Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

More amazing blog posts!

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Make Good Explanatory Videos – The Minute Earth Style

  Minute Earth is a popular YouTube channel whose videos I’ve featured a handful of times on this blog. Their short videos provide explanations of interesting science topics like why rivers curve, how some waves get so big, and why it is hot underground…

• 9 Ways To Assess Student Learning Online – e-Learning Infographics

  Assessment is simply the process of gathering information on what students know based on their educational experience. Assessment results are typically used to identify areas for improvement and ensure that course content meets learning needs. Obvio…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Five Activities for Teaching and Learning With Primary Sources

  As a history teacher one of my favorite yet challenging things to do was introduce my students to primary sources. It’s great because it reveals to them a whole new world of research opportunities. There’s nothing better than a student saying, “wow!…

• Re-engage Children in Learning With Sphero BOLT – GeekDad

  As schools across the nation and even the world have closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and distance learning has been the prevalent means of education, there has been a concern over learning loss for these students.

• Could platforms design for 2nd chances?: Insight from key study – NetFamilyNews.org

  No stage of life is easy, but being a teen is hard in a very particular way.

• Helping Students Analyze Primary Sources – History Gal

  Do your students struggle with analyzing primary sources? Here are some things you can do to help.

• 5 Ways to Gamify Your Classroom | ISTE

  Many of our students are among the 155 million Americans playing video games regularly, and you might be, too. That’s a good thing.

• Gamification in the Classroom | First Steps to Gamify Your Classroom

  When students are in the classroom things can get mundane. Yet when they are out of the classroom (or sometimes while they are in it) the first thing they reach for are their phones.

• Control Alt Achieve: Use Timestamps to make your YouTube Videos Better

  When it comes to making a video engaging, most everyone will agree that shorter is better than longer. Like it or not, most of us have short attention spans and a long list of things we need to do. However, sometimes videos are simply not going to b…

• Adding Theme – Codename: Rip Van Winkle – Classroom Powerups

  Adding a theme can provide a layer of fun and purpose to an otherwise dull assignment. While I was searching around for ideas on teaching Cold War Foreign Policy I stumbled upon this gamified lesson from 1999! Communism and Containment. Grade 10 Les…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Seven Good Tools for Hosting and Organizing Group Brainstorming Sessions

  Earlier this week I shared five brainstorming warm-up activities and a video about how to use a new online brainstorming tool called Brainstormer. Of course, there are many tools for hosting collaborative brainstorming sessions including good, old p…

• Auto Submit Google Classroom from Google Form – Teacher Tech

  If you add a Google Form to a Google Classroom assignment and the student fills out the Form it will automatically mark the assignment as done in Google Classroom. Only if the Google Form is the only attachment.

• Decolonising ecology? How to adopt practices that make science more equitable

  Map showing the minimum estimate for each country of the number of bird speciesfor which the Latin binomial name is based on a European person. Hundreds of birdspecies have been named after European surnames, with most of these speciesoccurring outs…

• Graspable Math

  Assign algebra tasks to your students and see live feedback of their step-by-step work. Discover, create, and share engaging math activities for 4th to 12th graders. Move terms fluently to solve equations and explore the power of algebra without the…

• how-to-guide-students-self-regulated-learning

  Teaching middle and high school students how to study helps them see for themselves why and when to use different strategies for learning. Self-regulated learning, or SRL, is not a new concept in pedagogy and has been considered a best practice for …

• Free Technology for Teachers: The Master View in Google Slides is Now the “Theme Builder”

  If you logged into your Google Slides today, you may have noticed a new option in the “view” drop-down menu. Where there used to be a “master” option there is now a “theme builder” option. This change is purely cosmetic because nothing else changed.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Seven Good Tools for Creating and Publishing Online Timelines

  Creating timelines has been a staple in history teachers’ playbooks since the beginning of history. Writing a timeline is a good way for students to chronologically summarize sequences of events and see how the events are connected.

• Analyzing a Turtle Graph from Primary Source

  One of the first things I teach AP Biology students is how to analyze data. This is a skill they have been practicing throughout high school, but science data can be challenging.

• New Research Identifies Conditions That Help People Reach Full Potential – Good Classroom Tips | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  An article today in The Harvard Business Review reported on new research identifying the conditions employees identified that helped them reach what they identified as their “full potential.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Five Warm-up Activities for Group Brainstorming Sessions

  Yesterday morning I published a blog post and video about a new online brainstorming tool called Brainstormer. Writing that post reminded me of a set of brainstorming warm-up activities designed by Ethos3.

• Home Adults: Ideas for Creating Great Summer Reading Experiences – Pernille Ripp

  I know many of us educators (and those at home) have been working hard all year to try to cultivate or protect a love of reading in our learners despite the incredible obstacles we have faced.

• Confirmation Bias And How To Embrace Being Wrong – #UX – Gamified UK – #Gamification Expert

  When we design anything, be it user experiences, gamified experiences or even just Lego buildings – we become emotionally involved with what we are doing. We invest ourselves in the process and the outcomes of the process.

• Infographic: “15 Writing Lessons From Successful Authors” | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  StockSnap / Pixabay I’m adding this infographic to The Best Writing Advice From Famous Authors: You can also find more infographics at Visualistan

• Cliff Mass Weather Blog: What is atmospheric pressure? Why do we care about it? Part 1.

