Parents concerned about Internet safety and their teen (or preteen)'s online information-sharing should read this article. It may sound devious to check up on your children, but the era of social networking makes it a must-talk topic. Your child or young adult may not realize the serious safety issues involved with having online space. Trying to "just say no" will not work on this issue. Have the conversation. Although this may not be a classroom issue, the negative sides of social networking tools are harming the positive tools for learning made available through the same technologies.

Teachers may want to share this article with parents to help them get the dialog started.

These simple lesson plans provide a developmentally appropriate way to introduce the computer keyboard to young children using manipulatives and mnemonics to help them remember key locations. the web page itself is very simple and straightforward, but the ideas are the important part. Note: this teacher is selling the final two lessons in the series, and TeachersFirst does not endorse any product for sale. You can, however, read and try the first two lessons, then decide for yourself whether you wish to go further.

The Virginia Department of Education has created a very usable collection of acceptable internet and technology use policies from schools, colleges, and universities. These are presented along with some general guidelines as to the information that an AUP should contain. Great resource for schools and districts that want to be clear with students, faculty and staff about on-line rights and responsibilities.
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Share this link with your teaching colleagues who use the internet and technology regularly in the classroom.

Using an authentic environmental issue - acid rain - this lesson plan guides students through Internet research to discover pH levels of rainwater in their state, collect specific data from their own community, and investigate possible causes and solutions. In the process, students learn to use a spreadsheet to record and analyze data. Links to relevant Web sites and student materials are provided, along with ideas for extension activities. Aligned to National Standards.
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Throughout the 20th century, advertisements have influenced public behavior and opinion while leaving enduring icons and slogans in their wake. Explore some of these snapshots of American culture in this Ad Council site that provides printed and multi-media glimpses of its public service milestones - from war bonds, to Smokey the Bear, to Vince and Larry, the crash test dummies. View the examples in class and challenge students to design their own ad campaigns to address contemporary issues in America society.
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Introduce this site on the interactive whiteboard during a class discussion of a debate in current politics or while preparing for a debate in your own classroom. Allow students to explore the site with the intentions of creating their own propaganda for their debate side or for both sides if used in a more general discussion. This is a great way to get students to start thinking about persuasion in the media, and how politicians can use it. Excellent resource for a US government class!

These fairly advanced puzzles - posted by two professors at Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science - challenge students to construct and apply an algorithm or proof, or write a computer program to arrive at a solution. A new puzzle appears every few weeks, followed by a solution and related references.
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Cornell University’s guide to evaluating online information sources would be a great primer for teachers who are not proficient web searchers. High school students will also find this site a useful way of separating the reliable research sources from those less trustworthy.
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Professional development activities are just a mouse click away. This exceptional online library contains hundreds of educational videos, covering all grade levels and content areas. Search by discipline, grade, or keyword and complete a free registration to view the materials. Check out the broadcast schedule for a list of daily simulcasts. A high-speed connection is a must.
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Teacher's First Edge Review: This free site is for very adventurous technology users. With Apture, you can create a rich multimedia experience to your site, wiki, or blog, with instant access to video, audio, text, and more. Easily incorporate these multimedia objects into a page of your site, providing instantaneous information from Wikipedia, Washington Post, You Tube, Flickr, and many more. Adding these multimedia links creates icons next to your text. Hovering on the icon brings up the related multimedia items for any reader. Since learning and finding information is not linear, the discovery of your information’s deeper meaning occurs with richer context in a shorter time frame. This relevant content remains dynamic within your site. Apture's own example of a page using Apture can be found here. See another: a wiki page with class notes and Apture annotations created by a teacher..

At the time of this review, Apture is in “limited beta” but appears to be automatically accepting all new applications.

Skills needed: Join the site and wait for verification email to log in. Enter your site/wiki/blog’s URL. You are actually allowed to enter many of these, but try ONE first! The site’s detector tool will then “sense” common blogging software, such as WordPress, and prompt you on what to do next. You must be familiar with embed codes and how to place them into your blog or website. Apture’s video tutorial will help (it also pops up along the Apture dashboard when you first go to your “Aptured” site/wiki/blog). Other the simple directions shown in pop-ups for using Apture in various blog and wiki tools. Instantly add the embed code to the most popular blog and wiki platforms with one click. The code generated is easily copy/pasted into your existing website/wiki/blog. Once the embed code is there, visiting your site/wiki/blog automatically brings up an Apture “dashboard” (small toolbar in the corner) for you to log in and add things to your site/wiki/blog. Highlighting text or another item automatically brings up the site (if a site name or URL) you wish to add. Other material can be located by clicking "add related media." Entering a search term instantly finds related Wikipedia or Washington Post articles, You Tube videos, Flickr photos, and more. Subsequent visitors to your site will see the icons next to any item you have “enriched” with Apture-linked media content.

Safety/security concerns: Membership requires an email address log-in. If students will use Apture with their own classroom blogs/wikis, check your school district's Acceptable Use policy regarding student email and establishing site memberships. A single class account created by an extra email account and password (NOT the one you use for your own teacher-created sites) is an option, assuming students will not vandalize each other’s work.

Apture recognizes your any site/wiki/blog name you have entered into its system each time you go there. Therefore, enter only sites you intend for multimedia use. Do not check “remember me” when you log into Apture or others will be able to add mischievous links to your site from that computer! Apture may not be fully accessible inside your school filtering because of the bandwidth it requires or the sites it pulls up. Check in advance to be sure all portions you plan to use in class will be available at school.

Practical Tips: Demonstrate first on a projector or interactive whiteboard with a teacher account so students see how easy the tool is for those familiar with embedding. This will allow you to discuss reliability of links and appropriateness of content to the audience for their educational projects. Enter additional search terms to add new media through the Apture pop-up dashboard. If you are Apture-enriching content on your site/blog/wiki for students to use independently, think of all the possible questions that your students may have about the content and vocabulary. For example, we know certain words are stumbling blocks for students, yet students are hesitant to find the meanings on their own. Link a Wikipedia or other definition for instant access to the meaning. Since Wikipedia is user-generated content, consider requiring students to link to two or three different definitions/articles so they can see first hand the variability of web information. You will need to be sure that students actually READ what they link and do not simply subscribe to “more links are better” to impress you. Consider asking for justification or critique of the links they include.

Possible uses: On your own blog or class information site, link videos explaining a curriculum topic or definitions so students understand the full context of the sentence. Use Apture to teach about evaluating the reliability of web sources by creating multiple links from the same term on a teacher-created page for students to compare and evaluate. Students can use Apture on a blog or wiki can to link content from the web to the information they are discussing. Special ed teachers may want to work with content area teachers to create enriched versions of key content on a class blog so students can experience a multimedia review. ESL teachers may want to create class blogs or wikis collaboratively with students to add visual stimuli and prompts. Consider having your more able students create some of these pages independently as a gifted project for learning support students to use later. Or allow gifted students to go beyond the usual “connections” to higher level, deeper understanding.

Try this student-created site on copyright and use of artwork in school and web projects as a great way to introduce elementary students to the basics of copyright an intellectual property. Teaching these habits early on is a great way to ensure compliance later on.
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This site offers a broad collection of ideas, resources, and best practice discussions regarding the uses of assistive technology in schools. While the precise applicability of these resources will depend on local circumstances and student populations, this site could be a live-saver for teachers suddenly faced with a special education technology need.
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This interactive manipulative helps strengthen skills in pattern recognition involving shape, color, and number. Project in the classroom for a guided activity or use as a small group challenge in the computer lab. Visit the Parent/Teacher link for helpful suggestions and guided questions. Aligned to National Standards.
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This collection of downloadable templates provides great ideas for using Excel spreadsheets to create timelines across the curriculum. Visit the resource links for timeline content and interactive timeline tools.
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This comprehensive article gives all the details on using gated blogs safely in the classroom, including explanations of blogging basics, a TeachersFirst Step-by-Step on how to start one, complete reviews of several free blogging tools for teachers, and over two dozen ideas for how to use a blog with your students. Make "writing to learn" approachable and exciting. Don't miss the specially-honored TeachersFirst Class Blogs.

You could use this step by step as the framework for a self-directed or "buddy" professional development project. Share it with your principal or professional development coordinator.

This single web page is a treasure for any teacher who uses technology as a teaching tool. This diverse site offers a taxonomy of technology tasks. It provides a way to analyze and evaluate your uses of technology and the assignments you give to students and uses the new Blooms as a taxonomy to analyze technology tasks. The site provides specific tasks for each level of the taxonomy. For example, at the highest level on the taxonomy, students Create. Some of the "action words" used at the Create level include design, build, construct, devise, produce, and plan. Before you plan an electronic activity or form your expectations, take a moment to look at what you are really asking your students to do. Have you pushed them beyond simple comprehension? Is there another way to do the task that will develop higher order thinking? Have you planned a sequence to move from lower to higher level thinking? Do your students' projects reflect more than fact-spitting and really CREATE..or does the glitz disguise a lotta LOTS? Since few teachers today ever experienced learning with technology, this page provides a new vision in deceptively simple form. Some of the links require Adobe Acrobat. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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Save this site in your TeachersFirst favorites! Keep the page handy as you develop new lesson ideas in the 21st century. Use this site as you create rubrics with project choices for students. This site lists MANY ideas of how to incorporate this site (and its ideas) into your classroom. If you teach teachers-to-be or mentor new teachers, help them envision technology as a real tool for learning instead of "fun."

This single web page is a treasure for any teacher who includes technology as a teaching tool. This listing, a taxonomy of technology tasks, provides a way to analyze and evaluate your uses of technology and the assignments you give to students, using the new Blooms as a taxonomy to analyze technology tasks. Before you plan an electronic activity or form your expectations, take a moment to look at what you are really asking your students to do. Have you pushed them beyond simple comprehension? Is there another way to do the task that will develop higher order thinking? Have you planned a sequence to move from lower to higher level thinking? Do your students' projects reflect more than fact-spitting and really CREATE..or does the glitz disguise a lotta LOTS? Since few teachers today ever experienced learning with technology, this page provides a new vision in deceptively simple form.

Keep this page handy as you develop new lesson ideas in the 21st century. If you teach teachers-to-be or mentor new teachers, help them envision technology as a real tool instead of "fun." This is a MUST-have Favorite.

Demystify effective web searches with Boolify! Finally, there is a tool to SHOW what changes to search terms do, in dynamic, visual form so students can SEE both terms and results graphically. Students can drag and drop color-coded puzzle pieces to add keywords and Boolean operators like AND, OR, and NOT. The search results are immediate and help students understand their results by visually illustrating the logic of their search. Each change to the search instantly changes the results. The search results are presented through Google's "Safe Search STRICT" technology, but like all search results, no filtering technology is 100% secure.

This easy and appealing web site is designed for elementary and middle school student use, but offers a great illustrative method for anyone to experiment with Boolean logic operators. Click the Curriculum tab for search activity sheets and links to web resources. While the site is still in development (beta), it promises language selection and translation options soon.

Use this site as a whole class research activity with an interactive whiteboard or projector. Students can volunteer key words, select operators, and see the search results. Grab screen shots of effective search term combinations and post them on bulletin boards as great examples of Boolean logic – add the students’ names for recognition of a job well done.

Consider holding a short Boolean logic contest where groups of students can craft keyword phrases and operators based on subject area topics. Groups can see the results of their search strategies and modify them until the teacher declares the search to be effective.

This lesson plan introduces students to the relationship between dependent and independent variables. Using a bouncing tennis ball, students must collect data, enter it in a table, create a graph, and identify the variables in each 2-minute trial. Incorporate technology into this lesson by requiring students to use a spreadsheet program to record and represent their data.
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Students must grab a partner, choose a category, and test their knowledge with these interactive games that touch upon trivia related to historical dates, literature and writers, sports, and more.
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Looking for interactive review activities for your subject area? Use Bubbabrain's vast array of activities created for many levels and subjects. Registration is not required to play. When Game ID is checked (this is the automatic default for the site,) you choose a level ranging from Elementary to College (be sure to click the circle in the appropriate grade level) and then choose a subject area from the drop down box at your level. Subject areas vary by grade level and may include: telling time, government, family and consumer science, world languages, sociology, technology, and countless others.

Click the "Go" button to start your activity. Click on the correct answer to the question and then a new question appears. Prompts to try again appear if the answer is wrong and a percent right appears on your screen as you progress. Click on the teacher's link in the upper right hand corner for more information on becoming registered. Once registered, teachers can create their own games for the site. Your teacher ID can be entered by students to access created games.

Use these activities for review of concepts or terminology with your class on specific topics/subjects. Wish there were a review game for a missing topic? Request a teacher ID, and have groups of students create the questions. Enter the information for the game and students can review by playing their game or one created by another group. Share the student-created games on your interactive whiteboard or projector.

Tap into basic reading and mouse skills with this computer lab activity that creates a virtual scarecrow based on individual student responses. To extend this activity into the math classroom, poll students as they progress through the questions, then use that data in a graphing lesson. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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This is a well-written tutorial introducing HTML, site design, server issues, and many other topics. If you're interested in building your own site, or even if you just want to try a sample HTML page, this tutorial has both the detail and the tone to help. Privately published.
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Follow the progress of 100 TeachersFirst members as they collaborate and use a safe web2.0 tool with the support of the tool developer and TeachersFirst's teacher-friendly team. The 100 participants receive free, premium pilot accounts to use TRintuition’s workBench and our support to help them build learners in their classrooms. These accounts allow teachers and students to create online collaborative projects using the workBench’s visually-rich and user-friendly tools, possibly even collaborating with classes from other schools.

Both teachers and students can build online or downloadable projects using the workBench. Each free premium pilot teacher account includes up to 45 student user accounts for access throughout 2008. Teachers who are part of the pilot project will be asked to complete at least one classroom-related, student- or teacher-created project (or as many classroom-related projects as you wish!) before November 30, 2008.

This blog documents the project and the idea-sharing from the announcement of the project start in April, 2008 and will remain online as a prototype for collaborative use of technology after the project completion.

Teachers who wish to join the project should read the details and sign-up from the blog. Learn more about the TRIntuition workBench from the TeachersFirst Edge review of this tool.

This practical lesson gets students involved in using math to solve a real life problem: "How much will my dream car really cost me?" Using Excel, students create a spreadsheet and calculate interest and total payments based on several different loan terms.
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This site provides teachers with ready-to-use agricultural lessons that are both interactive and interesting to students of all ages. The site is geared towards grades 4-8, however there are activities for students in grades K-12. Students will enjoy the interactive "corn" scavenger hunt, witnessing the birth of pigs, seeing the Iowa of 150 years ago, virtual field trips and more. The web site is interdisciplinary and teacher-friendly.It includes numerous lesson plans (most interactive) and lots of new approaches to teaching subject matter. Requires QUICKTIME for video.

This web site is perfect for combining students' love of technology with standards in science, history, technology, information literacy and language arts. Especially unique are the interactive scavenger hunts and virtual field trips that allow students to step "out of the classroom." Partner students on computers for the scavenger hunt or take a virtual field trip together on a projector.

This interactive "just-for-fun" site challenges kids to make choices while developing tech-related motor skills. Using left and right arrow keys, students must move the basket-wielding elf forward and backward as he attempts to catch falling leaves and acorns. Different leaves carry different point values, so choose wisely, but stay away from the falling chestnuts. This site requires FLASH. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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To promote Internet safety, consider Children's Way WoogiWorld free program. Schools sign up for a year-long commitment to learn Internet safety, character building, time management, and more through assemblies and computer training. Read the ‘What We Are About’ statement on the homepage to learn about their caring mission. Click on the video summary to learn from Woogi’s leader about this program. This site requires Adobe Acrobat and Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

Look around this website for a wealth of information to use in your classroom. Consider including an Internet safety tip of the week in your newsletter or classroom blog. This program does not necessarily need to be done school-wide, but can be enjoyed individually. Parents will need to sign up their own children to participate. Put this link on your homepage, even if your school is not participating as a whole.

Students will learn about the history of Cinco de Mayo and the Hispanic culture on this WebQuest. In groups of four, they work through seven different activities involving web research. Activities range from answering questions to making a piñata to sampling Mariachi music (some of the music links were not working at the time of this review). A list of books on Cinco de Mayo is also included. Be sure to visit the Teachers' Link.
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Have cooperative learning groups explore this site (and the activities) together.

The American Library Association’s ongoing coverage of the multiple privacy, access, and protection issues surrounding the Children’s Internet Protection Act offers a very thorough look at both the ethical and practical problems librarians confront on a daily basis. There are also examples of how local libraries – academic and public – are coping with these issues.
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TeachersFirst Edge entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. Imagine being able to give students (or parents)an exact link to a specific quote within a web page. This TeachersFirst Edge tool does exactly that. Why would you want to? Perhaps you want to send students to a certain paragraph for an activity: for reading comprehension, for reading a specific portion of text, or even for highlighting a literary device within a text or poem. Students will no longer waste time, announcing, "I can't find it!" or return to school saying they couldn't do the homework!

No membership or cost required. Tool can be used in less than 30 seconds. Skills needed: Open TWO windows in Internet Explorer or any web browser. One should be open to citebite; the other to the web page you wish to reference. On that web page, locate and "highlight" the exact passage of text you want to "send" people to see. Copy/paste the passage into the quotation box at Citebite (copy, then change windows). Return to the target web page and copy/paste its actual URL into Citebite. Click "Make Citebite." Copy/paste the new url, indicated after "Your citebite link is:" Note: if the original quote is within a FLASH presentation, it will not copy/paste or generate a Citebite. See this example of a Citebite link to a tip about TeachersFirst Edge tools: http://pages.citebite.com/b1j4l1j7o0ndu

Have your middle and high school students do a web page "credibility critique" on their potential sources by using Citebite before they start a research project. They can highlight passages as proof of credibility -- or lack thereof -- and give you the Citebite links. They will love this easy way to reference a specific portion of a page. You will love the ease of finding it. If you give them a Word document table as a web site evaluation rubric, they can paste the Citebites there, with their comments in the neighboring cell!

This site contains a very brief summary of current issues concerning students and Internet usage. It provides current acronyms for Internet terminology, AUP's (Acceptable Use Policies) and discussion starters for parents who are interested in discussing Internet issues and responsibilities with children.

This is a TeachersFirst Edge Entry for ANYONE who wants to know more about new technologies. No special skills needed. Watch and learn. If you are embarrassed to say that you don't know what all the "new web 2.0" terms are all about, this one is for you (and probably for your students' parents, as well). Common Craft uses a very simple, visual method of explaining all the latest technologies so that anyone can understand, using short video clips narrated by a positive and respectful voice. The next time you hear someone talking about RSS feeds or some other new doo-dad, stop here first so you will know what they are talking about. Did you think you were the only one who did not know? Fear not. This site has incredible popularity because there are LOADS of people quietly questioning -- just like you. Videos require Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

Start by looking at "Most Viewed" and "Most Popular Right Now," but don't be afraid to search for other topics that have you wondering. You will definitely want to make this site a Favorite and tag is as "professional" information to keep you informed. Share it on your teacher web page to help out your parents, too!

