Tuesday Tips October 25, 2016

TECH TIP:  ToonyTool

ToonyTool is a quick and easy way to create cartoon images.  You select the background, either from their stock images or from your own upload, then you can layer on text, meme fonts, cartoon characters and props.  You can then download the image or email it to yourself.  No need to register or sign up for anything.  This could be a quick way to have students make posters, flyers, practice vocabulary, etc.  

I found this tip at the blog Free Tech for Teachers

BOOK TIP: Tweak: Growing Up On Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff

This is a powerful memoir of a young man's descent into addiction to meth and heroin.  In a no-holds barred approach, Nic Sheff details his relapse at 20 and his struggle to understand why he needs to use drugs.  I was shocked at times at his actions and how far he was willing to go to maintain a high, but the novel provides insight and understanding into the mind of an addict.  Interestingly, Sheff's father also wrote a memoir around the same time called Beautiful Boy about the parental perspective on his son's addiction and rehab.  

Tuesday Tips October 18, 2016

TECH TIP:  National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day

Yesterday, October 17 was National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day.  In honor of that, here are some instructions and inspirations on how to get your desktop from this:  

  to this:  

 

You create a background image with sections for all the types of files and programs you use most (I used Canva to do mine but the instructions use Picmonkey, both good photo editors).  Once your image is up, you move the icons into the proper section for them.  This is also a good time to go through all those files on your desktop and get rid of those you no longer need.  

Here are the instructions and inspiration I followed (and there is a good video tutorial on how to do it):  

http://iheartplanners.com/2015/03/13/organize-computer-desktop/#_a5y_p=3496463
http://www.thebudgetslp.com/2013/08/create-organized-desktop.html

BOOK TIP:  Berkshire Books

1973 Monument Mountain graduate, Margaret "Peggy" Dempsey, passed away last March.  She was a librarian and enjoyed local history.  A donation was made to the Monument Mountain library in her memory.  With that donation, six titles about the Berkshires were added to our collection.  The titles include:

• Hawthorne's Lenox: Tanglewood Circle by Cornelia Brooke Gilder
• Best Easy Day Hikes of the Berkshires by Jim Bradley
• The Finest Hours:  The True Story of the US Coast Guard Most Daring Rescue by Michael J. Touglas
• Shay's Rebellion: The American Revolution's Final Battle by Leonard L. Richards
• The Big E by David Cecchi
• The Unfolding Berkshires by David J. McLaughlin
• Inside the Berkshires: Sixteen Journeys of Discovery by David J. McLaughlin

Tuesday Tips October 11, 2016

TECH TIP:  Padlet

Padlet is a website that allows you to collect feedback from students.  It is also a place that students could collaborate on a project or gather ideas and resources together.  You create the Padlet (think of it like a wall), post the topic at the top, then give the link to students.  They simply double click on the Padlet and then create their post.  The post could be text, an image, an attachment, or a link to a website.  A great way to do exit tickets with students.

BOOK TIP:  The National Book Award Winners

The National Book Award Finalists were just announced this week.  A wonderful list of titles,all worth adding to your reading list!  Check out all the nominees here:  

http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2016.html

Tuesday Tips October 4, 2016

TECH TIP:  AnswerGarden Feedback Tool

AnswerGardenis a very easy to use online feedback tool.  At AnswerGarden, you click on the + sign to create your poll and post your question.  You can adjust the settings to what format you would like, and the poll can be open or moderated by you.  Students then get the URL to the poll, or a QR code is automatically created that you can post and students scan.  Their responses then show up in a word cloud format and the more times a response shows up, the bigger the font is.  Could be a great way to get quick feedback or input.  

Found this tip at the Never Ending Search blog.

BOOK TIP:  The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda

If I'm honest, I didn't expect to like this book, but I couldn't put it down.  It is about vampires after all, but it's mostly about survival as an outcast in world dominated by those who are fundamentally different from you.  Gene is a human pretending to be a vampire in order to survive a futuristic world where vampires are dominant.  When he is invited to be a part of a hunt to track what are believed to be the last remaining humans, Gene must learn the art of the hunt and how to avoid suspicion himself.  Book one of a trilogy.