  He asked: Since can’t feel it or sense it, why should we care? I was surprised by the question since atmospheric pressure is so important in meteorology and weather prediction. So let me give you a lowdown on pressure–by the time I finish, you will…

• Good Video To Show Students & Reduce Concerns About Getting Vaccinated: “COVID-19 Vaccines: How Do We Know They Are Safe?” | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  Students might have concerns about getting vaccinated against COVID 19. Danny Muth, a talented teachers at our school, found that this video was a helpful one for our students to watch.  We’re having the third vaccination clinic at our school tomorr…

• Paper STEM Activities! | Science Buddies Blog

  Looking for last-minute STEM ideas for the end of the year, for after testing, for a classroom warmup, or for a rainy day at home? Try these paper-based STEM activities! Doing science and engineering activities doesn’t have to require lots of materi…

• Graphic Novel Class Library – Classroom Powerups

  Mr. Powley is a 14 year teaching veteran and is currently the dual enrollment American History teacher at the #1 ranked high school in South Carolina. For the last several years he has transformed his classroom based on the principles of game inspir…

• Surprisingly High Levels of Toxic Mercury Discovered in Greenland Glacial Meltwaters

  New research from Florida State University shows that concentrations of the toxic element mercury in rivers and fjords connected to the Greenland Ice Sheet are comparable to rivers in industrial China, an unexpected finding that is raising questions…

• For Math Fans: A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Number 42 – Scientific American

  Everyone loves unsolved mysteries. Examples include Amelia Earhart’s disappearance over the Pacific in 1937 and the daring escape of inmates Frank Morris and John and Clarence Anglin from Alcatraz Island in California in 1962. Moreover our interest …

• how-unconditional-positive-regard-can-help-students-feel-cared-for

  Reprinted from Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education. Copyright © 2021 by Alex Shevrin Venet. Shared with the permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. As a teacher, I know how important it is to create clear expectations f…

• Free Technology for Teachers: A Virtual Tour of Washington With Dr. Jill Biden

  Tomorrow at 1pm ET Discovery Education is hosting a free virtual field trip to Washington, D.C. for elementary school and middle school classrooms. The virtual field trip will take students to six landmarks in Washington, D.C. Along the way students…

• Free Technology for Teachers: New Text Overlay Options in Google Docs

  Google has finally added a feature to Google Docs that many of us have been waiting a long time to see. That feature is the ability to overlay text on top of images in Google Docs! For years the only way to work with text and images in Google Docs w…

• Attention Required! | Cloudflare

• Unity

  Poor decisions made during the game development process can cause unexpected delays and costs. These setbacks can occur at any stage of a game’s lifecycle, from ideation to release – and beyond. At Unity, we’ve helped thousands of creators take thei…

• 5 End-of-the-Year Activities – Dr. Catlin Tucker

  As this year winds down, I encourage teachers to take the final weeks of the school year to create closure, collect feedback, and help students look forward. Needless to say, the 2020-2021 school year has been intense. Teachers and students alike ar…

• Smart Chips in Google Docs – i ❤ edu

  Recently, Google has begun launching Smart Chips which allows users to quickly hyperlink and preview Google Docs, Slides, Drawings, Calendar Events, and email addresses within Google Docs.

• The Anywhere School 2021

  Cookies are required in order to sign in. Please enable cookies in your browser’s settings and disable any adblockers. Then refresh this page.

• Wheel Decide

  You’ll have to take our word for it that the wheel landed on Phone an old friend. Your browser cannot display the wheel of choices. Please upgrade to a newer browser that supports HTML5 (most new ones do).

• Actively Learn

  We stand with Black families, educators, and communities in the fight against racial injustice and systemic oppression.

• Spaces | Capture the moments where growth happens

  Decorative Icon Resources Help Center Head to our one-stop shop for getting started & succeeding with Spaces Educator Blog Tips and tricks for transforming your classroom with digital portfolios Guides Browse our comprehensive guides to add to your …

• Ziplet | Student Feedback Made Easy

  Teachers and students from over 10,000 schools, colleges and universities love using Ziplet every day.

• LiveBinders | Home

  Combine uploaded files and website links in one location, then update, share and distribute!

• DeltaMath

  DeltaMath is loading…

• RazorArts home | Education through Entertainment

  To test understanding , increase engagement, by adding Questions, Notes, Audio, Video, PPT and Animations to any point in a Video (Even YouTube)

• Empowering happier, healthier humans | Clanbeat

  Free trial starts once you log in the first time. You can invite as many clan members to join as you want and enjoy all the features for 30 days for free. When logged in, select Billing from the top right menu and take it from there.

• Spinndle – your project organizer.

  MANAGE STUDENT BREAKOUTS. Spinndle is a practice ground for students to build skills necessary for self-directed learning. On our socials threads students act as co-learners: supporting each other by sharing work, ideas and feedback on a peer feed.

• Blooket

• Home » ClassroomQ

  Our mission is to create a classroom where asking for help is easier and more organized than ever before. We’re currently offline. Send us an email and we’ll get back to you.

• WellCheq

  Every day students answer two questions about their well being.

• Deck.Toys – Learning Paths for Lesson Adventures

  Creating lessons on Deck.Toys is fun for you too! Build complete lessons within minutes with your existing teaching content such as study sets, PPT or Google Slides.

