EmbedPlus

 

http://embedplus.com/

This tool lets you clip and annotate videos VERY easily. I did this in less than a minute.

Classroom Idea : Wow, so many of them. Language learners can translate videos, or at least key moments in them.  History learners can add content or opinions.

Thanks to Jane Knight 

History for Music Lovers

History for Music Lovers
http://www.youtube.com/user/historyteachers#g/u

Classroom ideas : Clever video parodies, great for history. Useful as introductions to units. Students could also create their own.

Reflections on being an Echo Chamber:  

I discovered this tool came from Joyce Valenza 's NeverEndingSearch http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/neverendingsearch .  I get many great ideas from her and other tech and ed blog writers. In fact that is where I get all my tools.  It has surprised me how creative I feel in using and presenting to others these tools when I know I did not make or discover them.  At best I am a fourth or fifth level echo-er.  But I take heart in my echoes, because I hope they aid the teachers and students I work with every day,  And my small echoing  transforms these tools into new uses.  Maybe this is how being a grandparent feels :)

Playing History

Playing History        http://playinghistory.org/

I haven't been paying as much attention as I should to resource collection, This collection of games appropriate for many social studies classes. Plus, I am happy to find an online Oregon Trail.

Classroom idea: Use these as a opener for study or a review.   Students could use these as basis for creating their own game.

Simplebooklet

simplebooklet http://simplebooklet.com/index.php#
I like to consider new ways of presenting student information.  I like this tool for two reasons :

1. The clean lines.  The ability to  create multiple pages allows for lots of information to be presented, but not overwhelmed.
2. The booklet ( one of  multiple options for presenting) allows for "story" or narrative.

Classroom idea: Create a catalog of  items for sale from the time period of the novel being studied.

ZooBurst

ZooBurst http://www.zooburst.com/index.php is an online pop up book creator. This tool  lets the creator of a story  present images  and text in a timed and spatial manner.  The basic free license allows  speech bubbles as well as story text.

Classroom idea - Students create books that present a tour through history, or a tour of a every day life in a country, using native language.

A Holiday Card From Google

 http://www.google.com/logos/
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704774604576035500936272100.html

Google celebration logos always are of interest. The one on December 23, 2010 was a loose recreation of "Google"  with a number of interactive  images that approximated the standard Google colors of each letter. The images also led to a search  on the theme of that image.

Classroom idea : Easier version of this idea : Using Glogster ( would work best I think), Moodle , wikis or Prezi,  gathers a collection  of images to  create a collage of a word or concept, with the images somehow relating to  the word.. ,  The magic of linking or "pathing" would allow the image to be linked to a presentation about that aspect.

Disunion

Disunion  http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/
From the New York Times, "One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, Americans went to war with themselves. Disunion revisits and reconsiders America’s most perilous period — using contemporary accounts, diaries, images and historical assessments to follow the Civil War as it unfolded."


Classroom idea: Have students peruse these sources, and then do research to presenting primary source  with explanation.