Links You’ll Love
Mathschase is a fun site to review multiplication. No sign up required and looks like it’s completely ad-free.
If you’re a fan of Boomerang, you’ll be happy to know that now you can schedule your Google emails right in Gmail. You’ll notice that there’s a little drop down menu next to “Send” – just click on that and schedule when your email will be sent.
Spokeo knows about you…
I think we all know that there is a lot of information out on the web about people; where you live, what your phone number is, what you do for a living, etc.
I think it also creeps people out when that information is easily accessible just by going to one website and putting in someone’s name.
If it creeps you out, too, check out Spokeo. You put in someone’s name, choose the state and city, and, well, stuff shows up.
To remove yourself from the listing, find yourself and copy the URL of your page. Then click on the Privacy link (it’s kind of obscure and in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen). You’ll need to follow the directions and put your email address in. You’ll get an email with a link to click to remove yourself.
Again – Spokeo isn’t providing any information that isn’t already out there, but it’s creepy all the same, so if you want to get your name off of there, have at it.
Tagxedo
Stop what you’re doing and play with Tagxedo now. At first glance, I still like Wordle better, but this is fun, especially when you create a word cloud and can click on all the words to make them pop up.
I haven’t figured out a way for it to support Hebrew, which Wordle does, but it’s fun nonetheless.
Here’s the word cloud image for the parashah we’ll be reading this Shabbat:
Create your own worship service
Thank you to David Bryfman for sharing this…
When I was a youth group advisor 100 years ago, one of the most dreaded moments was when you said to the kids “Okay, guys, time to write a creative service.”
Blech.
Boy, I wish BBYO’s Build a Prayer website had been around then. Of course, there were no websites around then, but I digress.
The site’s interface is just lovely. Pick a service, pick a movement and so on. Want Hebrew and English or just one or the other? Want the Amidah in it? How about music? Where do you want to add your own creative stuff?
You make your choices and off you go, press a button and you have a fully formatted worship service in front of you, ready to print.
There’s more, though. You can also browse through services that have been created by others (one wish I have here would be that I could start with someone else’s service and then customize that to meet my own needs, rather than start from scratch), and there’s a resource section that looks a little sparse right now, but I imagine it’ll grow with time. I love that it’s dynamic; giving users the opportunity to add to the resources rather than just being consumers of it.
Kol hakovod, BBYO!
Wallwisher
Wallwisher looks like a fun site.
You can have a group of students go to the site and post to your wall (I can’t help thinking of a connection between a wall and The Wall…). There’s a good slideshow on tips for using it and ways to use it in the classroom here.
I created one for my staff here. We’ll see how people choose to use it.
Holiday calendar by Jacob Richman
Jacob Richman has posted a new holiday calendar on his website. You can download it here. This is a calendar with the dates of the holidays for the next three years – a resource I’m sure you’ll find valuable.
By the way, if you haven’t checked out Jacob and his incredible websites, you must do so immediately! Start at his home page. He has games to learn Hebrew, a wonderful quote database that I use all the time, and a really comprehensive and always up-to-date list of sites of interest to Jewish educators. If you’re planning to use stamps to teach history, he’s got a terrific collection of scans of stamps. He’s also really diligent about posting photos of holiday celebrations in Israel as well as pictures of new olim when they arrive. I don’t know why, but photos of those new Israeli citizens always grab me; maybe there’s a little piece of me that’s jealous.
Thanks, Jacob!
Useful websites
This is a nice list of websites compiled by Diane E. Berg, RJE. I generally don’t love laundry lists like these – I prefer something that’s a bit annotated, so I have an idea of where I’m going, but this has a lot of sites that are worth visiting.
Gotta love technology (and the public domain)
Now available for your online viewing pleasure:
Dictionary of Targumim, Talmud and Midrashic Literature by Marcus Jastrow (1926
thanks to Iris Koller and Facebook for bringing it to my attention.
