Got this link from a fantastic principal in northern New Jersey, near where I grew up.  I wish I had these when I was taking chemistry!

Perfect for supplementing your blended or flipped classroom.

50 Awesome Chemistry Videos For The Busy Science Teacher

DigiWriMo -- 50K in 30 Days

I think I am going to do it.  I was already batting it around in my subconscious when my boss sent me a message with a link to this article:

 10 Reasons You Should Do Digital Writing Month

I think I am going to do it.

What the Other Half Deals With

I am very grateful that The Harker School does not believe in the wholesale blocking of content on the Web.  Many of our compatriots in the public schools, and also in some private schools, have to deal with this issue daily, however.

KQED published this excellent article last fall about some of the myths involved in blocking websites in schools, and the author does a great job of dispelling these myths: ORIGINAL ARTICLE

This came to my attention when my friend Joe Wood shared a more recent article about what to do if your school bans useful websites.

Again, we don't really run into this problem here, but it's good to know what others are up against and perhaps even how to help your friends who work in other schools.

Great Share About Teaching Argument Writing

Catlin Tucker, who teaches English in Santa Rosa, has been looking closely at ways to incorporate technology into the Common Core adaptation of her already stellar courses.  Today, she shared how she's helping her students become stronger at writing arguments and how this differs from persuasive writing.

Read her blog post here.

Google Has It -- newest song parody

I made this song parody the same day I made my Call Me, Maybe parody (see below), but I didn't have time to put the video together until last night.

I'd love to know what folks think of it.  You should be able to comment on this blog post.

Call Me Maybe parody from the start of the school year:

Passive voice was eliminated. And there was much rejoicing.

I've got a friend named Kevin Brookhouser who teaches English at York School, an independent in nearby Monterey.  He recently began creating a series of videos called Writing Felonies, and his latest installment tackles passive voice:

To see more of Kevin's series of Writing Felonies videos, visit http://grmr.me

WE are the Infinite Thinking Machine, Harker Eagles!

I wanted to share this wonderful resource of short video episodes that focus on various topics in education.  Many involve technology, but that's not the sole or primary focus.

And if you look closely, you might even spot a familiar face....

The Infinite Thinking Machine
(go here for more episodes!)

This Friday is World Teachers' Day

This was a nice blog post by Cristin Frodella of Google in Education:

Celebrating teachers who make a difference with Google

Rambus/KCI Innovation Award 2012 -- Call for Entries

From Gay Krause, Executive Director of Krause Center for Innovation, Foothill College:

"Rambus and the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College (KCI) announce the call for entries for the Rambus/KCI Innovation Award 2012.
The Rambus/KCI Innovation Award was initiated in 2004. The award honors an exemplary technology project or program that benefits the Silicon Valley educational community. The first place award is $4,000. The second and third place awards are each $1,000. All three winners are honored at the award recognition event.

The call for entries seeks nominations for current or recently past exemplary, innovative technology projects and programs related to education. Please nominate a great educator, project or program. Third-party and self-nominations are welcome.

APPLICATION

Click here to complete the application.

IMPORTANT DATES

Call for entries opens: 8/15/12
Applications due: 10/29/12
Award announcement: 11/9/12
Award Recognition Event: 11/28/12

(Applicants must be able to attend evening awards ceremony on 11/28/12)

Rambus is a world-leading provider of advanced chip interface products and services, and has pioneered innovative interface solutions that are found in leading computing and communications products and applications. Rambus is pleased to partner with the KCI to support educational innovation in the Silicon Valley."

http://krauseinnovationcenter.org/?p=1207

Not true at Harker!

U.S. News & World Report recently told us that high schools are not meeting STEM demand, but I know first-hand that isn't the case at The Harker School.  Every upper school student takes at least a semester of computer science, for example, and despite only 2100 high schools offering AP Computer Science, we not only offer it, we've got scads of kids taking it every year, as well as multiple other programming courses.  The science and research programs available at Harker are another source of well-earned pride for our school community.

We're not just meeting the STEM demand, we're feeding it.

40 iPad Apps for Science

I know some folks around here at my school who will really like to try out some of these.

The list is broken down by discipline within the broader subject area of science.


40 iPad Apps for Science by Category

Google Apps and Teaching Writing

This just caught my eye on Google+  It's by a professor of college writing and journalism classes, but he illustrates some important points that translate well across the curriculum.

"How Google Drive Makes It Easier To Teach Writing" 
by Dave Copeland