Definitely read this if you teach High School English!

This site called 6o Second Recap provides a recap summary of classic novels in a unique video format...For each novel, the teacher/actress has created 6-8 short videos covering plot, theme, characters, context, etc... It does not tell the whole story, but rather serves as a reminder of the book that might have been read at an earlier time... It seems like it would be great to study for a final exam to recall the basic elements of a particular novel. They are well done. The only drawback is that the site does not have a ton of books yet... only 30 so far, but all popular classics. The creator says she will add a new book each week. Its really well done. Heres a sample from Video 3 of Great Expectations:

Definitely read this if you teach High School Math, Science, or US History!

Ok- this is one of those sites that I opened and said...wow...this is FREE? Are you kidding? Its a non-profit organization that is given free online course content from other organizations. It is real, interactive, free online coursework.   It may be especially valuable to teachers of Algebra, US History, Living Environment, Environmental Science, Physics, and Statistics. I am amazed at the quality and depth of the lessons I previewed so far. I could see assigning it as review, or really even as prep/homework to get ready for a lesson. You could take a particular lesson and work through it as a class.  Its high quality, interactive, and free... it think... check it out and let me know what you think...

From the site:  "The HippoCampus website can be customized to make it better suited to meet the needs of an individual instructor or a group of students. In order to use the customization features, you will need an account. Creating an account is quick and easy - just click on Create Account and fill out a simple form. Once you have an account, you can create announcements, hide unwanted subjects and courses, remove unused textbooks, and bookmark specific multimedia topics."

http://www.hippocampus.org/

Results of High School Poll using Poll Everywhere

We had an assembly at the HS today that dealt with the dangers of driving while distracted or with ability impaired. Dave Collins and Tim Hulihan showed a British public service announcement that recreated the horrors of an accident caused by the driver being distracted by texting with her friends. (Warning-this video is very graphic.)  They also showed a testimonial of two parents who lost their two teenage daughters in a DWI accident.  With the videos, Tim and Dave asked several questions and had students text in their answers. The answers were compiled and shown on the screen in real time.  This was done using a free service called Poll Everywhere. Here are the results of the three poll questions. Click on any of the graphs for full screen. Stay tuned for more about how you can use Poll Everywhere in the classroom.

Make your own poll voting question with Poll Everywhere

Open Meeting of Tech Review Committee

Hi everyone. Hope your Monday is going well!! This Wednesday at 3:00 in the LGI we will be hosting an open meeting of the Tech Review Committee. We will be highlighting some great new technologies that will be being introduced in the coming weeks. It will give you a chance to get in on the ground level of some pilots and hear about the plans for having all of our classrooms with permanent projection technology by this time next year... You don't have to be on the committee... just stop by and learn something new!

We will also be debuting our new "Tech and Teaching" forum. This will just be a fun and low key weekly meeting at both the elementary and the secondary level where people can just stop by and see cool demonstrations, ask questions, and share best practices. There is no obligation week to week. Just show up when you can. Schedule to follow! Stay tuned to this blog or to Keith's Blog for more details.

Here are some great links for Educational Games:

1297 Great Free Elementary Games
Dozens of Science and Social Studies Games
35+ Educational Games and Games Resources
25 More Educational Games and Games Builders

10 Sources of Educational Science Games

(Thanks to FreeTech4Teachers for these leads. This is a great site. You should link to it with aRSS, a iGoogle Gadget, or a bookmark...and check it everyday)