Let Your Students Create Games, Simulations, Stories...

If you're looking for a unique software tools to help your students create games, puzzles, quizzes, simulations, and Internet activities, you might want to take a look at Create Together from Bytes of Learning. The program runs on both PCs and Macs, and there's a 60-day free trial you can request. Another program with great possibilities for stimulating your students' creativity is StageCast, a powerful tool that lets students become producers of their own multimedia products. Check out the really neat StageCast demos and don't forget to go on the Guided Tour. StageCast is available in English, French and German and can be ordered with a training DVD. These types of software tools can be used to enhance just about any area of the curriculum.

eBay for Teachers?

After you've worked really hard to create a great lesson, why not share it with others and get paid for it, too. The site TeachersPayTeachers is called the "World's First Open Marketplace... where smart educators can buy and sell original course materials." The magazine edutopia calls it "an eBay for Educators". If you'd like to sell some of your best lessons, at TeachersPayTeachers, you pay a yearly fee of $29.95 to post what you'd like and set your own prices or offer them free. There is no membership fee if you're just in the market for good lessons written by other teachers.

School Crisis Plans

With all the worries about school security today, you'll want to make sure your school has an emergency action plan in place and that all members of your faculty and staff know what to do in case of an emergency. Here are some links from the National Association of Independent Schools that will help you and your school keep everyone as safe as possible: NAIS Crisis Management Plan, Security Management Plan, Conducting a Security Evaluation. Also, the following sites will be helpful: SafeSchools, School Security, Keep Schools Safe, and the National Education Association's School Safety information.

Too Many Ways to Save Digital Photos?

Confused about all the ways you can save your digital photos - JPEG, TIFF, RAW, PSD, PNG, and all the rest? Usually, for photos you'll use in your classroom, JPEG should work just fine. It's easy to work with, and most people use it. If you want to do lots of photo-editing of your photos, TIFF will probably be a better choice because JPEG images lose some quality with editing. The new rage in photo format is RAW, which is the professional photographers' favorite. If you decide you want to save your photos this way, be warned that you'll need up-to-date photo-editing software to be able to view RAW images. For lots of great common-sense information on photo format, you'll appreciate Dave Johnson's Digital Photo Tips at PC World.

Free Health and Safety Resources for Your Girls

If you are looking for teaching materials and Internet sites to help you with course content related to health and safety, check out the links available at GirlsHeath. The government site includes a booklist for your girls, fact sheets about bullying, and packets of materials on eating disorders, school violence, smoking, eating disorders and more. Did you know a "No Name Calling Week" is scheduled for 2007 and that you can organize an event in your classroom? There's a link to this event and others that may be of interest to you at Girls' Health.

How Much Homework?

You've probably come across a number of articles in the media that address homework. Some say kids have too much homework, some say kids don't have enough, and some say kids are not being given the right kind of homework. The problem is that no two students, teachers, parents, classes, or schools are going to be exactly alike. While you are giving homework that motivates your students and reinforces the skills they are learning, another teacher may be assigning busywork. While students taking AP courses may have a significant amount of homework, those in other courses may not. It depends upon the course, the teacher, and the student. We all know that given the same assignment, some students complete it quickly and others take forever to do it. Some with learning problems may require different types of homework. But how much homework is too much? What types of homework are considered busywork? Are all students being pushed to do too much homework? Check out Too Few Overachievers from the Washington Post; The Truth About Homework by Alfie Kahn; How Much Homework Is Too Much? by NPR; and the Great Homework Debate in Newsday.

Motivation Matters

Education Week's Kevin Bushweller has created a new blog on a topic that has concerned him for some time. As father of four school-aged children and an experienced K-12 journalist, Bushweller in his blog is tackles the question: "What works, and what doesn't work, to motivate students to do better in school?" If you're interested in questions such as why some techniques work with some classes and not in others, why some students do better with some teachers, how to balance encouragement with fear of consequences, etc., you'll want to subscribe to Motivation Matters and have the blog feed come to your computer.

Flip4Mac Windows Media Player

If you're using Mac computers in your classroom, sometimes to play video you'll need Windows Media Player software. Instead of just downloading the Windows Media Player for your system, you may find Windows Media ® for QuickTime by Flip4 Mac a better choice. With it, you can view Windows Media on the Internet with a Web browser and can play Windows Media files on your computer. The program, designed for G4 and G5 Macintosh users, offers high-definition playback of Windows Media video.

PodCasts for Education

If you're wondering what podcasts are all about, you'll want to investigate just what's available through this new technology resource. Whether you want to: learn how to get better sound when you do a classroom video, listen to NASA's Brain Bites, investigate the San Diego Zoo, or enjoy Disney's one-minute book reports—you'll find this information in free podcasts. The problem is: How do you find the podcasts you want? Here are some places to look: Podcasting News, Apple's Podcasting in Education, Podcast Alley, Find Podcasts, Education Podcasts, Podcast Net, and iTunes Store.

Pixar Designers in Your Classroom?

One of the WOW software programs of the year is Cosmic Blobs—software that lets you and your students create exciting 3D graphics and animations. This software can be integrated into just about any subject area, for with it your students can design graphics relating to coursework, and can if they wish, animate the graphics they create. Science, social studies, language arts, and art teachers should especially appreciate what this software can do and the excitement for learning it generates. Think what a Pixar-like studio in your classroom could do for creative and critical thinking. If you'd like to try out the software, go to Cosmic Blobs to take advantage of the 5-day free trial. —And if you are interested in creating teaching materials using the program, the company will send you a free startup kit.