Links You’ll Love – 4-27-12
Are we stifling creativity in the classroom? “The urge to create has never been stronger, and the ability to create is unprecedented, yet a new global study shows that most people feel they are not living up to their own creative potential,” said Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe (the premier creative software manufacturer). You can download Adobe’s study here.
Got a Torah in your pocket? If you have an iPad, iPhone or Android device, that’s not as hard as it sounds. You can download the app or even better – if you want to access PocketTorah via the web, boot up Safari or Chrome (it doesn’t work in Firefox yet) and click here. Click on any parshah (they’re divided by aliyah) to hear the trope.
Who says money doesn’t buy happiness? Not Michael Norton. Check out his TED talk about money and how spending it on other people can make you happier:
Maybe you’ve heard about the concept of “flipping the classroom.” In a nutshell, flipping means having your students watch a lecture online in advance of class, and then use classroom time to work on something together. This was popularized by Salman Khan and Khan Academy. If you’re interested in flipping your classroom, TED and YouTube have a great tool for you. Visit TED-Ed, find a YouTube video that you’d like to use for your flipped classroom, and use the integrated tools to add a description, some related resources and discussion questions. Anyone wanna flip?
“Our ultimate goal as teachers is to create curious problem-solvers and critical thinkers.” Agree? There’s a great article at Creative Educator that addresses the question of, well, questions, and how asking great ones can inspire and motivate your students. Read the whole article here.
Links You’ll Love – 4-15-12
Check out these great interviews with children’s books authors.
David Hazony, a contributing editor to the Forward and author of The Ten Commandments: How Our Most Ancient Moral Text Can Renew Modern Life, has a most interesting solution for the question of how to cultivate Jewish peoplehood. He explains in his article here.
If you’ve got an iPhone check out this list of tips and tricks.
This might the first time I’ve included a link to an interview with a pastor. Author Rev. Rachel Hackenberg talks in this Huffington Post article about encouraging kids to write their own prayers.
Links You’ll Love 3-23-12
It’s happened to many of us: we come home from visiting kids at camp and wonder why camp is so engaging, why camp tefillah is so spirited, why kids come home from camp and just can’t wait for the next year. And then we wonder…what is it about camp, and how we can bring it to school? Dr. Jeffrey Kress, assistant professor and chair of the Department of Jewish Education at JTS, addresses that question in a great read.
I just love TED talks, and I know you know that because I’ve sent several your way this year. Here’s a great post at Edudemic listing 25 terrific talks to share with your students.
Sacrifices…what’s it all about? My colleague Faye says this week’s G-dcast is “really cute.” Check it out:
If you’ve got some time this summer and some PD cash left, consider taking advantage of Darim Online’s webinar series “Social Media Success for Jewish Educators.” Get more information here.
And…finally… any Mad Men fans out there? Me too! The series returns this Sunday night, but, in the meantime, you can play this interactive version. Even if you’re not a fan of the series, it’s a fascinating exploration of using YouTube annotations feature to the max.
A sense of humor’s a good thing!
Who said Jewish organizations have no sense of humor?
Thanks to Esther Kustanowitz for passing these along…
Ikar created a lovely PSA for themselves. So lovely that it actually makes me want to relocate to LA (well, just kinda):
And then they created this parody for Purim:
Awesome!
Like this:
Links You’ll Love – January 6, 2012
Here’s a lovely blog post on doing lunch duty. Much of it goes for any kind of non-classroom situation like recess duty or supervising students on field trips.
Do you or your students use EasyBib for bibliographies? Did you know they have apps for the iPhone and Android phones? Creating a citation couldn’t be easier: just scan the bar code and it creates a citation.
Admongo.gov is a website designed to teach kids about advertising. Students participate in activities geared to answer questions like: Who is responsible for the ad? What is the ad actually saying? What does the ad want me to do?
One of my favorite education authors is Will Richardson. He has a new thought piece on District Administrator: Are you an old school or a bold school? Worth a read.
Here’s another website designed for teachers who rely on YouTube videos and want to present them in a safe environment.
I know you’ve all had that secret desire to learn how to code (as in programming for computers). No? Maybe you have a student or two who would like to… Check out codeacademy to get an idea of how learning to code can be fun. Really!
Links You’ll Love for 12-02-11
The folks who bring us the TED Talks – those awesome, usually pretty short inspirational and educational talks I love so much – are counting down to 2012 in an unusual way. Teaming with the Huffington Post, TED is bringing us the 18 ideas (I wonder why it’s 18…) that they think will shape 2012. Ideas! Essays! World changing big thinking! The first entry is “How Algorithms Shape Our World.” Can it get much better? These videos and accompanying essays will be posted here.
