Ellen's Corner for Teachers

I Want This Web Page to Run in the Background

Written by Ellen Zimmerman

Fluid is a Mac app that lets a Website act like an application. In other words if I want my attendance and grading software to stay open and not get closed with my browser, accidentally of course, I use Fluid to "create" an app for it. It's useful for any Website that you run frequently in the background.

http://fluidapp.com/

New Open Icons Library from Sourceforge

Written by Ellen Zimmerman

Sourceforge is looking for help with a new site for free icons to use. Check out http://openiconlibrary.sourceforge.net/

Great Online Presentation Creation Site

Written by Ellen Zimmerman

I know everyone is starting to create lesson plans again, right? Great new site (Maybe old. I just found out about it!) for online presentation creation. It's called Prezi. Simple and free. My favorite descriptors!

Students can access from anywhere with Internet and can work in small groups to create a project that can be shared online or downloaded. Here's a link to a really nice one that a teacher created for math.

http://prezi.com/aww2hjfyil0u/math-is-not-linear/

The sign up site is at: http://prezi.com/

iCal Sharing

Written by Ellen Zimmerman

I was setting up the school calendar for next year and, since I really don't like duplication of effort, I wanted to make it so I could share it with others in my district. Long story, short.... I found instructions and a Website to post the calendar so that it can easily be published from iCal by one person and subscribed to by others. See this link to simple instructions.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060614115754569

You should set up the Box.net account with an email address and password that you can give to others that are subscribing to the calendar. So far I haven't been able to share the calendar without the receiver having the login information.

Another Online Chat Service

Written by Ellen Zimmerman

Here's another online chatting service option. This one allows for mobile access also. Chatzy is very simple and allows you to send invitations using email addresses.

I've used one where you create your own URL for your room but I have a warning for you. Be sure you pick an unusual address for your URL if you use one of those! Let's just say if you use a URL with a persons name or something easy and somewhere in the world someone else tells their friends to meet at the same address, you may see more that you bargained for!

So, back to Chatzy! If your school allows students to have email addresses that they can access, you can have a discussion with your students or another classroom, professional, etc. for free.

http://www.chatzy.com/

iTunes University and K-12

Written by Ellen Zimmerman

iTunes has free resources under the category iTunes University. You do have to sign up and enter a charge number or you can get iTunes gift cards and add it for credit. This video shows you how to get there once you open iTunes.

iTunes University

College App

Written by Ellen Zimmerman

It's that time of year again when students are picking out colleges. There's an app for that! (I love that saying!) Check out the "College" app for iTouch. It lets you locate colleges by state, program, cost, and provides links for scholarship funds. Look for this app icon. Search for "Petersons College".

Thought Mapping, Made Even Easier

Written by Ellen Zimmerman

I'm in a workshop today and I have been intoduced to Bubbl.us. Really nice thought mapping site that you don't have to download anything for. Give it a try!

CMap Tools is also a very nice free option if you don't mind downloading the software.

Easy as Pie, Flixtime!

Written by Ellen Zimmerman

I saw the "runner" describing this on the TCEA site and thought I would create a short tutorial! It's very user friendly. Thanks for sharing the information!

Flixtime Tutorial

Lesson Plan Ideas

• science project photos
• study "cards" for any subject
• English book themes
• create introduction video for students (have them hold their name on paper)
• math problem samples
• create clips from a play
• post artwork

Don't forget about using those cell phones to take pics and vids. Most of them have really good images if you check the settings first.

Open Source, Not Closed Mind

Written by Ellen Zimmerman

It's Spring break and what am I doing? On my computer, of course! Here's a good site with discussion about open source use in education. It includes survey results regarding what schools are using.

http://www.netc.org/openoptions/