Tag Archives: math

Odds & Ends (02/07/09)

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PatriotLedger.com: “Need help with class? YouTube video await” – YouTube video tutorials, specifically in math via Khan Academy.  Each video is about 10 minutes long and covers one specific topic.  Students can watch the video over and over until they grasp the concept.

Lifehacker: “WhichBook Will Help Fill Your Reading Lists” – With WhichBook, use slide rule to select characteristics you enjoy in your books, such as happy/sad or funny/serious.  Also mentioned in the article are What Should I Read Next and BookLamp which also help you find other reading selections.

LitWeb: The Norton Introduction to Literature Website – I was looking for the text for a short story and found this site.  It has stories, poetry, and some drama/plays, as well as quizzes and flashcards for literary terms.

Elona Hartjes – Teachers At Risk: Improve a child’s reading skills by having him read to a dog – Honest! – explains the Paws to Read program of having kids read to a non-judgmental audience – a dog!

Coraline: Explore a Hand-Made World - very engaging website to correspond with the movie release.  Be sure to check out the The Other Mother’s Workshop: Button Your Eyes page (sorry, I wont share my results – way too scary!)  Can’t wait to see the movie!  In case you didn’t know, Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book received this years Newbery Medal Award.  You can watch/listen to Mr. Gaiman read The Graveyard Book via videos recorded on his video tour.

Odds & Ends

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The Periodic Table of Videos – Thanks to Cali Lewis over at GeekBrief.TV for sharing this cool site. What makes this periodic table great is that there are short videos describing each element and/or showing an experiment using the element.

National Geographic: Wildlife Filmmaker – “Make a custom nature film with animal clips, sounds, and more. Then share your masterpiece with friends.”

ThinkQuest: Math Movies: Math for Everyone – “Have you ever wondered how mathematics is actually applied in everyday life? Do you like games and movies? Are you looking for ideas for your science project? … Are you a teacher looking for lesson plans and fresh teaching idea? Welcome to Math Movies.”

Tony Vincent over at the Learning in Hand blog posted the following: “How to Cheat” – he provides examples of YouTube videos that show students methods on how to cheat. As Tony says, we don’t want our kids to see these videos, but they are out there nonetheless. As teachers, we need to be familiar with them, too, so we can prevent the use of them in our classrooms.

Another great post by Tony Vincents is “Video Podcasts Free Up Class Time” – “… video podcasts to remove lecture from class. Viewing podcasts made by teachers is given as homework so teachers and students can focus on hands-on activities and direct problem solving during class time. For students without Internet, they can copy episodes to a flash drive. Those without computers can take home DVDs to play on their televisions.”

BibMe – a free online bibliography maker in MLA, APA, Chicago, or Turabian formats.

Great TeacherTube video brought to my attention by Vicki Davis via Twitter a while back with teachers who tell how they are going to use Web 2.0 tools in the classroom: Today

Odds & Ends (06/20/08)

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Odds & Ends is back! I took a little time off and my RSS Reader is slam full of articles for me to read. I’m slowly getting through them. I’m not ready to declare RSS bankruptcy as I would hate to miss something good! Anyhoo, here are some nuggets of information, technology, or news I’ve found so far…

Pat Hensley over at the Successful Teaching Blog posted “Just Doing What’s Right” that brought me to tears over the compassion of those teens! Boy, I’m sure getting emotional in my old age. Be sure to read the comments and follow the link to another example of kids doing what’s right! Now if news reports had more of these types of stories to share, I might just watch the news again!

Edutopia: “Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner” by Mark Prensky

A little math humor “I Will Derive” video from College Humor brought to my attention by FrancyLibrarian at the Gargoyles Loose in the Library blog. Too funny!

CNN.com: “School defends drunken driving hoax” – Okay, I find this disturbing. I can see where the authorities were coming from to want to “scare kids straight,” but I think this went overboard. This probably did more damage to the kids than deterred teens from driving drunk.

And lastly, a few news articles I found interesting from BBC.com:

  • “Spain treats child phone addicts” – Guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, but I figured it would start with computer games before phones! My question, what do 12 & 13 year olds need with cell phones? Shouldn’t the parents have been monitoring their usage BEFORE things got so out of hand?
  • “‘Non-planet’ Pluto gets new class” – “Sorry, Pluto, you’ve been demoted, but to sooth your feelings, we’re going to call all masses like you “plutoids,” what do you think?” Come on, couldn’t they come up with a better name than that?
  • “The changing face of Africa” – visual proof that man is destroying the planet faster than nature ever could.
  • “Sudoku-playing jurors halt trial” – What! How could the jurors be so rude! This is life and future you’re going to be deciding! I realize lawyers tend to love the sound of their own voice, and you may have been a bit bored, but please, show some respect!