Digital Storytelling-Making Stopmotion Movies

Kevin Hodgson is a sixth grade teacher and serves as the technology liaison for the Western Massachusetts Writing Project.  I have long respected Kevin as an educator and a technology innovator.  His guide to Making Stopmotion Movies is one of the most how-to guides I have found.

Twitter Increases Student Engagement [STUDY]

Here is a follow-up to the previous post.

Twitter Increases Student Engagement [STUDY]

Thirty Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom

There is a link to this topic on the Interesting Ways page, but recent events have compelled me to bring the link out here: Thirty Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom.   Teachers in elementary school classrooms in the Wawasee district are now actively using Twitter in their classrooms.  They are increasing real-world opportunities for their students to write.  They are using Twitter to connect with other kids around the world and share their learning.  They are demonstrating that increasing opportunities to write increases skill levels in writing.

These are educators who have come to understand that social media is here to stay.  It will not go away and is the preferred method of communication for most of our students.  These same educators have invited me to join them and explore ways for our students to share their learning with each other.  I gave them the link to Thirty Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom.  Then, I told them Twitter was blocked in Warsaw, at least, I know it is for me.  The last time I asked, I was told unblocking Twitter and Facebook was being considered.  There was a time it was unblocked for me for more than a year.

I told the Wawasee teachers that WCS was still considering the question.  Maybe now is the time.  Maybe now is the time for us to join the discussion.  I would love to know your thoughts.

Free Technology for Teachers

Richard Byrne has created an award-winning blog that is an invaluable resource for teachers He just posted a new article on 20 tutorials for using Google Tools.  I have linked his blog in Favorite Blogs section on the left side of this page.  Take a good look at his resources.  They are well worth your time.

34 Free productivity tools that will help you eliminate expensive software

Kelly Tenkely posted this list of 34 Free Productivity Tools for the Inspired Classroom blog.  These are great tools for sharing with your fellow teachers.

Blogger Buzz: Safe Browsing on Blogger

Blogger Buzz: Safe Browsing on Blogger: "National Cyber-Security Awareness Month is here once again. In that spirit we wanted to share a bit about what we are doing on Blogger to he..."

Tiny URLs

When blogging, we often take a word or phrase and link it to a web site.  No one really sees the link.  They just click it and go.  There are some times, though, when we have to show the URL just as it is.  One example would be sharing a link on Twitter or in a electronic document where linking a word or phrase is not an option.  Some URLs, especially those for linked documents buried in the back pages of a web site, can be extraordinarily long.  Times like those are when you need a URL shortener.  One of the easiest to use is Tiny URL.  Bookmark this site and keep it handy.  You will be able to shorten any URL quickly and easily.  Here is a screen shot of the site.  Add it to your tool bar.  It's free.