This site has current movie reviews from the parents' point of view: What current movies are appropriate? What ages are they appropriate for? In addition to current films, there are reviews of TV programs, new DVD's, games, websites, books, music, etc. The site uses its own rating system: "Appropriate for age," "Know your kid," and "Not appropriate for age." Along with written reviews and Q/A approaches, there are video clips and tips. Each category of entertainment has several recommended and reviewed items with age ranges. There is also a newsletter and in-depth articles on subjects of concern to kids and parents.

Let your students' parents know about this site via your teacher web page or class newsletter. You may also want to share it with your school PTO or PTA.

A summary of the steps which schools, libraries, and similar institutions must take to comply with this act's security provisions. A useful guide to librarians, administrators, or those developing web content for young people. Developed by the state of Wisconsin.
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This site offers a basic introduction to using the computer, keyboard, and mouse. The site is excellent for students with limited computer experience. Tour guide, Amanda, takes you through the basics step by step. The site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

Share this site with your students with limited computer experience. This site would also be useful for young students learning the basics. We encounter fewer and fewer students with NO computer experience these days, but those who have had no exposure can feel quite “different.” You may want to simply mark this one in your Favorites for times when you encounter students (or even parents?) who need the help. Consider allowing them to access the site with a knowledgeable helper-buddy who will NOT grab the mouse but will be encouraging.

This site is a discussion-opener on safe use of the "social web." Some of the tools included are social networking sites, virtual worlds, chat, cell phones, video-sharing, and more. There are tips and advice for just about any medium kids and adults use today, as well as discussion forums where parents can ask questions and share information. Each article and advice section can be emailed at the click of a mouse. You can also download and share printable version (site creators do ask that you not modify them and that you simply tell them if you do download and share). While some posts may not represent your point of view, the important thing is to open dialog.

Include this link on your teacher or school web page for parents to access as part of a plan to work together. Consider using it as a hub for an evening discussion session with parents and students in a "round table" to air concerns and work together. Simply blocking or ignoring these tools is not educating or helping our kids. We want our students to grow into safe and responsible citizens both online and in person. If your school can involve and inform parents and students, you will have a better likelihood of using the new tools of the web in productive classroom settings, as well.

This is a collection of resources to help teachers and computer users understand the application of copyright and fair use laws to their work.
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Try these resources if you're unsure about how copyrighted materials can be used in the classroom.

Here's a whimsical look at copyright that may be useful for those who need an entire tutorial on the topic. If you're looking for quick answers to specific questions, there are better sites than this, but it works well for a general overview.
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Copyright Kids is a copyright primer created expressly for students. It provides a structured introduction to various aspects of copyright and their implications for students, especially those using the web for research projects. This one could be a great classroom reference or an integral element of a unit on copyright issues.
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This highly interactive explanation of copyright laws helps students recognize and understand their responsibility in citing sources. Use as an introduction or refresher before assigning research projects. The site also contains teacher resources and tips on explaining copyright issues.
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This blog post, written by a graphic designer, shares ideas and basics about color theory in very user-friendly language. The full blog holds many other ideas on graphic design principles, as well. Note to teachers: there are links to off-topic posts, but the discussions of design principles apply to web pages, print projects, 2D artwork, and more. There are also posts and discussions about computer design programs such as InDesign and Quark. Whether you teach art or advise the school newspaper, this "real world" blog by a professional can help students make connections between theory and authentic tasks.

With younger students, share the discussion on an interactive whiteboard or projector to teach basic color terminology in art class, then have them design their own color schemes for a traditional art project, class wiki (great for portfolio sharing), or multimedia project in PowerPoint. You could even use basic shapes and colors on the whiteboard to create and "drag and drop" color swatches to illustrate the ideas. Middle and high school student groups could use this blog as a reference in designing brochures or web pages or critiquing publications in print or on the web. Have students take "screenshots" of web pages and analyze the colors used, posting the images and analysis to a wiki. Better yet, have more techie-students embed web content such as flickr photos within their wiki and analyze it in a caption below the "live" content. Assign an authentic graphic design task such as some of those mentioned in this blog. Teachers of advanced art students will want to share this link on their class web page for students to access both in and out of class as a reference and discussion starter.

Help students to become savvy Internet users with this nicely structured lesson plan, complete with print-friendly handouts. Students are asked to brainstorm characteristics that make a Web page useful, use a critical evaluation tool to analyze an actual site, determine if the information is real or bogus, and reflect on the importance of carefully evaluating information found on a Web site. Aligned to standards.

Use this lesson as an introduction to an Internet-based research project, Web hunt, or WebQuest.

This site is a blog created by a three teachers (in New Hampshire?) for other teachers - all about using technology (especially interactive whiteboard) with math lessons! The subject is math, and the topics vary from basic arithmetic to geometry to patterns. Learn how to use your interactive whiteboard to teach lessons, see examples, view lesson ideas, watch videos of teacher experiences, and much more. There are many demonstrations and activities in a variety of math subjects. The content changes often, and additions are frequently added. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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Find ideas for your own classroom at this site. Save this site in your favorites, and check back frequently, as new material is added. Then try the lessons yourself. Don’t be shy about commenting back on the blog, but be sure to tell them you found them on TeachersFirst!

This award-winning site focuses on Internet safety. Advertised as being the "the country's leading specialist on cyber crimes" (Boston Globe. March 10, 2000), the site offers downloadable guides of different levels for parents and students, training for schools, and a variety of information about how to protect oneself against cyber crime. There are downloadable student and parent Internet user agreements, brochures,and tip sheets. Some areas of the site are still being developed.

As you start any class activity that uses the Internet, refer to the basics you learn from this site. Even if your school "teaches" Internet safety in another class, YOU need to reinforce it every time you have students online so they realize the universal importance of safety principles -- even with older teens.

Include this site on your teacher web page for students and parents to access as a reference. Share the printables with parents at open house or conferences.

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Although there are many websites about internet safety, this site is unique in its detailed sections for user groups including young children, children, teens, parents, libraries, and schools. Each section contains age-appropriate interactive activities, quizzes, tips students can understand, information on online devices the student might be using, and information on social networking for older students. Since the site is from Australia, you may notice some slight language differences, but all the other information is pertinent, helpful, and recognizable.

Share the activities with your students on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students work in cooperative learning groups to investigate various parts of this site. Challenge students to create online posters about internet safety on paper or do it together as a class using a tool such as Project Poster (reviewed here or PicLits (reviewed here. Or use another online poster creator, such as Wallwisher, (reviewed here). You may also want to share this link with parents via your class web page.

This site boasts activities designed to help educators utilize technology and internet resources in the class room. The site provides lessons and web-activities about technology and the internet for grades K-12. The activities are all standards based. The topics include cyberbullying, web 2.0 tools, K-12 scope and sequence chart, safety and security online, and others!
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If you are teaching your students about Internet safety, cyberbullying, Web 2.0 terminology, and more, be sure to check out this site. If you are looking for a full "ready to go" lesson plan or a quick activity to use, you will find something here.

This site offers one of the more articulate "teacher blogs" - usually interesting, seldom trivial, yet rarely whiny or preachy. Teachers who sometimes yearn for someone who can put things back in focus will often find this English teacher's posts helpful. This is an example of a blog for personal, rather than class use, with the intended audience being adults.

Typing tutorials are rarely captivating, but this one is an exception! The site walks students through a series of twelve activities that work every section of the keyboard. Each activity begins with a warm-up, then progresses through left and right hand exercises. In the process, students receive coaching and kudos from an unforgettable cast of characters. Keyboarding class will never be quite the same! (The emphasis is on hand position and accuracy, not speed.)The site uses FLASH or you can click for the NON-Flash version. Get Flash from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

This site offers digitized National Archives of the U.S. organized according to general category. You can finally explore and share primary source documents interactively through this Flash site. Start from eight featured topics. For a more in depth look at each subject and its associated categories, click on What's Interesting. A search feature is also available. An added feature at the bottom of the opening page is the "Pathways" tab. Students can participate in a "challenge" (in different levels) to find links between certain historical items. Students can also create their own pathways, writing about connections they find between certain archived items. In another section, students can create their own historical posters and movies from the archives. You can create a collection of items from the archives to retrieve or look at later, as well. This feature requires a free membership created by email address. There are also extensive lesson ideas and information for teachers at the small link, "Educators and Students," at the bottom of the page. Roll your mouse down to find it against the dark background. Note: the entire site is done in Flash (an HTML version is available from a small link at the bottom of the page). Get Flash from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

Use this site as an anticipatory set for a unit in history or on inventions. Share a collection of images or invention drawings on a projector or whiteboard and ask what the invention will do. Or use the site as the starting point for individual or group projects. After demonstrating on an interactive whiteboard or projector, have students use laptops or lab computers to "collect" resources related to their assigned inventor, decade, or era in American history. Check your school policy regarding accessing student email. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how. Students can use their log-ins to collect resources.

Since the documents are in the public domain (are not copyrighted), students may also download and use the files as part of other projects, such as video compilations, Powerpoint presentations, or multimedia of any sort. To access the resources in non-Flash format, click the small link to "research this record in ARC" in the detailed view of the item. You can then view and Save As for use elsewhere. Be sure you teach students about copying the URL and relevant information from this ARC page to cite the source and give credit in any presentation they make. This site is excellent for enrichment or projects for the gifted, as well. Include it on your teacher web page for students to access both in and out of class for students who are working in History Day projects or other assignments for your class.

TeachersFirst Edge entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. So you want to meet with other teachers around the globe and your school can’t afford for you and your students to fly there? No problem. Sign up for free video conferencing through DimDim. For the free version of this web conferencing site, up to 20 conference attendees can communicate with each other. No downloads are needed. Power point presentations, graphs, pdf documents, plus more, can be shared via DimDim conferencing.

Warning—this is a commercial site, so upgrades on services are offered prominently. As with most high-tech sites, these upgrades to the premium levels are offered for a cost (DimDim Pro). DimDim Free is free. This site requires Adobe Acrobat and Flash. You can get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

Skills needed: You should be comfortable exploring this website to see which features are free versus which features are offered for a fee. A fast connection for your computer is advantageous as you watch the various videos to learn about the site. After viewing the tutorials, why not experiment with friends or colleagues before embarking on a prestigious seminar. It is easy to use, however, the more you get acquainted with it, the easier it will be. You will need to impart knowledge of how to use this tool when setting up a conference with parents or colleagues.

To get started, a quick registration is necessary. We suggest that you watch the tutorial videos after signing up to learn how to use the various features. If at any point you need to talk to a DimDim service employee, click on "Talk to Us." Type in your question and you will receive instant feedback. To host a web meeting, simply click on "Host Meeting." Create a name for your “Room” (that’s the place you and your attendees will meet). Next, create a Meeting Name (that’s the name of your seminar or meeting). Type in a description of the agenda so that others will know what information will be shared. Type in the email addresses of your invited attendees and an invitation will be sent to those people. Type in the Room Key (that’s basically the password your attendees will need to enter your web conference. Now, you’re ready to talk to a group of friends or colleagues. At the appointed time, your attendees will click on a link (sent to them via email) that will send them directly into your web conference. The free version lets attendees listen to each other.

Safety/security concerns: While this site may mainly be for teacher usage, there may be occasions when older students will be using this site to conference with peers in other schools or countries. The content shared by others during the conference will need to be monitored closely.

Possible uses: Applications for this site extend through all subject areas, as you connect with classrooms all over the world, exploring a vast array of subjects, languages, and social connections. World language learners will appreciate this site to talk in real-time to other language learners. Professional development is easy when the presenter invites up to 20 attendees to learn more about various educational subjects. Offer web conferencing through DimDim for students’ parents when you need to discuss details of upcoming projects or field trips. Save time and travel expenses, by chatting via DimDim! Have students “host” a DimDim session to “teach” others at another school about local history, news, or a current unit of study. Invite parents to learn from the students, too!

Avoid the frustration of sending students to a site populated by dead links. Just enter a URL into this handy online and let it check to see if there are any broken text or image links on the page. Dr. Watson will also spell check a site, generate Word counts, and compute download speeds.
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Use this handy online tool to generate tests using a variety of formats - multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, true and false, short answers, and more. Just complete a free registration, then start creating and customizing your assessment. Follow the prompts to select font size and style, choose a format, enter each question and answer, and print the test and answer key. Your tests are saved online and can be easily accessed or edited from anywhere.
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This is a great guide for teachers interested in getting their students to use the web and related technologies creatively. You'll find a step-by-step process that lets students get organized before heading off on a project and encourages them to sort through their results before building a project. Great backgrounder for teachers getting started with web research.
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This is a nice collection of on-line tutorials and related information on software frequently used in schools. The author has clearly "been there - done that." If you'd like to do more with the programs on your computer, start here.
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Have you ever wished that you had an expert to turn to when undertaking a challenging unit or lesson? Imagine a professor from Yale volunteering to work with your students. This free, web-based mentoring service does just that by bringing teachers and students in contact with experienced mentors in a variety of subject areas. Curriculum-based interactions take place via email, web forum, chat and teleconferencing and can range in length from 6-weeks to an entire school year, depending on the needs and interests of the students. The website includes summaries of completed Electronic Emissary learning projects, and information on how to get involved with the program as a mentor, student, or teacher.
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Wow - the Best Practices lesson plans at this website are awesome! Each lesson plan incorporates technology to teach the students about a language arts topic. This is a site not to miss. Subjects include fairy tales, endangered species, spelling, poetry, sentences, sequential writing, research, My Town, tall tales, virtual vacations and many others. Most of the lesson plans include standards, assessments, explicit details and a ton of activities. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

Many of these activities are perfect for your interactive whiteboards! These lessons are ready to go. Use the activities that are useful in your classroom to integrate technology into your Language Arts lessons.

The lesson plans at this website are amazingly detailed! Each lesson plan incorporates technology to teach the students about the mathematical topics. Most of the lesson plans include standards, assessments, explicit details and a ton of activities. There are about 15 lesson plans that include topics such as factors, division, statistics, math magic, logic and many others. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

Use these interactive lesson plans to combine technology and math for your class. Many of the activities are perfect for use on an interactive whiteboard.

The lesson plans at this website are amazing and ready to go! Each lesson plan incorporates technology to teach the students about various social studies topics. Most of the lesson plans include standards (state of Michigan), assessments, explicit details and a ton of activities. There are over 30 lesson plans. The unique topics include a lot about the state of Michigan plus other topics such as Alaska and the Iditarod, famous people, research, U.S. regions, Hawaii, an interactive atlas, consumers, Laura Ingalls Wilder and pioneer life, presidents, money and many other social studies topics. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

This site offers wonderful lesson plans. Get your interactive whiteboards ready and utilize these free and ready to go activities. There are printables, interactives, discussion topics, assessments and many other resources that are useful in any elementary social studies class.

This plain-vanilla site explains the importance of good ergonomics in setting up computers for students. The information is presented clearly with a focus on creating a cost-effective method of constructing a computer setup that won't contort your students without. If you're responsible for any student's use of a computer, this is information you should know.
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Share this site with the educational technology staff at your school to ensure that your school's computer lab encourages good ergonomics.

Find images to use in your classroom multimedia productions, on your web page, or on bulletin boards without violating copyright. Help your students find images to include in their own products. This site is a tool to search the web for photos with "Creative Commons" rights. This means that many are free and ask only that you let the photographer know where you are usng the photo. Some are NOT free. Note: YOU MUST read the rights and permissions information that accompanies each image, since the photographer sets his/her own requirements. The intent of the site is to share photos in an open, easily-searchable environment, but in accordance with these requirements. Help your students learn about copyright by SHOWING them the rights sections and modeling compliance. The search tool is easy to use.

Use photos from this site in your PowerPoint shows, web page, blog, etc, but be sure to stop and mention where you found them and the thinking/reading you did to be sure you were in compliance with the rights granted. If you suggest the site for student use, model this process on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Then hold students accountable for demonstrating that they have done the same (make it a part of your project rubric). These concepts of copyright are challenging for young students (below about grade 4. You may want to "collect" some photos for their use and save them locally for them to choose from until they are ready to understand the more difficult rights issues.

This lesson teaches students to regcognize and use personification and alliteration by asking them to visit several illustrative web sites, then create a simple Powerpoint presentation illustrating each figure of speech. The lesson includes links, downloadable "idea cards," and a Powerpoint template. Aligned to national standards.
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If you’re looking to stay connected while studying or on the road, this site allows users to search for wireless internet (Wi-Fi) connections by state, city, and country. Whether you’re looking for a bookstore, coffee shop, or hotel with wireless capabilities, this is a good place to start your search.
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This online tutorial provides students, teachers, and parents with guidance and up-to-date information on understanding search engines, using search strategies, evaluating Web sites, and citing resources. There is A LOT of information here, but it is organized into manageable subdivisions that teachers and librarians will find useful. It’s fairly high-powered content, so sift through it to isolate those specific gems that your students will need before they jump into a research project.
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Teachers First Edge review: for ANY user able to COPY and PASTE a URL. Add annotations to ANY image and share the combined image and notes by URL using this simple online tool. Imagine being able to comment on an advertisement image, critique a work of art, or even explain propaganda techniques found in online images or sales sites. You can upload an image (such as a shot from a digital camera) or use one already on the web. Help develop students' critical eye by using this tool and sharing the annotated images by email or by URL. Here is a sample annotated web image created by the TeachersFirst editors. Recipients of shared images can reply and add comments of their own.

No membership required. No special skills needed except knowing how to find an image on your computer for upload or how to find the URL of a web image. Just RIGHT-click the web image to find its direct URL ("Properties,""Get info," or "copy image location," depending on your computer). COPY (CTRL+C) the URL, and you are ready to paste it (CTRL+V) into Fine Tuna to add your commentary. Be sure to SAVE each addition, whether note, insert, or drawing element, then click "Send for review" to email or copy the exact URL. Tip: Be SURE to save completed URLs for finished work into a document or mark them in favorites for later access. It may be wise to also email them to yourself (or the teacher). Once you share and close the image, the only way to "find" that URL is in the web browser history on the computer where you viewed it (IF you can find it!).

Safety: The only safety concern is that you should NOT label photos with identifiable information. The site does not require a membership, and the URLs of images you have annotated are not publicly available.

Possible uses: Use this site as an extension activity after performing class critiques of images on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students find examples of different propaganda techniques in images, annotate them, and share the "fine tuna-ed" images on a class wiki or submit them as homework via email. Isolate design elements or techniques in works of fine art, discuss composition of your own photos, or even annotate digital pictures of local historic sites. Imagine labeling the architecture of your courthouse or the parts of your school garden photos. With younger students, annotate an image together a few times until they are ready to use the tool in small groups. Your younger students will also want to use the "notes" as voice bubbles for the people in images to "talk." What a great way to teach punctuation of quotations! Art classes can also use Fine Tuna for collaborative critiques of art works in progress. Shoot a quick digital picture for upload and share for classmates to offer commentary and suggestions from any computer. Make "critique day" an ongoing experience!

