|
||||||
TAMS: Recommended Web and Print Resources
New - Resources recommended by a Knox County Librarian
Some of you may already know of and be using this site, but some of our
students (they are so cool) have been using Picnik to create awesome
presentation slides. It is super-easy photo editing software with fun fonts
and other bells and whistles, and it is free to download. Picnik's privacy
statement claims it will never sell your email address, ever. Oh, and
web-based--nothing to download.
The links below are perfect for your visual learners.
http://www.mindmeister.com/
I encourage you to take a look at Google Books' collection of LIFE
magazine...from the home page ( http://books.google.com ) you'll see this
collection right at the top.
Click on any issue pictured, and from the resulting page, click "overview"
on the upper left side. This will give you access to all issues on a
scrolling menu from 1936 to 1972. Of course, because this is Google, all
issues are searchable.
You'll be able to view these issues just as they appeared originally,
advertisements and all!
Below is a link to a PERFECT illustration, from School Library Journal, of
why and how to use Twitter in the classroom. The "how to" includes how to
get it unblocked, so don't dismiss this article as another one of those
"great for somebody else" unattainable dreams.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6708199.html?q=twitter+classroom
And once you read the article from the link above, you'll want to explore
PLNs, or Personal Learning Networks (I mean, we all do this every day--here
we are networking through the listserv! but it's nice to see a good
discussion of what is available and how others are exploiting these
resources successfully):
http://onceateacher.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/pln-your-personal-learning-network-made-easy/
Hope these prove useful
...on the web:
National Middle School Association
"...devoted to
improving the educational experiences of young adolescents"
NMSA School Improvement
Resources (.pdf)
MiddleSchoolHub - "a free online interactive learning center for students in grades 5-8"
internet4classrooms: "helping
teachers use the Internet effectively"
TCAP
Assessment - Practice Resource
...and also check out
their Grade Level
Skills page
Tennessee History for Kids is an excellent site created by a coalition of educators. It includes a wealth of information, including a number of virtual tours of historical sites in our state.
Many schools have expressed an interest in the Effective Teaching Strategies writings of Harry and Rosemary Wong. Information may be found at the teachers.net site, and links to columns by the Wongs online are here.
Recommended in the TAMS Tidbits:
Books:
Wish You Well, David Baldacci
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Stephen King
Rocket Boys, Homer H. Hickam, Jr. (you all DID know that portions of October
Sky, the movie based on this book, were filmed at Gresham Middle
School
in
Knoxville,
right??)
Resiliency in Schools, Nan Henderson and Mike M. Milstein (ISBN 0-8039-6352-1)
Star Teachers of Children in Poverty, Haberman and Draper (ISBN 0912099089)
The Passionate Teacher: A Practical Guide, Robert L. Fried (ISBN 0807031437)
Sites:
www.Teachernet.com - extensive resources for teachers
school.discovery.com - clipart, daily brain puzzlers, crossword and wordsearch
creators
www.bartelby.com - daily biography, definition, quotation, and poems
www.poets.org or www.onlinepoetryclassroom.org - poetry resources online