The VIBE April 2013 Teacher Edition

Shore Regional High School

April 2013 William J. Valenti Teacher-Librarian

Teacher Edition

THE VIBE Valenti’s Information Bulletin Essentials

HELP YOUR STUDENTS CELEBRATE NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK One of the biggest influences in the lives of our students is their teachers. Be a role model and share with your students books that have influenced your life and why you like to read.

National Library Week, April 14th-20th, is a time when school libraries join all libraries to promote reading and library use. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Ypu Belong@your library.”

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THE VIBE

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

Challenge your students to create poems for the courses you teach during this month.

What a fun way to require some creativity and a little break from the every day rigors of your coursework.

“The difference between the ordinary and the extraordinary is the little extra” ~anonymous WEBSITES EMAILED BY WILLIAM J. VALENTI DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION RESOURCES EDUCATIONAL MEDIA SPECIALIST Welcome to Poetry 180. Poetry can and should be an important part of our daily lives. Poems can inspire and make us By just spending a few minutes reading a poem each day, think about what it means to be a member of the human race. new worlds can be revealed.

MARCH 2012 read a poem on each of the 180 days of the school year. I Poetry 180 is designed to make it easy for students to hear or

have selected the poems you will find here with high school students in mind. They are intended to be listened to, and I Art/Music suggest that all members of the school community be included as readers. A great time for the readings would be following the end of daily announcements over the public address system. http://www.openculture.com/2012/03/van_gogh_to_rothko_in_30_seconds.html Listening to poetry can encourage students and other learners to become members of the circle of readers for whom poetry is a vital source of pleasure. I hope Poetry 180 becomes an important and enriching part of the school day.

Van Gogh to Rothko in 30 Seconds

English

Dictionary of American Regional English Billy Collins http://dare.news.wisc.edu/ Former Poet Laureate of the United States The long-awaited final volume in this monumental work has just been published. This website allows you to sample some of the splendidly varied delights of Americans' rendering of the English language. You can listen to some of the audio interviews that were the basis for the construction of the dictionary, check out your own state for a sample of words that are unique to that state, watch a video explaining how the editors gathered the data to construct the diction-

http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/

WEBSITES EMAILED BY WILLIAM J. VALENTI DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION RESOURCES EDUCATIONAL MEDIA SPECIALIST

APRIL 2013

Child Study Team Select and Speak is a simple text to speech browser extension. Select and Speak installs with just one click and does not require a browser re-start. Once Select and Speak is installed just highlight any text on a webpage, click the Select and Speak icon in your browser, and listen to the reading of the text.

Announcify is a free text to speech application that is available as a Chrome browser extension.

With Announcify installed in your browser any time you're viewing a webpage you can simply click on the Announcify icon in your browser and have that page read to you. A bonus aspect of using Announcify is that in order to make a webpage easier to read it enlarges the text of the webpage and removes all sidebar content. ~ From Free Technology for Teachers

Faculty Coursera (compliments of Jean Patterson) https://www.coursera.org/ Social entrepreneurship company partnering with 33 top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free.

13 Good Chrome Extensions and Apps for Students and Teachers http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/03/13-good-chrome-extensions-and-apps-for.html ~ From Free Technology for Teachers

Can’t Get That Song Out of My Head: An Animation of a Psychological Phenomenon We All Know You know what it feels like when, no matter how hard you try to shake it, you can’t get that song out of your head. Psychologists have a technical name for this phenomenon. They call it an “earworm,” referring to those songs that “arrive without permission and refuse to leave when we tell them to.” In the video above, the Danish design agency Benny Box has created a short animated film — called Jazz that nobody asked for – that serves as an “ode to all those unwanted songs out there, that have nowhere to go.” http://www.openculture.com/2013/03/cant_get_that_song_out_of_my_head.html

~ From Open Culture

20 Chrome Apps & Extensions for Teachers and Students http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/freetech4teachers/cGEY/~3/8vCFY1jHFvo/20-chrome-apps-extensions-for-teachers.html ~ From Free Technology for Teachers 20 terms all test takers should know http://pinterest.com/pin/216172850835682976/ ~ From Pinterest Education

Readium - Read ePub Documents in Your Browser https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/readium/fepbnnnkkadjhjahcafoaglimekefifl Readium is a free Chrome extension that enables you to view ePub files in your browser. To read an ePub in Readium you can import the file from your computer or insert the web address of an ePub file that is hosted online. You can store the files in Readium to build a library. To make reading online as easy as possible Readium provides options for changing font size, altering font and background colors, and changing the page format. ~ From Free Technology For Teachers