Enter your own questions/answers or words/meanings in this flash card maker. Options include being able to print them out or study them online. Learning support teachers will love this option to encourage study skills.

A good study-at-home option for you to show your students! Be sure to read the "Take Note" message regarding the required plug-ins and cookie enabling for this site to work.

TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. This site allows you to upload and share images in an online location. It is not specifically an education site, so it has the drawback of possibly including "inappropriate" content. As a teaching tool, you can upload picture collections and "tag" them with a unique keyword so students can access them for various activities, such as creating sequenced "comic strips," making annotated posters, including photos in blogs, and other electronic projects. This is a great way to make the photos accessible for the students to use. Note: use the DIRECT URL to the specifically-tagged photos ("photosynthesisproject") or create a collection for each project.

Join the site for free (and make sure you turn OFF all the "send me emails" features). Place photos online for all the projects you expect to do with students. They will remain in place for future years. If you wish to, remove them from "public" viewing when you do not need them. Note: You MUST be the actual copyright holder to upload photos to this site, so use your digital camera, NOT downloaded photos from the web! Skills needed: taking and saving digital pictures, location and upload of photo files, "tagging" them so students can a find them, copying the URL of the tagged group or of the collection, changing the attributes of your uploaded pictures, finding other tools on TeachersFirst or elsewhere to use the photos.

Challenge your students' creativity and personal reflections about art: both their own and art through the ages. Use this site to CREATE their own videos with images from their own artwork, text, and video clips provided by the site. There are suggestions for structured video topics or you can suggest other ideas. The site provides clear, step-by-step instructions for students to complete their videos. The files can even be downloaded and played on any computer. Art teachers and computer teachers alike will love the possibilities of this project-site. If your students maintain electronic art portfolios, they will certainly want to add a video from this online production studio. REQUIRES FLASH!! Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

Demonstrate the skills and steps on an interactive whiteboard or projector, or simply allow your "digital native" students to work through the directions. Since no two computers are alike, it is strongly recommended that you or a student-assistant try a "practice run" to make sure your computers have all the right plug-ins and permissions. Then watch your students go to town! Share the products on a projector or burn them to CD. We were unable to find information on the site about copyright and whether you have permission to share them on a web page. This is a TeachersFirst Edge entry, though it is not difficult to use. Skills needed: drag and drop video elements, follow directions in Help, downloading files, unzipping and saving (directions provided)

Teachers First Edge Review: For somewhat adventurous technology users. Create amazing photo effects, animations, magazine covers, and more with this free site. Choose the effect, upload a picture, and save to your computer for use anywhere. Ads appear throughout this site. Be sure to warn students to only use the tabs along the top and choose the photo effects under each tab.

Skills needed: Users need to be able to find and upload a photo on their computer or find the direct URL of an image on the Internet. Younger students would need a lot of assistance navigating this site. Adjust the picture using the easy to use tools (experiment to master them). Once the effect has been applied, you need to know where you are saving the picture and how to give it a meaningful file name to be found later.

Safety/Security: Be sure to check district policy about using student pictures, though the web site does not “keep” them. If using pictures from the Internet, be sure to discuss copyright issues and approve pictures that students use.

Possible uses: Use these fun photo effects for creating interesting pictures for About Me information on blog and other sites. Use for pictures of lab events in science. These pictures can be incorporated into presentations or other multimedia products using online tools or PowerPoint. Students can dress as a historical figure, take and upload a picture, and use in classroom projects. Have students narrate their creative images using Voicethread reviewed here.

See remarkable and astounding scientific discoveries and inventions on this amazing site. Categories of science include Earth and Nature, Energy and Power, Medical Marvels, New Materials, Quantum Leaps, Space and Time, Science Fiction, and Weird Science. Young scientists will be amazed, engineers inspired, and even the disinterested will find accomplishments to make them curious. Even middle school girls will find something that they like about science on this site. There is some advertising, but the science images and information outweigh it.

Share selected discoveries or a science-in-real-life scenario at least weekly on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Watch the site for real world examples of your current unit or award extra credit to students who lurk on this site to find such connections. Just as your social studies colleagues assign students to write up a current event each week, you can assign students to write a blog post or brief explanation of a recent find on your class wiki. Be sure to include this link on your class web page for students to access both in and out of class, and be sure to include it in your emergency sub plans for students to find and explain an accomplishment of a real scientist found here. If you do a unit on science careers, this is a definite source for student projects. Why not have students create a Glog on a branch of science that interests them after exploring this site? Read a review of Glogster here.

This is a great compilation of information on internet safety, covering many hot topics including safety for your children, protecting your personal information, stopping unsolicited email, and keeping your computer safe. The section on Safety for Children is especially appropriate for parents of school age children and includes an Internet Safety Guide, Tools for Families, a place to report problem sites and occurrences, and further web sites for children. Computer literacy teachers and those responsible for teaching INternet safety in any course will find the information wuite helpful. Sections are divided by age-ranges so information is age-appropriate.

Share this site in your classroom newsletter or on your teacher web page to help parents protect their children, themselves, and their computers. Some of the safety information is directly aplicable in your classroom technology-based lessons, as well.

You may find some good tips for protecting your own home computer and children, too!

This is an extensive site dedicated to interesting young people in technology-related jobs, especially math and science. There is information on numerous careers and the preparation necessary for each. The site includes technical careers that require varying levels of experience and academic preparation.
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TeachersFirst Edge Entry: For moderately adventurous technology users (teachers) and most student users (with significant help in primary grades). Glogster EDU is a tool to create online multimedia "posters" that can incorporate all types of elements into a visual space: links, images, text, videos, music, and more. Your students will have multiple ways to express themselves and to learn from each other, making it easy for you to differentiate and engage each student.

The ad-free EDU community offered by Glogster is designed to alleviate the problems of inappropriate content and contact with "outsiders" not welcome in your class' electronic community. The EDU area provides classes advertising-free glogs and easy teacher monitoring of student work. Students can comment and interact within a "gated community" with education-friendly options for collaboration and learning. Remember those "All About Me" posters you used to make during the first month of school, or science fair stand-up tri-folds, or magic-marker-drawn visual aids for speeches? Translate 20th century "visuals" into the 21st century using Glogster EDU, extending your students' intellectual reach and mastering the media to incorporate new technologies and richer messages. Here is an example glog created by the TeachersFirst Edge team.
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Skills needed: Join the site (free). Premium service will be available in the future, but this review is for the free version. Registration requires teacher email. Once registered and confirmed by email, teachers can establish up to 200 student accounts without student emails. Take time to view "new glogs" within the EDU area to get some ideas. Skip making a profile, if you wish.

You can learn all about Glogster EDU and see student examples by scrolling down the home page to "Students Work," a collection of great videos (click the screens to play), and "Educational Resources." Don't miss several teacher-friendly, step by step tutorials in print and multimedia formats.

If you prefer to simply play, start by creating a glog to try out the tools (don't forget to name it). Keep it simple or add all the bells and whistles. Preview as you work or return later to complete and publish your Glog. Add ready-made graphics, images from files on your computer or by URL on the web, links (hyperlinked from text or other objects), text boxes or bubbles, backgrounds ("walls"), animated graphics ("vinyl and toys"), recorded audio, embedded video from SchoolTube or TeacherTube, uploaded media file, and much more. You can also "grab" video or audio from your computer's webcam and mike. [Our editors had some trouble "grabbing" video from a Mac using Firefox, so TEST in advance. A very responsive Glogster EDU tech crew tells us they are working to correct that glitch.]

Of course you will want to model and teach appropriate documentation of any sources of images and media you use and to use copyrighted works legally. The "private" feature enables you to limit access to a glog to your class only, thereby allowing you to even use copyrighted materials under Fair Use.

When you are done working, decide whether the glog is "unfinished" or "finished" (and published), and decide whether it will be public or not. Share finished work with "friends" (classmates) in the Glogster EDU area or via URL and other social networking tools. You can access ALL your glogs and your students' glogs from your teacher dashboard, including the glog URLs. You can embed a glog in your class wiki or blog (this feature is new), making it easy to "collect" student glogs in one place. Watch the tutorials on embedding so you can learn how to adjust the size of the embed window and which codes work best for wikispaces.

Safety/security concerns: Check school policies about posting student work on the web. Obtain written permission and notify parents about your exciting Glogster projects so you can share with them. Have specific rules about using social networking tools through Glogster, especially about "friend" and profile features available at log-in. EDU glogs are automatically "private" so you need not worry about outsiders viewing them. Teachers have access to see and administer student passwords (great for forgetful students!). You have the choice to make student glogs "Unfinished private" - only teacher and creating student can see, "Finished Private" - only teacher and all students within classroom can see, and "Public" for all to see.

Possible uses: (in addition to those shown in the sample glog here) "visual essays;" digital biodiversity logs (with digital pictures students take); online literary magazines; personal reflections in images and text; research project presentations; comparisons of online content, such as political candidates' sites or content sites used in research (compared for bias); documenting science experiments or illustrating concepts, such as the water cycle; "Visual" lab reports; Digital scrapbooks using images from the public domain and video and audio clips from a time in history -- such as the Roaring Twenties; Local history features; visual interpretations of major concepts, such as a "visual" U.S. Constitution. Build a library of sample Glogs by you or by former students, then ask students to create their own as a new way to assess understanding: you could even provide links to images and raw materials they may use (especially if you have students who need extra scaffolding), and they can work with them to sequence, caption, and write about the pieces. After a first project where you possibly suggest "building blocks," the sky is the limit on what they can do. Even the very young can make suggestions as you "create" a whole-class glog together using an interactive whiteboard. Consider making a new project for each unit you teach so students can "recap" by visiting the glog long after the unit ends. Save student glogs from year to year as examples, possibly even awarding prizes for "best" examples. Have upper elementary or middle school students create "glogs for understanding" for "little buddies" two or three grades lower.

Use this most-popular search engine because it ranks results by a unique combination of popularity and reputability, making the most reputable/popular sites appear in the first page of results. Don't stop there, however. Learn to use the Advanced searching tools, such as searching for definitions (add definition to your search terms), or even a timeline display of results, where applicable.
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If you ask students to research a person or any topic that has chronological elements, such as a historical event, an arts movement, a biography, an author, etc, add view:timeline as an additional search term, as in thomas edison inventions view:timeline . Try it! For more Google tricks, do a TeachersFirst keyword search on google for other resources and ideas for using Google.

Don't have a calculator handy? Check out this tip sheet that details Google's built-in calculation feature. In addition to basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, the tool can also compute advanced math functions, convert one set of units to another, and perform calculations using built-in constants.
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TF Edge entry: If you have not heard about them, Google's online collaboration tools are a must for slightly adventurous technology users and for those in schools where students are allowed to log into their own accounts for web services. With Google Docs, users can create, edit, reformat, upload, and share documents they've created in WORD or other office applications. They can also look at their editing history. Perhaps the best feature is the ability to collaborate on documents and spreadsheets with anyone or with a selected group. Groups share editing capabilities, making collaboration much easier. Users can publish newly created, uploaded, downloaded, or revised documents and spreadsheets as well as making links to them on personal blogs. Easy directions and familiar-looking pages make exporting and importing documents simple; Google also helps users keep them organized.

A "tour" and simple to understand directions make this site easy to use. Have your students set up collaborative groups for projects, lab data, and more. Or set them up yourself, giving them specific passwords to access their "space." Skills needed: join Google Docs, take the tour, experiment with collaboration tools, upload and download files.

Users are normally invited to "join" via an email message. This may be problematic in the many schools that do not permit student email access at school. Note that notifications sent by Google Docs may also land in "junk mail" folders or be blocked by spam filters. We suggest that you experiment with a small group of students to determine what will work in your particular situation. One option is to set up the groups with the teacher as a "member" but have students work from home, using their personal email addresses, for group projects. Make sure you are protecting the safety of student work and identity and are within your school's Acceptable Use Policy.

Possible uses: Anything students can do on a single computer, they can do collaboratively on Google docs, accessing their work from any online computer. See this teacher forum for just a hint of the possibilities.

While it requires an internet network connection and installation of the software, Google Earth is one of the slickest geography teaching tools to come along in many years. Want to see Washington and L. A.? No problem. Want to navigate from London to Liberia? Just click. This site's ability to combine satellite imagery and map data gives it huge possibiliites as a teaching tool.
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Teachers can store "placemarkers," then project the site in the classroom, "flying" from point to point during a lesson. If you teach geography, this one's well worth the time required to master it. Requires a free download, but it's great fun. It is also a great option to give context to literary and current events locations so they become "real." It is worthwhile to explore some of the bulletin boards for users who have already stored placemarkers you might use, such as the locations of all the Shakespeare plays!

Google has pulled together descriptions of how to use some of the new features available by just using the search box. In addition to searching and finding driving directions, users can now check arrival times, do math problems, check the routes of packages, see travel conditions, obtain stock quotes, get definitions and more. At the bottom of the page, searchers can link to more shortcut offerings, including Google Guide's Cheat Sheet and Google Guide's Coffee page.

Show your students how to quickly find definitions and do simple math problems in an instant!

This Google feature allows international or ESL/ELL students to search for specifically designated pages (i.e., newspapers) in their own languages (i.e., French or Swahili) produced in specific countries (Ivory Coast or Kenya). Options include setting the interface to any language, getting on-the-spot translation, and also viewing the home country Google interface (i.e., www.google.cg – Republique du Congo) without having to import language scripts for the computer.

Could be used as an exciting tool in the foreign language classroom! You may have to talk to your network adiministrator on filtered school district networks, if they have blocked translation tools to prevent students from "doing" assignments via these tools. This is a challenging choice to make: enable cheating vs. enabling a valuable learning tool.

Google Maps simplifies planning a trip, showing a map, or any of several other tasks. This makes it a great tool for teaching geography concepts, because you can plan a lesson using local data and landmarks. Best of all, you can zoom our and see how your neighborhood fits into the rest of the world - even zoom from one place to another. It's a free site, and it requires no downloading.
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If you teach geography, this one's a must. It is also helpful for showing students WHERE a story or news event takes place. Type or paste in an address and click "search maps." If you click Satellite or hybird versions of the map, you will see actual satellite images of the terrain Teach map skills by showing students their own community. Zoom in on their street or on the school. This site and its more sophisticated cousin, Google Earth, are great on an interactive whiteboard. Unlike Google Earth, Google Maps does not require software installation.

Create and collaborate with artists around the web using this online image montage and poetry tool. Each image is an ongoing compilation of other images, arranged in a grid. Add your own images and poetry or simply browse those made by others. Contributors join for free. The images often have surreal appearances and more avant-garde poetry. This site could be a dicussion starter in an art or creative writing class or a study in the diverse uses of web 2.0 collaboration in a computer class.

Share selected images on a projector as writing prompts or to open a "what is art" discussion. You could also use the images simply as examples of montages before a hands-on project, though this approach misses the clickable depths of each image. Teachers should be aware that this site does not limit image content, so some nudity may occasionally appear in the images. Check you art program's guidleines for such images and/or maintain teacher control over which ones are shown in class, if this will be a problem in your shcool.

Even the best of search engines can return frustrating results if your search strategy isn’t right. Subtitled "Deep Content," this site offers an extensively detailed guide to Internet search strategies and techniques. While there’s enough detail here for serious academic research, the essentials of this site would make a great introduction to web searching for secondary students.
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This pdf file, organized by the American Library Association, lists sites to help teens evaluate websites, stay safe while using the internet,keep up with new offerings and technology (like blogs), and do research and citations correctly. This is an excellent overall compilation done by professionals in the library field and is a good source for instructors as well as students. You MUST have Acrobat Reader to open this site. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

A great resource for teachers to use with technology-wild students who need to use solid evaluation criteria to ground their internet usage decisions. You can print out the file as a handout or use the links as part of an activity prior to starting a research project.

Wow - this is a website that you don't want to miss, here you will find numerous lesson plans! These unique lessons are interdisciplinary and incorporate technology, math and other subject areas. The lesson plans provide state standards (for Michigan), assessments and explicit details about the activities. There are interactive activities, printable worksheets, discussion topics and much more. Some examples of the unique topics include "Geometric Constructions on the Computer", "How Much Does That Car Cost???", "Purchase a cell phone with systems of equations" and "Transformations, Tessellations, and Technology". Many of the technology activities provided require FLASH. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

Do yourself a favor and check out this free website when planning your high school math, business, or "life in the real world" classes. Get your interactive whiteboards or projectors ready to utilize these complete activities.

This website provides about ten lesson plans (PDF files) that incorporate technology into science lessons designed for high school students. Some of the lessons are interdisciplinary and include several subject areas. The lesson plans provide state standards (for Michigan), assessments and explicit details about the activities. There are interactive activities, printable worksheets, discussion topics and much more. Some of the specific topics include fossil fuels, the periodic table, density, climate comparisons, and lego robot competition. The technology activities provided require FLASH. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

Do yourself a favor and check out this free website when planning your high school science lessons. Get your interactive whiteboards ready and utilize these ready-to-go activities.

Check out this free website that provides two unique lesson plans designed for high school special education students (see the plans for specific exceptionalities addressed). The lessons are interdisciplinary and include numerous subject areas. The lesson plans provide state standards (for Michigan), assessments and explicit details about the activities. The two lesson plans are "Cause and Effect" and "Pictorial Portfolio.

The portfolio idea is a great one for documenting student progress and involving them in the process. If you work with special ed students, consider expanding this lesson plan into an ongoing portfolio throughout the high school years. The portfolio could also be useful for transition planning, as the student can show accomplishments to potential employers to explain job skills.

The design of this privately developed site shows its age, but users will find abundant content and visuals here. It just takes a little work. The site covers the evolution of technologies ranging from the earliest wax recordings to today’s DVDs. Along the way, users can learn about the people and processes that have helped sound and video recording develop.
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Teachers may want to guide their students’ use of this site. This site is a little text-heavy, but would be a great way to show the progression of the music industry over the modern era. Share this site on an interactive whiteboard or projector as an introduction to this unit or as review.

This is a chronological history of the World Wide Web intended primarily for programmers, marketers, and people who earn their living working with the web. Parts of the history may be useful in explaining web behaviors, or they might be helpful to a student researching the web for a class project.
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This site could be used to supplement a class about technology, or a class on the history of communication. If assigning research projects, this would be a great reference to provide for students. Note: the site seems to be under a lot of construction, so verify that it is in working order before providing it to students.

Students – ages 11 to 16 - can solicit the help of a virtual librarian on this British site that offers an "Ask Jeeves" style of homework assistance. A teacher-monitored live advice session is offered during evening hours (U.K. time - roughly 2pm-5pm Eastern time).

While this site does not have all of the answers, and the search method can be a bit awkward (correct spelling is a must!), it is still useful as a resource to point students in the right direction when they need more information about a topic. Bookmark this site on your classroom computer or suggest that parents make it available to their children as an at-home reference.