• Epic | The Leading Digital Library for Kids | Unlimited Access to 40,000 of the Best Children’s Books & Learning Videos

  How to get your kids reading & loving it! Free Audiobooks and Ebooks Have Become My Family’s Obsession — Here’s How to Find Them!

• Education | MURAL

  Integrate MURAL into your learning platform using our API. Contact us for more information. Schools like Stanford GSB, California College of Arts and Hyper Island are teaching the next generation of innovators using our solutions.

• Whiteboard.fi – Free online whiteboard for teachers and classrooms

  Setting up a new class whiteboard is lightning fast! No registration or installation needed, and it works on all modern devices. Oh, and did I mention that it is free? When you create your class you will get a short class code.

• through-ethnic-studies-schools-push-include-marginalized-perspectives

  Ethnic Studies proponents say K-12 curriculum has remained largely Eurocentric and disconnected to the growing population of students of color in the U.S. It was November 1968, and studying the history and culture of non-White groups was still consi…

• Update your browser to use Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms – Google Drive Help

• As in a pandemic, the battle against invasive species may well depend on early actions | Puget Sound Institute

  As Americans, we have become all too familiar with the spread of a deadly virus and the terrible consequences of a delayed response to an outbreak. As a result of our experience, I’m wondering if some of us might have a more visceral sense about the…

• Some Favorite Picture Books to Highlight LGBTQ+ Experiences – Pernille Ripp

  As June rolls nearer and we get ready to celebrate pride in my own house, I have been pulling books from our classroom collection to put on display.

• When a trillion dice are no better than a dozen. – Math with Bad Drawings

  For my forthcoming book Math Games with Bad Drawings, I considered including a classic dice game called “Drop Dead.” It narrowly missed the cut. Strike one: the lousy name. Strike two: it’s a game of pure chance, with no room for decision-making. An…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Running Free Rivers

  River Runner is a neat website that shows you how a drop of water travels from anywhere in the United States to the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, or the Gulf of Mexico. To use River Runner simply go to the site and click on any location in the …

• Free Technology for Teachers: Grackle – Check Slide and Document Accessibility

  This spring we have some grackles nesting in our hanging plants and in the eve of our covered back porch. Every morning I take a quick look at them when I’m drinking my coffee and letting our dogs out.

• Top-down observation and feedback models are flawed. Time for change. | teacherhead

  The more closely I work with teachers and schools/colleges, supporting CPD processes of various kinds, the more I realise just how woefully inadequate the standard ‘top-down drop-in and give feedback’ approach is..

• How to create a grade-prediction system in Excel, and save yourself loads of time (Updated) — ICT & Computing in Education

  Note that the first column is sorted in ascending order. That’s very important: the results become erratic and totally unreliable if you don’t do that. Now, to save a bit of hassle later, it’s a good idea to name this table, so that you can refer it…

• A Principal’s Reflections: Evolving Instruction in a Rapidly Changing World

  We all first learned of idioms probably during the middle school years in English class. There are so many out there, such as “it’s raining cats and dogs,” “you hit the nail on the head,” and “there are bigger fish to fry.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

Great blog posts from last week:

• Using games for win-win learning – Oxford University Press

  Like many people around the world, I recently took time off at the end of December and the New Year to relax at home. A common feature of any holiday season, alongside eating large meals and seeing family and old friends, is playing games.

• Reimagining School after COVID | Facing History and Ourselves

  Since the coronavirus pandemic began over a year ago, students have had to navigate upheavals in their education and new ways of learning.

• My Lesson Plans for Teaching the American Revolution – History Gal

  I thought it might be helpful to share how I plan out my American Revolution unit.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Catchy Words – A Fun Augmented Reality App for Spelling Practice

  My daughters recently became very interested in a PBS Kids show called Word World. In each episode of the show the characters build a new word. As I was watching Word World with them this morning I was reminded of a fun augmented reality app called …

• How to Use VLookup in the Classroom – Classroom Powerups

  When it comes to Google Sheets I am an Enthuiastic Amatuer but I have been hacking away at spreadsheets long enough to pick up a few tricks and one of my favorite is the “VLookup”.

• Teaching the Fall of Rome – History Gal

  How do you teach the fall of Rome? When I first began teaching, I lectured about all the events and issues that led to the fall of Rome and then gave my students a mini-research project about the different groups of people that were involved in the …

• Free Technology for Teachers: A Math and Map Challenge

  This evening while recording Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions & Share Cool Stuff I was reminded of a neat math and map challenge activity from Mathigon. Here’s what I wrote about it last year. Mathigon’s map coloring challenge is to use as few colors…

• The OER Project Offers The Same Social Studies Texts In Different Lexile Levels – For Free! | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  Project Score is from the OER Project. It provides a lot of Social Studies prompts with scaffolded instruction and a free automating assessment tool for the student-written essays.

• End of Year Lesson Ideas for Social Studies – History Gal

  Are you struggling to figure out what to do during the last few weeks of school in your social studies or history class? Don’t stress! Here are some of my favorites:

• Free Technology for Teachers: Three Short Lessons About Algorithms That I Used This Week

  This week in my Computer Science Principles course we’re talking about algorithms.

• He invented calculus, but you could smoke him at Monopoly. – Math with Bad Drawings

  When it comes to Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716), I do a lot of gushing. I gushed in my book on calculus. I gushed in a three-part series of interviews with the podcast Infinitely Irrational. I even gushed in a personality quiz for Ars Technica.

