A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet

Guest Post: Author Jeff Gottesfeld

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 02:08:00 +0000

All the way in March, the children's book publisher Candlewick Press (full disclosure: that company is publishing my next picture book, TWENTY-ONE STEPS: GUARDING THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER in March, 2021, with illustrations by the immensely talented Matt Tavares) brought out a free, downloadable picture book for kids, explaining the Covid-19 crisis to them. I was impressed by how quickly it must have come together, and the good that could be done with a PDF download.

And it got me thinking.

I have a pretty active Jewish life. Between my synagogue, family, and study, it was a big anchor for me. Then came Covid-19. And I realized that as much as my Jewish life was disrupted, it was worse for children in Jewish homes. So much of Jewish life is communal. The holidays, observances, festivals, events...it's always the more the merrier. The pandemic made the more the merrier the more the super-spreadering, or something. In any case, kids all over the world were stuck at home, including Jewish kids. They couldn't even mask up and go for a walk on their own. I figured it had to feel pretty joyless.

But the thing is, there is plenty of Jewish joy at home. It just has to be made. So I decided to see if I could enlist some talented Jewish friends and create a free, downloadable PDF book of our own. A coloring book, that would be positive and upbeat, whimsical and inspired. I talked to young artist Jonah Cohen, who went to high school with my de facto stepdaughter and is now at Rhode Island School of Design. Would you be interested, Jonah, in joining in a volunteer chesed project? He said yes. I talked to my old Teaneck NJ junior high school chum Julie Greller, who's my webmaster. Would be you interested, Julie, in joining a volunteer chesed project, and design this book? Julie said yes.

Of course, everything takes longer than expected. Jonah had school, I had my writing life, and Julie had her designing life. But longer doesn't mean never. And maybe it is a besherit that just as America and much of the world is mired in this December wave of Covid-19 that's got so many of us on lockdown again, and Hanukkah is starting on Thursday night, that When We Can't Go Out: Jewish Joy at Home is ready.

It's free to download here. Go and enjoy.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 18 Articles, Lesson Plans and Videos

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Sun, 27 Sep 2020 03:05:00 +0000

ARTICLES
Academy of Achievement: Ruth Bader Ginsburg- biography, profile, gallery, interview

Examining the Impact and Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg- from School Library Journal; 6 books are reviewed for grades 3 and up.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Biography- from Biography.com

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Facts for Kids- from Kiddle

TIME 100- 1996: Ruth Bader Ginsburg

LESSON PLANS

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Legacy on the Supreme Court- PBS News Hour Extra's lesson for grades 6-12; video with questions provided.

My Hero- celebrating Ruth Bader Ginsburg, includes discussion questions

RBG (film) Classroom Guide- discussion questions, post-viewing activities, supplemental resources, movie reviews.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg- Share My Lesson has many documents to download with reference to the lesson plan.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Biography Worksheet- biography is followed by questions (grade 5)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Coloring Pages

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court's Feminist Icon- lesson of the day from The New York Times Learning Network; although the grade level is not listed, it looks like grades 8-12.

Women Who Shaped the Supreme Court- lesson for grades 6-12 from NewseumED

VIDEOS

7 Tips to Create Strong Passwords

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 03:42:00 +0000

It's always been important to have strong passwords. Too many people choose their birthday, anniversary, name of a pet or easy number pattern. (Yes, there have been those using 1, 2, 3, 4 ! ) Hackers live to crack your accounts, people! A few popular apps include Facebook, Hotmail, (Microsoft is big on their attack radar) Twitter, and Instagram. The list is endless, so before you are the next to be hacked, here are some suggestions which will provide a strong password.

1. Do not use the same password for all your accounts.
The reason is obvious, so just don't. Period.

2. Use a mix of upper and lower case letters with numbers and symbols.
You can choose a word you will remember, but really mix things up. For example, the number 1 can be the letter I or i. The $ sign can represent an S or s. Remember, letters in a password are case-sensitive. You get the idea.

3. Do not use spaces.
Spaces are not permitted most of the time.

3. Misspell a word on purpose.
Gr8PuRr$uN = Great person

4. Never use keyboard sequences, such as QWERTY or CVBNM.
Too easy to crack, right?

5. Never enter your password into a public computer.
Hackers will love you if you do that...

6. Don't leave password hints on site accounts.
It's nobody's business but yours!

7. Use two-step authentication.
For example, when logging into your online bank account, have them text you a code to sign in.

G00b lUk, y00$3R
Good Luck, User

Right-click to download the infographic I created from the list above. It is larger than it appears on this post.

10 Must-Haves for Your Media Center's Virtual Website

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 01:14:00 +0000

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Now that we are 6 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever for school media specialists to have information-rich webpages which their students can access 24/7. The following list provides the most important elements you need to place on your media center's site. Media specialists can also go HERE to find everything related to the many hats you wear in your teaching position.

1. Your media center's webpage needs to have a direct link on the home page for your school.
It should not take several clicks to get to the page, i.e. District Home > Your School > Extra Resources >Your School's Media Center Home Page. Unfortunately, that's exactly the where my school put our link. 😞

2. Make the home page easy to navigate.
Remember that you will have students of all ages and levels, whether you teach in an elementary, middle or high school. Ease of use will not frustrate your kids. Knollwood School Media Center (Elementary) has a clean main page, although I wish the resources page was alphabetically organized within categories, such as subscriptions, reading and research. I would not post user names and passwords for the world to see.

3. Make your website content rich and visually appealing.

In order to keep students interested and focused on learning, your site's interface should keep students coming back to explore more and more of resources you have posted. Convince them that your site can offer them more than a Google search. I created a page devoted just to pathfinders, covering 135 subjects, from African American Inventors and Scientists to Young Adult Authors. With an icon for each subject, the page is not just a list; it's a visual listing.

4. Utilize tutorials and infographics.

Putting tutorials on your site will allow anyone who needs assistance 24/7 help. Tutorials can be in the form of videos, (visual learners love this method) or infographics. Explain the rules of the media center, show how to search the card catalog etc. My media center had 20x30 enlargements of infographics I had created, and others I was able to download for classroom use. The first one by EasyBib should be on your website:

The next one covers the difference between paraphrasing and plagiarism. Note the Creative Commons license at the bottom of the infographic:

I created this next example with SnagIt for Education, and because it was done quite a few years ago, this might not look the same on the EasyBib site. I wanted to show how helpful SnagIt is when you are a teacher.

Here's a video example of a tutorial to embed on your media center website:

5. Put a direct link to your online card catalog.

Students and staff should be able to view your collection from anywhere. Books can be easily reserved if they are listed as checked out.

6. Resources should hand-picked by the media specialist and posted on your site.

Important to cover: study skills, research paper formatting, tips for taking tests, recommended reading lists by grade level, website evaluation and cyber safety.

7. Provide contact information so that students and teachers can communicate with you.
Use either a contact form, email address, or school phone number, if you are in school.

8. Provide either a photo or emoji of the media center staff:

9. Provide your mission information for the media center, as well as policies and procedures.

10. Provide book suggestions by grade level.

UPDATED: 100 Online Museums to Visit Without Leaving the Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Sat, 05 Sep 2020 01:29:00 +0000

Taken at the Museum of Tolerance

Here's a pretty extensive listing of museums for you to use in your curriculum. I've covered subject areas of art, culture, history, natural history, science, technology and miscellaneous. Please add any suggestions you have to the comments section.

UPDATED: 9/4/20

Art and Our Culture
Art Institute of Chicago

Artsonia- world's largest art museum for young artists; this is an excellent place "to post and find student art"; all graphics are done by students.

