Tuesday Tips April 26, 2016

TECH TIP:  Word Sift

This is a online tool that would be helpful in visualizing and analyzing text and primary sources.  You copy the text of the document, speech, report, etc. and then hit "Sift".  You will then get a word cloud that visualizes the most commonly used words.  You can edit the style of the word cloud.  When you click on a word in the cloud, it will then show you were in the text that word was used.  You also get the definition and a visual thesaurus.  There also images that are associated with the word you highlighted.  

Here is a sift of Martin Luther King, Jr's " I Have a Dream" speech:

BOOK TIP:  Shakespeare's 400th
April 23 marked the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death (and some say also his birth, but that date has never been verified!).  Here are a few fun books about the Bard from the library:

Kissing Shakespeare by Pamela Mingle.  A novel of romance and time travel.  After a disastrous performance in her school's Shakespeare play, Miranda is whisked off to 16th century England by a fellow castmate in order to save William Shakespeare.

Zombie Island: A Shakespeare Undead Novel by Lori Handeland.   In this zombie farce, vampire William Shakespeare is stranded on an island full of zombies and fight to save even Queen Elizabeth.  

Tuesday Tip April 5, 2016

TECH TIP:  ProCon.org

 ProCon.org is a great website if you are looking at ways to share balanced information with your students.  At ProCon.org, you can select an issue, then within each issue topic, there are sections on general background and definition of the topic, along with articles and arguments to support each side of the issue.  There is also a video gallery for most of the issues.  There is also a special section that explains where each of the current presidential candidates stand on all the issues.  It also has a Teacher's Corner that has lesson plans that connect to some of the issues.  

BOOK TIP:  Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt

This is a small but powerful book.  Joseph is 14 and in foster care with Jack's family.  He has been troubled his whole life, but is a father at 14 to Jupiter, who he has never met.  This is the story of a young man trying to find himself, and his daughter, at any cost.