Tuesday Tips November 24, 2015

TECH TIP:  The Great Thanksgiving Listen

I heard about this on NPR the other night.  Many of you may have heard about StoryCorps, a national program that allows people to interview each other, recording and preserving those conversations through the StoryCorps program.  This Thanksgiving, StoryCorps is looking to "preserve the wisdom of generations" by sitting down with an elder, interviewing them, and saving that interview to the app.

BOOK TIP:  Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

In honor of Thanksgiving, a wonderful book about the tentative connections between the English Puritan settlers and the Native peoples on Martha's Vineyard.  It follows Bethia Mayfield and Caleb, the son of a chieftain who goes on to become the first Native American to graduate from Harvard.  It is loosely based on his true story.  Brooks is a divine writer, setting a tone with her writing that makes you feel as though you have been transported to the 1660's.  

Tuesday Tips November 17, 2015

TECH TIP:  "App Smash" of PicCollage and Phrase.It

I use my quarterly reports as an opportunity to learn a new tech tool.  This quarter's report is an "app smash" of two tools: PicCollage and Phrase.It.  PicCollage I used to make the collage and borders and Phrase.It was used to add the cartoon word bubbles.  These are two tools that could be easily used in a class: quotes from historical people, alternate conversations between book characters, etc.  

BOOK TIP:  X: A Novel by Ilyasha Shabazz and Kekla Magoon

Written by Malcolm X's daughter, this is a fictionalized account of Malcolm's childhood and teen years.   Shabazz says while fictionalized, all the characters and events are based on truth and family stories.  It is an intriguing new look at the formative years of Malcolm Little and what perhaps motivated him to become Malcolm X.   

Tuesday Tips November 10, 2015

TECH TIP:  Pecha Kucha 20x20 Presentation Style

 I learned about this presentation technique at the PD day at the Berkshire Museum.  Pecha Kucha is a Japanese word meaning "blah blah".  It is a presentation technique developed by architects to reduce the length of their presentations and keep them focused on the task at hand. 

 You have 20 slides, that are preset to run for only 20 seconds on your Powerpoint presentation.  Thus, the presentation will last only 6 minutes and 40 seconds.  During your presentation you talk only about what is on the slide and, as soon as it turns, you move on to the next slide.   The timing and number of slides could change depending on your class requirements.

This would be a great way to have students present and to showcase what they really know.  You could do this as a "battle decks"  (another great PPT presentation technique), where you pre-select the slides and images, and they have to talk about them.   I'd love to work with you on putting these together!

BOOK TIP:  Just Mercy:  A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

This was a powerful read. Stevenson works at a legal non-profit working primarily with death penalty cases in Alabama.  He traces the wrongful imprisonment of several men on death row and examines the role of racism and poverty in their cases.  Will definitely make you think.  

Tuesday Tips October 27, 2015

In honor of Halloween this week, a few things related to Halloween and horror!

TECH TIP: Frightgeist by Google Trends

Want to make sure you don't show up at a Halloween party with the same costume as someone else? The folks at Google Trends have put compiled all the Halloween costume searches done at Google and put together a trends map that shows what the top costumes will be in your geographic area.   Number one costume nationally is Harley Quinn (honestly, I had to look up who that is!).  This one will distract you for a while!

BOOK TIP:  A couple of scary books!

Amity by Micol Ostow.  A retelling of the Amityville Horror story.  Two different families, ten years apart, move into Amity, a house in a quiet New England town.  Things don't remain peaceful for long as the house comes to life in frightening ways.  

The Rules by Nancy Holder.  Fans of Saw and I Know What You Did Last Summer will enjoy this thriller.  A group of teens are invited to an exclusive scavenger hunt party.  But this party is more about revenge than good times, as the guests are knocked off one by one.  But the question is:  who is doing it and why?

Tuesday Tips October 20, 2015

TECH TIP:  TurnItIn

Last year we piloted the use of TurnItIn.com and, after working out a few kinks with the first run through of papers (thanks Lisa Baldwin for your patience!), we are in full swing this year with this program.  TurnItIn is a similarity checker, where students upload their assignments for your classes, and those assignments are then matched for similarity against the web as well as against other submissions to TurnItIn.  This is helpful if you give the same essay topic, read the same novels, etc., as you can match current student work against the ones that have been uploaded before (this way they can't take their brother's essay off the home computer and turn it in as their own, for example). 

It does not take long to set up a class and about 10 minutes for students to log in and join your class.  Let me know if you are interested in using this with a class or if you'd like to talk to a teacher who has used it already about their experiences.  

BOOK TIP:  All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Violet and Finch are two young adults who meet under the most unlikely of circumstances: they meet at the top of a clock tower when they are both considering jumping off.  Thus begins an unlikely friendship.  But will their friendship be enough to save them?  It is a story of suicide, friendship, and hope.  Fans of The Fault In Our Stars will enjoy this.  

Tuesday Tips October 13, 2015

TECH TIP:  Participoll

Participoll is a free add-on that allows you to embed live polls into your Powerpoint presentations. You create the poll in Powerpoint, then during the presentation, you have it go live.  You give students the URL to vote.  No clickers required, students can use any internet-connected device.  I'm going to use this as an exit tool for a class that is finishing up research to get feedback on which research tool they found most useful.  I'll let you know how it goes!  But this looks like a fun one to explore.

A link to a video overview of how it works:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfsa9j7K9No

BOOK TIP:  Top 10 of Everything (2015 edition)

This book reminds me of reading through the Guinness Book of World Records as a kid.  Updated to include items from 2015, this book lists - as the title states - the Top 10 of Everything.  It covers everything from the Animal Kingdom (#1 Endangered Animal: Wondiwoo Tree Kangaroo) to Music to Humans and Nature (#1 Heaviest Human Organ: Skin).  

Tuesday Tips October 6, 2015

TECH TIP:  Quick Rubric

So the name kind of says it all here, Quick Rubric is a site that allows you to make quick and easy rubrics.  It has an easy interface in which you fill in criteria for the rubric, and then the descriptors based upon the levels you set (Proficient, Emerging, Beginning, etc.).  You set the total score and it will calculate how many points per section.  It then will download it into a clean, modern look.  

You can create an account to save all your rubrics.  They also offer some good tips on writing a strong rubric: https://www.quickrubric.com/about/tips-to-writing-a-strong-rubric

BOOK TIP:  Books on Mars

With the discovery of water on Mars and the release of the film The Martian (which I've reviewed here before, but HIGHLY recommend it!), a few other books about Mars exploration.

Curiosity's Mission on Mars: Exploring the Red Planet by Ron Miller  

This book examines some of what Curiosity, also known as the Mars Rover, has sent back, including pictures.

Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill 

This is book one in a science fiction series about a group of mercenaries sent to protect a mining colony on Mars from an evil band of marauders.   Fast paced and action filled!