I go to a lot of conferences, and one of the things I always look for are free things that I can use in the course of teaching. But this is not an entry about teaching. It's an entry about how teachers sometimes find very fun things to play with and though we may call them tools – they are a lot of fun as just plain toys. So, here's some toys I like to play with online…
Subtitled "From Here to Then," SepiaTown is working to map the world with historical photos. You can browse and explore the world through old pictures and even upload your own. Being that I grew up as the daughter of antiquing parents, I can't help but be fascinated by this concept. More people need to be aware of this and participate so we really can explore the world as it once was and how the once upon a time has led us to the here and now.
For those who want to create their own pictures, you can go have a little fun on draw.to – play around with a little whiteboard and then share it with a URL or through popular social media sites. It's also fun to peruse the galleries – people have done some fascinating things with the relatively simple tool.
For those how like to play around with their narrative imaginations but need a little inspiration to do so, Five Card Stories is very cool. This is how it works: "[y]ou are dealt five random photos for each draw, and your task is to select one each time to add to a selection of images, that taken together as a final set of 5 images- tell a story in pictures." This is fun to do on your own and it is also interesting to see what other people have done.
I can't talk about Web 2.0 tools and toys without mentioning Wordle. Word clouds may be all the rage these days, but they really are fun. I love to put my blogs in them and see how they turn out – and you can have fun with literature and all sorts of things in there. Talk about a strange way to see how the news is trending!
This is really dorky and it appeals to the geek in me. I mean, who doesn't want to turn their PDF files into flippable books? You can make your own circulars! Go ahead and try it at Youblisher. You can also see examples so if you have no idea what I mean, you can go see.
Shelfari is really for book lovers – not just educators, but anyone who loves and values books and all the power that they can have, no matter what they are. Books create and build communities and celebrate the joy of language and good stories. This website is a blog of sorts, a "gathering place for authors, aspiring authors, publishers, and readers, and has many tools and features to help these groups connect with each other in a fun and engaging way." It's actually run by Amazon, but is completely free to use. Basically, you use it to create a virtual bookshelf, discover new books, connect with friends and learn more about your favorite books.
The AT&T Text to Speech Demo is just fun to play with. You type in the text, choose the voice you like, then press 'Speak' and VOILA! An audio rendition of the text you put in.
This Drum Kit is just silly and I'm not going to talk about it. But it's fun.
And to end on a note that is fitting in terms of this being the blog of an English professor, I give you oneword. Its instructions should more than explain why it is a good concluding place:
simple. you'll see one word at the top of the following screen.
you have sixty seconds to write about it.
click 'go' and the page will load with the cursor in place.
don't think. just write.
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