The Barnes Foundation- an art collection and educational institution promoting the appreciation of art and horticulture

Bling Universe- art museum in Maryland

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

Denver Art Museum

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Fowler Museum at UCLA

J. Paul Getty Museum

Louvre Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Musee d'Orsay-very large galleries

Museo Nacional Del Prado- Madrid, Spain

Museum of Fine Arts- Boston, MA

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)- multimedia site

Museum of Tolerance

National Archeological Museum of Athens

National Gallery of Art- online tours of the Washington, DC museum

National Museum of Women in the Arts- more than 3,000 works from the 16th century to the present

National Portrait Gallery: London- digital history resources

Philadelphia Museum of Art- explore online collection database

The Rodin Museum- With nearly 150 bronzes, marbles, and plasters, the distinguished collection housed in the Rodin Museum represents every phase of Auguste Rodin’s career.

Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery- houses 12,000 records

State Hermitage Museum- St. Petersburg, Russia

Tate Online- British & International Modern Art

The Van Gogh Museum- located in the Netherlands

Uffizi Gallery- Florence, Italy

Vatican Collections Online-virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel

History
American Memory Historical Collections

The Anne Frank Museum

The British Museum

Colonial Williamsburg Museums

Conner Prairie Interactive History Park- Indiana

The Hermitage- located in Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ
Imperial War Museum

Memorial Hall Museum Online: American Centuries, View from New England- for researcher, educators and students; explore American History with hands-on activities, exhibits, lessons, historic documents and artifacts.

Museum of Tolerance

National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum

National Museum of the American Indian

National Women's History Museum- digital resources, biographies, electronic field trips and more

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum

Salem Witch Museum

The Secret Annex- Anne Frank's hiding place

Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza- tribute to John F. Kennedy
Smithsonian Institution

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Miscellaneous
American Red Cross Museum

Boston Children's Museum- The Boston Children’s Museum welcomes online visitors into its exhibits (no lines!) and you can supplement the images with your own at-home activities and games.

The Freud Museum (London)

Mathematics Museum (Japan)
National Inventors Hall of Fame

Roald Dahl- the author's museum is for teachers, kids, and grown ups

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Robert C. Williams American Museum of Papermaking

Natural History
American Museum of Natural History

The Archaeology Channel

Canadian Museum of Nature

Museum of Paleontology- Univ. of California, Berkeley

Natural History Museum- Los Angeles County- activities and programs; teacher resources

Natural History Museum of Florence University- botanical

Nature Online- Natural History Museum; London

Ology at the American Museum of Natural History- for young children

University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History-virtual tour

World Wide Museum of Natural History- An online museum featuring photo galleries and quality educational products for homes, schools and museums.

Science and Technology
The Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University- the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas; features Science from Home page, Academy Kids and more.

Computer History Museum

Exploratorium- this is a hands on science museum which has online versions of some of their exhibit

The Field Museum-several permanent exhibits

The Franklin Institute Online

IEEE Virtual Museum-the history of electronics, electricity and computers

Imagination Station Science Museum

Kennedy Space Center

Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Science

MIT Museum- multimedia

Museum of Broadcast Communications

Museum of Flight

Museum of Science-Boston

Museum of Science and Industry- Chicago

The Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia- a medical museum which contains a collection of anatomical and pathological specimens, wax models, and antique medical equipment

NASA for Students

National Air and Space Museum- Smithsonian

The Paley Center for Media (formerly The Museum of Television and Radio)

Robotics- part of the Tech Museum

San Diego Aerospace Museum

The Science Museum of London- students can explore over 250,000 objects and archives from the collection of the Science Museum Group.

Science Museum of Minnesota-online activities

The Tech Museum

Try Science- virtual field trips for kids

Wilbur R. Enns Entomology Museum

Teaching Empathy: 20 Resources During This Very Trying Time

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 00:18:00 +0000

These are unprecedented times. There is unprecedented anxiety, fear and anger. People have been dealing with isolation, death, and loss of jobs. We all need to be more patient and empathetic with one another. Easy to say, right? As adults, we have been trudging through the past 6 months with great difficulty, so imagine how our kids and students have felt. My first guess would be that they are quite confused and wondering whether or not they will be returning to school in person or virtually. The following resources are meant to assist us all with being more empathetic. If you have any additions, please add in the comments section after the article.

ARTICLES, LESSONS, WORKSHEETS
3 Ways to Teach Kindness and Empathy- from McGraw Hill

4 Proven Ways for Teaching Empathy- from Edutopia

Ages and Stages: Empathy- from Scholastic; covers PreK- Grade 2

Can Empathy Be Taught?-by F. Diane Barth, LCSW; Psychology Today Magazine

Can Virtual Reality Teach Empathy?- from Innovation Education in VT

Developing Empathy Through Retold Fairy Tales- from PBS Learning Media; grades 5-8

Empathy Lesson Plans for Middle School

Empathy Worksheets- FREE download; grades 1-3

For Families: 5 Tips for Cultivating Empathy- from the Harvard School of Education's Making Caring Common Project

How to Be More Empathetic- NY Times article written by Claire Cain Miller; for older students to adults

How to Teach Empathy in the Classroom- from TeachThought

Nine Competencies for Teaching Empathy- by Michele Borba, educational psychologist and parenting expert

Someone Else's Shoes- activity for middle school kids

Teaching Tolerance- includes lessons, learning plans, articles, publications and much, much more

What is Empathy? And Why is it So Important?- from educator and author David Geurin

VIDEOS

11 Non-Partisan Fact-Checking Websites

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 22:24:00 +0000

Those of you who have followed this site have seen the large post I did three years ago for teachers and students about Fake News. Today's post is for everyone, since our political climate is currently so filled with misinformation. We all need to have factual information for the coming November election. Please share with your friends on social media. Too many people believe everything they read or see on TV. I've also attached an infographic from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, which you can print and post near your workspace.

UPDATED 9/3/20

AP Fact Check- Associated Press' website, an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting, founded in 1846.

Fact Check- A project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center

Fact Tank: News in the Numbers- "Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research."

MediaBias/Fact Check- comprehensive media bias resource; currently 3200+ media sources listed in the database and growing every day.

Media Matters for America- "A web-based, non profit research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting misinformation in the U.S. media."

Open Secrets- run by the Center for Responsible Politics; non-profit, non-partisan. Also lists where candidates get their money. Dark money is explained in detail.

PolitiFact- non-profit run by the Poynter Institute

PunditFact- "a project of the Poynter Institute, dedicated to checking the accuracy of claims by pundits, columnists, bloggers, political analysts, the hosts and guests of talk shows, and other members of the media."

SciCheck- Fact Check's site "focuses exclusively on false and misleading scientific claims that are made by partisans to influence public policy. It was launched in January 2015."

Sunlight Foundation- "a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that uses civic technologies, open data, policy analysis and journalism to make our government and politics more accountable and transparent to all."

TinEye- this is a reverse image search which tells you whether or not an image was altered.

Here is the English version. (Right-click on the image to download.)
The infographic is also available in 45 other languages!! CLICK HERE to see the list.

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Thousands of Online (Mostly FREE) Resources to Deal With Social Distancing

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 15:27:00 +0000

We are all in this together. Many companies are stepping up and offering free concerts, movies, lectures and classes, and it's wonderful that we have all these options! (Don't forget to read, folks!) Here's my curated list of things to view while you practice your social distancing. Feel free to add any suggestions in the comments section, as I will be updating this post regularly.

eBOOKS

150 Free Textbooks- meta collection from Open Culture's blog

1,000+ Open Textbooks and Learning Resources for All Subjects

4eBooks- computer programming books; very large collection

Academic eBooks- covers humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, formal sciences and professions & applied sciences.

askSam eBooks and Databases- askSam viewer needed for downloaded books

Barnes and Noble Free Nook Books- search 0.00 and get a listing of free eBooks

Bartleby-small site contains classic literature, poetry and reference works.

Bibliotastic-free downloads for indie authors; rating system for titles

BluePortal- computer-related titles, such as Facebook for Dummies, Javascript Bible and the Digital Photography Workflow Handbook.