• Grading for Equity: Activities to Establish Common Goals – i ❤ edu

  As our school site continues on our journey of evaluating our grading practices (see my previous blog post for more details), I am excited to share more interactive resources that can be used for professional development at your site! In the previous…

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Make a Backup Copy of Your Blog

  Last Friday evening a portion of the blogging community got a bit nervous when Blogger (Google’s blogging platform) started throwing up lots of error messages. In some cases people reported having blog posts completely disappear.

• On Counting Down the Days…Again – Pernille Ripp

  An older post from 2017 that still rings true today. I will not do a countdown for many reasons, even if I know how many days I have left.

• The Nerdy Teacher: Teach Creativity with Adobe and Khan Academy

  I am very excited to share with you the FREE online course that Adobe has created in partnership with Khan Academy. As the school year winds down, this self-paced course is something I would recommend to all educators looking to improve their practi…

• 2020 Emerging Technology Top 10 List | CompTIA

  Each year, the CompTIA Emerging Technology Community unveils the annual Emerging Technology Top 10 list.

• Relive all the great Microsoft sessions from NCCE 2021 from your home! – NCCE’s Tech Savvy Teacher Blog

  Did you attend NCCE’s 2021 virtual conference? Now is a great time to go back and revisit all of the great sessions including all of the outstanding content from our Exclusive Tier 1 Sponsor: Microsoft!

• How to Make a Boss Fight Assessment – Classroom Powerups

  An Assessment is simply a way to determine what a student knows/doesn’t know or the level of skill with a certain ability. In education we often conflate assessment with test but those words, while similar, do not mean the same thing.

• Blended Learning: Designing with Balance in Mind – Dr. Catlin Tucker

  I am concerned about the impact that the imbalances in education have on teacher engagement and job satisfaction. I know firsthand the toll that the imbalances caused by traditional workflows in education can have on a teacher. Those unrealistic wor…

• Getting Started with Content Curation in the Classroom – John Spencer

  Content curation is a vital part of the creative process. In this blog post and podcast, we explore why curation matters and how we can help students learn how to engage in the curation process. Just click on the audio below to listen to this Creati…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Dotstorming Now Supports Video and PDF Uploads

  Dotstorming is a collaborative brainstorming tool that I’ve used and written about for half of a decade or more. One of its key features is the option to have participants in a brainstorming session vote for their favorite ideas submitted during the…

• Capital & Main: Eli Broad Wanted to Destroy Public Education | Diane Ravitch’s blog

  Upon his death recently, Eli Broad received many laudatory obituaries, describing his philanthropic contributions to the arts and medical research. He even built an art museum in Los Angeles, named for himself. Modesty was not one of his virtues.

• Dueck: Self-Assessment Gives Students a ‘Key to the School’

  We empower students when we engage them in their own assessment.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Brainstormer – A Collaborative Brainstorming and Voting Tool

  Brainstormer is a new online brainstorming tool that is easy to use and helps solve the “what do we do now?” problem that often arises at the end of group brainstorming sessions. Brainstormer solves that problem by letting members of the brainstormi…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Fling the Teacher! – A Fun Review Game

  Fling the Teacher lets students fling or slingshot their teachers across the screen for up to sixty seconds after they correctly answer fifteen consecutive multiple choice questions. Try it for yourself with this demo game.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Three Good Ways to Make Online Word Games

  As we get toward the end of the school year many of us will be looking for some fun activities for our students to do to review key terms and concepts of the last year or semester. I shared a handful of ideas for doing that in this week’s Practical …

• iCivics Unveils New – And BIG – Primary Sources Site | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  I have earlier noted that it LOOKS LIKE ICIVICS WANTS TO BE THE ONE-STOP SHOP FOR SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS. And that continues to be the case. Today, they unveiled their Exploring Primary Sources website.

• Futuclass

  Still have questions? Each study module is extensively tested until 70% of students who complete it significantly improve their knowledge of the topic.

• Why is “Critical Race Theory” Controversial and What Is it? | Diane Ravitch’s blog

  In several states, the Governor and Legislature have denounced “critical race theory” and even (in Idaho and some other states) banned it from their schools.

• Just a moment…

• Professor Game Podcast Appearance! – Classroom Powerups

  Mr. Powley is a 14 year teaching veteran and is currently the dual enrollment American History teacher at the #1 ranked high school in South Carolina. For the last several years he has transformed his classroom based on the principles of game inspir…

• www.ascd.org

• ‘Extinct Fossil Fish’ Dating Back 420 Million Years Found Alive in Madagascar

  A group of South African shark hunters have unwittingly rediscovered a population of fish predating dinosaurs that many in the scientific community believed to be extinct.

• Exporting in 3D – MEE

  Watch this video to see a demonstration of 3D exporting in Education Edition in action! Build (or locate) an object you would like to export from Minecraft.

• A Principal’s Reflections: Tackling the Status Quo

  We often hear about companies who are either unwilling or afraid to change and ultimately pay the price. Blockbuster is one that often comes to mind, but many others have become victims of the status quo. Robert Brodo shared this in relation to Koda…

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

Great blog posts from last week:

• How To Be A Role Model For Your Students (And Not An Internet Troll) – Smart Classroom Management

  Who you are and how you carry yourself has a powerful impact on student behavior. More than most teachers realize.

