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Integrating Technology in the Classroom

Integrating Technology in the Classroom - Michigan's Best Practices
http://www.remc11.k12.mi.us/bstpract/
The lesson plans that you will find here have been written by practicing teachers and have been "kid tested" to work in the classroom. All of these lessons have been aligned with the Michigan Framework Document.

California Distance Learning Project ~ Using News Stories in the Classroom
http://www.cdlponline.org/news.html
Loads of newstories with online activities, including fill in the blank, sequencing, drawing conclusions etc. Had an audio component as well.

The Change Agent:
http://www.nelrc.org/changeagent/
A newspaper for the Adult Education Classroom on Social Justice. Stories are timely and relevant. Electronic version is available at the website.

authorSTREAM: share PowerPoint,  anywhere
Free
http://www.authorstream.com
This website allows you to share and view PowerPoint presentations. You can type nearly anything into the search box from Learning Styles to teaching ESL and discover loads of presentations pertaining to your topic!

Babbel: Enjoy learning languages
Free
http://www.babbel.com/
This is a great tool for anyone from ESOL students to educators aspiring to learn another language! This site allows you to select your primary language and the language you are trying to learn and creates activities and assessments just for you!

Blinkx
Free
http://www.blinkx.com/
This site allows you to search over 35 million hours of videos! Type anything from the Twin Towers to speeches done by President Obama into the search box and tons of videos will appear before your eyes!

Book Tagger Beta
Free
http://booktagger.com/
This site allows its users to tag books that they have either enjoyed or disliked and to create forums to discuss the novels in a book club type of setting. Members are also able to search for books to obtain summaries and thoughts and opinions posed by others.

Brainstorming made simple
Free
http://bubbl.us/
This site is an interactive website that allows you to create flow charts and graphic organizers and either e-mail or print them out!

BuddySchool
Registration is free but prices vary depending on tutor
http://www.buddyschool.com/
Do you have an ESOL student who is struggling in math? This website is designed to help those students find help through certified tutors. The subject areas vary from mathematics to English to communication techniques.

CalendarHub
Free
http://calendarhub.com/
This is a great tool for teachers and students alike! Calendars are a great way to stay organized and prepared; this site allows you to develop free calendars for anyone who is in need of organization!

ISpeech: Text to Audio
Cost varies depending on type of service
http://www.ispeech.org/
This website allows its users to type in words and then converts them into an audio feed! This would be a useful tool for ESOL students and students with learning disabilities.

Forvo: All the words in the world. Pronounced.
Free
http://forvo.com/
This is a great tool for ESOL students because it will allow them to hear words they are struggling with and practice with them. (This site would be great in tandem with http://www.babbel.com/ for English speakers aspiring to learn a new language)

Sixent: Share your life the way you want
Free
http://sixent.com/
This is a great site for professionals interested in creating their PLN (Personal Learning Network). It allows you to categorize yourself into different types (personal, professional, hobbies, etc.) and then work on that specific profile instead of one total profile housing all of it.

ChartGizmo: Create stunning charts online
Free
http://chartgizmo.com/
This is a great tool for educators who use charts and graphs in their classrooms and visual learners because it allows you to create all types of charts. The charts can be created in color and 3D!

X Timeline Beta
Free
http://www.xtimeline.com/
This is a great tool for educators and students because it allows you to create or find previously made timelines of major events and people in history! This is a useful tool for visual learners.

GigTide: Online Resume Builder
Free for non-members, $4.95+ for members
http://www.gigtide.com/
This is a neat site for English teachers to use when helping students learn how to write their resumes.

Notely
Free
http://www.notely.net/
This is a great site for teachers to recommend to their students. It allows them to create notes with highlighters, calendars and reminders; a wonderful tool to help students organize their school life!

Lectr
Free
http://www.lectr.com/
This site has thousands of lectures from educators around the world. It is user-friendly and easy to search through; just type in whatever subject you’re looking for and videos with that tag will pop up.

Edmodo
Free
http://www.edmodo.com/
This site is a great tool for both teachers and students. It allows you to create a classroom site complete with a calendar, e-mail tool, blog spot, grades, and file sharing.

Knowtes
Free for individuals; cost for groups
http://www.knowtes.com/
This website allows the user to create a deck of flashcards complete with text and pictures and publish them for other users to study. This would be a useful tool for teachers because you can create a deck and then send invitations to your students and give credit for study time.

Yaca Paca
Free
http://yacapaca.com/
This site is user friendly for both teachers and students! It allows teachers to create quizzes, surveys, portfolios, and much more or search through pre-made materials! Students can sign on to take practice quizzes and add items to thier portfolios!

Beta Free Screen Cast
Free
http://freescreencast.com/
This site has hundreds of different screen casts at your disposal from math to how to use a SmartBoard! It also allows its users to create their own screen cast which would be an easy way to give instructions!