Bookyards- currently 800,000 ebooks

Books Buddy- a Nook app to locate free books

Digital Library NJ- Kindle, Nook; library card needed

eBooks Habit- regular postings

eBook Lobby- categories include art and photography, children's books, literature and fiction and sports.

eBooks Directory- close to 1700 titles; includes textbooks, lecture notes; updated daily

Flatworld Knowledge- free textbooks

FreeBookSpot- 96 categories and over 4,4000 titles

Free-eBooks- register for free; download on iPhone or computer; includes magazines

Free Computer and IT Books

FreeComputerBooks- 12 major categories and 150 sub-categories; includes tutorials. lecture notes and computer and math eBooks.

FreeBook-s- download for iPad, smartphone or eBook reader; this is a search engine which looks through many collections to find eBooks.

FreeTechBooks- covers computer science, engineering, programming, textbooks and lecture notes.

eReaderPerks- Kindle, Kobo and Nook; also, the "latest device news, book/ereader reviews and author interviews."

Feedbooks- Kindle, Nook; public domain books

Fictionwise eBooks- Kindle, Nook

GetFree eBooks- free legal downloads

Globusz Publishing- ePublishing house which has free downloads

Goodkindles- up and coming authors offer short-time free downloads via Amazon

Google eBooks: Best of the Free- Kindle, Nook

Inkmesh- search engine for free eBooks, including Kindle and Nook

Internet Archive- Kindle, Nook

Kindle Store's Top 100 Free

KnowFree- ebooks, video training, educational materials; IT books and magazines

Kobo- includes NY Times Bestsellers, Oprah's Book Club

Lendink- loan and borrow "officially lendable eBooks for your Kindle and Nook."

Librophile- search by genre

ManyBooks- more than 29,000 eBooks; download to iPod, eBook reader or PDA

Memoware- some categories include literature, (biography, horror, children, western...) reference, (education, computers, history..)

Mobipocket- Kindle

New Jersey State Library- new ebooks

The Online Books Page-"over 1 million free books on the web".

OnlineComputerBooks- just what the title says....free computer books

Online Free eBooks- mainly pdf downloads; nine categories

The Open Library- Kindle, Nook; one million titles

Page By Page Books

Planet eBook- free classic literature

Project Gutenberg- 15,00 titles, all in the public domain. Easy download text files written in ASCII; readable on all computers.

Penn State University's Electronic Classic Series Site- Kindle, Nook; pdf filesPixel of Ink- free and bargain Kindle books

World Public Library- "the world’s largest eBook provider"; mp3, pdf files; they have classic literature, graphic novels, audio books, children's literature and so much more"

BROADWAY SHOWS
BroadwayHD- free 7-day trial; $8.99/month after ($99.99/year)

MarqueeTV- known as "The Neflix of the Arts"; get 30 days free; $8.99/month after (First year $69.99)

PBS' Great Performances- full shows for Kinky Boots, The King and I, 42nd St., The Sound of Music, Much Ado About Nothing.

CONCERTS
Austin City Limits

Billboard's Live Streams & Virtual Concerts to watch- updated daily

Chamber Music Society- livestreams, concerts, lectures and master classes

ClassicFM- list of classical music organizations who have made their concert archive free for streaming; worldwide listing

Glamour- all artists offering free concerts online

The Guardian- 'Quarantine soirees' include operas and classical concerts

NPR-stream live concerts; classical included in this list

NPR Music: Tiny Desk Concerts-YouTube channel

Syracuse.com- Artists sharing live music

Vulture-all musicians streaming live concerts

HEALTH, FITNESS, WELL BEING
7 Online Fitness Classes to Stream- some have free trials

12 Meditation Apps for Better Sleep & Less Stress

13 Online Workouts-Amazon Prime $

21 Best Meditation Podcasts to Listen to in 2020

Daily Burn- free 30 day trial

Fitness Classes on YouTube

Meditation Classes on YouTube

Philly Fitness Studios Offering Online Classes via Facebook

Planet Fitness- free at-home workout classes

Studios Live-Streaming Fitness Classes- CBS News article

The Ultimate List of Free Meditation Resources

YMCA360- free on demand classes include Bootcamp, Barre, Yoga, Active Older Adults, Weightlifting, Tai Chi, YBox.

Yoga Classes on YouTube

FREE ONLINE CLASSES / VIRTUAL LEARNING
20 Biology Courses- Alison

77 Online Museums- from this very blog!

Coursera- audit classes for free

edX- 2500+ online courses from Harvard, M.I.T., Boston University, Berkeley UCal, Stanford; 140!

Photoshop Cafe- free tutorials

Photoshop Essentials

SkillShare- listing of free courses offered; categories included create and build.

VIRTUAL VIDEO COMMUNICATION TOOLS
Apple's Facetime- I'm sure that if you own an iPhone, you are familiar with
Facetime; one call at a time.

Google Hangouts- add to Chrome browser

Skype- owned by Microsoft, you need to download software for Mac or PC

Webex- current upgraded basic plan

Zoom- Basic plan allows up to 100 participants and a 40 minute meeting; educators and schools do not have the 40 minute limit.

Free Resources for the K-12 Virtual Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 00:41:00 +0000

With a national emergency declared by the president, schools across the United States and the world have been closing their doors and adapting to a new way of teaching. Colleges have been teaching virtually for years, but are K-12 schools prepared to take the plunge into cyberspace? There are many websites dedicated to showing schools how to teach online classes. I've compiled a listing of companies who have waived their fees for schools presently going through this health crisis. Please feel free to add any suggestions in the comments section. Stay healthy, everyone!

Distance Learning Resources

Education Companies Offering Free Subscriptions Due to School Closings- comprehensive listing which is continually updated.

Free Online Learning Resources for Teaching Your Students Virtually- from We Are Teachers

G Suite- Google says that "Starting this week, we will begin rolling out free access to our advanced Hangouts Meet video-conferencing capabilities to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers globally including:

Larger meetings, for up to 250 participants per call
Live streaming for up to 100,000 viewers within a domain
The ability to record meetings and save them to Google Drive"

Microsoft- Office 365 is now free for schools and students

Webex- download for your school to transition to the virtual classroom

Zoom- host class meetings; the basic plan's 40 minute limit has been removed for schools

Photography Teachers: 8 Infographics for Your Classrooms

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Wed, 01 May 2019 21:18:00 +0000

Not many of you know that photography has been a hobby of mine since high school. Students today have the ease of working without chemicals in a darkroom or paying to have film processed. (I'm jealous.) Today I came across some wonderful infographics for photography teachers to hang in their classrooms. They are all visually beautiful and can act as guides for your students. I made sure to download only high resolution graphics so enlarging them will be clear and unpixelated. Thank you to all the credited creators of these works!

22 Graphic Novels About Slavery and the Civil War for High Schoolers

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 19:23:00 +0000

Although I know of certain media specialists who think of graphic novels as comic books, they need to take another look. I have seen students excited to read graphic novels. After all, reading is reading, right? Here's a list of graphic novels that will get your students interested in reading....and they will learn in the process!

Action Presidents #2: Abraham Lincoln

The Battle First Bull Run:The Civil War Begins

Battle Lines: A Graphic History of the Civil War

The Battle of the Wilderness: Deadly Inferno

Big Bad Ironclad! A Civil War Steamship Showdown

The Bluecoats: Volume 3- The Skyriders- historical fiction

The Bluecoats: Volume 4- The Greenhorn- historical fiction

The Civil War: 1850-1876

Civil War Adventure: Book 1

The Crisis: Classics Illustrated Comic

Fight for Freedom: The Cartoon Chronicles of America

Gettysburg: The Graphic History of America's First Battle and the Turning Point of the Civil War

Grant vs Lee: The Graphic History of the Civil War's Greatest Rivals During the Last Year of the War

Guts and Glory: The American Civil War

A House Divided

Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation

The Life of Frederick Douglas:A Graphic Narrative of a Slave's Journey from Bondage to Freedom

Point of No Return: Freedom's Run- historical fiction

Robert E. Lee: The Story of the Great Confederate General

True Stories of the Civil War

The Underground Abductor: An Abolitionist's Tale About Harriet Tubman

The Underground Railroad Adventure of Allen Jay, Anti-Slavery Activist

What Will Your Teaching Legacy Be?

