Using Digital Content
We believe students should be creators with technology and not just consumers, so FCIT provides a wide range of digital assets for students to build their projects and, consequently, their understanding. But with well over 100,000 pieces of free digital content for the classroom, FCIT’s collections can be a bit overwhelming. The purpose of this blog is to highlight important areas of digital content and provide suggestions for using these digital “building blocks” in the classroom. Expect to find posts featuring FCIT’s clipart, photo, audiobook, and map collections among others. Your guide for this blog is Dr. Roy Winkelman.
Shadow Puppets
Any teacher who has ever done a puppet project with elementary students has experienced the amazing potential of creating and using puppets in the classroom. Students are engaged. They realize that they must really collaborate because, "The show must go...
Photos of the Month: When Blurry’s Better
Both of the photos for this month show movement. Give your students a few moments to list what is the same and what is different about the two photos. After they have shared their ideas, ask which part of each photo is in focus and which part is blurred....
Arbor Day: 2,300 Photos and 1,800 Illustrations
On Arbor Day in 1921, my mother's grade school teacher told the class that within 40 years there would be no trees left in the United States. I'm happy to report that the number of trees in the US has remained pretty constant over the past...
Photo of the Month: Controlled Burn
A photo of a burned forest may seem an odd choice as photo of the month since we are also celebrating Arbor Day in April. I remember how disturbed my fourth-graders were when we went on a field trip to a park that had recently conducted a controlled burn....
Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare!
Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616. It is traditionally believed that he was also born on same day in 1564. We’ve collected audiobooks of the Bard’s most famous works and additional teaching resources to celebrate the life of one of the greatest writers in...
Five Reasons To Use Audiobooks for Remote Learning
I've written frequently about our free Lit2Go audiobook collection. I'll paste links to other posts at the bottom. Today, I'd like to share five reasons to include audiobooks in remote instruction. 1. Audiobooks give students a chance to rest their eyes....
Photo of the Month: Asking Why?
Nature photos can be great jumping-off points for exploration. I enjoy being outdoors. I always find the patterns in nature intriguing and often ask myself, "Why?" as I'm walking along. Why are those clouds shaped as they are? Why do these leaves grow in...
OBS Studio: Add Some Interest and Fun to Your Remote Teaching
I recently gave a presentation in which I demonstrated how our various presentation elements with transparent backgrounds could be used in the foreground of a remote video lesson. I suddenly had lots of questions about how I had superimposed images in...
Frederick Douglass: A Voice for Our Time
Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln by Frederick Douglass Lit2Go free audiobook recording (26 minutes) PDF of the speech (6 pages, reading level 11.1) We live in an unhappy time of polarization, when many students (and perhaps their parents) don't read...
Photo of the Month: Guess Who?
Here is an interesting photo to show your students to see if they can guess who the sculpture represents. Don't be surprised if they guess an ancient Roman emperor or perhaps even Zeus. Those really aren't bad guesses, especially if they've noticed the...
Using Digital Content
Teaching and Learning with Technology