This wasn't back to normal

This wasn’t the year I had hoped for-and perhaps not the one you had hoped for as well.  Here is a reflection video from Trevor Muir - author of The Epic Classroom  (shared by Stephanie Howell in one of my  Google groups).  After you watch- take a minute to reflect on your own school year. What do you know?

Lumio for Next Year

One of the things I like about this part of the year is looking ahead to next year.  I always found May-June an ideal time to try new things for next year.  You might want to consider thinking about Lumio.  In her description here, Monica Burns explains its features and shares a link a to free getting started webinar. While it is related to SMARTnotebook, you do not need a SMARTBoard to use it.  It allows students to complete interactives without all waiting for a turn at the SMARTBoard.

Breaking the Blockbuster Model

Matt Miller (Ditch that Textbook) is hosting a 4 part series (it ends this month).  New videos are added on Tuesday and Thursday.  Here’s the link to all the short videos (the last one will be added in late May) The movie theater model (the first video) is embedded above.

Science podcast for educators

Amplify has launched Science Connections- a series of podcasts related to the science classroom. In these half-hour sessions, you will find a variety of classroom ideas (integrating coding,  implementing literacy skills, working with families).

Helping Students Succeed

One way to can help our students to succeed is to encourage (and facilitate) time management skills.  In this blog post (from Edutopia), Emma Chiappetta shares her tips to implement goal setting in the classroom.

Student Choice

Jame Fester (writing in Edutopia) shared a brief article on fostering student choice.  I liked his example of learning at museums.  How could free-choice learning work in your classroom?

PBS and Mental Health

PBS has shared a variety of resources for student mental health.  Divided by grade level, you will find material on bullying, suicide prevention, and belly breaths!

New Math Podcast

If you teach math, you might be interested in a new Math podcast series sponsored by Amplify. Geared to the K-12 math educator, it focuses on current classroom topics.  The last podcast discussed building fluency in mathematics.  Each session is about 40 minutes. You can find current and past podcasts at the Math Teachers Lounge (here is the site)

A New View of a Church in Milan

Google cameras seem to be everywhere and now they have produced a magnificent virtual tour of the Milan Cathedral.  I really liked this site (and it could be that I'm watching Stanley Tucci Searching for Italy and I watched the Milan episode last night!). Please click here to see their work and visit Milan Cathedral Remixed.  From touring the terraces to exploring the crypt, you will get an appreciation for the art and architecture of the third-largest church in the world.

More on Google's Drop-down Feature

 Here’s another update on the Insert Drop-Down feature in Google.  This video (from Kasey Bell in Shake Up Learning). You can get a quick demonstration as well as some implementation suggestions.