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 22:02:00 +0000

I never wanted to retire. I had been working in a school media center without a budget, and had reached the top of the guide. With the prospect of earning less money the following year due to health insurance payments, union dues etc., I had no choice but to leave. I miss my kids, but I don't miss the lockdown drills. Fire drills ok. Lockdown drills... frightening.

I did an enormous amount of research when I created our school's media center website, including research assistance, infographics, tutorials, and 135 pathfinders, more than any other high school has posted. The site was a gift to my students, but it was hidden with other "important resources" under the high school's main page. Students could never find it. The website I created is no longer connected to the school. No one ever updated it. It disappeared within the last month or so. The domain and site have been paid for up until the fall of this year. You can take a quick peak if you're interested: RP Media Center. My 20x30 poster tutorials lined the walls in the media center. I sure hope they are still there. Here's just one of the dozens I created:

Student aide working at the front desk

I love Photoshop® and Snagit. They have been my favorite go-to programs to create lesson plans and tutorials. (The new version of Snagit has some terrific features.) Education pricing is here.

It has been 2.5 years since I left the profession, but I've been giving back in many positive ways. I serve on the Board of Directors for The Palisades Virtuosi, a trio of classical musicians. I design their posters and assist with fundraising. My volunteer work brought me back to my hometown of Teaneck, NJ, where I do design, communications and web site updates for The Teaneck International Film Festival. For a while I was even on my condo's board of directors. Today I was just accepted to be a student blogging commentator for Edublogs. Another top-secret project is in the works, and I'm beginning to write my first children's book. I also dabble in photography and retouching old photos. I'm looking forward to writing more music, and loving the time to just simply enjoy a good book. I continue to post on Twitter.

I had an average of 16 members each year volunteering for the library council, the largest group number the school had ever seen. Some students remained in the group from 7th-12th grade.

Library Council's Year-End Party

Every now and then, I run into a former student, and it warms my heart when they remember me fondly. I too have fond memories of them, and some have stayed in touch with me on Facebook. As teachers, we never know how many lives we have touched, but social media has allowed us to stay connected and be remembered some day when we are gone.

If any of my former students are reading this, know how much I enjoyed knowing you and teaching you how to be great digital citizens!

The MEGALIST of Natural Disasters

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Tue, 19 Sep 2017 20:07:00 +0000

Photo taken before Hurricane Sandy. ©J.Greller

We are witnessing a lot of extreme weather lately which seems to be the product of global warming. Students need to understand the difference between hurricanes, typhoons and tornadoes, as well as why they all occur in the first place. Hopefully I have covered all the resources necessary below...

THE WEATHER
Active Weather Alerts- from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

American Meteorological Society

Build Your Own Weather Station- Discovery Education lesson plan

Commuter Forecast- just enter destination

Discovery Education Lesson Plans

EdHeads: Weather Activities

Hands-On Science and Literacy Lessons About Weather and Climate- grades K-5

How's the Weather Today?- National Geographic Education

Inside the Climatologist's Toolbox

Interactive Weather Maker

Interactives on the Weather- from Annenberg Learner

Introduction to Weather Map Symbols and Terminology

Kid Info- weather facts and weather resources

Lesson Plan Central- weather lessons

National and Local Weather- weather.com

Preschool Education Theme: Weather

Preschool Weather Arts and Crafts

The Science Spot- weather lesson plans

Stop Disasters!- disaster simulation game

Tree House Weather Kids- Interactive site is also available in Spanish

Weather Activities and Smartboard Activities- very good site with a weather game, research section and so much more

Weather Lesson Plans- from TeAchnology

Weather Lesson Plans, Themes, Printouts, Crafts- The Teacher's Guide

Weather Map- shows U.S. weather map and some streaming video from weather cams

Weather Printables, Lesson Plans, Resources- from TeacherVision; covers grades K-12

Weather Scope: Make a Weather Station

Web Weather for Kids

CALIFORNIA EARTHQUAKES

5 Largest California Earthquakes

California Earthquake History and Catalogs- from the California Department of Conservation

Great California Shakeout Day- world's largest earthquake drill; warnings about "The Big One"

How to Survive an Earthquake- from Wikihow

May 24, 2013- 5.7 largest to hit since 2008

October 19 Earthquake- Gulf of California affected

HURRICANES

TEACHING ABOUT HURRICANES

A to Z Teacher Stuff- small list of lessons about hurricanes

Apps for Tracking Hurricanes- nice listing of apps available in the iTunes store; most $$, some free

Best Books for teaching About Hurricanes- from Education World

BrainPop- video on hurricanes (younger kids)

Editors' Choices from Education World- best books to teach about hurricanes

FEMA Site- steps to prepare for a hurricane; kids site here.

Horrific Hurricanes

How Hurricanes Work- from How Stuff Works; includes quiz, video

How Names are Chosen- includes listing of names to 2017

Hurricane Digital Memory Bank- "Launched in 2005, the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank uses electronic media to collect, preserve, and present the stories and digital record of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita."

Hurricane Facts and Figures- from the St. Petersburg Times; includes hurricane gallery

Hurricane Hunters Association

Hurricane Lesson Plans and Classroom Activities- from Education World

Hurricane Tracker- from weather.com

Hurricane Tracking Activity- from Enchanted Learning

Hurricanes Videos- WatchKnowLearn; filter by grade level

Hurricane Watch: Lessons and Activities- from Education World

Hurricanes- page includes graphs, maps

HURRICANE HARVEY and IRMA

Hurricane Harvey, Irma Teaching Resources- TeachHub

Hurricane Irma: Determining the Road to Recovery and the Role of Climate Change- video and lesson plan from PBS

Teaching Activities for Hurricane Irma- NY Times Learning Network

HURRICANE KATRINA
11 Facts About Hurricane Katrina

Facts, Damage and Aftermath- from LiveScience

History.com- article and videos on the 2005 hurricane

\

HURRICANE SANDY

Fast Facts- from CNN

Lessons From the Storm- from TIME magazine

Superstorm Sandy: A Daily Diary

Superstorm Sandy: Facts About the Superstorm-from LiveScience

A Timeline of Hurricane Sandy's Path of Destruction- from National Geographic

TORNADOES
Best Books for Teaching about Tornadoes- Education World

How Do Tornadoes Form?- TED lesson with video below

Tornado Safety- Red Cross

Tornadoes Fact Sheet-from FEMA

Tornadoes!-lesson plan for grades 4-5

TSUNAMIS
How Tsunamis Work- TED lesson and video

Tsunami Activities and Lesson Plans- from Teacher Planet

Tsunami Discussion Guide- grades K-2; from Teachervision

Tsunami Lesson Plan- grades 6-8; from Discovery Education

Tsunami Lesson Plans- from TeAchnology

Tsunami Resources for Teachers- from NOAA

TYPHOON HAIYAN

Before and After Photos from CNN

CNN Resources About Typhoon Haiyan

Interactive Video from the Washington Post

While the Atlantic is Quiet, a Historic Typhoon Bears Down on the Western Pacific- from TIME

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When the Student Surpasses the Teacher

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 19:23:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, a group of friends and I attended a performance of the musical, Beautiful. What made this trip to N.Y.C. extra special was that we were going to have a Q and A with the show's director, Marc Bruni. Thirty years ago, Marc was a student of mine in an after school program. Seeing him for the first time since then made me gush with pride; my student had become a successful Broadway director!

Anyone who is a teacher understands how proud I felt. We refer to our students as "our kids", even though we are not their parents. Congratulations, Marc! You have surpassed your teacher!!