Easybib, that venerable website that makes learning how to create bibliographies virtually obsolete, also has a student portal that includes writing and research guides, as well as extensive resources on citations. There is also a teachers’ portal with info on avoiding plagiarism and a signup for their educator newsletter.
Whatcha doin’ February 19th? Consider spending the day learning Jewish stuff at Limmud Chicago. And if you’re interested in a teensy taste of Limmud, come to the Chicago Board of Jewish Education next Sunday (December 11th) from 7:00 until 9:00 pm. I’m excited to be presenting that evening. Visit their website for more information and to register for Chicago Limmud.
Wanna rock out? Check out Jewish Rock Radio. This non-for-profit website endeavors to instill Jewish identity in Jewish youth and young adults through the power of music.
And…more Hanukkah preparation: groove to the little boy strumming the ukulele at the beginning of The Yeshiva Boys Choir doing “Those Were the Nights (of Chanukah):
and boogie down to Candlelight by the Maccabeats:
And lest we forget the venerable source of all things latke, don’t miss The Potato Song:
I apologize in advance for getting the tune stuck in your head.
Links You’ll Love for 11-23-11
Did you ever think you’d see “digital” and “Dead Sea” in the same post? How about the same website? The Israel Museum is digitizing the Dead Sea Scrolls and you can view the collection online. Here’s an interesting article in the New York Times about Google’s efforts to digitize artifacts from around the world.
And while we’re talking about ancient artifacts, check out this article in Haaretz about the Western Wall and what recent excavations have revealed.
Hanukkah resources:
Craig Taubman has generously made his Hanukkah sampler available FOR FREE. Download it here.
Hanukkah folk songs.
Links You’ll Love 11-18-11
Jewish? Reader? Well, then, you’re in luck! The Jewish Book Council has a nifty new website. “Promoting the reading, writing, publication, distribution, and public awareness of books that reflect the breadth of the Jewish experience.” You have to love that the blog is called the ProsenPeople.
Explore the land of the ancient Pharoahs at this PBS.org site. Witness an actual mummy preparation session and more. This site includes videos, 360° imagery (yes! You can walk AROUND a pyramid!) and my personal favorite, 10 ways to make a mymmy.
The Leo Baeck Institute, “a research library and archive that contains the most significant collection of source material relating to the history of German-speaking Jewry,” is working to make its materials available online. Search their database here.
Salman Khan of Khan Academy has turned the academic world on its head with his ideas about how to transform education. I featured his TED Talk last year – here it is if you missed it the first time:
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Links You’ll Love for 11-11-11
If you use YouTube videos in the classroom, you may want to check out Dragontape. Dragontape (which is drag-on-tape, not something that breathes fire…) allows you to essentially create your own YouTube mix tapes, combining bits and pieces of existing YouTube videos. This would be ideal for the times you want to show your classes a few minutes of a few different videos. A similar tool can be found at Veengle.
I’m a big believer in gaming in education. Here’s a fascinating article on how scientific discovery can benefit from gamers.
Consider asking questions. Here’s what happens when a sixth grader asks “How do you make an iPhone app?”
Do you celebrate questions in your class or do you just celebrate answers? Here’s an interesting blog post on the subject.
Chanukah is coming! Well, it’s not exactly around the corner yet, but it is out there. Jacob Richman has put together a nice video with 15 Chanukah-related Hebrew phrases.
Do you encourage inspiration? Want to learn more about inspiration and how to cultivate it? This blog post from the Harvard Business Review states, “…as recent research shows, inspiration can be activated, captured, and manipulated, and it has a major effect on important life outcomes.”
And one more from the HBR Blog about whether or not praise leads to cheating. While this is written for business organizations, I think there’s much we can gain from it about how to change mindset.
About
Debbie Harris is the technology coordinator at the Sager Solomon Schechter Middle School in Northbrook, IL and teaches religious school at Lakeside Congregation for Reform Judaism. Involved in Jewish education for over thirty years, she received an education degree from Northwestern University with a concentration in instructional media. She is skilled in using and teaching desktop publishing, video editing, presentation and animation software; and consults and presents regularly on integrating technology into Judaic studies. Her students podcast, blog, edit video and create claymations. She co-chaired the technology track for CAJE 33 in Vermont, is a SMART Certified Trainer for SMART Notebook version 10 for both Macintosh and Windows, and a 2011 recipient of the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education.
When not learning, teaching or writing about technology, Debbie likes to craft. While not particularly highly skilled at anything, she likes to knit, do calligraphy, sew, paint fabric and just generally play with fun toys like scrapbooking supplies, watercolors, and anything with texture. She is incredibly proud of her two daughters; Lori, who teaches English at a community college; and Allie, who is a student at Hebrew Union College in LA.
Look for her at:
Her educational technology wiki
Debbie Does Desktop
Flickr
Twitter
Diigo
YouTube
Ravelry
Email Debbie here
