Tuesday Tips April 25, 2017

TECH TIP:  Google Earth Updates

Google recently made several exciting updates to its Google Earth platform.  The first is that it is now browser-based, and you will no longer need to download the program.  Locations know have Knowledge Cards, which gives you overviews of the location.  Each location will now also spin in 3D.  The update I like the most is called Voyager, which are interactive stories you can explore in Google Earth.  Voyager stories range from Jane Goodall, Urban Gardens, The Grand Canyon, and one I really called This is Home, exploring homes from around the world.  Definitely worth checking out!

BOOK TIP:  The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian

Chris Bohjalian is a masterful storyteller, weaving together realistic contemporary fiction with a twist of suspense and mystery.  In his latest novel, The Sleepwalker (this was one of my vacation reads!), deals with parasomnia.  Annalee Ahlberg is a sleepwalker and disappears one night.  But did something happen while she was sleepwalking or was foul play involved?  And how does her family deal with this?  

Tuesday Tips April 11, 2017

TECH TIP:  Fact Check on Google

In an effort to combat fake news, Google announced yesterday that as part of your search results, any story that has been fact-checked by various news and fact-checking organizations will now be labeled as such.  In the screen shot, you can see where it now says "Fact Check".  You can click on that Fact Check link and see what the fact check report shows.

BOOK TIP:  Read!

Vacation is a great time to get caught up on that stack of books next to your bed. Enjoy a great book!  Can't wait to hear what you read.  

Tuesday Tips April 4, 2017

TECH TIP:  AllSides Website

AllSides is a website that shows the news and issues from multiple perspectives: left, right and center.  Their goal is to break through polarization so that readers can see issues from all sides in order to make their own informed opinion.  This could be a great resource in class for discussing current issues or examining bias.  

BOOK TIP:  Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston

Named an NPR Best Book of 2016, along with a New York Public Library Top Ten for Teens of 2016, this is a modern retelling of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.  Hermione Winters is a captain of her award winning cheerleading team.  At cheerleading camp, she is sexually assaulted.  This is not, though, the story of a victim, it is about how Hermione moves on and will not let this define her.  This is a great read-alike to Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson