Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Poster My Wall is a simple online tool to create posters and videos. Make and download simple posters for free and without registration. Note that free downloads are not high-quality print resolution, so they may appear "fuzzy" if printed in large formats. The simple tools look and feel like a computer program. Choose or upload photos, backgrounds, Flickr photos, and clip-art. You can move and re-size using the floating symbols and add multimedia. Register to be able to email products to friends. (Registration requires email, but there is no waiting for a confirmation.) Obtain the poster or video URL by emailing to yourself. (In the email, click "view larger" to get the link). Check out the reviewer sample here . Enjoy the free teacher accounts where students don't need to register.

tag(s): collages (22), posters (43), video (249)

Kaseta allows you to create editable sequences of video and sound from different online sources, including YouTube. You can create up to a three hour long playlist of videos and music, and share them through both URL and embed codes. Embed multiple videos in ONE box or page. You can add new clips during the playback. If you have a Twitter account, you can gather clips from feeds of those you follow and enjoy. You can trim and use the fade feature on video clips for more seamless viewing. Basically, you can create your own online "bookcase" for web based videos. This is a great collaborative tool for merging videos, and it is so easy to use that the creators have what they call "couch editor mode." This means you do not have to do anything but DRAG ON to tape, a great online equivalent to the tape recorders of the past.

tag(s): sounds (58), video (249)

Create a podcast using audio and videos clips featuring NASA scientists! Follow the steps to create the podcast, including writing a production script, downloading clips, recording your narrations, and editing. Use a digital recorder, camcorder, or your computer to record the audio. Download a brochure or bookmark to remember the links for creating the DIY Podcast. Click on the links along the right side of the page for great resources such as the DIY Podcast Blog for some great ideas. Several examples along the side include creating a fitness podcast, lab safety, Newton's Laws, Rocket Science, and Solar Arrays.

tag(s): podcasts (61), scientists (66), space (221)

Use Vodburner to record Skype calls for later viewing and use. Save your high quality video and audio Skype calls easily. Download the Vodburner software (an email must be entered to begin the download) and install the plugin on Windows machines only. Whenever you make a Skype call, Vodburner automatically records both sides of the conversation (both users must have Vodburner installed.) Choose recording of either side or both sides of the conversation. Note: It is recommended that you inform the other party that recording will be taking place as notification is not given through Skype. Use this service for free for 30 days. After 30 days it is still free, but a watermark with the Vodburner logo will appear in all recordings. Purchase the paid version to avoid the watermark. Use the built-in editor to edit recorded videos before finalizing. Find a FAQ section as well as great information for "Getting Started." Having troubles with the program? Be sure to check out the "Troubleshooting" section.

tag(s): chat (40), skype (6), video (249)

Create interactive videos from existing You Tube videos. The creations can be used on your site as well as other sites (driving traffic back to your site). Create a free account and then create a new interactive video. Watch the video demo for an example. Link the button on the tool to a page on your site. Add photos, pricing (just an option,) and/or descriptions. Note that this tool will not work if YouTube is blocked in your school.

tag(s): movies (56), video (249)

Create animated slide shows, videos, collages and more from uploaded pictures or those on Facebook. Use this free online image suite to store and organize photos. Edit photos using a variety of effects. With this easy to use uploader, store photos in your own online library. An excellent idea for backup of photos or to share photos with friends by sharing a link. Create slideshows, collages and movies from your library of photos. Add effects and pieces of music to enhance your photo slideshow. Use the online software to send links to friends. Use the embed code to add to blogs, wikis, or sites in order to share the content. With the paid premium version, burn your slideshows to DVD.

tag(s): images (265), photography (140), slides (52), video (249)

Use Skype as a great tool to connect to others around the nation or the world. Solve the problem of finding classrooms and various projects with this great site. Use this free site to look through projects, tips from other teachers, and find other teachers to collaborate and connect with your students. Create a profile including your interests and the age, subject, languages, and more information about students. Scroll down the page to see the collaborative project link and find projects, classes, teachers, or speakers. Search the project link by authors, age range of students, language, subject, and more.

tag(s): colonial america (102), constitution (90), Microsoft (57), philadelphia (11), skype (6)

