A Good Interactive Infographic About Mount Everest

Are You Ready to Tackle Everest? is a nice infographic produced by Winfields Outdoors, an outfitter in the UK. The infographic is arranged as a flowchart of the process one goes through in order to climb Mount Everest. The chart starts with the basics of getting outdoors and progresses through training, buying equipment, and returning from the summit. At each stop in the flowchart you will find links to articles about each topic. The infographic includes links to articles from National Geographic about equipment changes, links to fitness training plans, and links to articles about fundraising for a climb.

Applications for Education
Every spring I publish a list of resources for teaching about Mount Everest. Concepts in math, science, geography, and geology can be covered while teaching about Mount Everest. You can find last year's list here. Are Your Ready to Tackle Mount Everest? provides a bunch of good resources that will be helpful in teaching future lessons about Mount Everest.

H/T to The Adventure Blog. 

Thanksgiving Airline Travel Tips

I have been fortunate to be able to travel to dozens of schools and conferences every year for the last few years. In the process I've picked up a lot of tips that can make airline travel bearable. My friends know this and one, who is a teacher and is traveling with her children tomorrow, asked if I could share some tips for Thanksgiving airline travel.

1. Get there early! This is obvious, but it cannot be stressed enough. Early usually means an hour before flight time. However, during this time of year early is two hours before a domestic flight time.

2. Plan for delays and cancellations. Even if it is bright and sunny at your home and at your destination, there can be delays to your flights. Before you get to the airport look at alternate flights to your destination that are available on your airline. You can do this by doing a dummy booking on the airline's website (stop before the field asking for your credit card). Write down those flight numbers and keep them handy in case of significant delay or cancellation. This will save the airline agent time and relieve a bit of your stress if you know what your options are.

3. Know your airline's reservations desk phone number. When your flight gets delayed or cancelled you will have to wait in line to see an airline agent. Get on the phone with the airline's reservation desk while you're waiting in line. Often you will get through on the phone before you get to the front of an airport line. Give the phone agent the alternate flight numbers that you found before you left your house.

4. Bring a small power strip and make friends. There are never enough outlets to go around in an airport terminal. Bring a small power strip (I found one at Walmart that has four outlets with a one foot cord) and then you only need to find one outlet to charge your phone and those your friends, family, or strangers.

5. Check-in online as early as possible. Almost every airline allows you to start checking in for your flight 24 hours before departure. Check-in as early as possible to find the best possible seat. Let's say your original ticket has you stuck in the middle seat, you may find that when you check-in a window or aisle seat has opened up due to someone changing his/her reservation. Be aware that some airlines charge a fee if you don't check-in online.

For the nervous flyers:
I was once a very nervous flyer. That changed once I realized that the pilots want to land safely just as much as I do. Pilots won't fly unless they feel safe. Those sounds you hear the plane making, they're normal.

How to Monitor the Devices Accessing Your Google Account

Google Accounts are great because they allow us to connect to much of our work from almost any mobile device. Of course, the more devices that you connect to your Google Account, the more opportunities there are for your account to be compromised. To help you monitor the devices that are being used to access your Google Account, Google has added a new Devices and Activity section to your Google Account.

To see a list of the devices that have been used to sign into your Google Account, open the security section of your Google Account then select Devices and Activity. If you notice something suspicious, reset the password for your Google Account.

Read more about the new Devices and Activity settings on the Google Apps Updates Blog.  

Watch these videos for help on creating a strong password.

Where Is Street View? Where Isn't Street View?

I love Google Maps Street View because it allows students to see and virtually explore places in ways that geography textbooks simply cannot support. Places like Mount Everest and the Galapagos Islands become accessible to students through Street View. Determining where Street View imagery is available and where it is not available is fairly easy.

For a general overview of all Street View imagery that is available worldwide, check out the map on About Street View. Scroll to about the middle of the page to find the map.

To find out if Street View imagery is available for a specific area drag the Pegman from the lower-right corner of the map onto a street. If the street turns blue, Street View imagery is available for it.

A third way to find Street View imagery is to visit Street View Collections. Street View Collections feature interesting places from around the world. It is in Street View Collections that you will find imagery for Mount Everest, the Taj Mahal, and UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

H/T to The Google Earth Blog for the inspiration for this post. 

Video - How to Use Vocaroo and Remind to Distribute Instructions

Last night I wrote about using Vocaroo and Remind to distribute substitute teacher lesson plans and instructions to students. This morning I had a couple of emails from people who were seeking a little clarification on the process. In the video embedded below I demonstrate the process of using Vocaroo and Remind to distribute instructions to students.