|
Tech4Learning
This is my 6th year writing "tuesdays" and I have no idea how I ever overlooked this incredible company. In fact, I use bits and pieces of their vast resources over and over again and have never given them the credit they really deserve. In fact, in my last teaching position I had Joseph who was a non-reader and a non-writer, but one of the most talented artists my husband and I ever met. Joseph brought in detailed storyboards he was using for clay animation movies he was making. My husband, his art teacher, asked him to bring in a sample. When he came in with a VHS tape (and we had no player on campus) he asked me to help him on the computer. I was not sure at all how to go about that, however, after introducing Joseph to a digital camera, he immediately understood the value of taking hundreds of still images of his clay characters. I really didn't know how to go to the next step of animating until Tech4Learning came to the rescue with FRAMES. Joseph created FRED, the movie. This "tuesdays" is dedicated to the most creative technology company I know - Tech4Learning.
|
|
Tech4Learning is the one-stop-shopping for all your creative technology needs. This incredible website offers paid and FREE services. I have been a fan for almost 10 years now when I was first introduced to their copyright free images in Pics4Learning. Students and teachers are always looking for safe and legal images from the web and Pics4Learning was created as a joint effort between the Orange County, FL teachers and Tech4Learning to fill the void. Next, I learned about them when I was an instructional technology specialist for our district and we had Recipes4Success to help us get a grip on the vast amount of information and technologies to learn. The beauty of Tech4Learning is that they have always had an integration focus to all their tutorials and materials. My favorite part of Recipes4Success is the Snacks they offered in bite-sized pieces if you didn't have a lot of time. They also publish a beautifully written and idea-generating magazine called the Creative Educator in print and digital version. And as if that were not enough the have a teacher network called Connect and Common Core activity guidelines FREE for the asking. Did you notice that I didn't even get to all their fine products? Check out 30-day free trials of Frames, ImageBlender, Pixie, Share and Wixie.
|
|
Since the Tech4Learning website is so robust, I would encourage you to hone in one or two things. First check out Pics4Learning for some great images for your students and help them to understand the importance of giving credit where credit is due with the provided citations. Second, dig around in their Professional Development section, particularly the custom webinars area to get some amazing ideas for developing a project-based focus for learning tied to the Common Core Standards. So often, we are so test conscious that we forget how important the creative side of learning is. I believe that we need to be more creative to truly give students the opportunity to express themselves and really remember what they've learned. Tech4Learning is certainly a company that understands the value of creativity in the learning process.
|
|
How can you wrap your head around all the FREE services from Tech4Learning? Visit the Resource page. Are you looking for ideas to move your classroom to a more student-centered learning environment? Tech4Learning has been the cheerleader for creativity in the classroom for 10 years. Check out some of the FREE guides that you can either download or request a copy - Pixie Common Core Guides, Resources Kits for Building Literacy, Elementary Science, Secondary Science, Digital Storytelling and English Language Acquisition. They even offer a free e-book for making Claymation in the classroom. I'm sure I have even begun to scratch the surface of the many resources and creative ways Tech4Learning has pioneered, but we are all sure glad they a relentless in their passion to help students be the creative learners that they are. Thanks, Melinda for all your hard work and now you have Danielle as the main cheerleader. Yeah!
|
| What is "tuesdays with Karen"?
|
"tuesdays with Karen" is a weekly newsletter/blog designed to encourage, equip and empower teachers to be creative with educational technology. Please add your technology comments to my "tuesdays with Karen" blog. |