The Mega List of Job Resources for Teachers

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 01:47:00 +0000

Yikes. Another school year is coming to a close It's that time when students are graduating college and school districts are eliminating positions for next year. Once again I am posting my comprehensive list of resources for teachers looking for a job. Special listing also for school librarians/media specialists. 100's of resources! Good luck!

updated 1/13/20

FOR INSPIRATION
21 Reasons to Quit Your Job and Become a Teacher-article from HuffPost Books Blog

Inspiration Quotes- Google image search

Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes for Teachers- Google image search

NEA: Quotes About Teaching

Teacher Quotes- BrainyQuote

JOB INTERVIEW TIPS

8 Things Not to Wear to a Job Interview

35+ Common Interview Questions and Answers- from NovoResume Career Blog

Anatomy of a Job Interview

Interview Thank You Letter

Job Interview Questions- covers interview questions, interview guide, after the interview, salary negotiation, second interview

Job Interview Tips- taken from the Occupational Handbook 2010-2011 edition

Virtual Job Interview

What to Wear and What Not to Wear to an Interview- infographic

JOB SEARCH

10 Things Job Applicants Should Know- from the NY Times

2016 Best Private High Schools in New Jersey

The Association of Boarding Schools- search by keyword, job type, calendar year, salary and location

Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools (ADVIS)-

Association of Independent Schools in New England (AISNE)- search by school or location

Career Builder- search for all types of jobs on this site

Christian School Employment- K-12 Christian teaching jobs

Connecticut Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) -click on a school to see their openings

Education Job Descriptions

Indeed- one search, all jobs

Jobs 4 Teacher- search by city, state or zip code

K12 Jobs.com- site says they have served a million teachers and administrators in a year.......

K12 Jobspot- search by job title and state; when you pick a city it shows you how many positions from the drop-down menu; also shows the location on a map.

Monster.com

The 9 Best Places to Teach Overseas

New Jersey Association of Independent Schools (NJAIS)

NJ Hire- search by job type, location or keywords

NJ.com- postings are constantly being updated

NJ School Directory- all school web sites are listed by county; check employment opportunities on each site.

NJ School Jobs- search by county, specialty, school or date

New York State Association of Independent Schools- sort by position, city

Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools (PAIS)-

Peterson's Private School Search- covers The United States and countries

Private School Job Banks- from the Council for American Private Education (CAPE)

Resources for Teaching Jobs- only ten states are listed here

SchoolSpring- over 86,000 jobs listed; choose location, category, grade, job type

Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS)- search for jobs or check other job banks

Teachaway- find jobs in places from Abu Dhabi to Beijing

Teacher Jobs- join for free; search the United States for a job.

Teachers-Teachers.com- site says it lists jobs for 1775 districts and they are in partnership with the NEA.

TESGlobal- from nursery to higher education, search education jobs from all over the world!

Virginia Association of Independent Schools (VAIS)-

Why Las Vegas is Desperate to Hire Thousands of Teachers- article from HuffPost Politics

JOB SEARCH FOR MEDIA SPECIALISTS/SCHOOL LIBRARIAN
American Association of School Librarians (AASL)- state-by-state information

How to Become an International School Librarian

Indeed

K-12 Media Specialist/Librarian Jobs- from Education Week

SchoolSpring- search by full/part time, location

USREAP- library media specialist job search

RESUMES AND COVER LETTERS

The 25 Most Creative Designer Resumes You'll See This Year

38 More Beautiful Resume Ideas That Work- from JobMob

Cover Letters- from Career Lab

You can ignore the sales pitch---there is a lot of valuable information:

Create a Free Teacher Portfolio

Got Resume Builder- build your resume online; download as a PDF, Word doc or text file

How to Create Your Own Career Portfolio- from Bob Books

How to Write a Resume- from Open Colleges

JobMob- 36 beautiful resume ideas

Resume Help- site has examples resumes

A Resume in Prezi

Resume Tips and Advice- from Monster.com

Sample CV for Education Counselor- from CV Tips

Sample Teacher Cover Letter

Sample Teacher Cover Letter2

Teacher Cover Letter Sample

Teacher Resume- from Microsoft online; you need MS Word to use this template

Teacher Resume- from Monster Worldwide, Inc.

Teacher Resume Template

VisualCV- free Internet-based resume

Your Cover Letter Information Center

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The MEGALIST for RESEARCH: Everything Your Students Will Need!

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 18:30:00 +0000

This page is constantly evolving. The recent "fake news" explosion prompted me to put all resources in one spot for our students. This megalist has all they need to write their research papers and properly evaluate websites. Some areas do overlap, such as FAKE NEWS and WEBSITE EVALUATION, but they are all in one spot. Bookmark it.

UPDATED: 4/18/17

BIBLIOGRAPHY GENERATORS

BIBMe*

Bibomatic- for books only; enter the ISBN number of a book for the citation

Citation Generator

Citation Fox for APA

Citation Fox for MLA

Cite This For Me

CiteBite- link directly to specific quotes on web pages

CiteFast- covers MLA, APA, Chicago and newspaper, magazine, web site, journal, book

EasyBib*- also now has an iPhone app where you can scan the ISBN number on a book

GoBiblio- free bibliography and citation generator

KnightCite- enter the information in the blank fields and your citation is generated; covers MLA, APA, Chicago

NoodleBib Express- free version of Noodle Tools

OttoBib- for books only; enter the ISBN number of a book for the citation

Son of Citation Machine- for APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian formats

Zotero*- keep all your research in one spot

COPYRIGHT LAW
The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media
Literacy Education- assists teachers in fair use doctrine; from the Center for Social Media

Copyright Advisory Network- "a way for librarians to learn about copyright and seek feedback and advice from fellow librarians and copyright specialists"

Copyright Basics- from Copyright Kids!

Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines for Teachers- PDF document

Creative Commons- various sharing methods explained

Cyberbee- cute interactive for grades 4-9

Fair Use Evaluator- "understand how to determine the "fairness" of a use under the U.S. Copyright Code."

Fair Use Wiki- the fair use clause explained

Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright- from the Library of Congress; interactive for kids in grades 4-8

Teaching Copyright- Five 60-minute lessons

TeachersFirst Copyright and Fair Use Resources

United States Copyright Office- search records, register works

What is Copyright?- wiki managed by by teacher Mary Beth Hertz

FAKE NEWS

ARTICLES
4 Steps Schools Need to Take To Combat Fake News- Huffington Post

5 Ways to Spot Fake News- from Common Sense Media

The 5 Types of Fakes News- from Huffington Post

6 Ways to Spot Fake News- from Snopes

10 Ways to Spot a Fake News Article- from EasyBib

The Classroom Where Fake News Fails- from NPR

Fake News Fooling Millions- from Scholastic's Up Front Magazine

Fake News Sites to Watch Out For on Facebook

Fighting Fake News- American Libraries

Google and Facebook Take Aim at Fake News Sites- N.Y. Times

Higher Ed Takes on Fake News Epidemic- from Education Dive

How Photos Fuel the Spread of Fake News

How Savvy Are Your Students? 7 Fake Websites to Really Test Their Evaluation Skills-EasyBib

How to Spot Fake News (and Teach Kids to Be Media Sayvy)- Common Sense Media

Most Students Don't Know When News is Fake, Stanford Study Finds- Wall Street Journal

A News Literacy Tool Kit for a "Post Truth" World- Joyce Valenza's blog

The Real History of Fake News- from The Columbia Journalism Review

The Smell Test: Educators Can Counter Fake New with Information Literacy- SLJ

Students Need Our Help Detecting Fake News- from MiddleWeb

Three Historical Examples of "Fake News"- Scientific American

What are You Doing to Teach Students to Spot Fake News Stories?- by Bill Ferriter

What Stands Between Fake News and Students? Educators- from NEA

GUIDES TO WEBSITE EVALUATION
Misc.
Checklist for Evaluating Web Resources

Credible Sources Count- view a 10-minute interactive tutorial about how to find sites you can trust. EXCELLENT!

