conversions, slides, images,

Google Maps Treks

— Google

-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices https://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/treks/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

Never leave your easy chair as you journey beyond the road to faraway places using Google Maps Treks! Choose Gombe National Park, Pyramids of Giza, Angkor Wat, Colorado River, or the polar bears at Churchill. Tour Taj Mahal, Venice, Galapagos Islands, Eiffel Tower, Mt. Fuji, Everest, Great Barrier Reef, the Amazon Basin, and more. Click on the option and then click the open in Maps or Views button. On maps with multiple placemarks, click the placemark to view information about the location, and then click the title to go to the map. Choose from a variety of images taken at various locations found along the bottom. Some images are photospheres and can be manipulated using the sphere icon along the bottom right. Use the arrows in the sphere to rotate the image, giving a panoramic view of the location as you click. Use the familiar Google map tools to zoom in and out. Some Treks offer short videos that are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

In the Classroom

If you teach geography, this one is a must. It is also helpful for showing students WHERE a story or news event takes place. View these different places whether your content includes history, geography, literature, science, languages, and more. View places discussed in class, or in stories. Look at different cultural areas or environments in the world. Choose a trek as an inspiration for further research about the area, the inspiration for a student created poem or short story, artistic work, and many other projects. Encourage student groups to choose one of the places on this site to present to the class, highlighting various economic, recreational, historical, and cultural factors at each place. You may want students to use a tool such as Knoema, reviewed here, or Data - The World Bank, reviewed here, to make sure students get accurate information. Use this as a class "Where I visited in Google Maps" project! As students ask questions about the various places, encourage discovery in finding the answers together.

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Tag(s): environment, cultures, photography, images, maps, virtual field trips,

Maptia - A World of Stories

— Dorothy Sanders, Dean Fischer, and Johnny Miller

5-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices https://www.maptia.com/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

Maptia is a bold, beautiful world of thoughtful and inspiring stories told through photographs by photographers, adventurers, and writers. Explore stories categorized by places, themes, and storytellers. Stories focus on portraying an individual perspective of the location and why it matters on a personal level. Find a collection of inspiring stories by people and organizations who are making a difference in many corners of the world. When browsing through offerings, information includes a short synopsis along with the location featured and an estimate of time to read the story. Create an account to add your stories. Bookmark and save favorites for viewing at any time. Maptia works well for viewing in all browsers, but it is optimized for Chrome and Safari when creating stories.

In the Classroom

Share Maptia on your interactive whiteboard or projector to discover personal stories from anywhere in the world. Share with students as examples of personal narrative writing. Challenge students to create an account and add their own personal stories. To find even more stories like those under Causes see The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heros, reviewed here, and follow their ten steps for writing about people who make a difference. Create a class account and bookmark favorites. Share with students through a link on your class web page. Display photographs for use as a creative writing prompt.

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Tag(s): photography, narrative, creative writing, digital storytelling,

Free Video Lectures

— Free Video Lectures (FVL)

8-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://www.freevideolectures.com/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

Free Video Lectures is a resource offering over 1000 free (upper high school and college level) online courses and 25,000 video lectures from more than 30 universities. Begin your search by choosing a subject or university to explore. Use the search bar to find specific content. Icons for each course offer a short description along with the number of included videos. Find topics ranging from accounting to web designing to business management and many others. Download or embed any videos using links and download instructions. Ignore the advertising; the site content is worth it. Note that these videos are NOT hosted on YouTube so may or may not be locked at your school.

In the Classroom

If you are flipping your classroom, use videos from this site to introduce content to students. Embed videos onto your class website or blog for easy student access. Free Video Lectures is perfect for use with gifted students. Use videos to provide advanced instruction and lessons in content not offered in your school. Have students create a word cloud of the important terms they learn from a video using a tool such as WordItOut (reviewed here). Challenge students to create a presentation using Prezi (reviewed here) to show what the have learned.