Stanford University’s Center for Manufacturing has created a series of web-based animations and short movies showing how commonly used items from blue jeans to aircraft are manufactured. While some of the technologies are sophisticated, the presentations are sufficiently simple that they could be used for middle school or even some elementary students.
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Try this one as an add-on for an inventions or technologies unit, or take a “slice” as a science illustration.

It’s all text, but this description from a physics professor at the University of Virginia should remove all doubt about how your CD player makes music. Try this one as a supplement to an inventions unit or a discussion of digital recording.
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Empower students to help themselves in learning content-related material with this engaging collection of educational multimedia lessons created by Staffordshire University students. Enter a first name, choose an age range, and explore the interdisciplinary offerings. Drag the magnifying glass through the town map, and click on the signpost of your choice to reveal a collection of activities organized by subject area.

Protecting our youth on the Internet is the number one goal of I Keep Safe. Full of ideas and resources, this organization generously promotes technology-safety. Check out the abundant videos and ad campaigns, as well as, other prolific avenues to share their wisdom. Their generosity even invites you to download their materials and share with everyone. Click on the educator’s link to access tools to use with your students. Your students will enjoy the interactive games in the Kids section. Prowl around for a while and discover the valuable advice located here. You will need QuickTime, Flash, and Acrobat Reader for some of the materials. They are located here: TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

Teachers, plan professional development using the free videos at this site. Perhaps on Parents' Night, you can showcase internet safety using the wonderful, engaging resources located at this site. Or encourage your PTO/PTA to host an Internet Safety evening for all parents.

This excellent site has hundreds of lesson plan ideas, interactive tools, videos, and more. All are organized according to grade level and subject, including ESL/ELL. Although some focus on Wisconsin history and sites, most are useful to all teachers. Besides the lesson plans, there is a news section which offers guided activities with select news events. Teachers can email the site if they'd like to see the archive of news plan offerings. All lesson plans follow WI standards. An interesting place to begin looking at the site is under "New" where teachers can see the most recently added plans. Search by grade, subject, or keyword. Some lessons are simple ideas while others are very detailed and include lots of information.

Check here for well-developed lesson plans for a specific topic you'd like to teach. Or scroll through the offerings for your grade level and subject. Complete directions for each lesson plan will guide you through how you can use it in the classroom. Share the interactive or photos on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Save this site in your favorites to visit often for some new ways to freshen up the content in your class.

Teach your students to be savvy Internet users with this lesson plan that stresses the importance of carefully evaluating sites used for research. Using specific criteria and a checklist, students must "grade" informational sites using a downloadable checklist.
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Help students make smart decisions about choosing Web sites for research with this lesson plan that walks through the process of evaluating online material. Includes a printable checklist to guide the evaluation process. Aligned to ISTE National Technology Standards.
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Make music a web 2.0 interactive experience using this "mashup" of musical YouTube videos, all in the key of B Flat. If you can access YouTube videos at school, you will open the eyes and ears of those who never thought they would even care about music. See twenty different "instruments," both traditional and electronic, playing excerpts YOU combine by starting and controlling the volume on your choice of instruments. They sound great together or in any combination you choose. If you click "More info," you will find out FAQ and more about the project and its creator, including how it was done.

Test this site to be sure you can open it at school. Then turn up your speakers and open this site on a projector or -- even better -- interactive whiteboard to begin a music class, discuss key signatures, pitch, or instrumentation, and allow students to mix and remix their choice of sounds in harmonious blend. In science class, use the various sounds and an oscilloscope to teach about sound waves and the physical nature of sound. Challenge your musically gifted students to create a very simple version of this musical "machine" by recording and embedding videos of their own in a class music and technology wiki. Upload the videos to a school-friendly site such as SchoolTube reviewed here or TeacherTube reviewed here to avoid filtering issues. Set up a simpler face-to-face option by allowing student "conductors" to "turn on and off" multiple instruments and objects in your music classroom all playing the same pitch.

This site from the University of San Francisco offers a review of copyright dos and don'ts for classroom activities. Users will learn what they can and cannot do with copyrighted works, including resources found on the web. Good introduction for those planning a web project or interested in using web materials in their classes.
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International Society for Technology in Education promotes appropriate uses of technology to support and improve teaching and learning.

The International Technology Education Association (ITEA) is the professional organization for technology, innovation, design, and engineering educators. Their mission is to promote technological literacy for all by supporting the teaching of technology and promoting the professionalism of those engaged in this pursuit. ITEA strengthens the profession through state and national legislative efforts, professional development, membership services, publications, and classroom activities.

This study has helpful information for educators and other professionals concerned with the quality of internet accessibility in out public schools. The study examines the educational and societal implications of placing internet filtering software on school computers. The study is specifically aimed at determining whether such software actually impedes the pursuit of curriculum goals by inappropriately blocking educational resources. The study’s use of state mandated curriculum standards as a basis for internet searches places the study in a context that continues the current dialogue over the most effective way to filter internet use in schools.
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Are you wondering how to incorporate more technology into your classroom or have your students use it well? This is a good site for basics on using PowerPoint. It has exercises for both the teacher and the students, as well as student project assignments. PowerPoint can be a powerful tool if it is not overused, and it is a simple technology even young students can use for projects. This "how-to" site stays up to date with new information as new versions of PowerPoint appear. The tutorials build in difficulty, so there is always a new skill you and your students can learn wehn you need it.

Not only is this site full of actual examples you can use with students, it also has a wide variety of links to other PowerPoint sources, including some completed shows you can download and use. Share it as a reference on your teacher web site or mark it as a Favorite on TeachersFirst so you can find those tips easily when you need them.

This site has extensive resources on internet safety for adults and students alike. Visit the Xblock section where kids and teens can become "i-mentors," helping their peers and adults to better understanding Internet safety or go to the iLearn section for tutorial modules for kids, parents, and even senior citizens. You have to join, but it is free. The site may be good for schools looking to develop rules and policies for safe classroom internet use. It also discusses some of the information sharing risks children should be aware of when using internet resources.
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Share this resource with parents at open house or conferences. They will thank you for it!

MySpace, Xanga, FaceBook, Moodle, blogs, Flickr, wikis, podcasts, and more! Is geek-speak Greek to you? If you have not heard the term yet, you will soon: Web 2.0 is the term for the new generation of web-based collaborative tools and other uses of the web. Your students use them in MySpace and Xanga, but these are just two small pieces of a much larger picture. If you are technology-curious or want to know what your students are talking about, take the time to read this explanation by one of the movers and shakers of web 2.0. The discussion includes some tech jargon and some of tuhe underlying philosophy behind it--not a "light" read in some spots, but it makes sense. The page is actually created with one of web 2.0's tools: Squidoo.

Read for your own professional knowledge to stay ahead of the tech game, or share this site with mystified-but-curious parents and administrators, as well.You could even assign your computer students, tech ed classes, or techie students to use this site as a reference for a research project on the future of the web. Gifted classes would find it particulaly useful. The reading and conceptual level is definitely hgh school to adult.

Much of the content in this Library of Congress site about Thomas Edison and his phonographs is beyond the scope of middle schoolers. However, there are sound recordings from the original machines that let students listen to the product of Edison's work, and the basic biographical information will be useful for those studying inventors. Explore this one in some depth; there's a lot here.
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Download some of the sounds and recordings from the database, and use them as part of a learning center during a unit on Inventions & Inventors. Have students listen to the recordings (make sure to include headphones) on classroom computers, writing a short reflection afterwards about what they heard and what their impression was. Students could also compare and contrast the quality of the recordings, noting the vast differences in technology between then and now. This would be a very interesting resource for a US history classroom!

This website helps to "connect" the dots of inventions. The "Invention Connection" challenges students to trace the paths and interconnections of many inventions. Students can complete this activity over and over again and learn about new inventions each time. The text portions may require some explanation to elementary students. This site requires Flash, get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

Use this wonderful resource during your inventions/inventors units. This activity helps students to understand the connections between numerous inventions and forces then to think about unusual commonalities between unlike objects. This invention activity is perfect for an interactive whiteboard. You may want to have a separate window open to "look up" some of the more esoteric inventions that show up, since they may not be familiar to you and your students.

This unit, completely revised in late 2007, provides an on-line introduction to inventors and inventions of the industrial revolution in England and the United States. In addition to information on key inventors and their inventions, there are interactive activities designed for student involvement, timelines, and an interactive quiz. An extensive list of "invention links" lets students learn more about inventions and inventors.This unit is written for middle and high school but is also adaptable for upper elementary.
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See the lesson ideas page for ways to use this on your interactive whiteboard or with students working on their own. There are several ideas for projects and competitions to engage, challenge, and assess. You will definitely want to share this link on your teacher web page as a review tool, as well.

Teacher's First Edge Review: For advanced technology users. Have a series of web pages you want to share with someone? Use Jog the Web to share links and a specific jogging pathway (“track”) through them. Look at some of these great examples: Google Earth in education and Find a Fallacy.

Search or browse existing “tracks.” Once clicked, a sidebar appears on the left that provides information about the track. The number of pages in the “jog” appears, as well as forward and back arrows. View the names and descriptions of the pages and any instructions that the author added. Click on any of these names to follow the link directly to the page. Register to create your own track. See TeachersFirst’s safety and use tips for using this site below under “In the Classroom.” Some content on this site may be inappropriate for the classroom. Always preview.

Skills needed: Registration is free and requires a password and email address. Once validated by email, click "Create a New Track" and enter a title and description. Find all of your tracks on your page. Click on each to edit descriptions or add steps (these are the web address url's of the pages you are adding.) Easily delete your tracks by clicking on the trash can icon next to each track.

Safety/Security: If students are to create tracks, each student will need to create an account (with an email address) and then email verification. Check your school policies about accessing/sharing student email on school computers. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how.

Consider creating a single class account using your “extra” email address, so you can monitor and submit student work safely. Student-created tracks can be identified through title or adding initials at the end of the title. The home page of this site includes changing “featured” content contributed by the general public. Be sure to preview the content ahead of time. You may want to send students to your track via a direct link.

Classroom use: Create your own tracks as webquests for students to follow for class assignments. Students can be assigned different subtopics of a subject such as biomes, find related pages, and create a track working through these pages. Students could also create tracks to annotate their sources for a research project, critiquing each source in the sidebar. Teach about evaluating web sites and reliability of sources by having students in small groups create tracks comparing different sources on the same topic. Create tracks as homework help solutions for parents and students. Use a blog, wiki, or website to share these tracks for students to visit for obtaining information. Want to learn more about Wikis? Check out the Teacher’s First Wiki Walk-Through reviewed here.

This site offers a compilation list of MANY keyboarding sites. Although TeachersFirst doesn't usually highlight a "list of links," our editorial staff found this one to be spectacular! At the time of this review, the list included over sixty sites that offer FREE keyboarding activities. There is quite a variety; you may want to spend a few minutes exploring your MANY options. Some are more elementary: spelling basic words or easy enough for young students. Others are complex and geared towards middle school and beyond. Some of the activities are actual lesson plans, while others are educational interactives. Nearly all of the sites require Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

Use this site for your students to practice keyboarding. Set up a learning station at a computer cluster for students to "try their hands" at the keyboard activities. If individual laptops are available, demonstrate the site on an interactive whiteboard or projector, and then have students try the activity or lesson themselves on laptops. Save this site in your favorites. Be sure to list this site on your class website for students to practice keyboarding both in and out of the classroom. Allow them to choose their best tool for learning and use it consistently. Maybe track improvement to compare the various tools?

This resource provides a concise overview of special search engines aimed specifically at kids. Also includes helpful tips for enabling filters on major search engines. Note: search engines are continually being devoured by other search engine companies, so even the reputable folks at Search Engine Watch occasionally have links to sites that have suddenly changed names!
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Leap into video production with help from the Kids’ Vid site! Kids’ Vid steps you and your students through the process with tips on scripting, storyboarding, shooting video, and editing it into a visual masterpiece. The site has classroom ideas, short exercises for story writing and learning video shots, an online storyboard creator, and lots of useful help from experts and kids on how to make the whole process an exciting educational experience. Some of the activities require Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

Start the activity by showing the student-produced videos on the web site. Use the resources on the site for a whole class jig-saw exercise. Assign small groups the task of learning one aspect of the process and then reporting and showing it to the rest of the class. Share the knowledge by creating working groups, which contain an expert from each aspect of the process. Use one of the many class ideas as practice activities for students to learn the finer points of video production before they start their masterpieces.

Video is a great tool for authentic assessment – especially for ESL, ELL, and Special Education students. Think about letting each of your students create a short video about what they know for their parent conference meeting or Open House. Explore the realm of possibilities by having students develop and ask peers a “Question of the Week” and document the responses on video. Let students produce a walking tour of the school and key personnel as an introduction for new students. Post this video on the school website, but check the district and students’ Acceptable Use Policies before videoing any student faces. You may want to ask your school’s funding sources to consider purchasing a few USB plug-in "flip" video cameras that cost about $100 each so students can do these projects with an “indestructible” tool.

Send your elementary students to a safe search engine that guides them to quality, age-appropriate sites. A group of librarians designed this site to address concerns about young children surfing the untamed Web. While limited in scope, it does address more than 600 subjects. Search by keyword or letter.
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This site bills itself as a safe and fun digital playground for kids. The site boasts several sections that encourage communication and discussion on the internet among children. "Make New Friends" allows you to make friends all over the world as pen-pals, or express your opinion on a bulletin board. "Chat and Buzz" encourages students to think (and respond) to questions or topics.
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Check with your administrator to be sure that your school allows students to set up individual accounts on on-line sites. Then make a shortcut to this site on your desktop and use the various activities as a center.

Improve your students keyboarding skills with these free typing tests that give instant feedback on speed and accuracy. A great site to use as meaningful "filler" in the computer lab.
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Trainingtools.com offers a very complete, nicely illustrated guide to using Photoshop 6 in this online tutorial. The site is particularly useful because the content outline is always available, and the content is presented a single screen at a time. This tutorial will be particularly useful for those not familiar with Adobe’s unique approach to user interface.
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For teachers or students who have not had the opportunity to learn technology skills from a real person, these video tutorials can be very helpful. They can also fill in gaps in basic computer knowledge. Topics range from Internet safety and Netiquette to more advanced video production, digital imaging, and web page creation. For your students doing independent projects, for basics before you launch into a full-class technology production, or even for teaching yourself as a teacher, these tutorials are approachable and fairly up-to-date. Make sure you choose the right level(s) for your students, since they may have better skills than you think. You can differentiate easily with the multiple skill levels available. This one takes a longer time to open, so be patient.

Include this link on your teacher web page or in Favorites in your computer lab or on a classroom machine for students to use as a reference. This can be a great help for students who move in and do not have the same background knowledge as the rest of the class or as a challenge to your techno-whiz or gifted student. These also can make excellent ready-to-go projected tutorials a substitute could show in preparation for an upcoming project.

Discover the science behind the changing autumn leaves with this Internet scavenger hunt. Students can practice simple Web research skills while gaining an understanding of the factors that contribute to the beautiful show of colors each fall.
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Network architectures aren’t typically the stuff of K-12 curricula, but more teachers are now being required to understand at least the fundamentals of computer network topologies. With that in mind, we pass this one along both for its depth of content and its organizational structure, which seems ideally suited for those who are entirely new to the topic. There’s a lot of content here, and the organizational structure makes specific topics easy to find.
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Literary classics and technology come together in this activity that leads students, step-by-step, through an Internet-based scavenger hunt. Personalize the search to fit your specific curriculum, or use the sample questions included in the lesson plan. After completing the hunt, students - working in small groups - must organize their results into a PowerPoint show, complete with an interactive table of contents and navigational buttons. A great way to integrate technology into the language arts classroom. Aligned to National Standards.
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This simple but comprehensive site is one of the most complete on-line guides to the Internet, its history, its capabilities, and some of its more famous, and infamous, personalities. The site is very plain-vanilla, but does a great job at presenting a comprehensive treatment of the internet.
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This site is a good starting point for an individual research project or class room discussion on the origins of the Internet. Consider creating a list of questions based on the site and allow students to navigate the site in search of the answers.

Practice "writing" numbers and upper/lower case letters while improving mouse skills. Select the practice mode, change your "pen" color, copy the example, and clear the slate with a click of the mouse. A nice "filler" activity for the computer lab.
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Teachers First Online Tool: Frustrated at creating sub accounts with your gmail account for more than 100 students? Try Mailinator as a possible solution to the problem. Make student accounts for the web 2.0 tools you would like your individual students to use. Create a "spoof" email account from one email account (preferably the teachers gmail.) Use this "spoof" account to enter when creating web 2.0 accounts. Mail can be viewed online for any verification if necessary. The bonus? Less spam when signing up for other sites!

Use your teacher gmail account to create different Mailinator accounts for each student by sending an email to the "spoof" account. For example, a student sends an email to gottalovebio@mailinator.com. Magically, your "spoof" email address has been created. Use this "spoof" email all year long for any web 2.0 tool you wish to sign up for. Find emails sent to the "spoof" account by viewing on the mailinator site (type in your "spoof" email address) or following an RSS feed (use a feed reader to view them all.) Important Note: emails must be read within a few hours as they are then permanently deleted. Caution students not to use these email addresses for anything important as it is not a regular email address. Use only for creating logins and registrations for other web 2.0 tools. Stumped with coming up with a unique name. Possible name choices are given on the site (refresh to see more options.) Be sure to read the FAQ's to familiarize yourself with the service and answer any questions you may have. Check to be sure this is not blocked by your school. If available on a teacher computer, consider cycling each student through your computer to get them signed up while being monitored. Record their "spoof" emails in case these are needed later and students forget. Be advised that these email accounts are public. If the same email address is entered on the site by someone else, those emails will be viewed. Despite this, use the service to quickly enter students to use the variety of cool online tools found on the Internet today.

Looking for an alternative to a quiz or an assignment of boring vocabulary definitions written on notebook paper? Trying to find a way to prompt students to write even short passages? Trying to teach simple dialog to ESL/ELL students? Working on appropriate language and interpersonal skills with emotional support students? Looking for a creative way to make clever newsletter additions, bulletin board items, or class rules? Use this great online tool for both students and teachers to create web-based or printed comic strips from a selection of characters and voice bubbles-- and with your OWN text! Our editors made a sample for you to see.

This site also features writing prompts. To find the writing prompts, click to Enter The Site and then scroll to the bottom of the page. The link for Writer Prompts can be found on the bottom right side of the site. The Writer Prompts link will lead you to the creator's blog, with many writing prompts (with new prompts added often). This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

This one is ideal for an interactive whiteboard or projector. Demonstrate the tool on the whiteboard or projector and allow the class to create a strip together before you share the link on your teacher web page. Have students create strips as a quiz or other assignment and email the links to you. No more papers to carry around and grade! Build a collection of comics on different curriculum topics to use as anticipatory sets/activators or to spark discussion. Have younger students make comic strip greeting cards for Mother's Day. The possibilities are endless.

The site creators tell us that Makebeliefscomix accepts accent marks and characters from Spanish, French, Italian, German, Latin, Portuguese, in addition to English, they hope soon to add Chinese and Japanese.

