50 Kick-Ass Websites You Need to Know About It's time to update the entries in your browser's links toolbar. But with recent estimates putting the size of the internet at well more than 100 million distinct websites, it's getting harder and harder to get a handle on all the great stuff that's out there. That's why we've compiled this list. And unlike some lists you may have seen, which try to name the very "best" websites, but end up just telling you a lot of stuff you already know, we've chosen instead to highlight 50 of our favorite sites that fly under most people's radar. Think of it as the Maximum PC blog roll (remember those?). These sites represent great alternatives to popular web destinations like YouTube and Hulu, and include useful references, powerful web apps, and the unknown blogs you must absolutely bookmark. You might have heard of some of these sites, but we'll bet you haven't heard of all them. Demoscene.tv See What Can Be Done with 4 Kilobytes lite.Facebook.com Clutter-Free Social Networking You can admit it.
5 (less traditional) ways to create and share knowledge online The communication of knowledge and ideas is intrinsic to the human condition. Our earliest ancestors had a rich oral tradition, through which they passed on what they knew about the world, often across great distances. Our systems of communication have evolved and matured, from those oral traditions to the earliest cuneiform writings and all the way up through books and newspapers, to radio and television. With the advent of the modern age and Al Gore’s gift of the Internet, we’re now able to share our knowledge, ideas, and lots and lots of cute pictures of cats, around the world in less time than it has taken me to write this sentence. Today, the avenues available to our quest to gain and share knowledge are boundless, but I’d like to share with you five of my own personal favorites. #5 — Reddit #4 — Scribd Scribd is an online repository of the written word. #3 — Scoop.it #2 — Yarny Yarny describes itself as “novel writing in the cloud,” but for many users it is so much more than that.
Rumsey Historical Map Collection The David Rumsey Map Collection was started over 25 years ago and contains more than 150,000 maps. The collection focuses on rare 18th and 19th century maps of North and South America, although it also has maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. The collection includes atlases, wall maps, globes, school geographies, pocket maps, books of exploration, maritime charts, and a variety of cartographic materials including pocket, wall, children's, and manuscript maps. Items range in date from about 1700 to 1950s. Digitization of the collection began in 1996 and there are now over 55,000 items online, with new additions added regularly. Maps are uniquely suited to high-resolution scanning because of the large amount of detailed information they contain. With Luna Imaging's Insight® software, the maps are experienced in a revolutionary way. Materials created in America and that illustrate the evolution of the country's history, culture, and population distinguish the collection.
40 Alternative Assessments for Learning When people think of assessment, pencils and bubble sheets may be the first things that come to mind. Assessment does not always have to involve paper and pencil, but can instead be a project, an observation, or a task that shows a student has learned the material. In the end, all we really want to know is that the skill was mastered, right? Why not make it fun and engaging for students as well? Many teachers shy away from alternative assessments because they take extra time and effort to create and to grade. The project card and rubric can be run on card stock (one on each side of the page), laminated, and hole punched with other alternative assessment ideas. Here are 40 alternative assessment ideas to get you started! Alternative Reading Assessments 1. Create a bookmark to match the theme of the last book read. 2. Put together a group of 5 things from the story of the week. 3. Students can make a stuffed animal that matches the theme of the story read. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.
26 Life Changing Lessons to Learn from Mahatma Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi, one of the many beautiful souls that has inspired and continues to inspire so many of us taught me so many valuable and life changing lessons. And in today’s post, I have gathered some of his most inspiring quotes and compiled them into the 26 Life Changing Lessons to Learn from Mahatma Gandhi. Enjoy! 1. An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching. “An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.” “It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity.” 2. “There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.” 3. “If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.” 4. “It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. 5. “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” 6. “God has no religion.” “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. “I believe in the fundamental Truth of all the great religions of the world. 7. “Prayer is not asking. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
32 Characteristics Of High-Performing Classrooms 32 Characteristics Of High-Performing Classrooms: Spotting The Holes In Your Teaching by Terry Heick Instructional design is the strategic creation of learning experiences through intentional planning, sequencing, and data-based revision of learning. This process includes both the ways content is accessed, and the learning needs and objectives (and how they are determined) themselves. This puts instructional strategies, literacy strategies, curriculum mapping, standards unpacking, assessment design, digital literacy, and a dozen other facets of education beneath its umbrella. With that in mind, we’ve created the following 32 characteristics of higher-level instructional planning to help you spot the holes in your teaching. Technology Integration Cognitive Demand Lesson Planning Assessments Curriculum Mapping Learner Choice Classroom Management Student Support Image attribution flickr user flickeringbrad; 32 Characteristics Of A High-Performing Classroom
7 Secrets of the Super Organized A few years ago, my life was a mess. So was my house, my desk, my mind. Then I learned, one by one, a few habits that got me completely organized. Am I perfect? So what’s the secret? Are these obvious principles? If your life is a mess, like mine was, I don’t recommend trying to get organized all in one shot. So here are the 7 habits: Reduce before organizing. If you take your closet full of 100 things and throw out all but the 10 things you love and use, now you don’t need a fancy closet organizer. How to reduce: take everything out of a closet or drawer or other container (including your schedule), clean it out, and only put back those items you truly love and really use on a regular basis. Write it down now, always.
Why Teaching Kindness in Schools Is Essential to Reduce Bullying Phrases like "random acts of kindness" and "pay it forward" have become popular terms in modern society. This could perhaps be best explained by those who have identified a deficiency in their lives that can only be fulfilled by altruism. It seems there are good reasons why we can't get enough of those addictive, feel-good emotions, as scientific studies prove there are many physical, emotional, and mental health benefits associated with kindness. As minds and bodies grow, it’s abundantly clear that children require a healthy dose of the warm-and-fuzzies to thrive as healthy, happy, well-rounded individuals. Patty O'Grady, PhD, an expert in neuroscience, emotional learning, and positive psychology, specializes in education. Kindness changes the brain by the experience of kindness. A great number of benefits have been reported to support teaching kindness in schools, best summed up by the following. Happy, Caring Children Greater Sense of Belonging and Improved Self-Esteem Reduced Depression
Educational Videos and Games for Kids about Science, Math, Social Studies and English The funniest TED Talks | Playlist Now playing The New Yorker receives around 1,000 cartoons each week; it only publishes about 17 of them. In this hilarious, fast-paced, and insightful talk, the magazine's longstanding cartoon editor and self-proclaimed "humor analyst" Bob Mankoff dissects the comedy within just some of the "idea drawings" featured in the magazine, explaining what works, what doesn't, and why. Search DuckDuckGo Education Technology - theory and practice: Pearltrees for teachers Year 2012 last post is a guest post from Finnish teacher Tommi Viljakainen. He is a teacher in Elimäki lower and upper secondary school. He teaches English, French and P.E. He is also interested in social media, iPad and the future of education. You can find Tommi also in Twitter under name @tommiviljaA (Finnish) teacher's dive into social media - "I discovered pearls in Pearltrees!" 10 tips for teachers: 1. The new social media tools make it possible for us to take the learning to the next level. Links:The program:Pear app (iPad, iPhone) Me and Pearltrees:My blog writings (in Finnish)