I sometimes find myself planning lessons, looking for a quick video clip to show my students. A short video is often an effective way to introduce, extend, or clarify information that I’m teaching. I start to think about my sources…the library? Nope, videos are too long and many are too old…YouTube? Nope, I don’t want [...]
Browsing Posts published in April, 2009
Now that ScreenToaster has rolled out a truckload of features for free, older screencasting apps are doing what they can to keep up. Screencast-o-Matic was the first screencaster we wrote about on Instructify, and they’ve added a bevy of bells and whistles to work their way back into our hearts. Now you can upload your [...]
Before Hannah Montana, before the Wiggles, before the Backyardigans and other execrable music for the younger set came the great children’s records of the 1940s and 1950s. Now that I’ve reached the age where I believe everything older is automatically better, I’m considering turning my own kids onto some of these classics from a bygone [...]
Planning lessons that will keep a class engaged and motivated takes enough time on its own without adding all the other things teachers have to contend with like parent meetings and conferences. Here are some time-saving tips that teachers can use to make the most of their precious free time. Their simplicity may surprise you. [...]
It’s the closeout sale! Only a few days left! Rock-bottom prices! Okay, just kidding. Poetry will still be available May 1, all year even. It’s timeless and often available for free. But hey, who doesn’t work better on a deadline? So let’s just pretend, as of May 1, poems are off the market and you [...]
My high-school buddy Umar was obsessed by the number 137. For reasons I didn’t understand, it’s a very magical number for physicists (if anything can be magical for men of science). Now that I’m grown, I have a (slightly) better understanding of 137 thanks to Sixty Symbols, a site that explains the meaning behind a [...]
PaperBackSwap lets you exchange any book you own for one of the millions of books other users are offering. Swapping is simple. Take any book (paperback, hardback, or audio) you’re ready to part with and post it to your virtual library. Any time another user requests a book from your library, simply send it using [...]
If you’re a PBWiki user, you’ve probably gotten an email that the venerable and easy-to-use wiki app is changing its name. Why they’d want to do such a thing is beyond me — few things have as many positive connotations as peanut butter, in my opinion. Nevertheless, changes they shall make. That means they have [...]
Free summer agriculture workshops If free sounds good to you, then you need to check out one of the North Carolina Ag in the Classroom workshops being offered this July at the Sheraton Imperial in Durham, North Carolina. Celebrate DNA Day 2009 on April 24 Though the official DNA Day is April 25, this year [...]
And they’re off! If you forgot to place your wager on this year’s Great Turtle Race from National Geographic, you can still follow along as 11 leatherback sea turtles make their way from Canada to the warm waters of the Caribbean. The Great Turtle Race raises public awareness of leatherback turtle migration, plus threats to [...]