Use the writing prompts to excite reluctant writers. Visit often, as new prompts are added weekly.

This is just too clever to pass by! Have fun creating your own virtual kaleidoscope by tossing the URL from any online image into the form, moving it around, and seeing just what you get! So what's the educational purpose? Students can practice the procedure of copying and pasting a Web site address. In addition, you can point your students to online images that relate to curriculum topics.

This interactive TeachersFirst lesson introduces students to bar and pie graphs using a sample spreadsheet. Students can enter their observations, then watch to see how the different graphs represent their data. The lesson includes teacher instructions, an introduction that can be presented using powerpoint or the web, and downloadable spreadsheet file. Aligned to NCTM standards.
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PBS site associated with an American Experience episode on the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear power accident in Pennsylvania. There is a Shockwave animation showing how the meltdown happened, a chronology of events, maps and teacher resources.

While the site uses the "watch the video and discuss" model, the questions listed in the teacher resources section would be appropriate for a more general discussion on nuclear power. There is a nice map showing the location of nuclear power plants in the United States. The Shockwave animation explaining the meltdown might be useful in a science class discussion on nuclear energy, and would display well on an interactive whiteboard.

The recent rashes of e-mail borne viruses and worms make a visit to this Microsoft page almost a necessity. Surprisingly usable, the site offers tips, patches, and suggestions for maintaining computer security in home, office, and school environments. This is a useful resource whether you’re already infected or simply want to avoid becoming infected.
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This collection holds a multitude of language arts related lesson plans (too many to count) that all incorporate technology. Most of the lesson plans provide state standards (for Michigan), assessments and explicit details about the activities. There are interactive activities, printable worksheets, discussion topics and much more. Some of the topics include African American inventors, amazing animals, buying and financing a car, foreign language, medieval madness, multimedia fairy tales, the Holocaust and many others. Many of the technology activities provided require FLASH. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

Browse the selection of lesson plans for those that match your curriculum. Get your interactive whiteboards ready and utilize these ready-to-go activities or adjust them for your needs. There are printable worksheets, interactive activities, discussion topics, assessments and many other resources.

Check out this website! There is a multitude of lesson plans (too many to count) that all incorporate technology within math lessons. Most of the lesson plans provide state standards (for Michigan), assessments and explicit details about the activities. There are interactive activities, printable worksheets, discussion topics and much more. Some of the topics include buying a car, married math, tessellations, factors, the stock market and many others. Many of the technology activities provided require FLASH. The lesson plans are in Acrobat (pdf) format, so they require Acrobat Reader. Get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

Enjoy this free selection of lesson plans. Get your interactive whiteboards ready and utilize these ready-to-go activities. There are printable worksheets, interactive activities, lessons using the web, discussion topics, assessments, and many other resources.

If you are a middle school science teacher - don't miss out on this fantastic website. There are over twenty "Best Practice" lesson plans that all incorporate technology and science topics. Most of the lesson plans provide state standards (for Michigan), assessments, and explicit details about the activities. There are interactive activities, printable worksheets, discussion topics and much more. Nearly all of them are interdisciplinary and incorporate numerous subjects within the one lesson. Some examples of the unique topics include "And the Beat Goes On", "Geology with Peanut Butter and Jelly", "Lego Robot Competition" and "Student Meteorologists". Many of the technology activities provided require FLASH. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

Get your interactive whiteboards ready and utilize these ready-to-go activities. Partner with teachers of other subjects for some of the interdiscplinary options to help kids "connect" with the new concepts.

This website provides numerous (ready to go) lesson plans. All of the lesson plans provide technology integration within social studies lessons. Most of the lesson plans provide state standards (for Michigan), assessments and explicit details about the activities. There are interactive activities, printable worksheets, discussion topics and much more. Nearly all of them are interdisciplinary and incorporate numerous subjects within the one lesson. Some examples of the unique topics include "Coming to America: Immigration Today", "Canadian Canoe Trip", "Exploring Virtual Europe", "The American Dream of the Decades" and many, many others. Some of the technology activities require FLASH. ALL the leson plans are in pdf (Acrobat) format and require Acrobat Reader. Get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.. NOTE: Acrobat files take a little time to download. Be patient.

Do yourself a favor and check out this free website when planning your middle school social studies lessons. Get your interactive whiteboards ready and utilize these ready to go activities. There are printable worksheets, interactive activities, discussion topics, assessments and many other resources.

This lesson plan (in pdf Acrobat Format,"Real Estate Project," was created for special education students in grades 6-8, but could be used in the regular classroom too. It s mutltidisciplinary for language arts, math, and consumer/life skills. This lesson includes research, writing, creative thinking and much more. Students design real estate ads based on ads they find in their research (via the Internet). The lesson plan provides state standards (for Michigan), assessments and explicit details about the activities. There are interactive activities, printable worksheets, discussion topics and much more.

Team up with the math and language arts teachers on this project or teach it in a computer literacy class. Get your interactive whiteboards ready to introduce these ready-to-go activities. Use the whiteboard for editing drafts, if you have one available. Then have your students share finished real estate ads on a projection screen or interactive whiteboard.

From the Smithsonian, the site is simple: it is a chronological timeline of the history of flight. Each point on the timeline links to a full page description of the craft (plane or spaceship) with photographs.

Sometimes you need complexity, but sometimes you just need a simple set of graphics. This site is the latter, but it does it so well! The timeline is marked by thumbnail pictures of each flying machine. Clicking on the machine brings you to a complete desciption of the craft and its significance. Of course this is part of the complete National Air and Space Museum site which is crammed full of interesting stuff. But this section cuts to the chase: what machines flew and when?

The Napster court case provides a great entreé to the issue of copyright and why students should understand it. This CNN special report highlights some of the copyright issues in the case.
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While there's a wealth of information on this government site about biology and things natural, teachers will be most interested in the library of photos of living creatures large and small. These images are downloadable, and each has rights information included.

Try this one as a well-indexed source for your next natural science computer or web project.

Investigate modern accomplishments in technology through these exhibits of technology accomplishments. Tech Ed and science teachers of all disciplines can highlight these accomplishments as real world connections to classroom learning or ask students to research the application of their classroom learning in the technology world. Of certain interest are topics that explain our systems of weights and measures, the technology time line, and the and stone wall test as a real world application of scientific method for practical purposes.

Use this as a starting point for a research project or share portions on a projector as you begin units on different science and technology topics.

This second installment in the PBS Nerds series chronicles the evolution of today's computers from their early mechanical ancestors in World War II. There are also biographies and profiles of key figures in the development of computers and computing.
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If your curriculum includes the history of computing, don't miss this one.

Use this website to help students of all ages learn to be safe online and in the real world. Included are short video clips that are sure to catch the student’s interest along with plans for class discussions and activities. Activity cards and safety pledges are available in Spanish. Hint: turn off pop up blockers for some of the activities or games to work. Flash and Acrobat Reader are required. Get them from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

If you know you will be using the Internet during class or assigning it for outside work, consider sharing some of the safety lessons ahead of time using a projector, especially with elementary and middle school students. Secondary English, information literacy, or computer teachers should consider requiring teens to report on an Internet safety topic as a research project as you are trying to both teach and USE research skills. This site could be a good topic-finder and starting point.

Provide a link on your teacher web page to give parents a resource for talking about internet safety with their children at home. Bookmark this site on a classroom computer for students to visit when they have free time.

Intel’s site on technology in the classroom will be useful for schools that have no technology department, or for teachers and administrators who lack a technology background and have just discovered that they are the technology department. There are tips on Internet use, setting up computer systems and networks, managing computer use, and using students to help with technology in the school. The utility of this site will depend on the other resources you have available locally, but there’s a wealth of information here.
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Originally begun by SBC Corporation, this site offers strategies that high school students can use to help non-profit organizations in their communities meet their mission and get their message out. Though the site’s activities originally centered on creating web site for non-profits, much of the methodology also could be used to assist these organizations in other ways. Teachers and parents will find lots of ideas for developing student outreach projects here.
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From a recent PBS Nova episode, this site deals with the early efforts of pioneer aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont. Santos-Dumont had the revolutionary idea that enabling humans to fly would contribute to world peace, because people would experience a new, more pure, perspective on the world from above. A contemporary of the Wright Brothers, Santos-Dumont's designs influenced modern "ultralight" planes of today. The site includes biographical information about Santos-Dumont and a very nice slideshow of failed airplane designs. There is an interactive view of one of Santos-Dumont's planes showing its features. Under the teacher's guide, a classroom activity provides plans for various forms of paper airplanes illustrating principles of aerodynamics.

Flying has always fascinated us, and flying failures are sometimes more interesting than successes. Students will know all about the Wright Brothers; they are unlikely to have heard of Alberto Santos-Dumont. The interactives are terrific and the paper airplanes would make a good hands-on activity. The readings about Santos-Dumont would also make good selections for a reading teacher trying to find motivating readings to teach comprehension strategies.

If you teach teens, then you need to remind them continually of internet safety and protocol. This cool, upbeat site is fully loaded with teen-friendly music, videos, comic strips, and more, all communicating the need for internet responsibility. If you want general internet safety information, visit the sister site to NSTeens, NetSmartz Workshop: (reviewed here). ESL and ELL teachers will love the Spanish version of this site (including Spanish downloads). This site requires Flash.

Teachers, you will find plenty of resources for teaching net safety to teens when you click on ‘teaching materials’ at the bottom left of the homepage (this takes you to the sister site – NetSmartz Workshop). Videos, fact sheets, lesson plans and activities await you there.

Use your interactive whiteboard or projector to share the video clips or comics. Have students create their own internet safety videos and share them using a tool such as YouTube or TeacherTube (explained here). List this site on your class website for students to access both in and out of the classroom. You will also want to share it with parents.

Become a smart online consumer and computer user. Use the Topics, Games, or Videos sections to learn Internet safety at home and through life. From Phishing to Computer Disposal and Health Online, find helpful information for all ages. At the topics link you will find information on Wireless Security, Social Networking Sites, Spyware, Kids Privacy, and many other topics. The interactive (games) are highly engaging and include “Online Lineup,” “Invest Quest,” “The Case of the Cyber Criminal,” and many other online topics. There are a few videos to view also. Click on Tools for other resources including subscribing to "Cyber Security Tips." Although this site is useful for teachers of all grade levels, if students are using this site independently it is best suited for secondary students.

Use this extensive resource site to teach students and their parents how to be smart cyber users. Students can create public service announcements or create messages to display on wikis or class blogs. Create infomercials and share them using a tool such as Teachers.TV reviewed here. Want to learn more about how to create and use a class wiki? Check out the Teacher’s First Wiki Walk-Through reviewed here. Another idea: create mini posters either in conventional or digital format (Use an online poster creator, such as Wallwisher, (reviewed here) to display throughout the school or on a district website. Teens could create a cybersmarts campaign for use in your local elementary schools. Service club advisors or technology/media specialists may want to initiate a family internet safety night using some of the resources from this site and other sources.

This math-based activity addresses reading, computer, and problem-solving skills while encouraging student creativity. After reading an online story, students participate in a class survey based on the story content, use that data to create a graph, and construct and illustrate a related word problem.

This activity provides many opportunities for differentiation. Provide students with choices in style or mode of graphing, math operations used in the word problems, or style of illustration.

"The mission of OneWebDay is to create, maintain, advance, and promote a global day to celebrate online life." Started in 2006, One Web Day is a day for awareness of the power of the Internet and activities to highlight its use in positive ways. While part of the mission of OneWebDay is a sort of "Earth Day for the web," a chance to highlight and preserve the things that make the web a healthy place to learn, work, and share -- all in an ethical way. Schools may want to take the day (or the closest school day)to highlight how much we benefit from the web and how students and families can use it safely and positively.

Some ideas to celebrate the day: Send class emails to the web sites you find most useful to thank them for their contributions to your class' learning. Find a school web site in another town or country and email the webmaster to relay a "hello" to a classroom there. Make a class wiki to share all the positive things you gain from the web---and invite parents to join in, too. Have students keep a web "diary" for 24 hours, noting every time they use or benefit from someone else using the web (even the weather man on TV gets his/her information from the web!). Predict how many "web contacts" your class will have, then add them up to see how close you came. Plan a OneWebDay event for your school and share it on the OneWebDay site or with the local press. With primary grade students, take the time to point out which activities you do in class come from the web (these children see "the computer" as the genie of all things and do not distinguish between the web and a CD game). Make a giant "web" out of yarn and "connect" everyone on the playground. Send an email from your class to the principal, telling him/her about OneWebDay. What else can you think of?

This Dutch search engine's newsfinder offers a pleasantly uncluttered, powerful resource for finding international reporting on a wide variety of topics. The system offers more than a dozen topic areas, and also permits searching on specific terms or events. This is a great resource for studying comparative reporting.
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The online magazine article (updated 2006) is actually a compilation of several reviews of Internet filtering tools for parents to use on home computers. Read the full article or skip to the "Fast Answers."

This simple site introduces your students to key internet-related terminology and safety issues. To get started, have students type their name (first name only) into the text box and click “drive.” Next, simply click on one of the items in the circular web (i.e. privacy policy, be nice, meeting people, downloading, c is for cookies, passwords, and several others).. Answer the question by clicking in the circle. The correct answer is displayed as well as a definition of that term or process. In the same fashion, click on all the other terms. When finished, a gender-correct license will be ‘issued.’ Simply print out the license for your student to show they ‘know’ safety features and terms of the internet.

At the beginning of the year, make this an introductory computer-use lesson for elementary students. Introduce the site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students navigate the site on individual computers or set-up a learning station.

Set a classroom goal for 100% of the students to gain a license. Post the licenses on a bulletin board that highlights internet safety. Invite your computer lab teacher to address internet safety before passing out the ‘licenses.’ See if students can come up with additional internet safety guidelines.

TeachersFirst Edge entry: for slightly adventurous technology users. Fancy photo editing for no cost—that’s what Picnik is all about. You can even do simple fixes, such as removing “red eye” or cropping the tree trunk off of your head! No downloading is required, and there are no tools to install. In fact, you don’t even need to register. However, if you want to manage your photos, you will need a quick registration. Also, for non-English speakers, choose from a list of language options in the drop-down menu at top right. It’s very user-friendly, so the techno-babies will feel right at home.

As with most high-tech sites, there is a premium level for a cost, but you don’t need to pay for some truly cool features. After you create your ‘new’ photo, you will be asked if you want to apply it to merchandise, such as mugs, key chains, magnets, etc. (This, of course, will go to an outside site which costs money.)

Picnik works on Mac, Windows, and Linux operating systems. This site allows you to access your Picnik photos from Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, Picasso, Webshots and Photobucket. If you really want to get intimately acquainted with Picnik, check out their blog and read about their featured photo makers (click on ‘blog’ at bottom of the page). This blog features photos and products designed by ordinary people like you, but the outcomes look like they were designed by highly-paid design artists! Also, if collages are what you need, click on the Collage button and go through similar easy-to-use options as the above.

Skills needed: You need to know how to locate and upload photos from your computer. You can also get images from anywhere on your computer, the web, webcam, your Flickr, Facebook, or other photo storing account. Click on Get Started Now or click on the Start Picniking tab in the upper right corner.

Click on Upload or find your photo(s) that you would like to fix. Now the fun begins. Click on any of the tabs to change your photo. Click Edit to adjust the contrast, color, size, ratio, etc. of the photo. You are allowed to play around with the photo, and if you don’t like what you have done, simply click on ‘reset’ to bring it back to its original state. Once you click ‘apply’ you can not reset to its original. Click Create to apply artsy, fun or serious new effects to your photo. Click on Text, Shapes, or Frames add those features. It works just like a word processor. You can minimize the shapes or apply different fonts, colors and sizes to the photo. All of these fun effects won’t be saved until you hit Apply, so play around with the features all you want.

Once your photo is finished, click on Save and Share. Rename your photo and click on Save Photo. Once it is saved, you can manage your photo by clicking on Manage History. This feature allows Picnik to access this photo from your files whenever you desire it.

This tool would work well with a student “expert” in your class becoming the go-to helper, since most students (and the teacher) will not need all the features all the time. If one student becomes more experienced out of interest, let him/her help you—and others!

Safety/security concerns: The only safety concern is if you are uploading photos of students to remain on the Picnik site or other photo sharing sites and this is not permitted under your school policies. If students are to use this tool, be sure you have parent permission for them to be using any photosharing sites, as well. You may want to simply work from your own local photos if sharing sites such as Flickr are not permitted. If you decide to have Picnik “keep a copy” of your picture, membership is required. Avoid this by saving your photo back to your computer, and no one has a copy but you!

Possible uses: Teachers, you can create professional posters for your classroom, gifts, scrapbooks for projects, bound books, and of course, advanced, professionally-doctored photos for any occasion by using this site. Your school (or your classroom) can raise field trip money by creating products with customized photos from this site. Middle school and high school art or computer teachers will enjoy a teaching unit on this no-cost site. It has similar functions of high-cost photo doctoring sites yet it is FREE. Have students/groups create a photo collection to illustrate a curriculum concept, such as “habitats” or “repetition in nature” by editing their own digital images to emphasize the concept. Share the finished work on your class wiki or student blogs so others can comment.

This impressive collection of thousands of copyright-friendly images – graciously donated by students, teachers, and amateur photographers - is a wonderful resource for teachers and student needing good quality, educational photos for projects and presentations. Browse by topic or use the site's search feature. Includes a nice collection of related lesson plans, organized by subject.

Just because you can record a person's voice doesn't mean you can publish it on the web. Here's a site that outlines the basics of U.S. laws regarding copyright and publicity as they relate to user-created podcasts. You'll learn about which things are OK, which require permission, and other pointers to consider when creating podcasts for school or educational uses.

If your class is set to "publish" their recorded exploits, working through this site with them would be a great introduction to the "rules of the road" for journalists in general.

If you have never used podcasting with your students, but wanted to, this site will help you get started. Although this site is mainly informational, it is a great starting point to learn more about podcasting. It gives a good overview of what it is, how to do it, and how it works in the classroom. It uses examples from projects related to the Smithsonian Institute, but it is easy to see how they are adaptable and applicable to other topics and subject areas. The site also provides several links to use to create your own podcasts! Another great tool for creating FREE podcasts is PodOmatic (reviewed here).

Podcasting is part of teaching today, and this site helps you to become more comfortable with the concept and the technology. Use this site to educate yourself about this newer technology. Since the example given is from elementary students, it is easy to see how "being perfect" is not that important. This is a great way to try something technical in the easiest way possible.

Use this site to create polls for your students (or have students create their own). The polls are embeddable in your wiki, blog, or class website. The site is still in beta. You can create a name, an expiration date for the survey, questions (multiple choice, yes or no, and ranking), and input your email address to be informed as results come into the site. Rather than using personal email accounts consider creating a teacher Gmail account and set up subaccounts for up to 20 students to register (by code name or number). Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service. Registration is not required to use this site. There are some advertisements and external links at this site (all appropriate at the time of this review). So if you allow students to use this site on their own, be sure to watch carefully.
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Use this site to collect data for math activities and graphing. Use it for people to rate student-created projects or for social studies projects about elections, or other social issues. Have students make wiki pages on an issue and include a poll and then graph the poll results in math class. Poll parents and grandparents on your class web page to involve them in decisions or use their experiences to help students understand times “long ago.”

