WeVideo and Vimeo Offer Great Tips for Recording and Editing Videos

Thanks to mobile devices and wealth of video editing tools we can all be video producers today. But creating a good video requires more than just having access to the tools of production. Creating good videos begins with some basic steps like holding your phone or camera the right way and knowing when to zoom with a lens or zoom with your feet.

In this short video WeVideo offers three key tips for shooting better videos.


The Vimeo Video School offers more than five dozen videos about creating better videos. Two of their videos are embedded below.


Quick Focusing Tips from Vimeo Video School on Vimeo.



Zoom vs. Moving Camera from Vimeo Video School on Vimeo.

This older post on the TED Blog offers a list of ten tips for editing video. The tips focus on when and where to cut videos for creating the smoothest video you can. Each tip is accompanied by "before" and "after" samples.

Applications for Education
Between commencements, spring sporting events, banquets, and award ceremonies as the end of the school year approaches there will be lots of occasions for capturing videos of school events. Take advantage of these tips to capture better raw footage that will in turn help you and your students edit better videos.

A Good Place to Find Old Maps Online

Old Maps Online is an online map that you can browse and search to find historical maps to view online, to download, and to print. You can search the map by entering a location or you can just pan and zoom around the world to find historical maps. In the video embedded below I demonstrate how to use Old Maps Online.


Applications for Education
The maps that you and your students find could be used as overlays in the Google Earth layers. You might also use the maps for a local history comparison activity by comparing your students' current vision of where they live with what it looked like in the past.

How to Create an Online Course With Three Simple Tools

Summer is coming (in the northern hemisphere) and for many of us that means spending some time participating in professional development activities as a leader, learner, or both. If you find yourself trying to create some online professional development courses for the summer, I have a new video just for you. 

In this video I demonstrate how to create an online professional development course by using Google Classroom, Screencastify, and EdPuzzle. In the video I show how to use Screencastify to record and build interactive questions into your videos before sharing them in Google Classroom. The video also shows you how to use EdPuzzle to add interactive questions to videos that you find on YouTube then share those activities in Google Classroom. 

On a related note, you might also be interested in these other ways to create online professional development courses to share in your school or school district.

• How to Create an Online Course With ConvertKit
• Five Videos to Build a Google Forms Course
• How to Create a Professional Development Series in Gmail

SplashLearn - More Than Just Fun Math and ELA Practice

When an email about SplashLearn splash landed in my inbox last week I didn't give it much thought because I get dozens of pitches every morning and because at first glance I thought it was just another rote practice app. It turns out that I was wrong about it just being a rote practice app. 

At its core SplashLearn is a service that provides a free and ad-free environment in which students can practice their math and ELA skills. Students can use it in the web browsers on their computers or use the free SplashLearn mobile apps. 

The way that students access the SplashLearn games and other activities is through your free classroom account. As a teacher you sign-up for SplashLearn then create accounts for them. Creating accounts for your students is quick and easy. You can manually enter names (or just initials), import a spreadsheet of names, or import a Google Classroom roster. The students are given little avatars to represent themselves. Students then access SplashLearn by going to the link that you give them and then tap their avatars followed by the image that represents the class password. (See my screenshot below for details). Alternatively, students can open SplashLearn then select "student" and enter the class code. 

As you might have guessed by now, because your students access SplashLearn through the classroom account that you create, you can see their progress in your teacher dashboard. It's in your teacher dashboard that you can find standards-aligned math and ELA activities to assign to your students. To find activities to assign to your students you simply pick math or ELA then the grade level followed by the standard for which you want to find activities. Activities can be assigned to the whole class or to individual students within your class.

Applications for Education

The value of SplashLearn is found in the teacher dashboard. Specifically, the way in which you can find activities and assign them to your students as needed is where SplashLearn becomes valuable. Through that dashboard you can quickly find activities to help your students practice and strengthen their skills while also monitoring their progress.  

Living Wage vs. Minimum Wage

Last night I was reading a discussion on FlyerTalk that got into the question of whether or not tipping should be an expectation of hotel housekeeping staff. That discussion veered off into a bigger question of minimum wage versus livable wage. That discussion reminded me of two resources that I've highlighted in the past to help students understand why minimum wage and livable wage are almost never the same thing. 

The Living Wage Calculator is a great resource hosted by MIT. The Living Wage Calculator displays the current minimum wage and livable wage in all fifty U.S. states, the counties within each state, and the largest metropolitan areas within each state. The data is provided based on individuals and families. For example, the livable wage for a single person in my county is $16.97/hour versus the minimum wage of $12.75 while the livable wage for a family of four with two working adults is $24.04/hour versus the minimum wage of $12.75/hour. To support these calculations the Living Wage Calculator includes a corresponding table of typical expenses for each given location. Those expenses include taxes, housing, transportation, child care, and food. 

Life on Minimum Wage (link opens a Google Doc) is an activity that I developed almost thirteen years ago to help my civics students recognize how difficult it is to save money when your only job(s) pay minimum wage without benefits. To win at Life on Minimum Wage the students have to reach five financial goals that they select. To earn money the students have to complete the tasks of their assigned jobs. The students then have to pay required bills before using money for their selected financial goals. As the game progresses students will be issued "surprise" cards which require them to spend money on things like speeding tickets, trips to a health clinic, and increases in rent. All of the jobs in Life on Minimum Wage are connected so that if one business slows production or closes, the workers of another business are also impacted. The goal here is to demonstrate the effects of a business closing on a small town's economy.

Important notes before using this activity:
I have not adjusted this activity to account for inflation since 2009. You'll probably want to do that.

Before you email me about the Browning rifle goal card, please understand that these were goals chosen by my students in a rural community in which hunting is often a family tradition. You're welcome to change that card for use in your own classroom.