Teachers & Staff

For the week of October 5, 2020


Helpful tip

Login to Destiny Discover.mp4

If a student asked you how to log in to Destiny Discover, would you be able to help them? The short video above from the Destiny Discover Help Page can walk them through it. Note: Staff members should use Google Single Sign On option.

Educational Find

Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza have prepared "Tips for Teachers: Developing Instructional Materials about American Indians" to help teachers think beyond Columbus Day and Thanksgiving.

Podcast

If your body is sore from remote learning, this NPR Life Kit episode with a professional ergonomist might help!

Video

Some of you have asked how I've made my Google Forms "Scavenger Hunts" for Freshman Reading. This video from Eric Davolt is VERY descriptive. Or try Google EDU Level 2's own Choose Your Own Adventure Story instructions.

Open Educational Resources (OER)

Featured: Open Washington's OER Resource Repository is a great place to browse these categories: Course Materials, Images, Slides, Textbooks, and Video & Audio.

Agriculture

MERLOT's Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Community Portal has links to materials, professional organizations, journals, Twitter posts, websites, and members.


College and Career Readiness


English


Languages

Spanish Proficiency Exercises from the University of Texas at Austin (link found at OER Commons) is a collection of short video clips of native speakers from various Spanish-speaking countries demonstrating beginning, intermediate, advanced, and superior language tasks.

Math


Science


Social Science



For the week of September 21, 2020:

Years ago, Laurie Pillen recommended author and educator Patti Digh to me. Digh doesn't post to her 37days blog very often anymore, but the older posts are rich reading . Her books are in the LMC.

I can't tell you how much time these keyboard shortcuts have saved me! Print them out, post them near your computer, and put your keyboard to work.

The Radiolab podcast has been around forever for good reason: it's interesting and educational. They've also curated a bunch of episodes, like Ghosts of Football Past, that are appropriate for students in Radiolab for Kids.

I needed an audio clip to play in a loop during a Google Slides presentation, and this video from Flipped Classroom Tutorials helped. Add this to your other favorite channels in YouTube subscriptions.

For the week of September 14

This week, there isn't anything I could post in the categories above that has impacted me as much as this video shared by Christian Frieden. With so many of us in remote learning, it's powerful.

  • Song: my tears are becoming a sea - M83

  • Directed by, edited by, written by and starring Liv McNeil

In these stories from June 2020, McNeil explains her inspiration and process:

Toronto Life

CTV News

For the week of September 7, 2020:

If you need ideas for inspiring students to write, take a look at Kwame Alexander's The Write Thing. His suggestions could add a fresh twist to students' posts for your class.

PDFCandy is really useful for doing just about anything with PDFs. I used it to turn PDFs into PNGs.

The fall teacher book club begins this week, so try the podcast Teaching Keating from authors/educators Weston and Molly Kieschnick. They use themes in movies to address issues for teachers and parents to discuss.

This video shows how easy it is to use PDFCandy.

For the week of August 31, 2020:

Professional Book

I have one copy left for checkout when this title arrives in early September. Send me an email if you'd like it.

Educational Find

During the inservice day, Scott Swartz showed me how to use EdPuzzle to split up videos with questions and edit existing videos (such as a TED talk). 15 RTHS staff have videos posted in the RTHS collection, and Donna Page and Dave Cartwright are helpful EdPuzzle resourcesa.

Podcast

Parents and grandparents, Julie's Library might be perfect for your little ones. Julie Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton read from their favorites. Episodes are about 20 min. Need a copy of a book? Click here.

Video

If you teach Science and Social Science, your students will follow APA style when writing for your class. Refer them to Purdue OWL's APA playlist on YouTube and the Purdue OWL site.

For the week of August 24, 2020:

Professional Book

I'm reading this in-demand title on my Kindle for a PD book study with Illinois Reading Council. I have two copies on the way for RTHS, arriving early September, so please email if you would like to read it.

Educational Find

Register with the nonpartisan News Literacy Project to receive The Sift, a weekly newsletter with great media literacy lessons (returns Sept. 14). Their Checkology classroom product is now free for educators and pairs well with Flipgrid for interactive lessons.

Podcast

Browse the 10-Minute Teacher podcast's short episodes for motivational, classroom, and distance-learning ideas. The episode above features Douglas Fisher, an author of The Distance Learning Playbook.

Video

Yesterday this 15-second "How to Use Zoom Tool in Edit" video popped up in Screencastify Editor. Helpful!

For the week of August 17, 2020:

Professional Book

Moncia Genta is who we all need on the first Monday of the school year! Let me know if you'd like this book delivered to you.

Educational Find

Kristin Flanagan demonstrated this live and asynchronous discussion tool for me. She found it really useful during Honors English 2 last spring. It's on the AASL's 2020 list of the Best Digital Tools for Teaching & Learning.

Podcast

Whether you start with S1E1 and humpback whales or zombie parasites in the new third season, your students will appreciate Overheard by National Geographic's offbeat topics. Bonus: Podcast transcripts are available for each podcast.

Video

Relationships, relationships, relationships: more Monica Genta inspiration!