Educational Resource: The NEW Periodic Table Song (In Order)

Check out this Educational Resource: "The NEW Periodic Table Song (In Order)"

Educational Resource: How to write a great essay in ten simple steps

A nice educational resource looking at "How to write a great essay in ten simple steps."

Writing is a process that is impossible to master and as difficult to teach. It requires intellectual curiosity and drive. This post is helpful.

Education: Improving Participation with Talk Moves

My principal suggested checking out this Education Video: Improving Participation with Talk Moves

What are your thoughts on these techniques?

Educational Resource: Larry Ferlazzo's The Best Resources For Beginning iPad Users

For those new to iPads in education - viewing and finding resources can be overwhelming. Some may want to check out the Educational Resource: Larry Ferlazzo's The Best Resources For Beginning iPad Users

Educational Resource: Apps for Children with Special Needs

Educators should check out the Educational Resource: Apps for Children with Special Needs



It is important for educators to find useful ways to make their classrooms more efficient and effective.

Education Resource: A Google a Day

I offer my kids the chance to partake in this challenge every day. Their directions:

Learning to Search:

Information is more readily available. With the internet and the use of smart phones information is accessible throughout your daily life. Try http://www.agoogleaday.com to test your search skills. These trivia questions force you to search and think at the same time. Every day brings a new challenge.

Check out and test your skills: http://www.agoogleaday.com - report back your score and beat your classmates or simply improve your own score.

Education Resource: alwaysprepped

Check out the free beta sign up for alwaysprepped - as the site states "One login. One product. Your education data, all in one place."

As teachers are asked to use more and more data in the classroom I believe these type of data sites will become more and more common.

Teachers will seek (and should be seeking) easy ways to see all the data in one place. With nation wide tests, district assessments, classroom grades, observations, IEPs, etc the data is only increasing and currently education forces teachers to check and monitor several different sites for their students.
While this site is only in the beta version - I am curious if they are going to be able to truly integrate the data from all the various locations for teachers. This site is one to keep your eye on because if it can live up to their claim it could be extremely helpful for teacher efficiency and effectiveness.

Educational Resource: iPad in Education

As the site explains: "This Wiki houses information related to the iPad in Education sponsored by the Department of Educational Technology in the School District of Palm Beach County."

The site provides an iPad Implementation Planning Guide - and concepts to consider when purchasing iPads. The site offers their view points on protective cases, App Store volume purchasing, and much more.

This site also provides Online Training Videos and lesson plan ideas. I highly recommend checking out this site if you are a teacher or administrator.

Education Resource: Hunger Games Challenge

Engaging students in critical thinking is always a challenge struggle educurious provides a unique opportunity. Check out http://educurious.org/try/hungergameschallenge. Hunger Games is both an engaging book and a potential connection to social studies.


Students will use evidence from the text to infer what might have lead to Panem, the post-apocalyptic world of The Hunger Games." In addition "Students will also use primary source documents found through research to support their analsyes. Communicate and inform others about what they've learned and how it applies to our world. Check in with Experts in the field who provide feedback on the sudents project." The Final Project has students "write an informative essay analyzing the evidence ofa social, political, or environmental issue that may have led to Katniss's world"

Educational Resource: Animations: Critical Thinking

I highly recommend checking out this great educational resource here. As the site states

"Bridge8 cowrote produced, animated and directed a series of six critical thinking animations for TechNyou, an emerging technologies public information resource funded by the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIISRTE).

It forms part of an education resource which covers basic logic, faulty arguments and the developing critical thinking skills. It’s designed for secondary school years 8-10  (that’s 12-15 year olds, but is just as appropriate for a general adult audience) and focuses on science issues. The accompanying education resource is found here: https://education.technyou.edu.au/critical-thinking"

Educational Resource: 26 iBooks Author How-to Videos

I love my 1:1 iPads. The ability to individualize and differentiate provides infinite possibilites within the classroom.