• Jan Resseger: Will the Biden Administration Revive the Failed Policies of NCLB and Obama? | Diane Ravitch’s blog

  A few years ago, someone coined the term “zombie policies” to describe policies that fail again and again, yet never go away. One such zombie is “merit pay,” which has never succeeded yet never dies an ignominious death or loss of reputation.

• 15 Best Story-Driven Video Games | TheGamer

  If you’re really into good storytelling in your video games, then these story-driven games with excellent plots will be right up your alley. Games stick with us for a variety of reasons.

• The 25 Best Interactive Story Games

  Each new generation of video games promises more polygons, pixels, and processing power than ever before. Developers gush about how the latest PlayStation and Xbox consoles deliver buzzwords like bloom lighting, particle effects, 4K, ray tracing, an…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Combine Canva and TeacherMade to Create Online Activities

  Canva offers nearly two thousand worksheet templates for teachers to copy and modify. All of the templates can be downloaded as PDFs. You could print them and give them to your students to complete.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Mult.dev – A New Way to Quickly Make an Animated Map

  Mult.dev is a new mapping tool that I recently learned about through Maps Mania. Mult.dev does just one thing but does it very well. That thing is create animated maps illustrating the connections and travel distance between two or more places. To c…

• Mapping NOAA’s New Climate Normals – The Map Room

  This month NOAA updated the official U.S climate normals. You know how in a weather forecast a meteorologist talks about normal temperatures or normal amounts of rain? The climate normals define what normal is: they take into account weather over th…

• 5 Steps to Choose Your Summer PD – Teacher Professional Development

  Choosing your summer PD is essential as we look forward to the fall. Just as we discuss personalizing learning for students, we as teachers have a responsibility to personalize learning for ourselves.

• 10 Things to Love about ClubHouse – Angela Maiers – Virtual Keynote Speaker – #YouMatter

  Hi Friends, You may have heard me or someone you know mention the social media app Clubhouse, and I am not going to be shy about how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE this space. I want to make the case now for you. So here are the 10 things that I love the mos…

• How to Make a Back to the Future Fade Effect with Google Sheets – Classroom Powerups

  This one is going out to Jason Howse (@MrHExperience). During the #XPLAP conversation on Tuesday Jason asked for ideas on a Back to the Future type of theme. I suggested the fading in and out effect which in my mind could be accomplished with the Ba…

• Oregon Trail Gets A Makeover With More Accurate Native American Representation : NPR

  Jazz Halfmoon, 38, remembers playing the educational video game Oregon Trail as a reward for doing well in class. “It was on a super-old computer,” she says. “The green screen was like the only color.”

• DNA and the Science of Genetic Engineering | PBS LearningMedia

• New law of physics helps humans and robots grasp the friction of touch | NSF – National Science Foundation

  Although robotic devices are used in everything from assembly lines to medicine, engineers have difficulty accounting for the friction that occurs when robots grip objects — particularly in wet environments. U.S.

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Find Public Google Docs, Slides, Forms, Sheets, and Drawings

  Last week I published an animated GIF of how to search by domain to find publicly shared Google Workspaces files. Over the weekend I was asked if I had a video of the process.

• Control Alt Achieve: Google Docs Calendar Templates for the 2021-2022 School Year

  With this school year winding down, many folks may already be planning for next school year. One of those tasks may be to put together a calendar for parents or staff or others.

• Free Technology for Teachers: The Differences Between Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

  One of the ten big topics to be covered in detail during the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp is how to use augmented reality and virtual reality in education. It’s important to note that while these topics are similar, there are some distinct …

• Amazing implementation of Minecraft: Good Trouble Lessons – NCCE’s Tech Savvy Teacher Blog

  Mike is currently the Instructional Program Director for the Montana Digital Academy, Montana’s state virtual school.

• PILOTed: We Need More F-words in Education

  Dave called for Fiero and Flow to drive learning; with them we engage learners and motivate them to put in the hard work of learning. Fiero is the feeling when you have accomplished something momentous.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Moving Files Between Google Workspaces Accounts

  It’s that time of the year when some people are winding down their time in one school district in anticipation of a summer break before moving onto a new school district in the fall. For some people that means they have to figure out what to with th…

• Control Alt Achieve: End-Of-Year Google Classroom Clean-up Tips

  (Note: The video below is from 2019 but the content is still relevant. I have updated a few of the images in the written directions to reflect some minor changes, such as “To do” now being called “To review”.

• The Core of Racial Equity

  Assistant principal, Jami Fowler-White provides 4 ways to become a more equitable school and district.

• How to use ImportRange in Google Sheets – Classroom Powerups

  When it comes to Google Sheets I am an enthusiastic Novice BUT I have learned a few useful tricks and favorite applications over the years. What is Importrange?

• Free Technology for Teachers: Three Good Options for Drawing on Digital Maps

  Creating layers and tours in Google Earth and Google My Maps can be a great way for students to assemble collections of geolocated information to summarize research, create a book tour, or even develop safe walking and biking routes.

• NEPC: Five Myths About Teaching | Diane Ravitch’s blog

  The National Education Policy Center is a think tank known for its incisive reviews, studies, and reports. In this post, it demolishes five myths about teaching. Myth 1: Evaluating teachers based on student test results is fair, objective, and effec…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Ten Google Tips for Using Audio and Video in Google Slides

  Besides looking at the calendar and my own students’ behavior, the other way I know the school year is winding down is the uptick in questions that I get about making slideshows for end-of-year school activities.