EasyBib Website Evaluation Guide

Finding Reliable Information Online- slide presentation from middle school teacher Sean Hinger

How Savvy are Your Students? 7 Fake Websites to Really Test Their Evaluation Skills- EasyBib

*Kathy Schrock
*The 5 W's of Website Evaluation

*Critical Evaluation of a Website- high School

*Critical Evaluation of a Website- middle school

*Critical Evaluation of a Website- elementary school

Ten Questions for Fake News Detection- infographic checklist

University of Berkeley Library- an excellent tutorial on finding information on the Internet

Website Evaluation Guide- from EasyBib

INFOGRAPHICS

NEWS BIASES CHART by Vanessa Otero

Ten Questions for Fake News Detection- infographic is in PDF form

LESSON PLANS
Brain Pop: Fact and Opinion- interactive fun for the younger kids

Evaluating Sources in a 'Post-Truth' World: Ideas for Teaching About Fake News- NY Times Lessons

Fake News vs. Real News: Determining the Reliability of Sources- NY Times Learning Network

Fighting Fake News- includes Common Core standards

"He Said, She Said"-Reliable Sources- from School Journalism site

Hoax or No Hoax? Strategies for Online Comprehension and Evaluation- from ReadWriteThink; grades 9-12

Hoax? Scholarly Research? Personal Opinion? You Decide- lesson for high schoolers

How to Teach Your Students About Fake News- from PBS NewsHour; grades 7-9

I Heard it 'Round the Internet: Sexual Health Education & Authenticating Online Information- grades 7-9

Media Literacy and Fake News- from C-SPAN; grade not specified, but probably 9-12

Why Citations Matter: A Lesson in Preventing Alternative Facts- from EasyBib

VIDEOS

WEBSITES

FactCheck- project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center

Fake News Sites to Watch Out For on Facebook-

Fake News Watch- updates regularly; lists Fake/Hoax Websites, Satire Websites and Clickbait Websites.

Politifact- checking U.S. politics

Museum of Hoaxes- bogus web sites from A to Z

News Literacy Project- assists students in discerning real vs. fake news

Snopes- fact-checking site

PLAGIARISM and PARAPHRASING

Acknowledging Sources-from the University of Texas at Arlington; charts and diagrams included

Avoiding Plagiarism- from the Purdue Online Writing Lab; very good site gives an overview on
plagiarism, with information on paraphrasing and exercises for students.

Citation Machine- create a citation in APA, MLA, Turabian and Chicago; free

EasyBib- creates a citation from the information you input; MLA is free, cost for others

Facts About Plagiarism

How to Cite Your Sources- very complete listing

KnightCite- from Calvin College; APA, MLA, and Chicago are all free

MLA Formatting and Style Guide- very complete; shows formatting for all types of sources

Plagiarism Tutorial- information and 2 quizzes to check your knowledge; from the University of Southern Mississippi

Successful vs. Unsuccessful Paraphrasing- many examples are shown to explain the best way to paraphrase a paragraph

Types of Plagiarism

What is Plagiarism?- a video from Rutgers University; explains the seriousness of plagiarism; excellent!!

WriteCheck- submit your paper to see if you plagiarized anything; $$

You Quote It, You Note It- a short slide presentation/quiz to see how much you know about plagiarism

THE RESEARCH PAPER

Formatting Block Quotes

Formatting Your Research Paper--- Here's an example of what your paper should look like:

Finding Credible Sources with EasyBib

Primary and Secondary Resources

A primary resource is the original document, including photos, newspapers, birth certificates

Secondary sources evaluate or discuss primary sources.

RESEARCH SKILLS

The 6 Online Research Skills Your Students Need- from Scholastic

Copyright, Fair Use and Research Skills for Elementary Students- LiveBinder

Doing Research at the Elementary Level- written by technology teacher Mary Beth Hertz

Evaluating Information Sources Worksheet- for older students

The Future of Research- written by middle school librarian Jennifer LaGarde

Google Scholar- advanced scholarly searches

Infomine- scholarly Internet searches

iResearch: Information Skills for Life- 10 modules (covers plagiarism and searching databases) each include a PDF download

The Free Library- over 20 million articles and books

K-4 Research Materials- LiveBinder

Kentucky Virtual Library's How to Do Research- excellent interactive poster designed like a game board

Research it Right- from Acadia University's Library; animated interactive

Research Skills Lesson Plans- from Lesson Planet

Research Skills Worksheets- from TeAchnology; covers various topic areas

Research Skills Worksheets- teacher-reviewed; grades listed

Research Skills Unit- for 8th grade students

Rutgers University's R.I.O.T.- wonderful interactive modules include: Selecting a Topic, Finding Sources, Selecting Keywords, Identifying Citations, Evaluating Sources.

State Library of Victoria- research skills for grades 5-9

Teaching Research Skills to Young Students- the role of the media specialist is explained

Teaching the Ten Steps to Better Web Research from SweetSearch

Using Critical Thinking to find Trustworthy Websites-video lesson by N.Y. middle school teacher Emily Koch (Grades 6-8)

Wading Through the Web: Teaching Internet Research Strategies- Three complete 45-minute lessons for grades 6-8

WEBSITE EVALUATION
Checklist for Evaluating Web Resources

Credible Sources Count- view a 10-minute tutorial about how to find sites you can trust. EXCELLENT!

Critical Evaluation of Information- Kathy Schrock's guide by grade level; covers elementary through secondary

EasyBib Research- students can enter a topic to search and EasyBib tells them if the site is credible or not. (NOTE: Not all sites have been rated)

Evaluating Internet-Based Information- from Media Smarts

Finding Reliable Information Online- slide presentation from middle school teacher Sean Hinger

The Five Ws of Website Evaluation- from Kathy Schrock

Museum of Hoaxes- bogus web sites from A to Z

University of Berkeley Library- an excellent tutorial on finding information on the Internet

Using Critical Thinking to Find Trustworthy Websites- video from Common Sense Media

Website Evaluation- I have put together three important links for your students

INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS

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#DumpDeVos Monday

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Sun, 05 Feb 2017 20:44:00 +0000

Educators in the U.S.--
It's not a slam-dunk yet. Get involved. Share this information. Call. Call. Call.
Here are ways you can still help:

Welcome to the 21st Century: 45 Resources on Coding

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 21:20:00 +0000

By now you know what coding is, but do you realize that kids as young as kindergarten are learning how to code through online games and activities? When I first began designing websites in 2007, I found HTML to be very confusing. Of course trying to learn on my own pushed me to take two online classes on website design. Today I am hardly a pro, but know enough to get around. After viewing all the programs, apps websites etc. devoted to teaching code, I came up with this conclusion: I was born in the wrong decade. I've always been jealous of all that my students have at their disposal. Let's face it, I'm a tech nerd. Anyway, that admission out of the way, here's a bundle of resources for you on the subject of coding.

APPS
Code School- free iPhone app

Daisy the Dinosaur- for ages 6-8 yrs. old; teaches kids to code

Hopscotch- for iPhone and iPad

Overview of Coding Apps for Mobile Devices- from EdTechTeacher; 16 listed; some free, some $$

M.I.T. App Inventor- students create their own Android apps; uses Chrome browser

Scratch Jr.- for iPad and Android; for ages 6-8 yrs. old

Swift Playgrounds- learn to code on your iPad; from Apple

ARTICLES
3 Steps to Becoming a Coding Teacher- from Edutopia

15+ Ways of Teaching Every Student to Code- from Edutopia; written by Vicki Davis

Coding for Kindergarteners- from Edutopia

Coding in the Classroom: A Long Overdue Inclusion- Edutopia

Fixing the Bugs: Teaching Kids to Code on a Zero-Dollar Budget- by Mary Jo Madda

How Google is Teaching Kids to Code with Toy Blocks- from INC

How I Started an After School Code Club- by Douglas Tarr

LEGO's New Kit Teaches Kids to Code- article from CNN

Now You Can Learn to Code with Minecraft- from Gizmodo

Teaching Kids to Code Using Legos

HOUR OF CODE
Disney Hour of Code Digital Toolkit- downloadable PDF works with the page Disney's Hour of Code.