Take a high-tech approach to student self-portraits using digital cameras instead of the traditional mirrors. This lesson plan, part of Apple's Digital Edge Learning Exchange from nationally certified teachers, is a very effective way to use technology as a tool instead of an add-on. Windows users may need to substitute Microsoft Photo Editor or a similar product for iPhoto, but the overall plan is easily adaptable for both computer platforms. If you are not sure which tools to use, ask one of your tech genius kids to show you for extra credit or use an online photo editing tool such as Pixenate (reviewed here) or Pixlr (reviewed here) See each stage of the lesson in the video clips on the this web page (requires Quicktime). Note: the videos may be a bit slow to load,so be patient.

Launch a new way of teaching, then share this idea at your next department meeting. Include the completed portraits in a back to school slide show or share them on your class web page or wiki! Be sure to have students annotate their portraits, as well.

Edward Tufte is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work in the use of visual images to convey statistical and quantitative information. In this short article, he launches a salvo at the power of powerpoint to misrepresent, overcomplicate, or otherwise distort information and information flow. It’s a bitter pill, but one that any teacher who uses this technology should take at least once.
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This wonderful collection of activities - spanning multiple content areas and grade levels - is designed for classroom projection on an interactive whiteboard. Many of the activities feature engaging sounds, animation, and downloadable worksheets. If a whiteboard is not an option for your classroom, take your students to the computer lab and let them explore the lessons individually. Because this is a British site, be aware that some vocabulary and content may be unfamiliar to American students, so preview carefully before using.
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MANY of the activities require FLASH. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

Welcome to the Library of Congress’ photo archive. This site offers a searchable database containing thousands of photos all almost any subject. History and social studies teachers will find this a rich resource for “what was life like then?” images, old maps, and other printed matter. Note that not all of these images are guaranteed “copyright free,” but this collection was established largely for educational and research uses, so most images are freely usable in that context.
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Use the images on this site to create a "picture walk" in your classroom, introducing any number of the topics hosted. Select 10-15 of the more powerful and diverse images, hanging them up in different locations around your classroom. Have students rotate around the classroom every 30-45 seconds, jotting down what they observe and infer about each image until the entire class has completed the circuit. After the class is back in their seats, have a class discussion based on what they observed and what this says about historical events. A great way to get students thinking about the content in a way that's more personal and lecture-less!

Use this terrific online tool for your students to create posters or short reports in a poster format. Create lessons, worksheets, or class pages and instantly publish them online using this free Web Poster Wizard. The teacher sets up an account (for free), and follows simple directions so students can upload images and write about their project or pictures. The site even includes management tools so you can keep separate classes of students and see their work by class.

Plan to spend some time reading through the directions and trying out this tool before you assign it to students. Teachers and students must register and login each time they use this tool. Students can share the URL for their posters with grandparents or parents to show off their good work!

Students will need to know how to locate and upload a file for an image (such as a digital picture) to place it in their poster. If you allow them to use images from the web, the tool asks them to give information on their image source, as well (hooray for ethical use of the Internet!). If you use digital pictures of students, be SURE that you do NOT use full names on the site. You should get parent permission for uploading any student images, even if anonymous.

Some uses for this simple tool: book reports (take a digital photo of the book cover), biographical posters of famous people (images from the web), "all about me" posters, posters about community members such as veterans of World War II whom students interview and photograph, author posters, fictitious character studies, science posters on processes or terms with accompanying digital pictures to illustrate, etc. The possibilities are endless. Once students know the tool, they can use it over and over.

Teachers, make sure you select the archive option to keep student projects live online for more than a month. Use the Teacher Feature option to create one web page of your class’ archived projects. You will want to put your created web page link prominently on your class homepage.

TeachersFirst Edge Entry: For very comfortable technology users who need more sophisticated capabilities than your TeachersFirst home page. This online tool creates a highly visual "home page" that can incorporate multiple elements simply by dragging and dropping them in place. Not unlike Google's personalized homepage, the elements look like little sticky notes or boxes, but there is far greater flexibility and a wider variety of content readily available. You can also make the page local (simply use it as the "home" on your classroom computer), shared by a select group (passworded), or completely public. You can easily make a theme or unit page for quick access of resources, complete with directions.

How would you use this in your teaching? Create a set of RSS feeds for current events or a specific curriculum topic such as weather and make them available for an in-class activity, complete with directions. World language, world cultures, or geography teachers can profile a location on the globe, complete with local weather and news. Make separate tabs for separate activities. Students can access them by password or publicly from outside of class, as well. For primary grades, make simple instructions right on the desktop for a computer center activity. Use color coding of the instructions to differentiate for different children (Sam, I want you to do the yellow one). If your school permits students to set up accounts on web services, have groups make Protopages on an assigned topic, collecting and organizing resources, images, and information: "A Protopage Guide to Cells" or "Shakespeare's Times." Gifted and highly-able students will go crazy!

Skills needed: Join (free). Check out the Intro, Overview, and Quickstart to see how it works. Play to your heart's content, including making tabs. Learn about RSS feeds and other Widgets-- including sticky notes. Share the URL with those you wish to have use it. Note: this works on Internet Explorer 6 and higher and on Firefox. If your users are on older web browsers, the developers recommend upgrading. This may be a problem for some. Check with your end-user computers before you spend too much time making the perfect Protopage!

If you allow students to create their own Protopage, you will need to have very specific rules about content, since there are non-educational elements available.

By teaching young students how to evaluate web pages early, this site helps create critical consumers of information. By clicking on items arranged in a circle on the screen, students go on to further explanations, examples, and quizzes about the main points of web evaluation.

This site would be great on a projector as a teacher-centered lesson, returning to each point as you build the understanding throughout the year. Use one point at a time as you show students various websites throughout the school year. Simply open this site prior to sharing a site with the class. You can use the points here to "evaluate" the source together. Be sure to include it as a reference link on your teacher web page, as well. Parents will appreciate it and students can "show" their parents how to judge sources.

Robots are one of the most popular of the “science cult” activities because they combine both computing and mechanical design challenges. Robot Café is a “portal” site offering topical listings of hundreds of resources and information on building robots and using them in education. Science teachers interested in starting a school robot project will find a wealth of information here, including a lists of parts resources and competitions. Students will also find many ways to feed their own individual interests.
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The Tech Museum of Innovation's online interactive exhibit about robotics includes fascinating history about robots seen from different angles. A video of Hans Moravec of Carnegie Mellon University discusses the components of a robot. Another section of the display examines ethical questions about the line between humans and robots and includes audio files of scientists responding to the questions (requires Quicktime). Site visitors can also respond.If you think you can't be creative with robots, take a look at the robot artists' section and view their creations. Finally, you can try driving your own robot in a virtual simulation. This section requires the Shockwave plugin. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

Explore the world of robots as part of a tech ed, gifted, science, or physics class. Be sure to include some of the discussions of ethics and technology as part of your unit. This site would also provide excellent background research for debate topics on technology and ethics. Note: the site was started prior to the 2003 Mars lander problems. Be sure to talk about what we know now about those robots, as well.

While we’re not experts, Robots.net appears to be a robots site for those who already know what they’re doing. Written for those with some engineering expertise, the site offers a collection of articles posted by members, an index of projects (but without much explanation) and a members’ area. Those looking for advanced ideas or solutions to robotics problems may well find leads here.
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If you teacher tech ed, gifted, or physics students at an advanced level, this might be just the site they will love to reseacrh and create independent projects.

This free, online tool was created by a veteran teacher for you to be able to create your own rubrics. Search for rubrics already made by others using the keyword search. Ex. enter "persuasive" to find loads of persuasive writing rubrics. You can create an account for free, then access rubrics made by other teachers ("clone" them to edit and use one that is close to what you need). You can also start from scratch. The rubric generator creates a printable version you can come back and get every time you need it. More techno-savvy users can also copy the html code for their finished rubric to put on another website.

When you first arrive, you won't see much without joining, though you can use the search feature to see examples. Once you join the site, mark it in your Favorites and include the "access code" you made for yourself as part of the notes for the Favorite, so you will remember what you used! You can share rubrics with teacher-colleagues and save lots of time! You can also edit them after use, if you discover that you need to change scoring or wording.

Kids can earn a "Web License" by taking this interactive quiz that covers topics like downloading, meeting people on the net, passwords, and Internet safety. After successfully answering the multiple choice questions, a personalized license can be printed.
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This site offers information to children, teens, and parents about how to stay safe online and keep your computer safe. It contains information sheets for various levels, downloadable parent and child online safety pledges, and slide shows about Internet safety. The slide shows do require the user to register at myspace.com, so this requirement may preclude usage at school. There is even a SafeKids song, but it downloads slowly, even on a fast connection (opt for the dial-up version). Younger children will also enjoy the online safety quiz. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

Include this site on your teacher web page for students and parents to access as a reference. Share the printables with parents at open house or conferences. As you introduce web-based activities in your classroom, pause to rmind students of these safety rules, even if someone else is supposed to "cover" them in their classroom. Parts of this site require the use of myspace, so be sure to preview it and match the requirements to your school's regulations.

This site is the teen partner to safekids.com. Its additional offerings include a wonderful cyber-dictionary parents can use when they are totally puzzled by acronyms their children are using in email, chat rooms, and text messaging (Note: the language is realistically what some teens use---asterisks replace "bad" words, but the abbreviations could teach the timid more than they want to know). Highlights for teens include tips about safe blogging, warnings about grooming, general Internet safety info, and accompanying info for parents. A link to blogsafety.com allows users to report abuses and suspicious behavior that might occur on blogging or social network sites. Links to current articles about Internet misuse keep the site current.

Use this site as the starting point when teens have questions about blogging, cyber safety, and correct Internet behavior so they know what to watch for should something unethical occur. Be sure to share it with parents via your teacher web page or at open house, as well. As you begin web-based activities in class, take the time to repeat the basics found here, even if another teacher is supposed to "cover" this topic.

Use this interactive Think Quest site, designed and constructed by kids, to introduce your students to the spreadsheet. Includes an excellent introduction to spreadsheet parts and vocabulary, an interesting history section, examples of interdisciplinary uses of spreadsheets, suggestions for classroom activities, and interactive review activities. Even if you don’t use this site with your students, you may get some great ideas for incorporating spreadsheets in your curriculum.
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Teachers can either have students work on this thinkquest in cooperative learning groups or together as a class. If working on this as a class, open this site on the interactive whiteboard or projector to share. If working in groups, save the site as a favorite on classroom computers to allow students to access it easily. This site makes for a really great activator or introduction to a unit on organization/organizing ideas.

TeachersFirst Edge Review: for any technology user comfortable with watching video and/or using video cameras. You can be as adventurous or not as you wish! This safe, free site lets students and teachers show off their talents by sharing their appropriate videos to be viewed all over America. With a simple registration, you can upload your classroom video, which then goes into a “holding” area. That video then awaits approval by the website’s moderator before becoming available. Because of the layering of approval, this site poses no security concerns to students or schools. Not only can teachers and students upload videos, but administrators may also want to post welcome or informational videos to be viewed by parents and students. You may also wish to share some of these videos with your class. Teachers will find videos suitable for classroom instruction (and lesson plans). Use the search box at the top of the webpage to look for topics that relate to your current units of study. If your school blocks streaming video sites, consider accessing this site and choosing videos at home, using a tool such as Vixy (reviewed here) to bring them in on a USB stick for class use. Searching the site and simply viewing the videos does not require any registration or log-in. There is a link to SchoolTube Games , as well. Viewing the videos and games requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page. See a sample video at the end of this review.

Skills Needed: no special technological skills are necessary to search the site or view the videos. If you wish to upload your own SchoolTube video, you must register as a user at the site. Registration is free. Create and save your edited videos where you can find them on your computer. (Windows Movie Maker or iMovie are great, free tools for video). Then upload to SchoolTube. You can share the video via link or by embedding it in another web page (see sample below).

Safety/Security Concerns: If the teacher is the one uploading, the only potential concerns include posting videos with identifiable information or images about your students, school, or class. Check your school policies about posting pictures of your school. If you post student videos, obtain written parent permission to post student work, again within school policies. Any student visible in a video should also have parent permission in accordance with school policies.

Possible Uses: Students can use SchoolTube to share videos with sister schools, or to broadcast weekly news from their school or classroom. Students can also produce project videos on any curriculum topic. Try making “You Are There” videos about different events in history! Teachers may want to use this site to share ideas and lesson plans with other teachers across the nation. Make “how to” videos to share with parents and friends. Embed SchoolTube’s video player into your school’s website and encourage parents to view school news or clips from events they were not able to attend. Here is sample "embedded" video shot for us by the SchoolTube folks at the NAESP conference, 2008. We included it here by simply copying the "Embed" code from the Schooltube site and pasting it into our site, just as you could with your teacher web page or wiki:

Search news articles about various topics such as "Agriculture," "Animals," "Chemistry and Materials," "Finding the Past," and many other topics. Featured articles and pictures can be found on the front page in a section titled "The Weekly Scoop" and "Science Snapshots." View other pages in the site including "Puzzle Zone," "Game Zone," "SciFi Zone," SciFair Zone," and "Lab Zone." Click on the "Teacher Zone" to access question sheets, resources, and websites for classroom use. Some ads run along the sides of this site.

Use Science News for Kids as a great reading and reporting assignment. Students can find an area and article of interest to read, summarize, and report to the class. Have students create commercials about their topics. Video and share using a site such as SchoolTube reviewed here. Students can use these news articles to find additional relevant information on the internet. Students may find these topics to be great self-study topics. Use the question sheets when assigning articles for class reading as a guided inquiry. Teach reading comprehension using these factual articles on your interactive whiteboard, asking students to highlight key words and generate a “main idea” sentence using them.

This Art Institute of Chicago site is an intriguing resource for high school fine-arts teachers looking to supplement their curriculum by studying science and technology’s application in the art world. The site can also be used by chemistry and technology teachers looking to expand students’ understanding of science’s real life applications. The site has multi-media lecture resources, as well as lesson plans on a range of topics, including the Chemistry and Physics of Light and color, and chemical oxidation’s effect on paint color.
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This website provides teachers with methods of evaluating PowerPoint presentations. Although the material is lengthy, there is some good information included. At this website, you will find rubrics, diagrams, examples, explanations and other information.

If your students are creating PowerPoint presentations, use this tool to create a useful and practical assessment. Avoid the pitfalls of being "charmed by glitz" when your students use technology. This site will help you and your students look for appropriate substance. Be sure to include this link on your teacher web page all year long for students to use as a reference when doing multimedia projects.

Teacher's First Edge Review: For serious technology users. Create videos of how to use a website or application as well as your thoughts as you are navigating through simulations or sites. This free site records your voice and captures what is on your screen as you work on your computer. Screentoaster works with any type of computer platform. View screencasts made from other users which can be helpful in learning a new technology tool. Here is an example screencast of how to use screentoaster. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

Skills needed: Users should know what they are trying to show before making a screencast. Click on the "Demo" button to learn more about making a screencast as well as visit the "FAQ" section for additional help. Click on "Start Recording." A Java applet will begin to load and must be approved before being able to screencast. Many school districts have settings on computers that restrict pop-ups or applets from loading. Check with your technology department. Set your video and audio settings next. Click "Record" or Alt-S to start. When done, watch your recording, upload to the Screentoaster site, or upload to You Tube. To continue to edit your screencast, download the video (as an .avi) to edit with movie software.

Safety/security: This site includes content contributed by the general public and may not be suitable for the classroom. The value of this site is to create tutorials to help students use a tool, but many students can also use this tool to create tutorials for other students. Create a class account where screencasts can be made. Screencast videos made by students would not be attributed to the student. Be sure to determine a way to know which work belongs to particular studentssuch as including initials or a group number in screencast titles. An email address is required for sign up to use this service. Check your school policies about accessing/sharing student email on school computers. You may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how.

Classroom use: Consider making screencasts of navigating through websites you use often such as wikis, blogs, or simulation/game sites. Many students who learn these sites naturally can create screencasts as well to help other students. Screencasts can also be made on how to use various software used to create projects or multimedia products. Have students create web site critique “tours” to demonstrate a site’s bias or questionable/reputable quality. Have your students 21st century literacy skills by analyzing and acting as media critics comparing different political coverage, etc. by screencast tours. Be sure to share the screencasts on a class wiki or blog for further discussion and even outside comments (if permitted by school policy).

This handy tool helps clear up the search engine confusion. It clearly and simply matches research needs with appropriate online resources. Point your students to this site before starting them on a research project.
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This site is an index of stories that have been spoken on radio shows by Charles Kettering. Kettering was head of research for General Motors and held over 140 patents. One of his standout accomplishments was the development of Freon as a refrigerant.

There are a number of short stories from all areas of science taken from Kettering's Radio talk shows. The general topics include “Introduction to Science and Invention,” “Science and Invention in Transportation,” “Science and Invention in War.” Specific topics vary from Energy from the Sun to The Wright Way to Unraveling the Atom and many others.

This site would be a helpful alternative text in the science classroom. Use this site for research projects or explaining some famous inventions. Extend reading into an online journaling project or even a classroom blog or wiki. Not comfortable with wikis? Have no wiki worries – check out the Teacher’s First Wiki Walk-Through reviewed here. The opportunity for collaboration, reflection, and eventually creating their own stories of their projects is wonderful. Have cooperative learning groups create multimedia presentations. To show what they have learned from this site, challenge students to create an online graphic to share using Tabblo reviewed here. Have groups create news reports and share them using a tool such as SchoolTube reviewed here.

TeachersFirst Edge entry: for slightly adventurous technology users (may require permission or special arrangements from your tech department!). Every teen and college student knows Skype, the free tool for making calls from computer to computer anywhere in the word. By downloading and installing free software and setting up a free account, you can talk and/or make a video call to a similarly equipped computer elsewhere in the world for free. Skype uses a lot of "bandwidth" so is not suitable for very slow networks or dial up connections. It may also be slow at high-traffic times on a good network. Some patience and pretesting is required before you can be sure it will work for your needs. Connect to classrooms, experts, authors, virtual special speakers, or interview subjects using Skype.

Skills Needed: Download and install the Skype software. If you are not allowed to install software on school computers, ask to have a single laptop available that is Skype-capable so you can borrow it or else explain to your principal that you are planning a series of Skype visits in your classroom so your techies will install it in your classroom. You will need a computer with built-in or separate microphone and speakers and optional webcam. If you plan to use a webcam, you must know how to start it. You will need to set up a free Skype account (requires email) and password. Keep a record of what you use for email and password! A single teacher-controlled Skype account will work in most school settings.