• Science Made Simple: What Are Batteries and How Do They Work?

  Batteries and similar devices accept, store, and release electricity on demand. Batteries use chemistry, in the form of chemical potential, to store energy, just like many other everyday energy sources. For example, logs store energy in their chemic…

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Embed Word Documents Into a Blog or Website

  One of last week’s most popular posts was this one highlighting my favorite “hidden” features of Office 365 tools. To start this week I have another hidden Office 365 feature that you might find handy. That feature is the option to embed Word docume…

• link.springer.com

  Using US panel data on young workers, we demonstrate that those who receive performance pay are more likely to consume alcohol and illicit drugs. Recognizing that this likely reflects worker sorting, we first control for risk, ability, and personali…

• Physics 101: What Is Higgs Boson and Higgs Field? | IE

  Along with dozens of other outlets, we recently reported on the results of a new study that may show that the Standard Model of Particle Physics is irretrievably broken. On the other hand, other studies have shown that it may not be broken at all.

• Climate-friendly microbes recycle carbon without making methane | Science News

  Earth’s hot springs and hydrothermal vents are home to a previously unidentified group of archaea.

• 4-strategies-implementing-standards-based-learning

  When the teachers and administrators at a middle school determined that A–F grades didn’t align with their goals, they began a years-long shift in how they assess student learning.

• How I Portfolio — Teachers Going Gradeless

  After students are exposed to the different cultures, foundational myths, and modes of communication they choose if they want to work independently or with a partner if they want to create a blog, podcast, or video channel, and they choose a culture…

• A Principal’s Reflections: Empowerment Through Choice

  Agency in the classroom is about giving students more control over their learning through greater autonomy and purpose. It is driven by many factors, one of which is choice.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

ICYMI – Here are more great blog posts from this past week:

• Timeline: Key Events in U.S. History that Defined Generations

  Looking back at history is a necessity when trying to understand what the future may hold.

• Infographic Of The Week: “Key Events in U.S. History that Defined Generations” | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  I’ve been sharing an infographic or two each week, and you can find previous ones here. Here’s my latest pick, Timeline:Key Events in U.S. History that Defined Generations , from Visual Capitalist. You can find more information on it – and a bigger …

• The Best Twenty Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2021 – Part One | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  As regular readers know, for the past thirteen years I’ve been publishing about twenty-five different bi-annual lists highlighting the best educational resources around (along with tons of other “Best” lists). You can see them all here.

• CBC Radio – sounds-of-a-predator-horses-are-well-diggers-grass-defuses-a-toxic-explosive-and-more

  Researchers have genetically modified a wild grass to metabolize toxic pollutants left behind by military explosives. This is the first time that genetically modified plants have been successfully used to clean up organic pollutants.

• Grading for Equity: Interactive Self-Assessment – i ❤ edu

  Our site has recently begun the journey of evaluating our grading practices through a deep dive into the book, “Grading for Equity“, by Joe Feldman.

• 55 Ways To Be Bad At Classroom Management – Smart Classroom Management

  This post isn’t meant to be humorous. It isn’t meant to be judgemental or hypercritical or make you feel like a failure. It’s meant to be helpful.

• Is SAMR Dead? | Tech & Learning

• The Invisible Technology Integration Matrix | TIM

• how-do-we-create-the-space-to-talk-about-race

  The National Education Association’s Centre for Social Justice has ten principles for talking about race in school. Part of the resource is a framework of questions you might use to scaffold discussion and dialogue.

• A safe space: Medical researchers take a ‘virtual’ route to reach young | YaleNews

  For years, Dr. Asher Marks, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine and director of the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Program at Yale New Haven Hospital, has urged his young patients to attend support groups.

• City Guesser – Can you guess what city you’re in?

  To begin the guessing game, select a location or difficulty. Explore the far reaches of the world and take a wild guess of where you are it. Be sure to look at street signs and cars!

• Free Technology for Teachers: Knowt Now Offers Public Galleries of Notes, Flashcards, and Quizzes

  Knowt is a neat service that I’ve featured a few times over the last couple of years. It’s a service that will automatically generate flashcards and quizzes from any document that you import into it.

• I Like This New Video From Nike On Taking Risks & Trying New Things | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  I’m adding this new video from Nike to The Best Posts, Articles & Videos About Learning From Mistakes & Failures:

• 5 teaching practices to keep from remote learning – Ditch That Textbook

  A backchannel is a place where we can swap text-based messages in real time. It’s like the chat feature in videoconferencing. Some of us may have used backchannel chats. Or maybe your students used them in certain apps or tools.

• Love Zoom chat? 5 ways to keep it in face-to-face classes – Ditch That Textbook

  Back in face-to-face classes, we can keep the engagement of the Zoom chat. Here are five options you can use. During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, teachers found lots of things they HATED about remote teaching.

• Free Technology for Teachers: CodePen – See How Web Apps Come Together

  CodePen is a code editing environment in which students can see how HTML, CSS, and JavaScript work together to form web applications. As you can see in the screenshot that I’ve included below, the screen is divided into four parts.

• Russ on Reading: Defeating the Science of Reading Narrative, Part 1: Focus on the Child

  Last week I wrote a post, Unsettling the Science of Reading Narrative that highlighted a new report from the Literacy Research Association, on dyslexia and the Science of Reading.

