Annenberg...Tons of Useful Teaching Resources!

I have rediscovered the great resources offered for FREE through the Annenberg Foundation. The following content areas are covered: Math, Social Studies, Science, Literature/Language Arts, Foreign Language, and professional development resources for educators.

The flier above lists some of the great items that you can use for free. I have used some of their videos to supplement lessons in my AP and LSN Government classes. Besides great videos, the site includes many written resources and lesson plans on a variety of topics within each content area.

For those of you who teach US Government, I recommend you check out the video series Democracy in Action. The videos cover much of what I teach. Because I teach many ESOL sections, I love how you can show the subtitles for each video. I highly recommend you discover their "Critical Thinking Activities", the "Primary Resources" (and reading questions), and the "Use the Videos" section.

If you try out Annenberg, let me know about your experience.

GradeCam...Grade Multiple Choice Questions Quicker!

GradeCam is something I have seen mentioned in a couple of blogs, and I want to share the resource with you. I am not going to bore you by explaining how it works (that is why I included the video explaining GradeCam). In an era where we teachers are being asked to assess students regularly, this seems like a nifty tool to make giving and analyzing assessments less time consuming.

I have not tried out GradeCam yet, however, I plan on doing so over the next few weeks. After I try out Gradecam, I will write about my experience. I am excited that you can print your own scantron sheets for FREE! I bought 200 scantron sheets this past school year and it set me back $50! I am hoping GradeCam can make assessment more efficient and less costly. 

Have you used GradeCam? If so, please share your experiences :)


Note:
- Since this post, a colleague (Mr. W.) tried it out and said it worked as advertised
- I played with it yesterday and it seemed to work well. I would need to spend some time putting my class rosters into csv format. I am going to try out GradeCam in a future formal assessment and share my experiences.

E-Books Revisited: FlatWorld Knowledge

I recently discovered a great E-book website, FlatWorld Knowledge that houses a variety of wonderfully written E-books in a variety of subjects. As a social studies teacher, I can personally attest that the AP US Government and Politics book is great...lots of modern examples with substantial information. I like how each chapter has objectives, comprehension questions, and how outside resources are hyperlinked to allow readers to learn more about topics. 

I foresee teachers using the English, mathematics, and this college success E-book. The college success E-book includes information about taking notes, reading to learn, and preparing for exams. I enjoy finding resources that explain these topics in innovative and different ways. I find that many students don't know how to read a text to gain knowledge, as well as study for exams. 

For me, E-books provide another resource to help me stay on my game. Reading the same information from the same book or website creates an echochamber that can inhibit a teacher's creativity. I often discover new ways to teach content by viewing different and new materials. I am sure that you will find that these FlatWorld Knowledge E-books will renew your teaching juices!

Common Core...We'are already doing this stuff!

Over the next few years, nearly all the states are voluntarily adopting the Common Core State Standards (or just Common Core). As a social studies teacher, it is a bit scary that my state of Maryland seems to be solely focused on Math and English content areas. According to the English Common Core standards, high school students are supposed to be able to use English to effectively communicate using persuasion and explanation--this sounds like social studies to me. Furthermore, the Common Core standards are meant to help our students become "college and career ready" through teachers assisting in the development of student higher ordering thinking skills---this sounds like social studies to me. The Common Core standards emphasize that students should become adept at research and reading primary source documents--social studies again!! 

A great video that explains Common Core

So...what is this crazy teacher trying to say? Theoretically, I wholeheartedly support high standards for all students in every state throughout the USA. What scares me is that English and Math are receiving much of the focus, while social studies, arts, music, science, and personal fitness are considered bunk. Perhaps in the future the Common Cores standards will grow to encompass these necessary content areas, however, in these trying economic times, it is difficult for schools to divvy resources to content areas that are not under strict federal, state, and local oversight. If Math and English are the only Common Core standards, then schools are going to direct their scarce money, teachers, technology, etc. to these content areas. Logically, it makes sense...if my mom only checked to see if I made my bed, but she didn't check to see if my closet was clean, I would ignore my closet and make my bed. (Honestly, I would go nuts if my closet was dirty, but saying that would hurt my argument)

The video above does a pretty good job explaining the basics of Common Core. Undergraduate and graduate education students are receiving lots of education about Common Core, while us foot soldiers are in the process of digesting the latest and greatest method to fix our education system. If you are a social studies teacher like me you should be happy that many of the skills we are teaching are part of the Common Core standards. I do hope that social studies eventually joins the prestige of English and Math, but until then I will keep teaching my students how to explain information, analyze documents/media, and persuade their classmates through their formal writing and oral presentations.

Password Creator

Whether you are a teacher or someone else who uses passwords in order to log into a website, you know the dread of making a new password. In my case, I am forced to change my school password every 90 days. Logically, I understand that it is in best interest to change my password to ward off evildoers waiting to exploit my identify. However, I dread this experience since I must follow so many rules per my school district. For instance, I cannot use a word or number sequence that I have previously used, and I must create a password at least eight characters in length. Once again, I understand the logic of these rules but realistically I despise rules like these because I struggle coming up with word and number combinations I can easily remember.

ALAS, a solution to the aforementioned problem---passcreator.com. Simply follow the simple rules and you will receive a randomly generated password that meets your needs.

HippoCampus..Free Online Multimedia Courses

For the last five years I have been using the resources on HippoCampus to assist my AP US Government and Politics students prepare for the AP exam. The site has a plethora of resources that help teach students about different topics. Each lesson includes a multimedia video, a written explanation (like a textbook), a variety of charts, images, and more to help students learn about topics. Additionally, the site includes essay and multiple choice questions to help students review what they just learned.

Many courses are offered through HippoCampus. A variety of science, math, social studies courses are offered for FREE through HippoCampus.

A word of caution. Even though I do love HippoCampus, it does not include 100% of the information my students need to know for the AP US Government and Politics exam. Nevertheless, I do like this resource to support what we are learning about and to review previous lessons from earlier in the year.

With all the great technology resources out there for, I still believe that a human teacher is the best resource to help students succeed!

Dropbox...This will change your life!

For the past few months I have been bragging to people about how much I love a FREE service/software called Dropbox. I am including a 3 minute tutorial video explaining how Dropbox works, therefore I will not bore you with the details. However, the basic idea is that you can open your files anywhere, edit them, and then save them for future use. Additionally, you can share folders with people. The best part is that if your computer dies, your files are automatically saved in the cloud! When I say you can open your files anywhere, I mean it...laptops, desktops, smart phones, and even tablets can access your Dropbox files.

I don't have to worry about backing up my files to a physical device. I don't have to worry about losing a USB drive. Dropbox makes computing much more efficient and anxiety free. Because I use three different computers on a daily basis, I never worry about  wondering which device has the most recently updated files. As long as your computer is connected to the Internet, Dropbox will update your files automatically.

Obviously nothing is perfect (including Dropbox). The good news is that you automatically receive 2 gb of free storage. If you are able to persuade others to install Dropbox, you can earn more free storage. If you are someone who works with large media files, then you might want to consider paying to receive higher amounts of storage or find another service to meet your needs. Nevertheless, if you are a classroom teacher like me who primarily uses Microsoft Word, PowrePoint, Excel, and PDF's, then the basic Dropbox account should suffice for your needs.