Tuesday Tips September 10, 2019

TECH TIP:  The 1619 Project

 

 A few weeks back, The New York Times Magazine had a whole issue devoted to their journalistic feature called The 1619 Project.  The 1619 Project honors the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first African slave ships in the United States.  Through a series of essays, poems, and other stories, The 1619 Project examines the impact of slavery on American culture, politics, art and society.  It is incredibly powerful and the journalistic coverage is impressive.  They also have partnered with the Pulitzer Center to provide lesson plans and curricular resources to teachers to use this in their classroom.

This is the interactive site where you can click into the many stories.    

This link will take you to a PDF of the full New York Times Magazines

This will take you to the lesson plans and curricular resources

BOOK TIP:  Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson

  Laurie Halse Anderson is the author of the famous book, Speak, which some of our students read in their English classes.  Speak is the story of a young woman who is sexually assaulted and stops speaking.  In Shout, Laurie Halse Anderson tells the story of her own sexual assault that inspired Speak.  It is written in verse, a poetic ode to her own survival and a call to action to help those who have also survived a sexual assault.  

Tuesday Tips September 3, 2019

TECH TIP:  Google Forms as an Exit Ticket

Google Forms are part of your G Suite and are a great way to create an exit ticket or to use as a formative assessment.  New improvements to Google Forms allows you to now add in images or YouTube videos.  Here's how you do that:

DOUBLE TECH TIP:  Project a QR code of a link to your form and have students simply scan the QR code with their phone to access the form and they complete the exit ticket on their phone.

BOOK TIP:  The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

 I read a TON this summer.  This was by far my favorite book of the summer.  Set against the historical background of the 1980's (I can't believe I'm that old that the 1980's is historical now....) and the AIDS crisis in Chicago.  The novel follows Yale Tishman as AIDS ravages his friends, his family, his relationships.  It is thoughtful and heart breaking, yet ultimately uplifting.  It's earned all kinds of literary accolades.  It's wonderful!

Tuesday Tips June 4, 2019

TECH TIP:  How to Forward Your School Email to Another Inbox

If you'd like to only check one inbox this summer, here are the steps you need to take to forward your school email to another email address.

1.  Go into the Settings of your email:

2.  Go to the Forwarding section of Settings:

3.  Select which option you would like for keeping, deleting, or archiving all emails:

4.  Once you've done that, you will get a verification code in your other email box that you will have to enter and then you are done!

5.  When you want to stop the forwarding, go in and Disable Forwarding.

BOOK TIP:  A Body in the Heart of the World by Deb Caletti

  

A Heart in the Body of the World by Deb Caletti is the story of a young woman who is running - literally - from the trauma of the last year.  Annabelle sets off a cross-country run to heal her broken heart after an unspeakable tragedy.  The specifics of the tragedy unfold throughout the novel as she runs and reflects on the past year.  A deeply heartfelt novel. 

Tuesday Tips May 28, 2019

TECH TIP:  16 Personalities Test

 This is a fun one I came across this weekend.  It is a free personality test that takes about 10 minutes to complete.  It assesses your traits through a series of questions and then gives you a detailed report on what type of personality you have.  It nailed me, I am a Defender, someone who has well developed people skills, upholds tradition and a desire to do good, and is meticulous to  the point of perfection.  

Over 40,000,000 people have taken the test, so they have extensive data by country.  For example, I learned that the most EXTROVERTED country in the world is Nicaragua and the most INTROVERTED country in the world is Lithuania.  You can take the test is 37 different languages as well.  

What type are you?

BOOK TIP:  Free Audiobooks All Summer through Sync

 AudioFile is offering free audiobook downloads all summer through its Sync program.  Each week are two new audiobooks you can download for free.  They are geared mostly for young adults, but there are some great titles there you might also enjoy.  

This week's titles are:

• A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen
• Tear Down This Wall:  A City, A President, and a Speech that Ended the Cold War by Romesh Ratnezar

Tuesday Tips May 21, 2019

TECH TIP:  SIRS Issues Researcher Database

This week, Meghan St. John and Tara Birkett's classes were in the library beginning work on their final research projects.  I showed them the SIRS Issues Researcher database for their project.  I like this database because you select your issue, and then the database organizes the articles by question topic and presents articles and other evidence for both sides of an issue.  Here's how it works:

You can access this from the library's database webpage and can get right in if you are accessing it here in the building, but will need a log in code if using from home.  Let me know if you'd like that code.  

BOOK TIP:  In the Woods by Tana French 

 I recently discovered this detective series that is part of the Dublin Murder Squad series by Irish author Tana French and I'm a huge fan.  The mysteries are solid and captivating, but the writing and the development of the detectives characters is top notch.  They are moody, dedicated, and all have a bit of Irish about them.  Another one for your summer book list if you are a fan of mysteries!

Tuesday Tips May 14, 2019

TECH TIP:  Tired Teacher Bingo (and the We Are Teachers blog)

We Are Teachers is a blog that I follow and get a lot of my ideas from.  Sometimes their articles also just make me laugh.  This week, they had Tired Teacher Bingo cards to download.  Could any of you get a bingo today?  

BOOK TIP:  A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa Sheinmel

Hannah finds herself locked in an institution after an accident befalls her summer camp roommate.  Hannah is placed in the institution because she is declared a "danger to herself and others".  A psychological thriller that will keep you guessing about what is real and what isn't.  

Tuesday Tips May 7, 2019

TECH TIP:  Gzaas! Full Screen Message Creator

If you need to quickly put up a full screen message for your classes, you could create a Google Slide or you could use Gzaas!  Gzaas! is a free website that will allow you to put in your message, customize the font and colors and then go full screen with it.  You can also share the link.   Here is my library example:

BOOK TIP:  Goodreads Summer Reading List 2019 is out!

 It is about this time of year that I start thinking about Summer Reading, and Goodreads must be on the same wavelength, as they just released their guide to summer reading.  This includes several lists of titles to get inspiration from for your own summer reading list!