• Mind games: How gaming can play a positive role in mental health – Stories

  As a child, John Kieswetter played video games with his younger sister and two cousins who lived nearby as often as he could. Kieswetter kept playing into adulthood and became even more passionate about gaming. He enjoyed playing with friends and me…

• Cliff Mass Weather Blog: The Subtleties of Wind Energy in Washington State

  There have been a number of stories in local media about wind energy in Washington State, including questions about its availability through…

• Trauma-Informed Classrooms for All | Stories From School

  There is no denying it. Education is changing due to Covid-19. And, to be honest, it needs to. We have been stuck in a rut for a long time, and much needed change is long overdue. This last year I feel like the veil was lifted, and the dark and ugly…

• Control Alt Achieve: How Big is Space? 4 Simulations to Show

  Astronomy has always been a favorite topic of mine. From the time I was a child, I have loved learning about the planets, stars, other galaxies, black holes, supernovas, and more. One thing that I have always struggled with though is grasping the ac…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Strange Borders – A Geography Lesson

  Yesterday afternoon I read an interesting article titled Belgian Farmer Accidentally Moves French Border. The whole story is almost exactly what the title says. A farmer moved a stone that was in his way when plowing a field.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Ten Good Tools for Telling Stories With Pictures

  This is an update to a blog post that I published six years ago on this topic. Some of the tools in the original post are either no longer available or have implemented a subscription-based business model. Composing a story from scratch comes natura…

• An Open Letter To Athletic Directors • Teched Up Teacher

  States like Colorado, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania are moving toward recognizing esports as a varsity sport at the state level. The National Federation for High School Sports has partnered with PlayVS to recognize esports a varsity sport for their m…

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Find Published Google Workspaces Files

  Refining Google searches according to domain is one of my favorite ways to get students to look beyond the first couple of pages of their typical Google search queries.

• Universally Designed Blended Learning – Dr. Catlin Tucker

  There are two things I am certain of in education. First, learner variability is the norm, not the exception. Second, technology is here to stay.

• Virtual lab ushers in next generation of biologists – Unreal Engine

  Building on Baktybek’s virtual lab and working to his specifications, Carolina created the procedures and experiments. Hand animations were used to simulate the basic actions and movements needed to perform the tests, including the manipulation of t…

• addressing-race-and-racism-head-classroom

  From featuring stories of resistance to making sure kids see themselves represented in the classroom, a few things to keep in mind when teaching American history. Teaching students U.S.

• Video shows how high you would be able to jump on each planet (WITH PLUTO) : space

  394Posted by5 days ago Sorry, this post has been removed by the moderators of r/space.Moderators remove posts from feeds for a variety of reasons, including keeping communities safe, civil, and true to their purpose.

• A Principal’s Reflections: Student Success Relies on Future-Proofing Learning

  Imagine if we all had a crystal ball? It sure would have come in handy prior to the pandemic.

• Revolution School: When “Reimagining School” Actually Happens | Cult of Pedagogy

  In almost every conversation I have with another educator—as long as we have the luxury of time to let our thoughts wander around some—we end up at a place where we start to fantasize.

• Curriculum – NASEF | Free High School Esports Clubs

  Middle School In partnership with the Orange County Department of Education (OCDE) and local middle school administrators and educators from Orange County, NASEF has published semester-long modules of integrated programs of study, focusing on esport…

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sharing Diigo Links and Resources (weekly)

More and more amazing blog posts from this past week (in case you missed some):

• Delight 17: New Tech – Ideas and Thoughts

• Biden Chooses Ex-Obama Official for Key Position in Department of Education | Diane Ravitch’s blog

  During the Obama administration, Roberto Rodriguez was the White House advisor on education. He vigorously supported the Race to the Top program, the Common Core standards, and high-stakes testing. All of these initiatives failed to improve student …

• Some Favorite Picture Books to Discuss Our Perception of Others – Pernille Ripp

  I love using picture books to help my students relate to the world and grow as thinkers and humans and recognizing that our perception of others greatly influences how we treat them as is a great discussion to have repeatedly. So why not offer up a …

• Watching a coral reef die as climate change devastates one of the most pristine tropical island areas on Earth

  The Chagos Archipelago is one of the most remote, seemingly idyllic places on Earth. Coconut-covered sandy beaches with incredible bird life rim tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, hundreds of miles from any continent.

• Researchers create an effective RNA vaccine for malaria

  Malaria remains a significant problem facing Africa. Of the 409,000 worldwide malaria deaths estimated by the WHO in 2019, 94 percent of all cases occurred in Africa.

• Could VR Be the Missing Piece in Meaningful Language Instruction? | EdSurge News

• Qualcomm and VictoryXR collaborate on game-changing VR education program | Qualcomm

• blendEDTECHlearning – Minecraft

  All Minecraft Sessions require participants to have a Windows 10 device, MAC, Chromebook (that supports Android apps), or iPad. Minecraft Immersion, from crafting your first blocks to multiplayer games to learning how to use across any subject or gr…

• Oculus will sell you a Quest 2 headset that doesn’t need Facebook for an extra $500 | PC Gamer

  The Oculus Quest 2 is a hell of a lot of hardware for $299. In fact, we’re convinced that Facebook is making a loss on each unit sold. Even so, that pricing is one of the main reasons it’s the most popular headset on Steam and our pick as the best V…

• stemteachingtools.org

• I’ve Begun Having Students Play This Game In My Concurrent Classroom & It’s Been Working Well! | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

  We’ve recently begun concurrent teaching and, as anyone who’s been doing it can tell you, it’s tough.