Getting started: If you prefer written directions go to Help >> Step by Step Help to get started. Or ask a student to show you (without seeing your password). You will need to explore the tools in Skype to locate where to enter the SKYPE name of the person you wish to call, start the call, and answer calls. Do NOT set your copy of Skype to "remember me" on a school computer! If students are to participate in the Skype call, you may want to have a "hot seat" at the Skyping computer so they can sit at a mike so their questions will pick up better for the person at the other end.

Safety and Security Tips: Be sure to set Skype so it does not open every time you start up the computer. Manually start the program when needed and do not leave an obvious Skype icon on the desktop for "clever" students to find. Protect your password -- do not post it on the computer. A teacher-controlled account is best for Skype classroom use to prevent unauthorized calls by students. Your user name will show on the screen for students to see, so be aware of that when you create your account.

Possible Uses: Anything you can do by telephone or video call you can do on a projector with your entire class. Connect the Skyping computer to a projector or whiteboard for the entire class to see if you are using video. (The video will be fuzzy, but good enough to follow a person's face.) Use Skype to talk to authors (check out their web sites or this blog for contact information). Have students write questions in advance. Use your contacts, web page "contact us" emails, and parent contacts to find others willing to Skype into your classroom. Interview scientists or government officials, deployed military personnel, or classes far away in a different culture or language. Younger students can compare weather, family life, community events, and more. Learn other ideas for using Skype in your classroom  

Improve your students' online research skills with this helpful guide to using Google. Features of the search engines are explained (did you know that the search box can be used as a calculator or that you can receive email Google news alerts when a phrase you wish to track shows up in the news?), and searching tips are provided. You’ll have fun with this one.
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Get an overview of any web search visually using Spezify. Spezify is a search engine that provides both visual and verbal results for the search terms you enter. It pulls in images from Flickr and anywhere on the web as well as print excerpts, and (coming soon) video. Click on the image or text box you wish to read just as you click on text in search results lists. Visually display the "big picture" on any topic. Searching "edison inventions" brings up pictures and articles for visual learners, ELL/ESL students, or non-readers to get the gist of the topic at a quick glance. Spezify also suggests possible additional search terms and related topics across the top of the page as white text within the narrow black stripe. If you click the plus sign (+) next to one of these terms, it will add that term to your search, narrowing the results. If you click on the word itself, Spezify will search that term instead (not adding it to your previous search). There does not appear to be any specific ranking (as Google has) or sorting of the results by reputation, popularity, etc. No "about" information is provided to explain how Spezify determines which results show first. The tool is still in beta and provides a way for you to provide feedback, as well. NOTE: as with any online image search, you should be careful what you enter as search terms, since Spezify will pull up images without any "filter."

Use Spezify on an interactive whiteboard or projector as you introduce a new topic in science or social studies or when the class asks "What is ____?" . With very young students or non-readers, use Spezify to help them find information they can understand and to inspire them to try to read some of the short text excerpts alongside the images. Activate students' prior knowledge as they recognize the images and remark, "I didn't know Edison was the one who invented that!" Visually show the "big picture" on any topic. As you teach research skills, try a comparison of Spezify results with Google results for both functionality of the search engine and reputability of the results. NOTE: Preview any search terms you plan to display in class if the terms could possibly bring up inappropriate images. You may need to adjust your terms. Of course your students know what they are supposed to do if something inappropriate comes up when using a search themselves, right? If you have not discussed this, now is the time!

This delightful virtual playground, the companion site to a PBS series, is filled with interactive games and engaging activities. It's a safe and imagination way to encourage independent exploration while strengthening basic Web page navigation skills.

Tired of having yellow sticky notes pasted all over your desk? This free downloadable PC software can unclutter your desk and make your life easier. The program is small (less than 600 kb), easy to use, and oh so helpful.
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This site provides a quick guide for teachers who are beginning to explore web publishing with their students. The site discusses privacy issues, outlines group development policies, and even gives advice on personal web page publishing. The site also offers links to additional resources, for those who want to dig into the topic more deeply.
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Use this site as the starting point for individual or group projects. Have your class work together to design their own web page as a final project for a unit, or design a page for the class as a whole.

If you haven’t been to seminars, college classes, or professional development lately, you may feel a little rusty on innovative study guides and strategies that will enhance learning. This site explains with clear language and no-frills web pages hundreds of ways to help our learners, from online test taking, memorizing, to managing stress and so much more. Another perk from this site is that it is available in over 20 different languages, so even limited English speakers can learn these helpful techniques. From this web link, you enter the “visitors center” where you grasp the impact this site has had on education. Millions of visitors benefit from its resources each year. Click on “index” at the top to access the page full of study guides and strategies options.

Each content area has successful resources that you can use.

Content areas include Preparing, Learning, Studying, Learning with Others, Online Learning/Communicating, Classroom Participation, Project Management, Research, Reading Skills, Preparing for Test, Science and Technology, Math, Resources, Vocabulary/Spelling, Writing Styles, Writing Basics, and Taking Tests. There are over 100 individual topics to explore: Time Management, Avoiding Procrastination, Learning with ADHD, Effective Study Habits, Peer Mediation, Problem Based Learning, Netiquette, Public Speaking, Citing Websites, SQ3R, KWL, Overcoming Test Anxiety, Ten Tips for Terrific Test Taking, Prefixes and Root Words, Seven Stages of Writing, and countless others!

There are some basic advertisements at this site. Flash and Acrobat Reader are needed for some of the links and can be obtained here: TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

This site is one to save in your favorites! There is so much here, it is hard to know where to begin. The language offerings provide opportunities for ESL and ELL students to learn study skills in their native language. This site could also be used in world languages classes.

Why not highlight a “study skill” each week using your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students TRY it. Most of the topics provide interactive learning or another assignment to help students practice the skill. Have students work individually or with a partner to explore the “topic of the week.” These life skills are so necessary, but hard to fit into the already crammed curriculum. This site does a nice job of integrating the study skills with curriculum content. Have students create their own multimedia projects about study skills using a current unit of study from your class.

Mac owners will want to check out the "lite" version (free) of this downloadable program that makes study card stacks based on teacher or student notes. It’s further evidence that the Mac, while now a “minority platform” retains a strong library of useful educational software.
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If your school uses MACs, you may want to get permission to load this software ( the free version) for students to create their own study cards, especially your learning support students who may be more motivated to study with such an electronic "aid."

Teacher's First Edge entry: For slightly adventurous or curious technology users. Want to "stumble upon" some great sites? Use StumbleUpon to browse websites without having to enter search terms and click through search pages. Choose categories that you are interested in. These can be updated at any time. Choose hobbies, interests, or teaching subjects. When the StumbleUpon button on the tool bar is pressed, StumbleUpon presents a website to fit your interests. Simply click the thumbs up "I like it" or the thumbs down symbol on the tool bar to "teach" StumbleUpon what you like. StumbleUpon seeks out interesting pages you might otherwise not see. The more you Stumble and indicate your preferences, the more Stumble Upon will refine its understanding of what you like. On the StumbleUpon site, you can see your favorites, as well as the top rated websites, videos, and photos from their many "stumblers." Firefox or Internet Explorer is required.

The best use of this site is for teacher research. Hit the Stumble button once or twice a day to find new ideas and new sites for teaching. Skills needed: Join the site (free, but requires email). Download and install the tool bar for Firefox or Internet Explorer and create your "identity." Click the Stumble button. Though you may not get websites relating to just one specific topic, many in your field or interest group will come up. Bookmark these for later use. LOG OUT of Stumble Upon when you are not at your computer to avoid unauthorized use.

Safety concern: Be wise and choose your interests carefully. For example, if you are interested in photography, you will receive random photo sites. Though many have wonderful photos, a few may have questionable content not appropriate for education. Since StumbleUpon has other uses, such as "dating" and "friends," and the ability to see other "popular" sites, you will want to use a single class account to model and teach web site critique and evaluation as a whole class. Individual student profiles can be problematic to supervise unless your school has built a strong, enforceable Acceptable Use Policy, signed by both student and parent, that holds the STUDENT accountable for his/her behavior, not you.

If your school uses a filter (U.S. schools are required to do so by law), any streaming media and other sites may be blocked. If you "Stumble" at home and find a useful site, follow your school's technology policy to request unblocking of specific URLs that are directly related to curriculum.

Editorial comment: Be sure to SHARE your reason for using the site with administrators and school decision-makers to demonstrate why school policies should permit such powerful tools for teaching and learning. You may have to "prove" the worth of StumbleUpon by providing specific examples of the content you have found through this tool, especially since many schools prevent users from downloading and installing any software at all. Be sure to talk about -- and follow through on -- teaching students how to critique and evaluate websites as research skills. General surfing the web in the classroom is not considered best practice, and your example will speak volumes. You may need to become an expert "Stumbler" at home to build your case for accessing and demonstrating the tool at school.

TeachersFirst Edge entry: For the most adventurous technology users. This new start-up web 2.0 tool (born Dec 2006) is "a place where curious people explore all kinds of data." Users register to join (free) to upload and/or manipulate data of all kinds: from comparisons of "What a Couple of Hundred Billion [dollars] can buy," to sports stats to election stats to less school-appropriate topics such as drinking. Why risk it? You will find terrific examples (and non examples) of how data can be shared visually, manipulated, and reported to help explain a concept. You can upload you own datasets, tag them, and see how others collaborate. Even simpler, you can browse graphs already made on the site, mark them as part of "your" stuff (Favorites) and visit them on a screen to discuss which graphs provide meaningful data and what they show, exactly.

Any teacher using this site should register under the his/her own name and limit use to areas that have been previewed before class to avoid inappropriate content. The best use is by marking items as Favorites and beginning your class visit in your Favorites to avoid "popular" content that might be awkward for parents, students, and you to justify in a classroom. If your students have been collecting data (sightings of migratory birds, lab experiment data, daily temperatures, etc), you can upload them and manipulate them on this site, comparing to other data uploaded by others. Teachers of math, statistics, science, even reading can use and teach data analysis from graphs. Share this one with your "geeky" teacher friends and figure it out together!

Skills required: join the site (free), browse datasets or upload your own (several formats possible), mark Favorites, create tags, create graphs from one or more datasets, all by "playing with the tools. No clear "Help" is available. There is a tour to give you the big picture of how the site works. Finally, you may want to link to one of your graphs (such as from a PowerPoint show) or display one on a web page.

This collection of editors' choices from TeachersFirst will spark summer excitement for parents and kids alike. Whether your want to create something, ignite new learning, or hold on to what you already know, you will savor these safe, reviewer-recommended resources. Be sure to share with your friends, neighbors, and family. Teachers will want to share this page with students departing for summer break. Summer will never be "boring" again!

Share the link to this special collection via your class web page, newsletter, or email to all your students as they depart for vacation. You will help parents and students alike. Avoid the "summer slide."

In five lessons, students review what they know about plagiarism and copyright and update it to include aspects of copying in the digital age. In addition to the history of copyright (with application to proper documentation and annotation), students learn about concepts such as fair use, free speech, peer-to-peer file sharing, and the public domain. The most in-depth portions are definitions and history of copyright, the concepts of fair use and stakeholders, and finally, contemporary explanations of the interpretation of copyright today including material on the internet. The lessons include Notes for the Educator, Assessment, Extension Ideas, Objectives, and many other possible resources. Each lesson varies slightly in the additions.

Use when teaching essay writing and how to cite sources. Plan a unit on plagiarism using the resources on this site or incorporate them into your existing research units. Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then have students do the activities on this site independently or in small groups. The culminating activity here is a trial; plan to use this with the entire class with each member having a distinct role. Why not video record the trial? Share the video using a resource such as Teachers.TV reviewed here.

This is a collection of annotated columns about technology issues over the past fifty years or so, and how society has coped with them. There’s a surprisingly wide range of subject areas, and the implications of some of these innovations has been vast. Try this one when making connections between the scientific and social implications of inventions.
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This site offers a compilation of tips, resources, ideas, and add-ons for popular software. The site offers a range of basic computing tips, as well as soft-ware specific advice. It provides a good starting point for stumped software users.
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Share this site with the technology coordinator for your school district. If you or a student are trying to teach yourselves a specific or specialized software program, these tutorials may be just what you need.

This online tutorial was originally designed to make competent web users out of University of Texas undergraduates. The interactive tutorial is a great way to learn more about Internet basics and hone their academic search skills. A full experience of the tutorial requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..
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This site requires a registration; check with your administrator to be sure that your school allows students to set up individual accounts on on-line sites.

Long known for its support of educational programs, TI’s teacher activity exchange includes items for K-16, with a predictable concentration on math and science activities that relate to its many models of calculators. Click on their Professional Development section for more resources to help you as a teacher, including free online courses.
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This useful tool enables teachers and student writers to objectively analyze writing samples. Just copy and paste a piece of text into the analysis window, and receive a detailed report on sentence length (average, minimum and maximum), most frequently used words, complexity factor, readability, and average syllables per word. The tool can also be used to evaluate the text complexity of a Web page. Just type in the URL!
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While they're not all strictly educational, this sampling of winning web sites, along with a large number of nominees, makes for an interesting barometer of how the Web is being used by scores of disciplines and in hundreds of ways. Try a sampling of these sites for a taste of what's possible on the web.
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English mathematician, economist, and inventor Charles Babbage was a pioneer in concepts which led to the development of today's computers. This site from the University of Exeter helps to tell his story. If your students are interested in the history of computing, Babbage is a name to include. This page may seem a little plain vanilla, but the information is well organized and worth a look.
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Use this site as an “activator” to introduce a unit or lesson on inventions or the history of computing.

Students will use the this online project to discover everything that was happening on the day they were born. After they research and record news headlines, songs, authors, movies, and other information that was current on their birthday, they will use the information they've discovered to write a biographical essay to share with the class. There are also some fun links thrown in that calculate how old you are in days or explain the meaning of your name. Tecahers can chose to register their class as part of this web-based project and share what they learn.
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Use the entire project to learn about culture in history and about family and community, or choose selected portions or links as a research project of thier own.

The Educause web site offers this summary of the DMCA, along with an explanation of some of the proposed changes and up-to-date information on the latest exemptions and interpretations. There are also links to a variety of information sources on copyright and digital technologies.
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This site is quite sophisticated and not likely to be useful to students below 11th or 12th grade, though all teachers should know wbout copyright and electronic resources. Educase offers these articles for those who have a serious interest in reading the "real stuff" instead of oversimplified interpretations. Not advisable as "light reading."

This one’s just for fun, but it’s an eloquent statement about the dangers of technology used inappropriately. Technology teachers and those who help teachers with technology will likely find this a great illustration for questions about when technology is appropriate.
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Non-fiction writings are not frequently on the list of student favorites, but this activity may inspire your students to gain a new appreciation for this genre. Using common objects in the classroom, students are encouraged to visit pre-selected Web sites to "find the inside story" about each one. After responding to a series of guided questions, assembling the facts, and synthesizing them into a PowerPoint show, each group of student "experts" must present their findings to the class. Downloadable worksheets and a PowerPoint template are provided along with a helpful list of online sources. Aligned to National Standards.
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This report on the Children’s Internet Privacy Act from the National Telecommunications Information Agency focuses on practical ideas that can have a meaningful impact in managing children’s access to the web while avoiding unnecessary restrictions on others. School technology staffs will find its “lessons learned” and “best practices” sections particularly interesting.
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Intel's tour of the inside of your computer has reappeared in the Web world. Use it for an interactive, highly visual look at what goes on inside the typical PC.
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This one can be a useful introduction for both students and teachers.

This free website - geared for elementary and middle school students - offers a protected virtual environment where kids can create interactive web pages to display their work and participate in on-line discussion groups. Teachers can use the resources on this site to post assignments and articles, communicate with students and parents via free email, or develop a Parent Page. Detailed information outlining security issues related to access, content and children’s privacy is provided. Created by Oracle.
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This site introduces the new junior version of ThinkQuest, an international contest for student created web sites as end products of collaborative research and creative work by students in multiple locations. Students use the internet and guidance of a coach to create original and high quality web pages on a wide range of topic categories. The student-produced products also provide excellent teaching resources in your subject area.
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Serve as a coach and enter a team in this contest as the ultimate technology based interactive teaching tool for interdisciplinary study or as the culmination of a major research project.

This timely website is a must-see if you are teaching computer and Internet safety. The site is divided into three age levels of activities: 5-7, 8-10, and 11-16. Students ages 5-7 get to meet Hector and take a tour and see interactive information about Internet safety. There are several interactive cartoons and other educational material. Students ages 8-10 meet Griff and his friends to learn how to stay safe while using email, cell phones, chat rooms, and other new technologies. Turn your sound on to listen to Hector and Griff explain safety on a young person’s level (and with charming British accents). The site for secondary students includes video clips, information, and more. All three sub-sites provide age-appropriate activities, with upbeat music and neat interactives. There are also links for parents and teachers. The teachers link features lesson plans to coincide with the cartoons and/or video clips. The lesson plans require membership (which is easy and free). Viewing the cartoons does not require membership. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

Click on Parent and Teachers resources to access lesson plans and resources that teach alongside the Cyber Café. You must register to access these, but it is painless. Interact with the content of this site on an interactive whiteboard or projector with your entire class to generate a class discussion on this important topic.

This very simple little tool allows you to copy a LONG URL (web address), paste it into this web page, and get back a very short URL that fits far more easily on your teacher web page, in your handouts, or on your blackboard for students to enter.

If you make a map in Google Maps, an online graphic organizer, a set of online flash cards, to anything else that allows you to share my emailing or copying a URL, this tools will save you from endless errors or emails full of ten-line URLs. Be sure to show your middle and high school students how to use it, as well. This will solve the problem of URLs that get split and no longer work when the text wraps around to another line.

If you'd like to involve your students in graphing activities, but think that Excel is just too difficult for them to grasp, check out this site that is filled with ideas on how to use Excel in the elementary classroom. Explore the "Classroom Strategies" section for examples and benchmarks for each grade level.
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TeachersFirst Edge Review: For somewhat adventurous technology users who have a webcam. Video chat with teachers and students all over the world through this free video site, TokBox. All you need is a webcam and a connected computer. Simply do a quick sign-up and TokBox will give you a link to use to connect in a live video chat. Invite someone to join you by giving to them the link (email it, tweet it, etc). They click on the link and you both are ready to chat. If no webcam is available, you can use Tokbox for audio only. You can also put a recorded ‘Tok box’ or a link to your live Tokbox on your blog or personal webpage. Anyone can visit your page, press the “Push to Talk” button, and can connect to you in real time using live video and audio.

Skills needed: Join the site (requires email) and immediately begin to explore the tools. You need to know how to enable your webcam (“allow” the site to access your camera and mike). It is also helpful to be able to use the set-up tools offered on the Tokbox site for setting video and audio levels—just the first time you use Tokbox. Once you join, you will see a screen for using an IM service. You can skip that and skip accessing friends from your email. Skip the profile and go to “Start or join your first video chat. “ALLOW your webcam and mike to be accessed by Tokbox. Once you see yourself on screen, click “Share” to copy the link to your chat. Paste it in an email or Tweet, wait for your contact to click and join, and Voila, you are on video chat! You will probably need to click the little tool icon and “configure audio and video” to be heard well. Your guest at the other ends does NOT need to join Tokbox but will probably need to do the tools adjustment, as well.

