Would you like to be able to zoom in on a url to show your students?

Would you like to be able to write over top of your worksheets?  Or annotate over anything on your screen?

Then try ZoomIt!

Click here to download the zip file.  Then extract it to your desktop for ease in running the file.

The following is a nice description of the tool from its creator:

ZoomIt is a screen zoom and annotation tool for technical presentations that include application demonstrations. ZoomIt runs unobtrusively in the tray and activates with customizable hotkeys to zoom in on an area of the screen, move around while zoomed, and draw on the zoomed image. I wrote ZoomIt to fit my specific needs and use it in all my presentations.

ZoomIt works on all versions of Windows and you can use pen input for ZoomIt drawing on tablet PCs.

The first time you run ZoomIt it presents a configuration dialog that describes ZoomIt's behavior, let's you specify alternate hotkeys for zooming and for entering drawing mode without zooming, and customize the drawing pen color and size. I use the draw-without-zoom option to annotate the screen at its native resolution, for example. ZoomIt also includes a break timer feature that remains active even when you tab away from the timer window and allows you to return to the timer window by clicking on the ZoomIt tray icon.

Bibliography and Citation Tools

Listed below are some of the best tools available for bibliography and citation help for students.   Most sites cover MLA, APA, Turabian and Chicago formats.   Most are free – but some require a subscription.

Bibme

http://www.bibme.org

The fully automatic bibliography maker that auto-fills. It's the easiest way to build a works cited page. And it's free.  Search for a book, article, website, or film, or enter the information yourself. Download your bibliography in any of the following formats (MLA, APA, Chicago or Turabian). It's that easy!

Easy Bib

http://www.easybib.com/

EasyBib is an intuitive information literacy platform that provides citation, note taking, and research tools that are easy-to-use and educational. EasyBib is not only accurate, fast, and comprehensive, but helps educators teach and students learn how to become effective and organized researchers.   This is a pay site.  However there is a free 3 day trial if interested.

Citation Creation

http://www.citationcreation.com/

Citation Creation is a free to use online citation tool to create and format MLA, APA and Chicago styles easily, with helpful examples.

Oregon Public Education Citation Maker for MLA

http://www.openc.k12.or.us/citeintro/citeintro.php?Grd=Sec

This is a fantastic tool for students. It gives them the freedom to cite different kinds of sources including anthologies, story collection, and web pages.

Son of Citation Machine

http://citationmachine.net/index2.php

Citation machine helps students and professional researchers to properly credit the information that they use.  Its primary goal is to make it so easy for student researchers to cite their information sources.

… and one really great subscription site…

NoodleTools

http://noodletools.com/index.php

The Web's most comprehensive platform for the academic research process.  It has integrated tools for note-taking, outlining, citation, document archiving/annotation, and collaborative research and writing.   Differentiated, intelligent software and expert personal support for upper-elementary through university students.

In less than two weeks, we will once again be given the opportunity to vote for our next President.

Do you think your students are as well informed as they could be about the process?   Here are some resources for every grade level.

• An excellent video explaining the Electoral College from Khan
• From Project Vote Smart, try VoteEasy to see which candidates align to your beliefs
• Learn about every political leader on every issue, and even watch the debates at OnTheIssues
• Find thirteen great links for the elementary grades at the University of Missouri's eThemes!
  • If you delve into these sites, you can find even more!!!   One that I found while clicking through links was this interactive game called If You Were President.  It's AWSOME!    It even gave me this "newspaper article" when I was done with my choices:   

http://www.problem-attic.com

Problem-Attic gives you instant access to 30 years’ of Regents Exams for Math, Science, Social Studies, and English.  Problem-Attic lets you create beautiful teaching materials in 4 easy steps.  Problem-Attic organizes its questions in two ways: by topic and by released exams. Once you’ve decided what kind of questions you want simply add them. When finished you can drag and drop your questions where you want them.  Add and remove questions with ease.  

Problem-Attic lets you change your document's Template (the overall layout of your document), Headers, Font, and the way Multiple Choice options look. Customize your document by choosing the options you want, then see what your document looks like by clicking the Preview button.

Once you're satisfied with the questions in your document and how they look, print it out and give it to your students! Click the Preview button to bring up a PDF of your document, then use your PDF viewer to print.

The site uses New York Regent Exams as a database for their questions – however – the content appears to be aligned to the Common Core Standards.   This sight would be appropriate for grades 7-12.

Thanks to Paul Hladio and Michelle Hapich for this excellent resource!

