Productivity Tools to Save Time and Make Us Smarter
Technology guru Seymour Papert tells us that, when used well, computers are "objects to think with." As such, computers can make us smarter than we would be on our own. Here are a few resources that can amplify your brainpower when it comes to building projects or locating ready-made resources to help you teach readers and writers.

Presentation Tools

• Filimentality is a tool for teachers who want to both mine the Internet and share their projects with others. A device called "mentality tips" walks you through the process of researching a topic and creating a web-based activity. The developers promise that it's easy!
  www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil
• What if the next time you wanted your students to conduct research, using five different websites; you could string the key pages together, and write your own annotations (as in, "be sure to click on such-and-such")? Trackstar gives you the tools you need to integrate disparate resources. Begin by adapting an existing "track," or create your own from scratch and share it with others.
  Trackstar.hprtec.org

• If you teach older students, the New York Times Daily Lesson Plan Archive can offer you an Aladdin's den of resources. Two year's worth of lesson plans on topics from language arts to global history, to media studies, collected over the past two years, have been archived. Scout out information by subject, grade level, or keyword; consider subscribing for a daily lesson delivered via email.
  www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/archive.html
• Award-winning teacher Carla Beard offers a wealth of resources for English teachers—from Shakespeare to Beatrix Potter. See also Ms. Beard's class web page that offers intriguing assignments such as "Unsolved Mysteries."
  www.webenglishteacher.com/about.html
  fayette.k12.in.us/~cbeard/

Search engines: Here are four of my favorite, high-utility tools.

• Google at www.google.com
• Altavista at www.altavista.com
• Ask Jeeves at www.askjeeves.com
• Yahooligans at www.yahooligans.com

• Billed as "The Educator's Best Friend," Education World abounds with information on a full range of educational topics; it can save your hours of searching www.education-world.com. For an archive of teacher-generated lesson plans see: www.education-world.com/a_tsl/archives/index.shtml.
• RefDesk offers one-stop shopping for those of us who enjoy browsing through reference books, dictionaries, brief news clips, a thought for the day, and many other absorbing bits of information.
  www.refdesk.com

• Apple Professional Development Tools Web site offers how-to information and inspiration in equal measure. Learn how to use the iLife multimedia tools-iPhoto, iMovie, and iTunes-in ways that will get your kids reading, writing, and communicating their ideas in new ways. See samples of actual student work to get started. www.apple.com/education/ilife/howto
• For video ideas focused on literacy, fourth-grade teacher and Tech Coordinator Michelle Bourgeois has created an incredible resource all about video production. In addition to an easy step-by-step guide, Michelle offers project ideas (e.g., "read aloud" videos of easy-reader books) and favorite links.
  teacher.scholastic.com/technology/tutor/movie/equipment.htm
• If you have a digital camera, you probably have more photos on your hard drive than you know what to do with. To the rescue: two companies that offer free tools for creating virtual albums that you can display on the Web. If you choose to have a few of the best photos printed, you can order them (for a fee) and spare yourself the fuss of printing them on your own. Visit Ofoto at www.ofoto.com and Snapfish at www.snapfish.com to get started.