Instructify

BY JASON DON FORSYTHE

I’ve been a big Edgar Allan Poe fan ever since he was an option for bedtime stories (before that it was Yeats or Lawrence, both highly effective at inducing sleep). Besides the well-known pieces Poe wrote, there are many works that are lesser-known but just as enjoyable. You can find an excellent online repository of his work at Poestories.com, which hosts many of his complete stories, poetry, and a link network to locate works not hosted.

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BY LESLEY RICHARDSON

The McCormick Freedom Project is committed to helping American citizens understand their First Amendment rights. The Libraries and the First Amendment exhibit has been created to make us think critically about our freedom of speech and it shows how the library is one of the first lines of defense in making sure that materials, however controversial, should be available to the American public. (more…)

BY JASON DON FORSYTHE

In light of the recent earthquake in Haiti, it seems appropriate to offer up tools for teaching about the possibilities of natural disasters and preparations that can be done locally in our schools which may better prepare students for coping with the situation should it occur. To that end, the Red Cross has assembled their Masters of Disaster curriculum focused for students K-8.

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BY BILL FERRIS

Last year we reviewed Xtranormal Text-to-Movie, a free computer animation app that lets you create your own cartoons. The folks at Xtranormal have made an even more impressive program called State, which adds characters who can walk around, advanced camera movement, movies with multiple scenes, and the ability to record your own voiceovers to your movies for free.

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BY BILL FERRIS

You can easily find an online dictionary or thesaurus. Lexipedia, however, presents an interesting combination of the two. Type in a word, and you’ll get visual array of related words, each with a listing of its definition and usage, and an audio file of the word’s pronunciation.

If you’re looking for a fancier way to say…well, “fancy,” for instance, then Lexipedia will break down the possible contenders by nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, as well as find related words. (more…)

BY BILL FERRIS

As you know, November was National Novel Writing Month. I decided to participate this year, and while I didn’t reach 50,000 words in 30 days (I made it to 35,000), I still plan on finishing the book in the next week or two.

To write this 1.5-month masterpiece, I used yWriter, a free piece of software developed by author and programmer Simon Haynes, who wanted a program that facilitated writing long pieces of fiction. While yWriter is geared toward novelists, it’s applicable to any long-form writing project.

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BY BILL FERRIS

A lot of schools and families shell out big money to Microsoft every year for MS Word. It’s my word processor of choice, but I’ve been lucky in that it came pre-installed on my computer. If I had to actually find a word processor on my own, I’d face a real dilemma: on one hand, I’ve gotten really used to Word’s format, as well as the level of formatting I can do on documents. On the other hand, I’m a cheapskate.

Longtime Instructify readers know there are a bevy of free and web-based word processors out there. Only a few of them, however, are powerful enough that I wouldn’t miss Word. I dare say that Zoho Writer is one of those few.

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BY BILL FERRIS

Do your students struggle with apostrophes? Or is that apostrophe’s? Aaugh! Lucky for them, there’s a handy chart available on the web that shows how those flying commas work. Go to apostrophe.me and check out “How To Use An Apostrophe,” which is exactly what it sounds like.

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BY BILL FERRIS

Everyone needs help wrapping their heads around a book from time to time. If you teach literature, that time occurs every day. You can outsource some of the necessary explanation by sending your students to 60 Second Recap, a site that summarizes the plot, characters, and themes of a book in 60-second episodes for each.

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BY BILL FERRIS

All writers need editors. Lots of writers have their own editors inside their heads. Some of these editors enjoy telling writers they’re no good, and that they’re wasting their time. The National Novel Writing Month Young Writers Program lets kids tell that internal editor to shut up so they can get some work done.

First, a little background: National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) occurs every November, challenging authors of all skill levels to pen a novel of 50,000 words in only 30 days. The exercise is designed to get people to start creating for the fun of it without the pressure of trying to craft the next great literary classic. Last year 119,000 writers took the challenge. I did this myself in 2002 and found it to be a fun (and exhausting) exercise.

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BY BILL FERRIS

As schools move away from rote memorization of facts, what happens to those kids who like to rattle off the state capitals or list all the presidents? They can put their knowledge of educational trivia to good use at Sporcle, a site filled with countless list-style quizzes that will exercise kids’ knowledge of…well, just about everything.

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BY BILL FERRIS

Create time lines easily with xtimeline, a handy web tool that creates time lines. Easily. Time lines. Hence the name “xtimeline.”

To start putting a time line together, you just enter an event, the date it occurred, plus a description and images. There’s really not much to it, folks. xtimline puts it all together in a logical, easy-to-read order.

A history class is the most obvious application for xtimeline, but you could use it for a variety of subjects. It’s an ideal companion for research papers, or reports on anything from the life of Mark Twain to the history of the computer.

xtimeline doesn’t look as slick as Mnemograph (now called TimeGlider), but its usability makes it a great choice unless you need a really fancy-schmancy printable time line for some reason. Hey, I’ve cobbled time lines together in Word and Excel, and I assure you that if you just need a quick time line that looks presentable, xtimeline is a much better way to go.

xtimeline

Related stuff:

Time Lines are on your Side with Mnemograph

BY BILL FERRIS

Do something subversive this week — read a book.

It’s time once again for the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week (September 26 through October 3). Every year, hundreds of books are banned or challenged by people or groups who try to restrict others’ access to certain books.

You can help raise awareness of these censorship attempts by celebrating BBW. The ALA has lots of ideas, including some creative display ideas, sending a letter to the editor, and spreading public service announcements.

Of course, it’s also a good occasion to pick up one of these oft-challenged books to see what all the fuss is about. It may provide good discussion fodder for your class, as well as prompt a debate about who should decide what books are available to whom.

Banned Books Week

BY BILL FERRIS

I love pithy advice. I also love good writing. Twitter user ThatWhichMatter encapsulates both. Named after the distinction between using “that” and “which” in a sentence, ThatWhichMatter dispenses tiny tips that will help drive home those grammar lessons you’ve been trying to impart to your students. Find out how to use hyphens, when to use “either” or “neither,” even lessons in netiquette regarding how not to sign an email.

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BY BILL FERRIS

This week’s MBTN features an express flight to Mars, Web 2.0 project ideas, alternatives to book reports, and online sites where you can learn a new language. Read about all of it after the jump.

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