Tuesday Tips, March 29, 2021

 
TECH TIP:  NoodleTools

 This past week, Holly Troiano's US History courses used NoodleTools to create their Works Cited page.  This post is just a reminder of this great tool to use with your students as they complete research assignments.  This is, hands down, the number one thing that graduates say was so helpful for when they were in college.  

NoodleTools is fully integrated with our Google tools, so it is a single login for students.  Here are some video tutorials and written instructions on how to use this with your students (and I'm always happy to join your class!)

Video on Setting up Your Noodle Tools account (1:43):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fozEKq4yp5w

Video on Adding in Sources to your NoodleTools account (5:20):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64dIgJv5GFg

Illustrated instruction sheet:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HpAfoYa6me6VgvMncNRfFcaYVX9csZ0fCMMA-MalxSI/edit?usp=sharing

BOOK TIP:  Book Talks

Tara Birkett's 9th graders are doing a self-selected free read.  I joined them virtually to do a book talk to highlight some great new titles that they might be interested in.  I created a list of 50 books and then picked my top 10 to share with the class.  Between the list, other books in the library, and interlibrary loan, we are getting books out into students' hands.   

Tuesday Tips, March 9, 2021

 TECH TIP:  Set up Breakout Rooms Ahead of Time in Google Meet

Over the next few weeks, Google Meet is rolling out a new feature that you can set up breakout rooms ahead of time in Google Calendar.  Once you have your class in the invite list, from the Settings icon next to the Join Google Meet button, you will be able to set up Breakout Rooms ahead of time.  This could save you time during class, but could allow you to provide for good group dynamics or differentiated learning.  Look for this feature in a few weeks.

BOOK TIP:  Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

  This is a free verse novel that was on EVERY best of list this year for young adult books.  If you were inspired at all by the powerful, poetic storytelling of Amanda Gorman at the inauguration, I would recommend giving this book a try.  Acevedo's poetry is captivating, thoughtful, but yet always moves the story forward.  Carmen lives in the Dominincan Republic and loves when her father returns from New York to visit each summer.  But this summer, her father is killed in a plane crash (based on the true crash of American Airlines flight 587 which crashed on its way to the Dominican Republic) and this sets in motion a series of life changing events, including finding a sister in New York she never knew about.  

Tuesday Tips, March 2, 2021

 TECH TIP:  Canvas Updates:  Webcam Submission and Reassign Assignments to Individual Students

On March 20th, Canvas is rolling out two new features requested by teachers.  One is that students can now use their webcam to submit image files right in Canvas.   It will look like this for students:

The other new feature is that teachers will be able to reassign assignments to individual students right from SpeedGrader.  Once you have given feedback, the Reassign Assignment button will be enabled and you can reassign it to the student.  It will look like this in your SpeedGrader:

Reassigning it to the student will not change the original due date, and all assignments must have a due date in order for this to work.  Assignment settings must allow for unlimited submissions.  This will also NOT work for any assignments using External Tools.

BOOK TIP:  The Jake Brigance Series by John Grisham

In 1989, John Grisham published the first novel featuring lawyer Jake Brigance, A Time to Kill.  In 2013, Sycamore Row was published.  And the third novel, A Time for Mercy, was just recently published.  I went back and listened to A Time to Kill to get ready to read this latest, and it's a gritty courtroom drama that has held up over the years, with Jake Brigance in that Atticus Finch role.  If you like a legal thriller, check out A Time for Mercy.

Tuesday Tips February 23, 2021

TECH TIP:  Barking Dog Countdown Timer (and more)

This tip is really just for fun.  At the Youtube channel Timers and More, there are several types of countdown timers you could share in class while students are working.  The barking dog one is my favorite, but there are cute cats, music, blank screens, bombs and more at their channel.  There are timers with many different times to suit whatever you need.

BOOK TIP:  The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

 

 The Nickel Boys is Colson Whitehead's follow-up novel to The Underground Railroad (also a great book).  The Nickel Boys is based on the experiences of young men sentenced to a reform school in Florida and how that experience  changed their lives forever.  In this fictionalized account, Elwood and Turner are the main characters who are sentenced to the Nickel Academy in Jim Crow-era Florida and what happens there will forever scar them. 

Tuesday Tips January 26, 2021

 TECH TIP: Emoji keyboard

I shared this tip in the PD session that Tom and I ran last week and it was one that even Tom didn't know about (I love when I can teach him something tech related lol!).  There is a quick keyboard shortcut that will create a pop-up emoji keyboard.  You could use this to leave emojis as feedback in Canvas grades, but could be used anywhere! It looks like this:

To do this, on a PC, hit Windows Key + Period Key.  On a Mac, it is Ctrl + Cmd + Space Bar.

BOOK TIP:  Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis

 This is a young adult novel that is gripping and riveting with a strong female lead character.  It is a story of survival in its truest sense.  After a night of partying and camping, Ashley runs into the woods in a drunken rage, only to find herself completely lost and unprepared.  She ends up deep in the Tennessee woods, injured, alone, with only the clothes on her back to survive.  You will root hard for her to persevere and keep going.  

Tuesday Tips January 12, 2021

 TECH TIP:  Overviewer App:  Turns Your Phone Into a Document Camera

  Overviewer is a new (free!) app for iPhones and iPads that quickly turns your phone into a document camera that will connect to Zoom and other video conferencing platforms.  The developer's wife is a kindergarten teacher and he created this app to help her teach her students remotely.  You can connect your phone either through Airplay to Zoom or using a cable to connect your phone to your computer.   The developer has made a 6 minute tutorial video on the set up, features and use of the app that is worth watching.  

BOOK TIP:  Anxious People by Fredrik Bachman

  Anxious People is the latest from best-selling author, Fredrik Bachman,  whose other works include Beartown and A Man Called Ove.  Anxious People tells the story of a disparate group of people who show up for a real estate open house and end up getting taken hostage by a bank robber.  But what sounds like it would be a harrowing event, ends up uniting these people across their shared stories.  It is a book that is charming, thoughtful and, at times, laugh out loud funny.  

Tuesday Tips December 22, 2020

 TECH TIP:  FutureMe: Send a letter to yourself in the future

 

FutureMe is a website that will send a letter to yourself in the future.  You enter in whatever message you want to send to yourself and the date on which you will receive the letter.  Might be a nice way to reflect on all we've survived and overcome this year at a future time when things are brighter (they have to get brighter, right??!).  This could be fun to do with your Advisory group.

BOOK TIP:  The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 This is a book that is popping up on all kinds of Best Of Lists.  Nora Seed is a 35 year old woman who struggles with depression and the path her life has taken.  She's lost her job, got mugged, and her cat just died.  In a downward spiral, she attempts suicide and ends up in the midnight library.  The midnight library is a magical place where all the books are ones that allow you to live all the lives you might have had (and it's staffed by Nora's favorite school librarian :)  While a book of magical realism, it is also a deeply philosophical book about life's regrets and setting a new course for your life.  It's a book you'll want to highlight and underline sections of it.  It will make you think.

"But it is not lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It's the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people's worst enemy.  We can't tell if any of those other versions would of been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on.”