My first novel is about a mountain lion in northern New Hampshire that kills other animals and some people. I chose a Catamount because they are very effective stalkers and they were, at one time, indigenous to New England. There are many who claim that these magnificent animals are still around. Until I saw this blog post by Bill Gates, I never really considered that a mountain lion would actually be quite far down on the list of dangerous killers. Hmm! I wonder if one of my next novels will have to be titled “Mosquitos, A North Country Thriller”. Check out Mr. Gate’s post. It is eye opening. “Why I’d Rather Cuddle with a Shark than a Kissing Bug” By Bill Gates
Tag Archives: textbooks
“One Thousand Categorized The Best List from Larry Ferlazzo’s Blog”
I don’t know when this guy sleeps but Larry Ferlazzo is an incredible resource for all things relating to education and curriculum. He has categorized his “Best Lists”. This compilation just might be the most complete collection of education resources on the Internet.
Use Google Drawings for brain-friendly visual note taking from Matt Miller
Use Google Drawings for brain-friendly visual note taking
Matt Miller has some interesting ideas on how to use Google Drawing for visual note taking.
“60 Things Students Create to Demonstrate What they Know” from “TeachThought”
There are a lot of ways for students to demonstrate what they know. Some of them require using technology some don’t. This list from “TeachThought” has some good suggestions.
“60 Things Students Create to Demonstrate What they Know”
Curated Links for Education on Sccop It
Reflections on being a computer technology integrator
Three years ago, I accepted the computer technology integration specialist position in our district. For a period of time, I conducted my own computer technology classes. The philosophy changed from treating computer training as something separate to integrating technology tools into all curriculum areas. These tools are not separate from day to day activities. They are an integral part of them. I agreed that computers should be used in all classrooms in order to enhance student learning, creativity, and innovation. Technology may not be appropriate for every task but it certainly paves the way to do things that were impossible only a few years ago. With this in mind, I began to try to undertake the task of working with both students and staff to enhance and hopefully even redefine learning in the classroom. Recently, I had the opportunity to reflect on my job description. Here is an, at least, partial list of my responsibilities theses past few years. In some cases, teachers and students have embraced these tools either on their own or through collaboration with me. Some have been more reticent. Progress has been made but there is still work to do. Becoming a Google Apps for Education district has played an very important role in following our vision of integration. Blizzard Bags, Google Classroom and cloud softwares such as WeVideo have also contributed. Publishing, student centered, project-based multimedia productions are one of the ways to take advantage of what we couldn’t imagine doing in the past.
Computer Technology Integrator:
Maintain a vision for district-wide integration of technology – Short and long range planning- model using technology to enhance student learning – model digital citizenship
Work with State and district guidelines and standards – ICT standards, district technology plan
Help draft district technology plan
Co-Chair Technology Taskforce – help coordinate and conduct professional development workshops
Model and teach research skills
Google Administrator for organizations, domains and aliases
Trainer for Google Apps, blizzard bags, classroom, etc
Trainer for software usage on board and in the cloud – work with different platforms
Group presenter in schools and Christa MCAuliffe Conference – staff development
Work with students and teachers to integrate technologies – collaboration – co-teach
One on one and group tutoring
On going monitoring of blogs, websites, twitter, etc. to keep up with latest trends, to find new ideas, trends, tools, and interact with experts – find and share resources
Try out new things – find out which software and hardware will fit student and teacher needs
Maintain blog and website in order to share ideas and disseminate information with other staff members – how to guides
Curate other websites to maintain useful educational links
Work with IT to provide appropriate infrastructure for technology based instruction
Read periodicals and books and attend workshops – professional learning community
Contact staff members to collaborate – Schedule and keep appointments
Maintain computer lab equipment and green screen room
Recommend and arrange for purchase of equipment such as cameras, video cameras, computers, laptops, Chromebook carts, etc.
Troubleshoot software and hardware glitches on the fly, especially during class – help teachers overcome fear of failure
Adapt to ever changing technologies – model lifelong learning
Learn from everyone including students
Work in different curriculum areas
Teaching background – ability to work in a classroom environment
Written and oral communication skills
Design curriculum – familiarity with educational philosophies, methods of instruction and align these with technology
Developing webinars – streaming video
Share visual imaging skills
Share skills learned from working with a publisher
Do More With Google-55 Tips To Make This School Year Yours
There are some interesting tips here. I am sure most of you will want to “start your Lincoln car by voice”.
Unfortunately, “Instaccart” home grocery delivery isn’t available in New Hampshire. Not yet anyway.
Editing “Word”, “Excel”, and “PowerPoint” documents in “Google Docs”, “Sheets”, and “Slides” could come in handy.
Who knew? Check out the tips here: 55 Tips to make this school year yours
The Moving Image Archive
This is a very large collection of old movie clips, TV shows, TV ads, and newsreels etc. The clips cover an incredible array of topics. For older folks, there is much nostalgia here. For younger people, this is a chance to view clips they have not had the opportunity to see before. Many if not most of the clips have creative commons attributes and might be useful for school projects.
A fun Smart Phone App for Bird Lovers
If you have a smart phone check out Cornell University’s “Merlin Bird ID”. If you see a bird you are not familiar with, answer five questions. Where? When? What size? Color? Was the bird…?
When you have answered the questions, the app searches its database and creates a list of pictures for all of the possible matches. It also provides information on the bird, a location map, and recordings of the bird’s songs and calls. “Merlin Bird ID” is available from the “Google App Store” and from “Google Play”. Try playing the recordings and see how nearby birds react.
20 Chrome Apps Every Teacher Should Know About And An Interesting Article On Narrative Writing Across All Content Areas
Educational Technology and Mobile Learning have created a list of 22 Google Chrome Apps that are useful for education. The list is not exhaustive but I have found most of these to be useful.
Here is another article that is interesting look at Argument Writing across Content Areas by Heather Wolpert-Gawron. I am reading Minds Made For Stories by UNH English Professor by Thomas Newkirk. Professor Newkirk challenges the idea that narrative writing and informational writing are different. He maintains that narrative storytelling is, in his own words, the Mother of all Modes” of discourse. Both Wolpert-Gawon’s and Newkirk’s arguments are very compelling and should be considered as the Common Core calls for more emphasis on information reading and writing.
10 Classroom Ideas To Try in 2015 fromEdWeek
EdWeek for teachers has 10 ideas for 2015. Some I have already used but some have some interesting twists that look quite interesting and effective. 10 Classroom Ideas to try in 2015. The Twitter Tuesday idea is new to me. Here is a great intro to Twitter from Miles MacFarlane. Click here to Check out his poster on how to use Twitter. Twitter is my lifeline to finding and sharing ideas.