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Tag(s): cultures, video, business, genetics, literature, medicine, oceans, psychology,

Zeemaps

— Zee Source

3-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://www.zeemaps.com/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

Generate maps with unlimited markers easily with this tool! NO membership is required to create, save, or collaborate on maps, and you do not need to install software. Enter a title, description (optional), an admin password for others to collaborate, and a starting location to create your map. Add simple or detailed markers to your map. Input data from multiple formats: KML, CSV, Excel, and more. Add video, audio, and information to each of the markers. Markers can also be customized icons. Be sure to check out the menu options available such as Additions, where areas of the map can be highlighted and Annotations can be added to the markers. Share your map by URL or publish in a webpage.

In the Classroom

If you teach geography, this one is a must. It is also helpful for showing students WHERE a story or news event takes place. Teach map skills by letting students explore and annotate their own community. This site is great on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Create multiple markers for various points within your community. Annotate the markers with specific information that students research. Remember to create an admin password (and save it somewhere safe!) for others to collaborate on the map. Research various places around the world, and create markers of must-see places, historical finds, and other locations of interest. Create a map of news hot spots around the world. In Biology, find places where environmental or biodiversity concerns are occurring. Collaborate on a map to include annotated information of student research about these problems. Create a map to introduce various cultures around the world. Enter video, audio, information, and links that students can use to "uncover" the content to be learned.

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  • Find interactive ABC's, colors, etc.
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Tag(s): directions, maps, map skills,

Howcast - The best how-to videos on the web

— Howcast Media

5-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://www.howcast.com/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

Howcast is an aggregator of the "best" how-to videos across the Internet. These short, easy to follow videos cover a wide range of topics, including pop-culture. They are created by HowCast "experts." One very handy feature is the text transcript included with each video (scroll down to see it). Browse through the categories or type a search term into the search box to view available videos. Categories include Fitness, Home, Food, Health, Arts, Tech, and more. Click "Share" on each video page to share via social networking sites or copy the embed code to share the video on a website or blog. The HowCast videos are not simply YouTube searches, so they have different offerings from what you might find there. Not all content at this site is appropriate for the classroom. Please be sure to preview before you share with your students. This is not one that you want students to explore on their own.

In the Classroom

The brief video clips on this site make it ideal for use when introducing or researching information. View together on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Cue up and pause your video at a point AFTER the opening ad to save class time! Embed onto your class website or blog for students to view at home. Use the transcripts as examples of how-to speeches and have students both read and watch to analyze the details of how to organize such a speech before making their own videos or giving live informational speeches. Bookmark and save for use as How To questions arise throughout the year. For example, if you have a question about using Microsoft Excel, search Howcast to find about 30 videos explaining different tools and tricks within the program. Preview any search results before sharing with the class. Use Howcast videos as examples in any subject area and transform student learning with the challenge to cooperative learning groups to create videos using a tool like Biteable, reviewed here. Then share them on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here.

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Tag(s): business, financial literacy, sports, computers, politics, careers, money, video, Microsoft,

Granite School District Curriculum Maps

— Granite School District, Salt Lake City, Utah

-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://www.graniteschools.org/curriculuminstruction/curriculum-maps/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

Granite School District offers an extensive resource of curriculum mapping materials at this comprehensive site. Choose any subject from the elementary or secondary curriculum maps to begin. Choose from curriculum maps aligned to Common Core Standards and SRA Imagine It! textbooks. Some sections also include model lesson plan formats, manipulative lists, instructional schedules, and parent guides. Subjects include all core subjects as well as library, health, music, and more.

In the Classroom

Bookmark and save this site for use throughout the year. Download and use curriculum maps, assessment schedules, and parent guides. Be sure to check the math section for several support documents such as lesson plan templates and guides for teaching basic facts. Share with other staff for use as models for lesson planning and curriculum mapping.