Want to enhance the viewer experiences and discussions around the YouTube videos you embed? Enter the URL of your You Tube video to add DVD-like controls without altering the original content. Use EmbedPlus to add features such as scene skipping, movable zoom, third party annotations, slow motion on-demand, and instant replay. Set start time and scene markers if desired. Add your annotations during this set up process. When done, click get Code to either copy a new URL for your video or obtain an embed code to place in a blog, wiki, or site to share with others.

tag(s): movies (56), video (249)

This animation tool will help create a slide show with pizzazz. Add personal sounds, videos, and other media to create the next level of slide show for your classes. This tool is great for schools without access to other free video or multimedia creation software. Create 30 second videos including music choices from over 300 soundtracks. A typical thirty second video requires twelve images making this a reasonable choice for projects with middle and high school level students. However, if you click "Education" when you sign up, you will see that teachers can apply for the full Animoto for free for use in their classroom. You will need a school email address to qualify for this. Animoto is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): animation (63), DAT device agnostic tool (167), images (265), movies (56), photography (140), slides (52), video (249)

Every teen and college student knows Skype, the free tool for making calls from computer to computer anywhere in the world. 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. 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.

tag(s): virtual field trips (69), webcams (8)

This creative site offers "how to" videos on a WIDE variety of topics. Anyone is able to view the videos, but you must be a member (which is free) to comment on the videos, grade the videos, or submit your own "how to" video. Topics vary; some are appropriate for the classroom - others are definitely NOT appropriate. Some of the general topics that may be useful in the middle school or high school classroom include: alcohol, autos, motorcycles, and planes, business and money, computers and programming, diet and health, education (which features a variety of science experiments and more), film and theater, language (English, Chinese, Hungarian, Russian, Finnish, sign language, Polish, and countless others), music and instruments, travel, and several other topics. Within each of these general topics, there are thousands of specific "how to" videos.

Membership is free and has many perks. You are able to comment and/or grade the video clips or even submit your own video. Registration does require some personal information: a username, password, email address, and date of birth. ALL USERS MUST BE OVER 13-years of age! Check with your administrator about allowing the students to register for this site using fictitious names. You may wish to set up a class registration instead of entering true data into the registration site. Another option is to 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.

Warning: not all videos are suitable for the classroom. Be sure to preview what you wish to share. If you choose to allow your older students to navigate this site on their own (for research or a class project), be sure to set boundaries on which videos to watch, consequences for going elsewhere, and WATCH CAREFULLY! Some videos explain "how to" do things that are unsafe or inappropriate for school-ages audiences. Wonder How To does include unobtrusive advertisements. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

tag(s): aircraft (18), business (50), money (158), russian (23), sign language (8)

Use this simple and free tool to create a video recording of your screen to upload and share on a teacher web page, wiki. blog, etc. This is an easy way to create a tutorial from your own computer screen. When you visit sites that have tutorials on how to use their software, you are looking at a screencast. Use this site to give specific directions on how to use different applications in and out of the classroom. Audio is not necessary for the screencasts but may be beneficial, depending upon the tutorial.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): tutorials (44), video (249)

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. 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.

tag(s): video (249)

Move over YouTube! Teachers now have their own place to learn and to teach: TeacherTube.com. Since this site is designed specifically for education, there is not as much concern about "public" contributions and appropriateness for school! Teachers will find videos suitable for classroom instruction, such as Ben Franklin chatting with a group of students, or there are also professional videos ideal for staff training (such as Classroom Strategies for Differentiated Instruction). Search and view videos or click on the subject area that interests you, and then click on a video to view. To leave comments, save your favorites, or upload your own video, you will need to register. It's all free. Obviously, this isn't a site for students; however, there are many educational videos suitable for all subject areas that you could share with your students. If your school blocks streaming video sites, consider accessing this site and choosing videos at home, or they may not be viewable.

tag(s): video (249)

YiNote is a Chrome browser extension allowing users to take notes while watching online videos. After installing the extension, click the icon in your browser bar while viewing any video to bring up a box for adding notes. YiNote adds a time stamp to match the place in the video of saved notes. Return at anytime and click on your notes to go directly to that point in the video. One-click sharing allows the option to share notes via a direct URL or through links to social networking sites.

tag(s): bookmarks (54), citations (33), flips (8), note taking (36), video (249)