Moonberri - Quickly and Privately Transfer Files http://moonberri.com/ Have a file that you need to send to colleague or to a student, but is too big to attach to an email? If so, give Moonberri a try. Moonberri is a free service for privately transferring files. To transfer a file upload it to your Moonberri account then set a password for accessing it. Give the link to the file and password to the person that you want to be able to download the file. Moonberri will store your files online for up to 30 days. ~ From Free Technology for Teachers

The Five Best Tools for Creating Videos Without Installing Software Pixorial is the online video creation tool that I hear teachers talking about a lot lately. The thing that I like the most about Pixorial is that the video creation and editing tools are laid out in an intuitive user interface WeVideo is a collaborative online video creation tool. In the video editor you can upload your own media clips or use stock media clips to produce your video.

PowToon is a nice service for creating explanatory videos through a drag and drop process. The videos that you create feature digital paper cut-outs on a colorful background Wideo is a service that allows anyone to create animated videos and Common Craft-style videos online. You can create an animated video on Wideo by dragging and dropping elements into place in the Wideo editor then setting the sequence of animations Weavly provides a simple drag and drop interface that allows you to search for, trim and combine tracks without ever leaving the Weavly site. You can mix together video and audio from YouTube, Vine, and SoundCloud. You can also add animated GIFs from Loopcam, Tumblr, and Imgur. ~ From Free Technology for Teachers

Convert Text to Speech With Announcify Announcify is a free text to speech application that is available as a Chrome browser extension. With Announcify installed in your browser any time you're viewing a webpage you can simply click on the Announcify icon in your browser and have that page read to you. ~ From Free Technology for Teachers

Quizdini - Create Online Quizzes That Give Students Instant Feedback http://www.quizdini.com/ Quizdini is a free tool for creating online quizzes. The best feature of Quizdini is that you can create explanations of the correct answer for your students to view immediately after trying each question in your quiz. Your explanation can include text and or links to online resources like videos and images. Quizdini quizzes can be created in a traditional linear format or in a matching format that asks students to pair answers to terms. ~ From Free Technology for Teachers

Guidance

Jung Typology Test™ * This free test is based on Carl Jung’s and Isabel Briggs Myers’ typological approach to personality *. http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp ~ From Pinterest Education PSYCHOGAMES http://pinterest.com/pin/116741815313300300/

is a fascinating compendium of playful picture tests, games and questionnaires that holds a revealing mirror up to your inner self. sort of person are you? We think we know what we are like. But do we? Do others see us as we see ourselves? Do we see other they see themselves? ~ From Pinterest Education

Science An Interactive History of NASA Space Suits http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/nasa_spacesuit/ This interactive display gives students the opportunity to learn about six generations of the NASA space suits. ~ From Free Technology for Teachers

Acceleration and Skydiving http://youtu.be/Ax-PNSPeJPg Untamed Science is a neat, educational YouTube channel that I just learned about through the Pearson OLE blog. One of the videos that I watched this morning was Acceleration & Skydiving. The video explains the answer to the question, "when is acceleration the greatest in skydiving?" Watch the video below to find out the answer to that question.

Applications for Education Before showing this video to your students ask them to use their knowledge of physics to formulate answer choices. ~ From Free Technology for Teachers

Ten Good Video Sources for Science Students and Teachers The Spangler Effect is a YouTube channel from Steve Spangler Science. Unlike his popular Sick Science videos which are no more than short demonstrations of science experiments students and parents can do at home, The Spangler Effect videos offer longer (15 minutes or so) explanations of science experiments. The Spangler Effect videos explain the science of do-it-yourself experiments and how you can recreate those experiments at home or in your classroom.

Gooru is a service that aims to provide teachers and students with an extensive collection of videos, interactive displays, documents, diagrams, and quizzes for learning about topics in math and science. As a Gooru member you have access to hundreds of resources according to subject areas such as chemistry, biology, ecology, algebra, calculus, and more.

Learners TV has organized hundreds of academic videos. They've also organized more than one hundred science animations. The science animations on Learners TV are organized into three categories; biology, physics, and chemistry.

ScienceFix is the blog and YouTube channel of middle school science teacher Darren Fix. On both the blog and the YouTube channel you will find more than 100 videos demonstrating various science experiments, demonstrations, and middle school science lessons.

