Tool #3

YouTube and Teacher Tube are my go-to websites for finding videos to use in class. I like posting book trailers to get my kids hooked into a book. You Tube tends to offer more videos. I didn't like the commercials on Teacher Tube--which are new. I posted 2 examples of book trailers my students made. They worked with a partner...working in groups larger than 3 doesn't work too well.

I also posted a video of Grandma Moses that we watched in class after reading a TAKS passage about her my students had a lot of great questions, so I went straight to You Tube to find some information. It's awesome to have so much information so readily available.Who knew test prep could create such great curiosity.

I learned that as long as students are publishing in Google Apps at school for school related work almost everything is covered under copyright laws. I think giving credit for where images are from is something that I plan on working on next year. When searching for Images in Google I tell my students to click on "Advanced search," go to "Usage Rights," and click on labeled for reuse" I will also add freefoto to my list of image searches.

Finding Picasa's "remix allowed" was a little tricky at first, but after some navigation and exploration I figured it out. Basically the remix allowed allows users to manipulate and use the images without any copyright issues. I do like the share feature which would be helpful if you need images for an assignment and you don't want your students to just go out to Google Images or free foto. This allows you to preselect a selection of approved images.