Disney's Moana- the title character teaches how to code

Hour of Code Resources- from Kodable; free K-5 coding lesson plans

Hour of Code Suggestions by Grade Level- posted by a group of tech-ed teachers

How-To Guide- grades 2-9; download certificates and templates, and tap into the collection of activities

Teacher-Led Hour of Code Lessons- covers K-12; from Education Week

Try an Hour of Code with Khan Academy- includes TEACHER PAGE

Tynker: Coding for Kids- divided by grades: K-2, 3-5, 6+

VIDEOS

WEBSITES
Code.org- covers K-12; resource listing on classes (partnered with Disney)

Codeacademy- learn to code for free

Code Combat- students learn to code while playing a game

Code Maven- choose from 59 lessons

Code Monster- 59 lessons to choose from for middle schoolers

Code Monkey- educational game where kids code

Coding in the Elementary Classroom- Google slides presentation

Create Pokemon Game- drag and drop interface

Kids Ruby-fun and easy programming; must download program to use

LEGO Mindstorms- educators can order kits for preschool, elementary and middle school; $$

Lissa Explains it All- "the first and original HTML Help JUST for Kids."

Made with Code Google

Scratch for Educators- students can use to code their own animations, games and interactive stories; there are activities, plans and much more.

Touch Develop- create apps on tablet, desktop or phone; a Microsoft product

Can Your Students Spot Fake News? Here are 72 Links to Help

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Mon, 02 Jan 2017 00:48:00 +0000

It's all around us. It's permeated Facebook, Twitter, all social media and the Internet. Yet I have seen adults fall for these hoaxes all the time. It's been hard for me to not say anything when I see these stories repeated and shared daily. Many times I have just referenced snopes.com. Yet people fall for this all the time. What about our students? Are they able to adequately evaluate what they are seeing? As I've mentioned before, when I left my school district after my budget dwindled to zero dollars, they did not replace me. That put the entire student population at risk, because presently the district does not have a single certified media specialist! K-12. No one to teach media literacy. No one there to advise and assist students working on research papers. No one.

Below I have collected a slew of resources to aid teachers and their students with the task of spotting fake news. The articles, guides, lesson plans and videos deal with the importance of evaluating websites. If you have any more to add, please comment below.

UPDATED: 8/31/20

ARTICLES
4 Steps Schools Need to Take To Combat Fake News- Huffington Post

5 Ways to Spot Fake News- from Common Sense Media

The 5 Types of Fakes News- from Huffington Post

6 Ways to Spot Fake News- from Snopes

10 Ways to Spot a Fake News Article- from EasyBib

The Classroom Where Fake News Fails- from NPR

Fake News Fooling Millions- from Scholastic's Up Front Magazine

Fake News Sites to Watch Out For on Facebook

Fighting Fake News- American Libraries

Google and Facebook Take Aim at Fake News Sites- N.Y. Times

Higher Ed Takes on Fake News Epidemic- from Education Dive

How Photos Fuel the Spread of Fake News

How Savvy Are Your Students? 7 Fake Websites to Really Test Their Evaluation Skills-EasyBib

How to Spot Fake News (and Teach Kids to Be Media Sayvy)- Common Sense Media

Most Students Don't Know When News is Fake, Stanford Study Finds- Wall Street Journal

A News Literacy Tool Kit for a "Post Truth" World- Joyce Valenza's blog

The Real History of Fake News- from The Columbia Journalism Review

The Smell Test: Educators Can Counter Fake New with Information Literacy- SLJ

Students Need Our Help Detecting Fake News- from MiddleWeb

Three Historical Examples of "Fake News"- Scientific American

What are You Doing to Teach Students to Spot Fake News Stories?- by Bill Ferriter

What Stands Between Fake News and Students? Educators- from NEA

GUIDES TO WEBSITE EVALUATION
Misc.
Checklist for Evaluating Web Resources

Credible Sources Count- view a 10-minute interactive tutorial about how to find sites you can trust. EXCELLENT!

EasyBib Website Evaluation Guide

News Literacy Project- "NLP, a nonpartisan national education nonprofit, provides programs and resources for educators and the public to teach, learn and share the abilities needed to be smart, active consumers of news and information and equal and engaged participants in a democracy."

Ten Questions for Fake News Detection- infographic checklist

University of Berkeley Library- an excellent tutorial on finding information on the Internet

Website Evaluation Guide- from EasyBib

INFOGRAPHICS

NEWS BIASES CHART by Vanessa Otero

Ten Questions for Fake News Detection- infographic is in PDF form

LESSON PLANS
Brain Pop: Fact and Opinion- interactive fun for the younger kids

Evaluating the Purpose of a Website- from EasyBib

Evaluating Sources in a 'Post-Truth' World: Ideas for Teaching About Fake News- NY Times Lessons

Fake News vs. Real News: Determining the Reliability of Sources- NY Times Learning Network

Fighting Fake News- includes Common Core standards

"He Said, She Said"-Reliable Sources- from School Journalism site

Hoax or No Hoax? Strategies for Online Comprehension and Evaluation- from ReadWriteThink; grades 9-12

Hoax? Scholarly Research? Personal Opinion? You Decide- lesson for high schoolers

How to Teach Your Students About Fake News- from PBS NewsHour; grades 7-9

I Heard it 'Round the Internet: Sexual Health Education & Authenticating Online Information- grades 7-9

Media Literacy and Fake News- from C-SPAN; grade not specified, but probably 9-12

VIDEOS

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Book Review: You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Boogers!

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Sat, 31 Dec 2016 20:47:00 +0000

As kids we remember the book fairs. As media specialists, we looked forward to earning free books for our school from those fairs. Scholastic Books, well known for their children's books, just published another winner for 8-12 year olds entitled, You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Boogers! Other topics in the "You Wouldn't Want to Live Without" series have included: ...Snot, Plastic, Vegetables, Electricity, Pain, Bacteria, Sleep, Writing, Trees, Toilets, Nurses, Glass, and Gravity, just to name a few.

The latest installment became available in hard cover and paperback this past September 2016, and just like the others, it is engaging, educational, and beautifully illustrated.

With chapters like How Does Mucus Protect Us?, What are Boogers and Snot?, and What Animals Use Mucus for Defense? it's easy to see how youngsters will be drawn to this book. The glossary at the back of the books gives definitions for words used in the book. I give it 5 stars. In fact, I give the whole series 5 stars! Your kids will too! Order yours here.

Where Have All the Teacher-Librarians Gone?

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 19:34:00 +0000

It’s hard to imagine that school districts across the country have cut down or totally eliminated the positions of library media specialists. Now that we are sixteen years into the 21^stcentury, one would have imagined this educational position to be considered one of THE most important in the school. Without literate students and graduates, how could we expect them to thrive in college and the outside world? So many uninformed administrations have believed that as long as the Internet and Google are there, they can save money by not hiring a teacher-librarian. As author Neil Gaiman said, “Google can bring you back 100,00 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.”

One area that we thought was going to make a dent in the printed page was e-Books. While many schools purchased Kindles or other e-Readers, too many were not able to afford the cost. The advent of 3D printers and makerspaces has taken off, with many activities occurring in the media center during and after school hours. But what happens when there is no one to run the school library? What happens to our children without someone there who can really explain how to evaluate a website? How to locate a book on the Holocaust? A biography on a world leader? Is this the direction public education is heading?

When I left my position as a media specialist in June 2016, I was both surprised and upset that the district was not going to replace me. I was located in a junior-senior high school, (grades 7-12) and was the ONLY media specialist in this five-school district. My last year, I was given $0 for my budget. That's when I knew it was time to move on. It's clear that the students will be the ones who will suffer because of this.

If it all comes down to money, districts need to reevaluate their budgets. This is one place they cannot afford to cut.