MIT Tech TV is a collection of thousands videos produced by students and faculty at MIT Bright Storm's YouTube channel offers video lessons for biology, chemistry, and physics.

NASA has a few different YouTube channels, but the one that has the most universal utility for teachers and students is NASA eClips. NASA eClips is organized according to grade level with playlists intended for elementary school, middle

school, and high school.

Interactive Biology is a website offering a series of videos, quizzes, and study guides for biology students. The site offers study guides for sale, but there some good free resources available too. The best free resource found on Interactive Biology is the Interactive Biology YouTube channel. There are ten multiple choice quizzes based on information in the videos and study guides. Each quiz offers immediate feedback and provides a hint if you get a question wrong and want to try it again.

John and Hank Green's Crash Course channel on YouTube includes courses in chemistry, ecology, and biology. They're good videos, but they do go quickly so your students might have to rewind them a couple of times to catch everything.

Kahn Academy- https://www.khanacademy.org/ ~ From Free Technology for Teachers

Social Studies A Map of Nearly 100,000 Historic Places http://www.historicplaces.net/map/

Historic Places offers a Google Map of nearly 100,000 historic places in North America. Browse the map and click on the placemarks to discover historic sites all over the continent.

5 Resource for Learning About the History of Conflict on the Korean Peninsula http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/03/5-resource-for-learning-about-history.html ~ From Free Technology for Teachers

myHistro Offers New Ways to Share Mapped Timelines http://www.myhistro.com/ myHistro is a timeline builder and map creation tool rolled into one nice package. On myHistro you can build a personal timeline or build a timeline about a theme or event in history. Each event that you place on your timeline can be geolocated using Google Maps. myHistro timelines can be created online or you can use the free iPad app to create events on your timeline. ~ From Free Technology for Teachers

Three Videos Looking at Life Inside North Korea http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/03/5-resource-for-learning-about-history.html ~ From Free Technology for Teachers History Buff History Buff is a neat website that teachers of US History should spend some time exploring. One of the best features of History Buff is a set of fifteen narrated panoramic tours of interesting and significant historic sites. Some of the panoramas you will find in the collection include Davy Crockett's childhood home, Appomattox Courthouse, Thomas Edison's birthplace, and Valley Forge. ~ From Free Technology for Teachers Virtual JFK Museum Tour The Virtual JFK Museum Tour takes you to view exhibits and artifacts in the museum. The tour is narrated and in some cases you hear Kennedy's voice. The tour is divided into major themes and events of Kennedy's presidency including his campaign, the Peace Corps, and the Space Race. The tour also includes some information about Bobby Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy. ~ From Free Technology for Teachers

Mapping History - Historical Patterns Animated

http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/index.html Mapping History is essentially a digital atlas of American, European, Latin American, and African history. Each section is divided into modules based on historical themes and eras. ~ From Free Technology for Teachers

World Language Surface Languages - Learn 38 Languages http://www.surfacelanguages.com/

Surface Languages is a free service offering flashcards and practice activities to help students learn the basics of a new language. Surface Languages supports 38 languages. To use the site simply select the language that you are trying to learn then select a set of words or phrases to practice. After selecting a set of words or phrases you will be able to listen to the pronunciations of those words or phrases. You can also flip through the words and phrases in flashcard format.

Applications for Education Surface Languages could be a handy little resource for students to use to listen to pronunciations of words and phrases of the languages that they're studying. Students can use the free Surface Languages Android apps to continue their practice on the go. ~ From Free Technology for Teachers

Image-based Language Lessons

http://www.pictolang.com/ Pictolang is a CAPL service that offers four image-based language learning activities. The Visual Word Trainer is simply a flashcard activity that shows students an image and the word or words that picture represents. The Picture Match Game shows students one word and they have to find the picture to match it. Word Match Game shows students one picture and they have to find the word to match it. The Analyst Game is probably the most challenging of the activities. The Analyst Game shows students a picture and they have to identify where that picture came from. ~ From Free Technology for Teachers Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish: This video instructional series for high school and college classrooms teaches Spanish speaking and listening skills. Produced by WGBH Boston. ~ From Open Culture French in Action: Become fluent in French by exploring French culture in this well-known video series for high school and college classrooms. Produced by Yale University and WGBH Boston with Wellesley College. ~ From Open Culture Ma France: The BBC offers 24 video lessons that will teach you French. ~ From Open Culture

Texting in Spain http://www.educationaltravel.com/Blog/870/Texting-in-Spain ~ From Pinterest Education