Safety/Security issues: First check to see whether this tool is blocked in your school’s filtering. You may be able to get permission to access one specific URL for webcam chats for curriculum use only. We recommend that this tool be used under teacher supervision with an account created by the teacher. Rather than using your personal or work email, create a free Gmail account to use for memberships. If you plan to have students register individually, you may want to create your own Gmail account with up to 20 subaccounts for each group of students (by code name or number) within your classes. Here is a blog post that tells how to set up GMail subaccounts to use for any online membership service.

No need to create a “profile” unless you want your class to have one together, such as “Mrs. Smith’s class from Wyoming.” Keep descriptions generic so people must actually know you to be able to find you. Important to note: You have control with whom you wish to communicate. Privacy settings allow you to make yourself known only to your “friends” list. If you have frequent contact with other classes, keep their email or Tokbox link in your friends info. If you do Tweet your Tokbox link, be sure to DIRECT message it so others do not see it on Twitter.

Possible uses: Applications for this site extend through all subject areas, as you connect with classrooms all over the world, exploring a vast array of subjects, languages, and social connections. Foreign language learners can talk in real-time to other language learners. Teachers, you may consider putting the ‘box’ on your webpage and host weekly parent conferences via TokBox for those tech-savvy parents unable to make face-to-face visits. Like fireside chats, this could be a way to communicate classroom happenings as well. Have weekly ToxBox sharing sessions during lunch so students have a chance to chat about what is happening at school with parents and others in your extended classroom community. Set up interviews with community officials, scientists, or military veterans. You are able to video conference with Tokbox, allowing 25-30 people to see you at one time. They simply need your link and your time to meet. Think about professional development opportunities using Tokbox, such as chatting with similar grade level or subject teachers at other schools. For more ideas on using webcams with ESL/ELL student and world language students, see Nik Peachey’s 20 Web Cam Activities for ESL/EFL Students, href="/single.cfm?id=10296">reviewed here. See additional ideas in our discussion of Skype, reviewed here.

It's like an electronic version of those old typing texts that emphasized drill and repetition …but this interactive site offers a few additional perks. Turn up the sound on your computer to "hear" your mistakes, motivate yourself with the visual "speed indicator," or copy and paste your own text into the display window. Bookmark this site for easy access in the computer lab.
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TeachersFirst Edge Entry: for more adventurous technology users. Create photo trading cards using images you upload or store on Flickr. Imagine having your students create study aides about famous people using images they draw and scan or photos of themselves impersonating the famous people, such as presidents, explorers, authors, and more. If you celebrate reading by having an "author's tea," why not follow up by asking students to make trading cards for the authors they "met"? Use a similar approach for famous historical figures or even for geometric shapes you photograph with the digital camera. If students write their own "biographies" of the shapes to study from, they will learn for sure! They can even trade each other for favorites.

Skills needed: join the site (free), upload and tag your photos. type information, print cards. This is also an excellent idea for special occasions for special people: mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, school nurse, school secretary, school custodian, favorite aunt, or anyone else! Be sure to print onto cover stock and laminate (if possible). What fabulous (and memorable) gifts.

Whether you are teaching about plastics, robots, electricity or many other science topics, check this website out! This site provides information about the world of engineering and engineering careers, as well. There are 42 lesson plans that are ready to go, and many involve technology. The lesson plans have standards, objectives and age levels. Counselors will like the career section's detailed and helpful information. The website also provides numerous interactive games. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

The lesson plans are detailed and simple to follow. The interactive games will have your students' talking about the activity long after class is over. Share the link on your teacher web page so they can visit over and over. Be sure to take advantage of the opportunity for students to ask questions to real-live engineers, as well. Bring the real world into your classroom.

This slightly different twist on traditional keyboarding drills can help students have fun while increasing speed and accuracy. The goal is to rescue falling letters or words by correctly typing them before they crash. Choose from three versions with adjustable skill levels.
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Links to full text of copyright law, Congressional discussions on copyright revision, and numerous PDF files on specific or technical topics related to copyright.
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This is a huge collection of media links - newspapers, electronic media, and specialty publications - sorted by country and subject area. Some are in English, others in native tongues. An excellent resource for hard-to-find information.
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This short video (less than 3-minutes) about the subject of online photo sharing. This site refers to Flickr (reviewed here), but other services are also named. Learn how online photo sharing keeps your photos safe from fire (and even computer crashes). Learn ways to share and enhance your photos. This site does have a small advertisement at the bottom of the screen, click on the X to remove the advertisement. There is a link provided to embed the video. The site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

This site could be used in many capacities: sharing students’ work online (with parental consent, of course), sharing this video clip at in-service trainings for teachers to use both professionally and personally, providing the link on your website for families to view and use at home, and many other possibilities.

This site provides an easy to understand introductorion video on podcasting. The video is short, about 3-minutes. Use this site to learn what podcasting is and how it is different from broadcasting. This site does have a small advertisement at the bottom of the screen, click on the X to remove the advertisement. There is a link provided to embed the video. The site require Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

If you aren't familiar with podcasts, watch this short video and try to think about ways to use podcasting with your students. Have cooperative learning groups research a topic relevant to your class and create a podcast using a simple tool such as podOmatic (explained here).

Wondering what an "RSS" is? Or maybe why you would want to use this time saver/ real world connection in your classroom? This short video (less than 4-minutes), shares WHAT an RSS is and HOW it saves you time by having your desired web content ready for you instead of your going and searching your favorite blogs and websites on YOUR time. Choose a reader (our editors like Google reader), set-up a connection between your reader and your favorite websites (subscribing; look for the orange RSS icon), and have the updates sent to your reader (rather than wasting your poking around and searching the web). There is a link provided to embed the video. The site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

This is a great site for professional development. Once you set up a reader, you can subscribe to topics that fit in your curriculum: Google blog searches for inventions for your science class or current events feeds about the continent you are studying in social studies, for example. Administrators might consider sharing this time-saver with teachers during a training. With middle school students and older, share this video on an interactive whiteboard or projector (don't be surprised if they teach you MORE about the RSS options). Then have students set up a reader on an assigned topic to fit your curriculum or collaborate to set up a reader for the entire class.

What is social media? This video takes you on a journey to "Scoopville," a fictitious town used to demonstrate the many "flavors" or social media. The video is short (4-minutes) and very easy to follow. Blogs, podcasts, and videos are highlighted at this site. This site does have a small advertisement at the bottom of the screen, click on the X to remove the advertisements. There is a link provided, along with code to embed the video. The site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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If you are looking to learn more about various social media, check out this short video. Learn more about the "flavors" you could use in your own classroom. For research projects have students create a blog, wiki, or even a podcast and compare the pros/cons of each in terms of communication and safety. Create podcasts using a tool such as podOmatic (explained here).

Are you "twying" to understand the "tweet" world of Twitter. Watch this short (less than 3-minutes) video about the "Twerrific" world of Twitter. This social networking site asks the question, "What are you doing?". This site shares how to use Twitter to stay connected. There is a link provided to embed the video. The site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

This is a great site for professional development and further understanding of the current microblogging "twend": Twitter. Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use Twitter in the Classroom (with parental permission). Have students create writing prompts and share them on Twitter. Have your government students follow the "Twitter News" of politicians they can find on Twitter. Have students in science class follow the Twitter Feeds like Science News. Challenge students to create their own virtual collective Twitter scavenger hunt. The possibilities are endless! You can also use Twitter as a springboard for discussions about the changes in the political landscape and society with the advent of social networking tools. Ask them: are there any negatives or cautions to sharing your life on Twitter?

This site offers a VERY short video (under 3-minutes) that offers tips on how to get the best responses to your web searches. This is a perfect addition to your research unit, helping students to find information FASTER. There is a link provided to embed the video. The site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
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Share the video clip on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students apply the tips from this video during independent or cooperative learning research projects.

This site from the University of Maryland and Verizon is more than a how-to. The site provides two different modules that highlight studies, information, examples, and other content for those interested in using technology to teach in a web-based format (online or distance education). The content ranges from the theoretical to the practical and is definitely worth exploring.
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Share this site with teachers who are just starting to explore online teaching and learning.

This wiki is all about applying Blooms Taxonomy to learning tasks using web 2.0 tools. If you know you would like to challenge students to APPLY new knowledge, for example map skills, look at the Applying page for ideas and tools to use. Participate in this wiki project by making comments and suggestions in the Discussion tab. The offerings for each level are far from exhaustive, but that is exactly the point of this teacher-to-teacher wiki: to involve you and your professional judgment, too. Follow the sidebar link to Blooms Rubrics (a separate but related wiki) to find examples (links) of rubrics teachers are using to assess different visual Blooms projects. As you launch into more and more student-centered learning projects and want to be sure you are getting your "bang for your web-buck" in terms of learning and thinking, this resource can get your thinking juices flowing.

Mark this one in your Favorites, and make it a goal to try one of the tools at each level of this visual Blooms taxonomy during this school year. Take advantage of work and experience done by teaching colleagues by viewing rubrics, tool suggestions, and more on this site. Before you try a tool, you can learn more about it by reading a review on TeachersFirst. Search the tool name on our keyword search or browse through our Edge reviews for detailed suggestions about implementing the tool in your classroom safely and within school policies.

TeachersFirst Edge Entry: For the most adventurous technology users. This online tool can convert online videos such as the ones you find on YouTube into a portable format you can play at school when filtering blocks access to the regular video site. You will likely have to do the conversion on a home computer and bring the file to school on a USB storage device or CD. With the rapid growth of YouTube as a participant forum, the content is most always blocked by school filtering, yet SELECTED videos may have real usefulness in the classroom or even in professional development settings.

Skills needed: locate the online video and copy the URL. Open the Vixy site and paste the URL into the converter. Click to convert to AVI for windows or Mpeg4 for Mac, then download the file. Save the file to your local computer, then transfer to your portable device (USB or CD). The complication: Windows will require the DivX plug-in to play as an offline video file, such as in Windows Media Player. There is a link from Vixy to download it, but you may not be allowed to install it on your school machine. You could bring the install file to school on CD and ask your tech department to install it for you, if your machine does not already have it.

Why bother? YouTube and similar sites provide videos that are powerful tools in political campaigns and social commentary. Such videos may be worth the effort for your American Government or history class. YouTube also hosts artistic films and examples of literary genres applicable in the English classroom, as well. Sharing these videos, licensed under Creative Commons Share and Share Alike Licensing, is LEGAL, especially for your classroom use.

Has your favorite website gone MIA? Do you get the messages, "This site has moved" or "This website cannot be displayed?" If so, this website, Way Back Machine, will be of great assistance to you. The website pulls sites from Internet archives so you are able to look for clues how to find those websites when they "disappear."

To use this site, simply type or paste in the old URL into the Way Back Machine Search box. You will see links to find several pages that show when the site was updated. Look at the archived pages to find the author, actual page title, project name, or other clues to use in a new Google search for the “missing link.” Oftentimes you will find that it has simply moved to a new home. Try copying key or unique short passages from the archived page and putting them into Google with quotes around them. If that text appears somewhere new on the web, Google will find it!

This site is one of the TeachersFirst editorial team’s all time favorite technology tools!

Use this helpful site to find those "missing" websites that you used previously in class.

Search like a librarian using the hints on this page! This re-do of a Google search page helps searchers know exactly what they’re searching and what types of answers they can expect to receive without understanding the complexity of Boolean search terms, etc. Especially valuable are tips on how to search precisely and, at the same time, avoid certain results such as bookstores or pages with only commercial intent. Use of the wildcard search "*" is explained so that it seems easy and useful. Searching sentences, phrases, and other collocations is simple after looking at this page. There is also a link to the original Google search page. Not only ESL teachers, but also all instructors looking for specific types of info will find ways to make their searches more fruitful and economical.

Show your high school students doing research how to use these search features to save time.

Launched in Spring of 2003 by the Library of Congress, this site provides helpful resources for librarians interested in finding the best ways to utilize technology in their libraries. Committed to raising awareness of public access resources, this site has tips, tools, and practices for updating libraries in the information age. There are even online courses for those who want a full introduction to the range of possibilities the internet holds.
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Although this site sells its programs to help parents and children stay safe on the Internet, the sections for Teens and Parents contain valuable information and tools. In addition to examples of how scary and intrusive unsafe use of the Internet can be, the pages for parents and teens offer Safety Tips and a downloadable Internet Safety Plan. This site requires Real Player or QuickTime and Adobe Acrobat. Get them from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

Share the parent information on your teacher web page or in a classroom newsletter, especially if you ask students to use the Internet for homework assignments. It is easy to avoid the advertising or donation areas of the site and use the important information.

Kids can learn the basics of HTML and create their own websites with this user-friendly resource. A tutorial clearly explains things like code, graphics, and layout, and examples are provided in the "playground" and "gallery" sections. Throughout the site, links for parents and teachers offer planning tips and suggestions for using HTML as a learning tool. While the goal of this resource is to create an actual website, caution should be observed! Check your school's policy on student Internet use before beginning a website project.
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When you hit a computer technology term that even your students don't know, Webopedia comes to the rescue with explanations of computers, the web, and all the jargon that go with them. This site also provides links to other computer-education resources and information.
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Include this site on your teacher web page for students and parents to access as a reference.

Here's an extensive tutorial that explains what a webquest is, why it can be useful in the classroom, and how to create your own webquest on a topic of your choosing. There are lots of examples, and links to our ever-growing collection of sample webquests.
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Is there a "digital" or "e-divide"? How does the relative availability of computer technology affect progress across the globe? While US students may easily take their access to computers and other digital technology for granted, many others their age have little to no access. This well-designed site looks at physical, digital, human and socioeconomic barriers to digital technology. There are links to surveys and possible solutions, as well as some games, some nifty online tools, and ways for students to get involved in overcoming some of the barriers.

This is a Thinkquest contest winner. Thinkquest sites are created by students, but the winners have been judged as exemplary in a major international competition. As could be expected, the site is easy to navigate and well designed. The information might be especially useful for students taking computer or technology courses as a way of helping them recognize how difficult access to technology can be for others in less developed countries. It could also be a great discussion-starter for an economics or social studies class considering globalization issues.

This British introduction to the Web was designed for young children, and that makes it perfect for most adults’ first venture into cyberspace. The site offers a step-by-step introduction, taking very small steps indeed. Technology teachers may find this one useful, and the site would also work well for a parent-and-student introduction to the Web.
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Science teachers can take a page from this chronicle of a Vermont science class and their field work in local wetlands. Armed with their hypotheses, probes, and background information, students set out in an attempt to correlate red salamander populations with the Ph of the local water. There are lots of great teaching strategies in this one.

While not a complete lesson plan, teacher can use this lesson idea and format as a model for other inquiry-based science projects based on local circumstances and resources.

This is a TeachersFirst Edge entry: for the more adventurous technology user. This wiki is actually an online course page with explanations of how to do podcasts, how to design electronic instruction using podcasts, blogs, wikis, and more. The site apparently is part of a course in New South Wales, but the content would allow you to move step by step through building a "wiki book" of instruction and several other projects.

Skills needed: Navigating a wiki (like any other web page), independent viewing of videos and listening to podcasts, reading and following instructions. Consider using this wiki as a challenge/framework for an individualized or team professional development plan. If your team can create a wiki book, you can set one up for your students to add to and edit, as well. Suddenly the options open up. Maybe your students can create a wiki book on an explorers, planets, or causes of the civil war? Perhaps your physics class can create a wiki review book that can remain for next year's class? Remember that TeachersFirst has wiki basics and links to a FREE wiki tool in our Wiki Walk-Through.

Do you ever think you are the only veteran teacher who is tired of doing the same thing in your classroom? Do you wonder how to take on a massive change and learn new technology tools to implement the change? This article in Edutopia magazine (online and print) features Louise Maine, one of TeachersFirst's review team members, and tells the story of the changes she made to her teaching style after 20 years in the classroom. The companion article , also in this Edutopia issue, provides specific how-to-do-this advice on making a class wiki the center of your class. Louise used the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through and our Wiki Warranty template at the start of her journey, and look where the path has lead!

Take the time to read this article to build your own confidence to make a big change in your teaching -- one step at a time. Better yet, share it with your colleagues as the starting point for a teacher-conducted inservice where you work together to implement change. Not allowed to conduct your own inservice? Take the article to your principal and ask for a pilot cohort within your school to work on wikis together, starting from this article and the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through. All you need is the confidence to ask. If Louise can do it, you can, too, no matter what grade/subject you teach.

Billed as a help resource for new computer and Internet users, this site offers a collection of tips and instructions on how to accomplish simple computer tasks like cutting and pasting, creating browser bookmarks, etc. It's by no means an exhaustive resource, but could be helpful if you're a newcomer who needs help with the basics.
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No filtering will ever protect our students completely online. It is important to teach them to protect themselves, as well. Wired Safety is a compilation site about internet safety concerns and includes information for parents, teachers, librarians, and children. PDF printables for parents in Spanish and English make the information easy to share. A special Hot Topics section keeps the site up to date with subjects such as cyberbullying, MySpace, child pornography etc. A collection of lesson plans under the educator link offer resources and ideas for the classroom.

Some portions, such as the cyberbullying "quiz" are easy for students to complete on their own (on laptops or in a lab) and follow up with a discussion. Take some time to explore the various areas of this site so you'll know where to look when questions come up and can address internet safety every time you use computers at school, rather than as a separate "lesson." Share the printables with parents at open house or conferences.

Though rather thick with techno-jargon, this site provides a detailed look at privacy and access problems related to maintaining a wireless network. Wireless security is an important concern for schools, businesses, and homes operating wireless networks. This site provides helpful information on the security options available for operating these wireless networks.
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Teachers who are developing on-line materials face a new challenge in the writing style required for these project. While this British treatment is likely overkill for the casual web page developer, writers can apply the general principles to even the smallest web endeavor. Mark this one as a useful reference tool.
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Have you ever wanted to save a document as a .pdf or make changes on .pdf documents? This online tool allows you to convert files to different formats, including conversion of .pdf files to Word documents and Word to .pdfs. You can also convert music, video, and photo files to different formats of your choice. This is a VERY useful tool. Select the file to import, the change to be made, and receive a file in the new format at your email address after registration. The documents are editable after conversion. Images will not be as "editable" as text. The text comes in within a text box, but can be edited.

Be aware: there are MANY advertisements at this site, so this many not be a site that you want students to explore independently. Also, the site mentions having to register. You do not need to register to use most of the features.

Share this site with fellow teachers. Be aware that many school email systems block certain file attachments. You may want to send the converted files to a home email address and bring them to school "on a stick."

Teachers should model ethical use of electronic resources (other people's work) for students. Making a "derivative work" from someone else's pdf handout should include a printed credit within the new document, giving credit for the original source, Ex. "Adapted from a handout by xxx available at www.theoriginalhandout.pdf." Such derivative use should only be done when the original copyright permits it, such as using materials that grant permission for classroom use.