I am a big fan of Google's Senior Research Scientist Daniel M. Russell. As per his own job description, "I write. I analyze. I experiment. I do field studies and I try to understand what makes Google users tick. Why do they sometimes query Google for [ first ], and then not click on anything?Why do some Google users only ask one query, while others can go on and on?What's different about their search experiences?Why? " Dr. Russell's blog, SearchReSearch offers readers searching challenges which go way beyond the typical Google search. You are thrown into advanced searches and learn so much beyond what you thought you could do. What a great way to expand your knowledge so you can teach your students about REAL searching on the web! Sites involving Dr. Russell's instruction include Google Search Education, Power Searching and Advanced Power Searching online classes, and Live Training videos. Dan Russell is an engaging and interesting teacher. He is soft-spoken and obviously passionate about his work. Upon completion of each of his courses, you can download a certificate for PD credit. A Google a Day challenges students to practice their searching skills by answering a posed question, i.e. GEOGRAPHY: "What two northernmost territories of India lie 1,100 km southeast of Calcutta? (in alphabetical order) The longer it takes to answer a question, the fewer points are awarded. Kids love competition, so this could be a cool game to play every day. I love being challenged, don't you? I highly recommend that all teacher-librarians take a look at SearchReSearch and Power Searching and Advanced Power Searching. Knowledge is after all, power.
Let's save some paper, everyone. My students have been printing PowerPoint presentations (some with as many as 50 slides) and wasting a lot of paper. There is a very simple way to control how many sheets you print, and in PowerPoint it's called "handouts". Just follow the instructions below for an easy transition. NOTE: Instructions are for MS Office 2013.
This is what your screen looks like right before you print:
You have the option to print from 1-9 slides on one page. Voila! Easy, right?
If you already have Google Apps for Education at your school, you are one step closer to using Google Classroom. Google Apps for Education (GAFE) has been such a wonderful addition to our school district, and now that Google Classroom has been added, teachers have so many ways to manage their students and assignments. Just go HERE and choose "teacher". You must use your school Gmail account and Chrome as your browser for this to work.
Since we are all on different schedules for the school year, some of you have already passed the 100th day. My district will hit that number this coming week. You can always bookmark this link so you can return next year....
A scavenger hunt (or treasure hunt) is a fun activity for all students, no matter the age or grade level. Many of you are familiar with a post I did in 2013 about webquests, and are probably wondering how a scavenger hunt is different from a webquest. Before the Internet, scavenger hunts were done outside or in the classroom. Today, there are Internet scavenger hunts, which are closely related to a webquest. Bernie Dodge created the webquest in 1995 and all webquests follow a specific template which includes the Introduction, Task, Process, Evaluation and Conclusion. Scavenger hunts do not follow a specific plan and sometimes students are looking to find certain objects, as well as information. As you can see, it's a fine line between the two; whichever works for your classroom should be the one you use.
CREATING A SCAVENGER HUNT Blendspace- collect web resources in one place