One of the tools that has enabled me to revolutionalize my classroom is iBooks Author. Free Technology for Teachers post "26 iBooks Author How-to Videos" provides a great resource for teachers using iBooks or iPads.

I highly recommend checking out Richard Byrne's post "26 iBooks Author How-to Videos."

Video: Sensory Overload (Interacting with Autism Project)

This post: Sensory Overload (Interacting with Autism Project) was both informative and interesting.

As the post states: "Some people with autism have difficulty processing intense, multiple sensory experiences at once. This animation gives the viewer a glimpse into sensory overload, and how often our sensory experiences intertwine in everyday life."

Video:

Election Resource: PenPal News

Check out PenPal News "Connect Your Class to the World with PenPal News!" Here is there site.

Civic engagement from students is not the easiest accomplishment - my students often will seek an answer prompted from a teacher driven question. But my hope is to create a classroom where they become inquisitive engaged citizens - no easy task. My end goal is to foster students who can read, write, and think critically and independently.

Educational Post: 48 #iPad #Apps That #Teachers and Parents Love

My wife shared this post - "48 #iPad #Apps That #Teachers and Parents Love."

In my humble opinion with the proper structure and implementation the iPad can transform the classroom enabling students to achieve amazing growth and learning.

My students utilize iBooks - as I actually also use the Mac App iBooks Author to create material for my students while also allowing them to create their own iBook for my future classes. Some of the other apps on this site are paid apps which I do not utilize but it is an interesting list to examine. I enjoy consulting these lists as I am always seeking additional material - always hoping to find another great resource for my classroom. At some point I should create my list of favorite apps.

Great Education iPad Resoure: Creative Uses for the iPad in the Classroom

Creative Uses for iPads in the Classroom p this is a great slideshare from Mike Amante

Creative Uses for iPad in the Classroom from Mike Amante

Educational Resource: My Election Unit

For anyone interested in checking out my election unit resources and activities check out my site.

Feel free to participate and complete any activities - or to use them in your classroom.

I am really excited by this unit and all the possibilities.
https://sites.google.com/a/nssd112.org/hullsocialstudies/home/socialstudiesexploration/election-unit

Educational Video: The Principle of Comparative Advantage - 60 Second Adventures in Economics

Economics is a topic that is supposed to be taught in my class yet I often struggle to truly provide in depth coverage of the topic. My students walk away with the basic principles but in 7th grade I work to enable them to understand the basics - the series of educational videos presented here from the "The Open University" explaining 6 key economic terms in 60 seconds each is an interesting set of resources.   I will be sharing the 6 videos on my blog one each day. Each video is a good starting point to discussion - these videos are not unarguable facts but instead a start to a difficult conversation.

Video Four: The Principle of Comparative Advantage - 60 Second Adventures in Economics "David Ricardo's famous economic model, predicts that if there are just two countries and two products both can be better off if they specialise and trade in the thing they're relatively best at.

Educational Resource: The Week in Rap

One of my favorite websites - a website I utilize every Friday - is the Week in Rap. The site provides a 90 second recap of the week in news and questions for students to answer. My students practice the basic questions (who, when, where, what, how, and why) using this resource. A subscription is required. But check out their site here. I highly recommend the Week in Rap.

Election Unit: It’s Not a Pipe: Teaching Kids to Read the Media

As the election continues to approach I am continually searching for additional resources. This blog "It’s Not a Pipe: Teaching Kids to Read the Media" provides some interesting ideas to incorporate into the classroom. I recommend checking out the blog post.

Educational Blogs: 50 Best Blogs for Special Ed Teachers (Updated)

Special education teachers often have unique needs for the classroom - and many often ask for the best sources to learn about innovations, resources, and more.

This post is a great resource for any special education teacher. The post provides blog titles for teachers to follow and a brief description of each blog. Check out "50 Best Blogs for Special Ed Teachers (Updated)" here.