• Free Technology for Teachers: What is Hotlinking? – Why You Should Avoid It

  This morning I had a chat with a colleague who was having a little issue with his website not displaying the images that he was inserting into blog posts. The problem was that he was trying to insert images via URL instead of uploading images to hos…

• Structure Strips: Training wheels for making claims with evidence | History Tech

  Sure. There are probably some of you bike riding savants who had no need for them. You just hopped on and started riding, jumping ramps, and weaving through traffic – no problem. But most of us needed them to get started.

• Fortnite Messed Up and Failed Forward – Classroom Powerups

  The most recent season of Fortnite opened with a cool cut scene introducing the new PRIMAL theme. Players were then dropped into a new map and a whole slew of new game mechanics. It’s one of the things that I am most inspired by when making class co…

• Free Technology for Teachers: 7 Interesting Features You Can Add to Google Sites

  Once you’ve made the switch to the current version of Google Sites, you might want to go beyond the basics to add some interesting features to your site to make it a one-stop shop for all of your students’ and parents’ needs.

• How to Create an SEL Choice Board [+ Template and Activities]

  Over the last year, teachers and staff have heroically adjusted instruction to meet the needs of at-home learners.

• Star Wars STEM Activities for May the 4th Be With You Science | Science Buddies Blog

  May the 4th be with you! Tie simple science explorations in with Star Wars for Star Wars Day. Great STEM ideas for the classroom or for family science with kids at home. Connect favorite characters, epic movie scenes, Star Wars lore, and more with h…

• Free Technology for Teachers: Sherlock Bones – A Virtual Owl Pellet Dissection Activity

  One of the great things about living where I do is that a walk in the woods is always just a few steps away. One of my favorite things about walking in the woods is finding all kinds of neat, natural things including dropped moose and deer antlers.

• Free Technology for Teachers: New Map-based History Lessons from DocsTeach

  DocsTeach is one of my go-to resources for history teachers. I like it so much that I feature it in my Teaching History With Technology course.

• On Teaching Reading, Spelling, and Related Subjects – Alfie Kohn

  Half Truths About Whole Language “Kids aren’t learning how to read these days because ivory-tower ideologues have eliminated the teaching of necessary basic skills in favor of feel-good, PC fads like Whole Language.

• www.washingtonpost.com

  Is teaching reading really a one-size-fits-all endeavor?

• link.springer.com

  There is a widespread consensus in the research community that reading instruction in English should first focus on teaching letter (grapheme) to sound (phoneme) correspondences rather than adopt meaning-based reading approaches such as whole langua…

• Dyslexia

• The Role of Stories in Beginning Reading – Language Magazine

  The goal of beginning reading instruction is to help students develop a pleasure-reading habit.

• Literacy Research Association Releases Dyslexia Research Report

  Dyslexia is the currently popular explanation for the fact that some children experience much more difficulty than others in becoming literate. The explanation hypothesizes a neurological difference that also confers a range of benefits and necessit…

• Peer Feedback: Making It Meaningful – Dr. Catlin Tucker

  Choice is a powerful motivator. Giving students meaningful choices can help them to successfully complete tasks. So, why not use this format for peer editing? Building student agency into the peer feedback process removes barriers and encourages stu…

• Using Future Goals – Hockey Scholar to Teach STEM Concepts

• 1500 Drones in Shanghai form a QR code in the sky to promote a Game – Fan Engagement and Gaming Experience Platform

• Free Technology for Teachers: How to Add Voice Recordings to Google Forms

  Earlier this year I shared a series of videos about how to add voice comments to Google Documents, Google Slides, and Google Classroom. All of those videos featured the use of a free Chrome extension called Mote. Over the weekend Mote added support …

• What’s to be Proud of? LGBTQ Pride Month

  How does one even begin to justify pride, the first of the Seven Deadly Sins? Then, to compound the challenge, how to write about LGBTQ Pride, when same-sex love and transgender self-expression are still considered “sinful” by so many around the wor…

• Choose Your Own Adventure Professional Development

  Professional Development can be an adventure! Yes, you can create fun, exciting learning. In this show, learn how Laurie Guyon uses hyperdocs and a “choose your own adventure” format.

• Barriers to purchasing education technology — ICT & Computing in Education

  Notwithstanding those figures, the points made below still obtain. Indeed, in a way the stats serve to highlight the fact that it takes an out-of-the ordinary set of circumstances to make people change their default behaviour.

• We’re Not Even At Equality Yet | The Jose Vilson

  A jury of Derek Chauvin’s “peers” found him guilty on all counts of murder: unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

• Free Technology for Teachers: Ten Google Workspaces Features for Teachers You Might Be Overlooking

  Google Workspaces (formerly known as G Suite, Google Apps, and just plain Google Drive) has a lot of great features for teachers and students. Some of them are obvious while others might be considered “hidden” features.

• SEL Leaders, not Heroes | Mike Kaechele

  This past Thursday was Earth Day and I came across two inspiring stories. The first was Mari Copeny, “Little Miss Flint” and “Future President.” Mari is 13 years old, but has been an advocate for clean water in Flint, Michigan and against environmen…

• better-breakout-room-experience-students

  Five strategies that help middle and high school students form a community of learners in the virtual classroom. The pandemic has completely transformed the way we teach and the way students interact.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.