Click for charity
I’m sure you’ve received emails telling you to go to such-and-such site to click to ensure that some corporation will donate money to breast cancer research, food for homeless pets, etc. Today I got one that read:
Friends & Family,
In an effort to raise money for research on autism, the band, Five for Fighting, is generously donating $0.40 to Autism Speaks for *each time* the video is viewed on the attached link. When you have a moment, please visit the link below to watch the video and pass it along to your friends and family. They are aiming for 10,000 hits, but hopefully we can help them to surpass this goal.
Link to the site:
http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/408214=20
So immediately I went to Snopes to check it out and found out that it’s legit (I love when that happens).
Here’s the deal: the site contributes money to one of the designated charities each time someone views one of the posted videos. Charities include:
- Augie’s Quest (www.augiesquest.org)
- Autism Speaks (www.autismspeaks.org)
- Fisher House Foundation (www.fisherhouse.org)
- Save the Children (www.savethechildren.org)
- United Service Organization (www.uso.org)
But – and this is lovely, just lovely – anyone can create and upload a video on the topic of “what kind of world do you want?” Imagine – plain old people just making videos about their vision of the world and what it can be, posting them online, sending them out to their friends and families, and raising money for charity at the same time.
Why, I feel a class project cooking up.
I spent a few minutes checking out the videos on the site (there are currently 183). Many are about people living with autism, ALS, and Asberger’s Syndrome and the effect on their families. One is about war’s effect on children (okay, I cried). The cool thing is that while I’m raising money for charity, I’m also learning the human side of these charities and the people they help.
What an awesome class project: pick one of the designated charities, make a video, raise money.
“Children in the Ghetto” website
From the Lookstein listserv:
“Children in the Ghetto”
Towards January 27th, the international Holocaust Remembrance Day, we invite you to visit a new site: A website about children, written for children.
“Children in the Ghetto” portrays life during the Holocaust from the viewpoint of children who lived in the ghetto, while attempting to make the complex experience of life in the ghetto as accessible as possible to today’s children.
At the center of this site is an imaginary representation of a street in the ghetto. The site invites children to “move around the street” and
“enter” various locations in it. In each of the locations, original exhibits such as video testimonies, photographs, paintings, artifacts etc.
are accompanied by interactive and thought-provoking activities.
The site “Children in the Ghetto” is a result of cooperation between the Snunit Center for the Advancement of Web-Based Learning – a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing online education, established by the Hebrew University and the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem. The site was made possible with the support of the Claims Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Sincerely,
Ayelet Gershuni
Project Coordinator
Snunit Center for the Advancement of Web-Based Learning
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Email: ayelet@mail.snunit.k12.il
At first, I will admit, I wondered why we need another Holocaust website. This one is really good for younger kids, though. The other interesting feature is that it’s in English and German, so I’m guessing that the hope is that German children will be using it. My only complaint, from a navigation perspective, is that when you mouse over a selection in the street, it doesn’t tell you what it is (which is a pretty common navigation tool). But, at first glance, the content seems nicely done and child-appropriate. I could see using this with 5th and 6th graders. Let me know if you use it and what the results are.
About
Debbie Harris is the director of educational technology at the Sager Solomon Schechter Day School in Northbrook, IL. Involved in Jewish education for over thirty years, she has an education degree from Northwestern University with a concentration in instructional media and a master’s degree in professional Jewish studies from Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership. 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, 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 sketchnote and craft. She likes to knit, do calligraphy, sew, watercolor, paint fabric and just generally play with fun toys like scrapbooking supplies and anything with texture. Debbie travels to California every summer to paint tallitot with high school aged campers. Finally, she is incredibly proud of her two daughters; Lori, who teaches English at a community college; and Allie, who is the director of the URJ’s Camp Newman in California.
Look for her at:
Debbie Does Desktop
Flickr
Twitter
Diigo
YouTube
Ravelry
Email Debbie here
MuseForJews 