Visual Thesaurus
$2.95/month, $19.95/year, $39.95/CD
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/teachersatwork/
This site houses over 145,000 English words and 115,000 meanings! The site takes any word you have looked up and creates word blossoms with synonyms! It's a great way to improve your vocabulary and grammar!

HotChalk: Connecting teachers, students, and parents
Free
http://www.hotchalk.com/index_new.html
HotChalk content includes professional development opportunities, lesson plans, worksheets, textbooks, articles and images, audio as well as a wide selection of video to enrich your lesson plans and engage your students.

DailyMe
Free
http://dailyme.com/
This site allows you to select topics of interest to you and receive news worthy stories. This tool is useful for educators interested in creating a PLN (Personal Learning Network), it could be a link on your blog.

Delicious Social Bookmarking
Free
http://delicious.com/
This is a great site for educators because it allows you to search by specific tags. This site has tons of other sites and resources tagged by others who appreciated their content.

Slideboom
Free
http://www.slideboom.com/
This site is a great tool for both teachers and students. Teachers can locate pre-made slide shows in a range of topics and students can locate slide shows of topics that they are struggling with.

My ebook: get it out there
Free
http://www.myebook.com/index.php
This site provides its users with a chance to create their very own book or magazine! It is user friendly and is published online for free!

Footnote
Basic Membership is free, All Acess Membership $11.95/month, $69.95/year
http://www.footnote.com/
This is a great tool for history teachers because it allows you to view original documents and photos. This is a great way to get students excited about the material. 

Busuu
Free
http://www.busuu.com/
This site has been recommended by other educators as a great tool for ESOL students because it provides interactive learning, pictures, vocabulary, and the ability to meet others who are learning another language.

Wikidot—Free and Pro Wiki hosting
Free
http://www.wikidot.com/learnmore:education
This site allows you to create wikis for free! There are testimonials from other educators on the site informing potential users why they found it to be a useful and successful classroom tool.

Timetoast
Free
http://www.timetoast.com/
This is a neat website because it allows you to create interactive timelines or ou can search for already made time lines like space exploration.

AAA Math Sites
http://aaamath.com/gwpg.html
Great portal to other math websites. List includes online activities and worksheets.

A Compilation of Student Activity Ideas
https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/public/faculty/studentactivities.html
Nice list of student activities developed by students at World Campus. Most activities lend themselves to a variety of methods of presentation and submission.

Curriculum-Based Technology Integration Activities
http://www.bcps.org/apps/CBTIA/default.aspx
What's great about this website is that for each activity, the learning preferences are noted and the Level of Cognitive Demand is identified.

Microsoft Education Online Lessons

Buy Low, Sell High - Students learn how to invest in corporate stocks by creating investment "portfolios." They develop worksheets to track each portfolio's performance, and then report results to the class. (Uses MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel)
Buying a Dream Car - This practical spreadsheet lesson offers easy answers to life's perplexing math problems like, "How much will my dream car really cost after financing?" (Uses MS Excel)
Fueling the Future - Students explore fuel cells as a potential future automotive power source. They study other technologies, take a position in support of one technology, and weigh consumer and industry interests against broader societal considerations. (Uses MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel)
Making Ends Meet - Students create a monthly budget, showing income earned from an imaginary job versus estimated monthly expenses. They then encounter unexpected monthly expenses and must adjust their budget. (Uses MS Word, and Excel)
Personal Energy Meter - Students take a look at their own energy use, tally up the costs in dollars and the environmental impact , and then think of ways to save. They explore energy conservation techniques and advocate for conservation in their own communities. (Uses MS Word, and Excel)
Plan a Trip to Anywhere - Students use selected Internet sites together with productivity tools to plan a trip to the country of their choice. They learn and communicate about a foreign country, develop travel planning and budgeting skills, and build key computer skills. (Uses MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel)
Tell a totem story - In this lesson, students will research their own family history and create a totem pole to describe that history. (Uses MS Word and PowerPoint)
What’s the Real Deal? - Students learn the concept of intellectual property and identify ways to overcome piracy and counterfeiting. Students also practice basic computer and research skills using library and Internet resources. (Uses MS Word and PowerPoint)
World Pizza - In this project, students embrace the best of both worlds by first imagining a global pizza with ingredients from all over, and then developing a savvy, sensitive plan to market the product in a very particular place. (Uses MS Excel)
See more lesson plans at the Microsoft site.

The Literacy List
http://alri.org/litlist/software.html
A ton of links to software evaluations across the country.

David Rosen's Software List (downloadable versions)
http://home.comcast.net/~djrosen/softwarelist.html
Downloadable versions of software evaluations and links to freeware and shareware


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