Friday, October 23, 2015

Extra Life 2015


Extra Life 2015 is here!

I have participated in this event over the last few years and it continues to grow every year. Thousands of gamers participate in this event ever year raising money for their local branch of the Children's Miracle Network.  All the donations my team and I collect goes to the Don Harrington Cancer Center in Amarillo, TX, a local division of CMN.

If you are able and willing to donate anything at all, please consider helping me reach my goal of $500.00.

You can simply go to the widget that is located on the right of this blog or click here to be directed to my donation page.

In case you are wondering how all this started, please watch this video:

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

FlipQuiz - a classroom review tool



FlipQuiz gives you the power to turn classroom reviews into a game that you can present in class, share via Twitter or Facebook or embed on your own website...all for free.   

You can create a Jeopardy-like game where you can create up to 6 categories and 5 questions per category.  Here's an example of a review board over World War II:

FlipQuiz Presentation Mode
Each question is worth a different amount of points, from 100 points to 500 points:

Battles Category: 100 point question 
Battle Category: 100 point answer
The website is also mobile friendly in that the website and the boards as well will adjust to your particular screen size.  This allows students to study wherever they are and not required to be in front of their computer.  

With the provided embed code whenever you create a new board, you can place the review on the classroom website or blog.  

There is also a "Pro" option available that gives you more features like creating teams, bigger image and audio uploads, and the ability to turn the game board into flashcards.  

Monday, July 13, 2015

3 Educational Resources for New Horizons mission


July 14th, 2015 marks the first ever flyby by Pluto by the New Horizons spacecraft.  If you want to learn more about the mission or Pluto or are teaching about the subject, you may find these resources useful:

1.  John Hopkins Applied Science Laboratory

John Hopkins has a website that is dedicated to the New Horizons spacecraft mission.  The website has multiple resources to teach and learn about the mission and Pluto itself.  

2.  NASA

NASA's website also has several resources to choose from to learn about the mission, including images and videos.  

3.  Space.com

Space.com has several articles, videos and info-graphics over the New Horizons mission.   

How to watch and follow

NASA TV -you can view the live stream of the New Horizon's mission here at NASA's website.  The live stream will start on 7/14/15 at 7:30 AM EST.   

Twitter - you can follow the mission on Twitter by following NASA New Horizons and by following #Plutoflyby.  


Sunday, July 5, 2015

Shark Week 2015 Resources


Looking for Shark Week resources to learn or teach about sharks?

Websites:

Discovery Channel:  http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/shark-week/

Sea Worldhttp://seaworld.org/en/just-for-teachers/classroom-resources/teachers-guides/

NOAA: http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/stories/a/species/sharks/

National Geographichttp://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/sharks/

Lesson Plans:

Discovery Educationhttp://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/sharks.cfm

PBShttp://www.pbs.org/oceanrealm/intheschool/school6.html

NEA (National Education Association)https://www.nea.org/tools/lessons/59269.htm

Shark Week Livebinder:

Shark Week

Be sure to follow @sharkweek on Twitter this week for updates and additional facts and resources!

Shark Week 2015 starts today!


Saturday, July 4, 2015

3 Awesome Education & Edtech Online Talk Shows


1.  Every Classroom Matters



Every Classroom Matters is a online show hosted by Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher).  There are multiple episodes on this site where Vicki has interviewed people such as Todd Nelsoney (@techninjatodd) and Peggy George (@pgeorge).  The most recent episode was over Minecraft in the education world with special guest Joel Levin (@minecraftteachr).

2.  Classroom 2.0 Live



Classroom 2.0 Live is what started it all for me when I dove into the Edtech world.  Every Saturday a live show is hosted by Peggy George, Lorie Moffat (@ldmoffat) & Tammy Moore with a different special guest each week.  Each special guest discusses topics such as Evernote, Chromebooks, E-portfolios and Ipads.  You can also check out their Youtube channel here.

3.  Teachercast


Teachercast has a plethora of resources for educators.  Created and hosted by Jeff Bradbury (@teachercast), the site provides multiple podcasts with some of the biggest names in the education and technology world. Podcasts are updated constantly and you can also navigate through the archive to see previous videos as well.  There is also live interviews from ISTE 2015 archived on the site.