Write to me at ehansonsmi@yahoo.com (copy and paste--this address is unclickable to cut down on spam).

Also check on my Communities of Practice page, which contain hundreds of resource files and links.

TIPS - on tools & using tech tools

GOOD BLOGS

Virtual=Real - My educational technology blog focuses on new tools and media and ideas for teaching with them - continuously updated links in Diigo are reported in the sidebar

Nik Peachey's blog - Explores new tools and offers many tips for using them with EFL/ESL classes


VIDEO

EVO Video Archives - Tools, teaching tips, and other resources for using video, slideshows, digital storytelling, etc.

Screen Toaster - How to make movies of your monitor and mouse action with a free online screen recorder

Video Online, by E. Hanson-Smith and M. Marzio, suggestes good Websites using video for language practice and content- and project-based activities. A recording is found at Learning Times (use the large green button to enter and wait for the presentation to load).


PROJECT-BASED LEARNING & WEBQUESTS

Project-Based Learning and WebQuests: Using Authentic Content with ESOL Support - My page with tools and resources to help students with authentic content Web sites

WebQuests for Academic Writing  - Lists of good WebQuests, links to the WebQuest homepage, and queries and replies from Webheads about resources available


ACADEMIC WRITING

Constructing the Paragraph - Tutorials and Self-Tests

Quicksteps to a Short Essay: Descriptive Writing - uses two short videos of "perfect" houses as a prompt for descriptive writing

Building the Essay - use iTunes U to connect to the Broome Community College Writing Center for advice on essay writing

From Character Blogs to VoiceThreads: Exploring Points of View - article by Jane Petring discussing how to use blogs and digital media to teach literature and writing

Tools and Techniques for Teaching Writing Online: Web-Blogs!!! Easy to Create and Publish - presentation by Buthaina Al Othman:  what's a blog and how to use one for teaching writing

WebQuests for Academic Writing  - Lists of good WebQuests, links to the WebQuest homepage, and queries and replies from Webheads about resources available


CREATIVE WRITING

Teaching Poetry Writing

Teaching Short Story Writing


COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

Overcoming Problems in Creating Online Communities

Communities of Practice References - detailed diagrams of CoP structures, "false" definitions of CoPs, places to join a CoP, etc.


OTHER

NEW! - The CALL IS Virtual Software List - social bookmarking on Diigo; you are welcome to join and contribute.

• The Electronic Village Online (2012--CfP for 2012 sessions will appear in August 2011) - offers 5-week online sessions annually in January-February for teachers all over the world.  Free and all-volunteer.

• TeacherTube - like YouTube, but specifically for educators. May be hard to find exactly what you are looking for, however.

• Teacher Training Videos - Russel Stannard's award-winning sites makes good use of screencasting to demonstrate how to do stuff with computers, but he also includes a large number of teacher education videos.

• Shaping the Way We Teach English, produced by the University Oregon for the Department of State in the USA (2009); of very high production quality and demonstrates such approaches as Pair and Group Work and Alternative Assessment using a wide variety of student levels and ages.

• EFL Classroom 2.0 - Despite the name, this site is for teachers, who can watch videos of practical, hands-on techniques in the classroom and discuss them with each other.

• MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching) is a long-standing online community of teachers from a variety of disciplines who share peer-reviewed resources and advice about education across the entire spectrum of curricula; they have recently opend a YouTube channel and a Second Life campus, Clive Island.

• Teachers.tv - a British-based community online has a few videos directed toward instructors of EFL/ESL, but a very wide variety of others on such topics as teaching poetry and Shakespeare, maths and science, primary literacy, managing disruptive behavior, and working with disabled children; generally applicable to all classrooms, especially their series, From Good to Outstanding, which will make you a better teacher of any subject!