Sunday, November 26, 2017

The Week in Review - Running With Christmas Trees

Good evening from Maine where we're happy to be home after a great couple of days visiting family for Thanksgiving. For 30+ years on Thanksgiving I've gone to watch the road race in my hometown of Manchester, Connecticut. This year was no exception. The race is one of the only ones in the world where you'll find Olympians running in the same event as folks dressed as Christmas trees. It's a great event! Wherever you were this weekend, I hope that you had a good time too.

Here are this week's most popular posts:
1. 7 Good Tools for Surveying Your Audience
2. Three Ways to Broadcast Review Sessions for Students
3. Outline Maps - Simple Geography Games for All
4. Four Tools for Recording Time-stamped Notes While Watching Videos
5. How to Copy Comments in Google Docs
6. This Chrome Extension Helps You Find Books to Borrow
7. ReClipped - Take Notes and Share Notes on Educational Videos

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Three PD Courses Starting This Week

This week will kick-off a fun final month of 2017 for me and, I hope, for you too. This week I am starting three Practical Ed Tech courses.

Tomorrow night at 7pm ET How to Teach With Video begins. This three night event is being taught by Keith Hughes, Tom Richey, and me. We'll cover everything you need to know to feel confident creating and publishing instructional videos in a variety of styles. Learn more and register here.

To Geography and Beyond With Google Earth & Maps begins at 4pm ET on Thursday. In this three week course you'll learn how to use Google Earth and Google Maps in multiple subject areas including language arts, science, math, physical education, and social studies. Learn more and register here.

On Thursday evening at 7pm ET Getting Going With G Suite begins. This five week course is designed for those who are new to using G Suite for Education. This course will cover everything you need to know to integrate Google Drive, Google Classroom, Google Calendar, and Google Sites into your practice. Learn more and register here.

Saturday, November 25, 2017

A Fun Game About Ecosystems

Feed the Dingo is a fun game that teaches students about the importance of maintaining balanced ecosystems. In the game students have to build and maintain a desert ecosystem. The game begins with a blank slate to which students have to add plants and animals. The game plays out over twelve virtual days. Each day students have to add more elements in order to maintain balance in the ecosystem. At the end of each day students are given feedback as to which plants and animals are healthy, which are in danger, and which have died.

Applications for Education
Feed the Dingo is a PBS Learning Media game. To support teachers' use of the game PBS offers some suggested activities including building a small terrarium and playing a series of food web games. PBS Learning Media lists the national science standards this game addresses on the same page that you find the game and teaching suggestions.

Go To Sleep or Cram? - The Benefits of a Good Night's Sleep

With two children under 16 months old, in my house we're well aware of the value of a good night's sleep. That's why I favor getting up early before the kids to work on projects than to try work late after they go to bed. As this TED-Ed lesson explains, students could benefit from adopting the same pattern of getting up early instead of cramming. In The Benefits of a Good Night's Sleep embedded below, students can learn how sleep "resets" the brain. The video also explains how memories are formed and retained by our brains.

A Health and Science Lesson - What Is Fat?

Now that we're into the holiday season, many of us may be concerned about our intake of fats through our favorite holiday treats. But, as students can learn in What is Fat? not all fats are the same. What is Fat? is a TED-Ed lesson that explores the differences between the types of fats that we find in food. The video lesson goes on to explain how hydrogenated fats are created, what the term "partially hydrogenated" means when it is on a nutrition label, and how different fats affect our health. Overall, it's a nice little lesson to use as a flipped lesson in a health class.

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