Infographics are Easy With Venngage

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Sat, 05 Nov 2016 18:03:00 +0000

Those of you who have followed this blog know that I love infographics. As a media specialist, I used them to create visual tutorials for my students. For those of you who would like to be designers but do not have the skill, Venngage is the answer. With its easy to use interface, anyone can create beautiful posters, brochures, reports, flyers and much more. How about an infographic resume? Currently there are nine designs to choose from; two are with the free account. The one on the extreme right is a premium resume template.

The first thing I noticed when logging into my account was that under "templates" there were five main categories: infographics, reports, posters, promotions and social. Each of those categories has several subcategories, and the choices are many! Here's an example on the left of what's under the "infographics" category.

Depending on your level of expertise, you can choose beginner, intermediate or advanced templates. All are labeled so you can choose easily. If you have a free account, the number of infographics, charts, icons, themes, templates and uploads are limited. Venngage branding is also on your final product.

Educators will be happy to know that special pricing of $99.00/year covers premium features, 35 accounts for students and teachers and class sharing. A 14-day free trial is available. Education pricing is here.

Premium accounts have unlimited use of templates, charts, icons, themes and uploads. Pricing is here, and features of the premium account can be found here.

Recently, Venngage introduced Venngage for Business, which is perfect for small businesses which don't have their own graphic designer on staff and normally would have trouble allocating the funds for a company to do all their design work. After all, professional freelancers could charge thousands of dollars to design infographics, posters, promotions, brochures and social media related graphics. Perhaps you own restaurant and need a new menu design?

Business accounts also have a Manage Your Team option, where two members of your team are given access to all the features of your premium account.

Business accounts are divided into two categories: for profit and non profit. When paid yearly, the cost for non profits is only $20.00/month. Both types of business accounts have the same premium benefits and a branding kit which gives you the opportunity to save your company logo and special colors, fonts and sizes. Allow me to show you how incredibly easy it is to get started with Venngage.

Before beginning to work with a template, I decided to view the getting started video as seen here:

There is a whole page of instructional videos to help you with every aspect of the program, so you never have to feel lost or confused. I started out with a beginner template and found the drag and drop interface very easy to use. I then tackled an intermediate template and uploaded a few of my own images to the site.

As you can see from the two examples, I was able to easily substitute the template information with my own information. Between the two infographics, I changed the background color, fonts, moved text, added icons, changed the border size on the circles, and added my own photos. Not bad for the very first time using Venngage!

If you would like to see the terrific projects people are creating with Venngage, all you have to do is click on the community page, and there you will find recently published projects.

Venngage's blog has a variety of helpful articles, such as 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Creating an Infographic, How to Make a Timeline Infographic in 6 Easy Steps and 5 Strategies to Engage Students Using Education Infographics. Whether you're a small business, an educator, or someone who just wants to be creative with social media.....you should give Venngage a try. You won't be disappointed.

The Only Back to School Listing You'll Need!

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 18:47:00 +0000

Although New Jersey schools don't return until after Labor Day, I understand that many of you have already begun the 2016-2017 school year. So......I've put together a megalist of resources which will assist you in becoming more organized.

Award and Certificate Templates

Back to School Templates

Best Education and Technology Podcasts

Books for Reluctant Readers: Grades K-12

Bulletin Board Ideas

Classroom Guides from Edutopia

Classroom Management Templates and Forms

Free eBooks Listing

FREE Stuff for Teachers

Getting Started with Icebreakers

Grants and Grant Writing Information

Great Blogs to Follow By Subject Area

Resources for New Teachers

Technology eBooks from MakeUseOf

What a Listing! Holiday Resources From September to June- all the links you'll ever need

The Rio 2016 Resources: Try These 29 Items

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 18:37:00 +0000

Although school in New Jersey doesn't begin until September, (after Labor Day) I am aware that many districts have already started the 2016-2017 year. I've put together a nice listing of resources, including websites, videos, cartoons and lesson plans.

RESOURCES
Articles on the Summer Olympics- from National Geographic

Infographic: The Physics of Olympic Bodies- from NPR; weightlifters, sprinters, rowers, marathon runners, swimmers

Medals Race- listing of total medals by country

The Official Rio Olympics Site

Ready or Not, Let the Games Begin- interactive story map covers all the conditions in Brazil, including economic, political, health. (zika virus)

Resources for the Rio 2016 Olympics- from TES

Rio 2016: 16 Fun Facts About This Year's Olympics- from NBC

Zika Virus Adding to Long List of Brazil Olympics Woes

CARTOONS
(Great discussions can take place when you share cartoons in the classroom!)

LESSON PLANS and ACTIVITIES
2016 Olympic Summer Games- TeacherVision's list of lessons, worksheets, activities

2016 Olympic Games in Rio on Pinterest

CK-12 Foundation: Olympic Content- "Learn the math and science behind Olympic sports"

E.L.L. Practice + Prompt- by Larry Ferlazzo for The New York Times Learning Network

Olympic Games for Kids- for younger kids; worksheets, puzzles, coloring pages

The Olympic Games- from Scholastic; history of the Olympics, sports and Ancient Greece; all grades

Olympics: Summer- Teacher Planet's list of resources, lesson plans, worksheets

Read, Write, Think- many ideas and activities

Teaching About the 2016 Olympic Games- from NEA

Teaching Resources from the Olympic Museum- lesson downloads available in English, French and German

VIDEOS

The 2016 Presidential Election: 44 Digital Resources

noreply@blogger.com (J.Greller) — Sat, 30 Jul 2016 01:50:00 +0000

Here we are, another Presidential election in November 2016. I've tried to gather as many resources as possible to teach your students about the candidates and the electoral process. Although it is difficult for me, I promise not to inject any of my personal political feelings into this post. If necessary, I will update the post.

About the Election Process
Congress for Kids: The Electoral College- interactive quiz at the end of each section

Fact Monster: How the President Gets Elected

The Presidential Election- from Flocabulary (rap)

Resources
2016 Election- CNN politics

Ballotpedia: The Encyclopedia of Politics

Elections 2016- USA Today

FactCheck- non-partisan site to monitor the accuracy of speeches, articles etc.

Presidential Election 2016- NY Times articles

U.S. Election 2016: Six Reasons it Will Make History- from BBC News

U.S. Election Glossary- from enchanted Learning

Hillary R. Clinton
All Things Clinton- from the L.A. Times

Clinton's Nomination Puts "Biggest Crack" in the Glass Ceiling- from CNN

Hillary Clinton News- from ABC News

Hillary Clinton's Twitter Account

Hillary Clinton's YouTube Page

Hillary Rodham Clinton's Official Website

Presidential Candidates: Hillary Clinton

Why Vladimir Putin Hates Hillary Clinton- from NBC News

Donald J. Trump
All Things Trump- L.A. Times

Donald Trump's Twitter Account

New York Times Articles About Donald J. Trump

Official Donald Trump YouTube Page

Presidential Candidates: Donald Trump

Trump's Official Site

Lesson Plans
2016 Presidential Election Resources and Teaching Tips- from TeacherVision; also has a multitude of election resources, including lessons, printables, activities

Campaign 2016- C-Span

Electing the U.S. President, A Printable Book for Early Readers- from Enchanted Learning

Election Collection- PBS lessons on elections (grades labeled)

Election Worksheets- from Enchanted Learning

Elections: Everything You Need- from Scholastic

How to Become President of the United States- infographic from Kids.gov; lesson plan here

iCivics- terrific site includes teacher files and state standards

Lesson Ideas- from BrainPop Educators

Meet the Presidential Candidates in Election 2016- H.S. lesson plan from PBS News Hour

NEA's List of Lessons on Elections (not specific to this year's candidates)

Newsela- teachers can sign up their classes and follow Newsela's Blog

The New York Times Learning Network- lessons for election 2016

Pinterest Search: 2016 Presidential Election

Timely Teachable Videos- from C-Span

Election 2016: Lesson Plans and Digital Resources for Educators- from Edutopia