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Tag(s): professional development,

edpuzzle

— edpuzzle

-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://www.edpuzzle.com/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:50 share

How It Works

This tool is a great way to take sections of videos and add your own voice or add questions within the video. YouTube videos are viewable in edpuzzle even if your school filters block them! Search for educational videos from sites such as Khan Academy and Learn Zillion. Use the sliders to choose the section of the video, then insert your own voice or comment on the video. Create a series of questions to go along with your chosen video and insert them into the correct part of the video. There is no need for students to watch the whole video to access the questions at the end. Follow the on screen directions for chopping the video for the section you need, adding your own voice, and choosing where to add text based questions. Create a class and then add students into the class either in the dashboard or after creating the video. Use student codes to access the video. There is a 13 page guide available by clicking on FAQ and the last item which is "How can I help?" Next click on "Workshop." There is also a short demo video hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, simply find the video you want to use and embed it in edpuzzle. It will be viewable when used through edpuzzle!

In the Classroom

Create short review videos or use your own narration with chosen videos to create flipped or blended lessons for your students. Consider the power of students using edpuzzle to annotate videos in order to explain the material in their own words. You or your students can use the tool to create and narrate "how to" videos. Annotate by highlighting the significant features of videos through the creation of voice comments. Students can also create questions to play with each video. Be sure students create a script to read from before beginning their chosen video.

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Tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool, communication, questioning, video, assessment,

Timemapper

— Open Knowledge Foundation Labs

5-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://timemapper.okfnlabs.org/ Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:49 share

How It Works

This free tool maps dates, information, and locations specified on a loaded spreadsheet into a timeline format. See the Examples on the middle portion of the page to see the results! You need a Google Docs/Drive account to create a timeline. Work anonymously or log in using your Twitter account. Click "Get Started Now" to read the details and create your spreadsheet, using a template Google Doc spreadsheet available by clicking where it says, "this template." Read the 1-2-3 steps AND the FAQ lower on the page to understand the steps and the reasons why you might want to create a free account using your Twitter login (not required). Once published with the url loaded into the Timemapper form, data from the spreadsheet is displayed in Timemapper in a slide style format. Data can include images, citations, locations, and more. Move along the timeline at the bottom of the screen or advance through the screens. Locations are pinpointed on a map that displays alongside the timeline. Click on individual locations or see them highlighted as you advance through the screens. Use the embed code to place the Timemapper in your wiki, site, or blog. You can also share it by url. Note: Timemappers cannot be made private.

In the Classroom

Create Timemapper timelines to introduce material in any subject. If your school uses Google Apps or Docs/Drive, your students (or groups) can create their own very easily. Map specific battles in history (World War II or the Revolutionary War, perhaps?) Map significant scientific discoveries in the progress of understanding about cell theory or genetics. Follow the works of various writers, artists, or musicians. Follow the life of famous people or noteworthy events such as elections, the Olympics, or even local history!

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Tag(s): timelines,

EngageNY Video Library

— New York State Education Department

-11 0 favorites 0 promising practices http://www.engageny.org/video-library Last updated: Fri, 08/27/2021 - 11:49 share

How It Works

EngageNY offers a video library and pedagogical tools to aid teachers implementing Common Core. Although this site is mainly math, there are also some ELA resources/ideas. Search the site using filters for content, grade level, or type of resource. Video topics include professional resources and also lesson ideas. Videos range in length from 5 to over 40 minutes.

In the Classroom

This is a great site to share during professional development days. Share the parent video during your Open House or Meet The Teacher night. Bookmark and view videos to help understand implementing Common Core in your classroom. Check back frequently to see what has been added. Find ideas for specific lesson ideas.

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  • Find interactive ABC's, colors, etc.
  • Donec rutrum congue leo eget malesuada. Mauris blandit aliquet elit, eget tincidunt nibh pulvinar a. Curabitur aliquet quam id dui posuere blandit. Mauris blandit aliquet elit, eget tincidunt nibh pulvinar a.
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Tag(s): commoncore, professional development,
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