Free Film Footage—But Only 500 Available

Royalty free film footage on topics such as seashores, winter and snow, nature and animals, high definition variety, autumn, looping backgrounds, beaches and islands, fireworks, Christmas and holidays may be ordered for $8.41 shipping for each DVD. Five hundred copies of each of twelve collections are available to schools. In each DVD there are separate film clips, and the twelve DVDs include over 700 clips. According to Footage Firm, the company making the offer, the collection includes $10,000 worth of footage.

Textbooks in the Apple AP Store?

Random House now has an ebook reader that will work with iPhones and iPod Touch, which means it will be offering digital versions of its books in the Apple App Store. Print size of the text as well as font types can be changed by readers who purchase the books, and notes can be taken in the books. Users may add on features such as videos, quizzes, and interviews with authors. Although Random House has started with best sellers, can textbooks be far behind? Will we be able to pick and choose texts in the Apple App Store? Read Fred Bartels comments, "The End of the Textbook? ... as we know it" and see what he suggests might be possible for texts of the future with Apple's new iPhone software. Will we be able to pick and choose to purchase only the chapters we want and perhaps, put together our own textbooks? Yes, we will—one of these days.

Corrects Multiple Mistakes of Struggling Writers

Ginger Software, Inc., an award winner in the 2009 Technology in the Works competition, "corrects multiple mistakes in a sentence simultaneously." It can even fix correctly spelled words that are misused in a sentence and give audio feedback. On the Ginger site you can view a demo of what the software can do for both children and adults having difficulty with writing. The software, now in its beta version, can be downloaded free.

Go On A Cybermission

Have your Grades 6-9 students stretch their learning in science and mathematics while competing for US Savings Bonds. Teams of students work together on an eCybermission to help their communities. The competition, sponsored by the US Army, begins 08/01/09. Curriculum fact sheets and posters are available along with descriptions of winning projects from 2008. Some past projects that earned thousands of dollars for each student on a team included studying the effects of flip-flops on feet, studying the ways to prevent accidents, increasing awareness of hazardous mercury through a recycling program, and investigations of bacteria on weightlifting equipment.

Teacher-Made Anti-Smoking Videos

Maryland science teacher Colleen McGuire created a series of short, Podcast-type videos that tackle the topic of anti-smoking. The videos were created for the Worcester County, Maryland Health Department and are appropriate for students in Grades 4-7. They include 3000 Kids Anti-Smoking Video, Smoke Screens, What Will You Do, Second Hand Smoke, and videos of anti-smoking drawings by fourth and fifth grade students. In the past, McGuire has written and produced short musicals about anti-smoking and had high school students present them for younger students. This year she decided that online video was the way to go to help students learn about the problems of tobacco use. McGuire's videos are an example of what can be done when using the inexpensive flip video cameras.

For Savvy Administrators: Free ARRA Help

If you are wondering just what The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is, you can get information from T.H.E. Journal. The magazine, together with the GovConnection, offers free information about ARRA monies available for education. Called T.H.E. Savvy Administrator's Resource on ARRA, it's a place where you will find Podcasts, newsletters, news briefs, and webinars about ARRA. You can sign up for the first webinar now; it's scheduled for July 28, 2009, and features information on planning for ARRA projects. On the site is a link to the U.S. Department of Education slideshow that gives an overview of ARRA. You'll also find an area called "Things You Need to Know About ARRA But Were Afraid to Ask".

What Are Geospatial Technologies & How Are They Useful in Schools?

Geospatial Techologies is fancy name for things like Google Maps, GPS (Geopositioning Systems), GIS (Geographic Information Systems), and RS (Remote Sensing). These technologies use what are called "smart maps" to do everything from finding locations to working with geographic databases. To discover ideas for using these tools in education check out the eSchool News Educational Resource Center, GIS and Geographic Inquiry. It features basic information about the technologies, suggestions for GIS in classrooms, ideas for using GIS in school administration, useful links on the topic, and articles such as "Augmented Reality", "Spatial Literacy", "Google Maps Inspire Greativity", GIP and school planning, GIS and service projects, bio maps and more.

Mandarin Chinese Resources

The Mandarin Center is a place where those teaching Chinese can connect, collaborate and grow. It's free for Chinese language educators, who will appreciate the resources on the site and the ability to share with other teachers of the language. Educators can select from an array of language proficiency levels and grade levels when searching for resources. There are Podcasts, dictionaries, comic books, flashcards, teachers' guides, assessment tools, MP3 files, and much more available on the site. Although the Mandarin Center targets Chinese language educators, other social studies and teachers of the arts should find the site a terrific resource. How about brightening your day with the Chinese New Year's Medley?

Helping Parents with Home Wireless & Child Safety

Power to Learn's Wireless World , an easy-to-understand slideshow for parents, is a perfect way to help parents of children in your classroom learn about wireless in their home. The slideshow contains information on child safety and social networking, tools for blocking and protecting, and controlling access to wireless devices and to wireless networks. There are suggested rules for parents to set up that will help ensure their children's safety. Throughout the slideshow parents will find links to helpful resources.

Technology in Education: Don't Forget Teachable Moments

Almost all teachers today can say they use technology in education, but that really doesn't tell us much. Technology use in education may be anything from posting grades into an online system to engaging students in 21^st Century Skills. Who's to determine how teachers use technology in their classrooms? While administrators may supervise, give suggestions and offer in-service sessions, not all teachers are going to head in the same direction with tech use. Students need to be exposed to differing teaching styles, and teaching styles are often reflected in how teachers integrate technologies into their classrooms. Good teachers will find ways to fit what will work into their teaching. Just like we wouldn't expect all teachers to teach the same content the same way, we shouldn't expect that they all add the same types of activities to online course pages or engage in similar online or offline projects with their students. Giving teachers the option to inject their creativity, their talents, and their interests into their teaching results in heightened teacher enthusiasm, which shows in their teaching. So when integrating the latest curricular software into schools, we need to make sure that whatever it is gives teachers the opportunity to make it their own in their own special way. In other words, we need to give teachers time for all those "wonderful teachable moments."