With senior projects approaching, I thought a list of student presentation tools might be helpful.   This list has resources for student that can be used from grades K-12.  All of these tools are web-based available online and most importantly… free!   This list of tools was adapted from the original list on SimpleK12.com.  Please share this list with your students and watch their presentations go from boring to WOW!

Tell a Story

http://www.zooburst.com/

ZooBurst is a digital storytelling tool that lets anyone easily create his or her own 3D pop-up books.

http://www.littlebirdtales.com

Little Bird Tales allows you to create a digital book.

http://www.storybird.com

Storybirds are short, art-inspired stories that are curiously fun to make, share, and read. Choose from hundreds of fabulous drawings and images and then write a story to go with them. Free to sign up and class accounts possible. Finished story books can be embedded into blogs/VLE or read via the website – a great way to share with parents.

http://www.capzles.com/

Capzles allows you to create a digital timeline or story using multiple media types.

http://www.goanimate4schools.com

GoAnimate, is a free tool to let students make their own animations. They can make their own animated characters, direct their own cartoons, and watch others’ creations. They can customize their animations with a large number of tools and features.

http://www.mixbook.com/edu

Mixbook was originally created for users to create digital scrapbooks using personal photos from weddings, vacations, parties, etc. While it is great for all of those purposes, Mixbook also has some great applications for education. If you're looking for a way for all of your students to demonstrate what they've learned, Mixbook is the perfect tool for you!

Ideas Through Music and Speech

http://www.ujam.com/

 UJAM is a music creation tool. And it’s actually a pretty good one. After starting an account, a user can record themselves singing or playing an instrument. Then, with the click of a button, the website creates a full soundtrack to accompany what the user recorded. The user can choose a music “style” (i.e., 80s rock, reggae, game music) to specify what type of soundtrack will accompany their recording.

http://www.voki.com/

Create an avatar and bring it to life.  You can go back and edit the message as often as needed. You can also embed Vokis in webpages, wikis, blogs, etc.

http://blabberize.com/

Turn a still picture into a "talking" character.  Audio Editing Tools work well for radio shows and commercials.

Collaborations

http://www.wikispaces.com/

There are a number of ways you can use a wiki. One is to create a class wiki and have students upload their final presentations to a page or pages that you have structured. This involves the teacher establishing a wikispace and inviting students to join the wiki, which can be left private.  Another possibility is students can create their own group wiki. They could add pages to pool resources, brainstorm ideas in their groups, and present their findings.

http://www.sliderocket.com

With a full set of professional design tools SlideRocket helps you create breathtaking presentations that will wow your audience. Combine themes and layouts, shapes, charts, tables, pictures, audio, HD video, and Flash to tell your story without compromise.  SlideRocket goes way beyond its desktop counterparts and offers you the power of the Internet. Easily integrate content from free public web resources like Flickr or YouTube and utilize plug-ins from Yahoo! and Twitter to extend functionality and quickly add pre-formatted content to your slides.

http://www.prezi.com

Prezi is a cloud-based presentation software that opens up a new world between whiteboards and slides. The zoomable canvas makes it fun to explore ideas and the connections between them. The result: visually captivating presentations that lead your audience down a path of discovery.

Create Posters and Visuals

http://en.linoit.com/

Easy to post, see, and peel off stickies!  You can arrange your pictures and notes as you like on your canvas and share them with your friends!  By creating a group, lino becomes an ideal tool to share your ideas with your friends and collegues.

http://notaland.com/

Let's you create a digital poster.  You can add text, video, audio, images and, of course, web links to design a canvas that communicates your ideas. It also allows a high degree of collaboration. You can set who can be an editor and whether to allow comments.

http://popplet.com/

You can use Popplet from concept-mapping to presentation (and students can work collaboratively).  You start with a blank “wall” and to this wall you add “popplets,” little bubbles that can contain text, images, video, or drawings.  Users must create an account using an email address, share options include by url/embed export as PDF or jpeg

http://www.sumopaint.com/

 Sumo Paint is an online photo editing and painting application that can be used online on any computer that has Flash Player installed.  It has tons of features for creating your own painting: pencils, pens, brushes, shapes, lines, curves, text and more. And all have multiple options: thickness, style, etc. It has some pretty advanced photo editing features too.   Does not require an account, you can save your work straight to your computer. Or, if you do choose to create a Sumo Paint account, you can store your work there.

http://www.photovisi.com/

Photovisi is a free and easy to use online photo collage maker. Select one of the many designs, add your photos and then customize by dragging items around. After the collage is finished, it's available for download.