200+ Free Educational Resources for Kids: Video Lessons, Apps, Books Websites & More Open Culture 2014 If you haven’t added Open Culture to your RSS reader, you should. This list of 200+ Free educational resources is just one reason why. They catalog so many of the open educational resources including: Free Language Lessons Free Textbooks Free eBooks Free Audiobooks Free Courses (over 1000) Free MOOCs Free Movies (including silent film, animation, Hitchcock, John Wayne and more) And so much more. Of course nothing is totally free and curating will take your time. But for those of us working hard to stretch our dollars, these resources can be assembled to create a world class curriculum in many subjects. You might just be surprised. With sites like CK12, ed.Ted.com you can bring the world to your students and they can publish right back. Remember. Don’t be overwhelmed. Innovate like a turtle! Plod ahead a little bit every day! You can do this! The post 200+ Free Educational Resources for Kids: Video Lessons, Apps, Books Websites & More [Link] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Book Review: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller (Thomas Nelson, 2009) So, what if you could edit your life — what role would you give yourself? In this book review of a A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story I share why this book is epic and unsettling. It is also one of my best reads of 2014. When Michael Hyatt said  A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: How I Learned to Live a Better Story was one of his favorite books of all time, it sounded odd. Written by the same author of Blue Like Jazz, this book challenges you to look at your life and edit it. In my opinion, it is a must read. I STARTED THINKING differently about life when I met a couple of filmmakers who wanted to make a movie about a memoir I’d written. I wrote a memoir several years ago that sold a lot of copies. I got a big head about it for a while and thought I was an amazing writer or something, but I’ve written books since that haven’t sold, so I’m insecure again and things are back to normal.Donald MillerA Million Miles in a Thousand Years, loc 200 It makes sense. I remember reading some research in the early days of Second Life. (wish I could find it.)  They had found that when they took troubled girls in a program in Florida into Second Life to play out what was happening to them in real life that the girls would make changes. Why? Because they were able to see themselves in third person. Maybe we should be doing that too. Interestingly Donald Miller, the author, author takes the elements of story — specifically the need for conflict and the need for the central character to overcome that conflict — the need for a protagonist and other story elements- and encourages us to apply these to life. The thing is - we remember the big days of our lives. Those with monumental events. Those with story. When Your Life Has Story Like the day last year I sat and listened to my daughter give her valedictory speech. I didn’t cry because her speech was epic. I cried because of the great story her life told that got her to that moment. If Steve was right about a good story being a condensed version of life—that is, if story is just life without the meaningless scenes—I wondered if life could be lived more like a good story in the first place. I wondered whether a person could plan a story for his life and live it intentionally.Donald MillerA Million Miles in a Thousand Years, loc 530 She overcame the taunts of classmates who told her not to do so well on tests as she was making them look bad. Those who tried to get answers to homework with promises of her being included in events on weekends. She overcame and succeeded. Great story. What Role Should You Play Today? But A Million Miles in a Thousand Years doesn’t have us focusing on our past. It centrally nails us to today. If you look at your life right now. If you look at the conflict, the characters, and the great thing(s) you want to attain. What role should you play? For me, it is a hard role. I’ve gained fifty pounds in the past 2 years after coming through a very difficult situation that almost caused me to withdraw from social media. I thought about quitting teaching and living life as a hermit. I’d be happy tending a garden, fishing, and writing the next Walden. I really would. My uncle told a good story with his life, but I think there was such a sadness at his funeral because his story wasn’t finished. If you aren’t telling a good story, nobody thinks you died too soon; they just think you died. But my uncle died too soon.Donald MillerA Million Miles in a Thousand Years, loc 518 But being a hermit standing on a pillar isn’t my story. Every single kid should have one great teacher and I want to be at least one of them. I want to be that pivot point that helps kids find themselves and their passion. I’ve got down the role of teacher and want to play it as long as I can. Every time I put my head on my desk and wonder how I’m going to make it, I feel the vibrations of tens of thousands of heads on desks of teachers just like me and I know how they feel. My sister says that these experiences of the tough side of teaching aren’t wasted if I can help others through them. So sometimes the road I travel as a teacher is dark and hard and full of slimy gooey monsters who threaten to steal my joy and life’s purpose. But as I kill the monsters, I can help other teachers kill their own. I can shine a light upon the heroes among us. Teachers are epic. I love them with a deep love. Telling their story is part of telling my own. I was watching the movie Star Wars recently and wondered what made that movie so good. Of course, there are a thousand reasons. But I also noticed that if I paused the DVD on any frame, I could point toward any major character and say exactly what that person wanted. No character had a vague ambition. It made me wonder if the reasons our lives seem so muddled is because we keep walking into scenes in which we, along with the people around us, have no clear idea what we want.Donald MillerA Million Miles in a Thousand Years, loc 1258 But I’m afraid now because my story includes sweat. It includes some more running if I can get my knee to cooperate. Whatever it is, it is going to include not eating the Italian Cream Cake that my son won at the Fall Festival Last night. I may have to shun the ham and mashed potato casserole the lunchroom is famous for and eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead. If I’m Going to Edit My Life Because if I’m going to edit my life - I’m going to have to lose this weight. I’m going to have to join my son who has already lost 18 pounds as he loses another 15 or so and I am going to have to become healthy. If I’m going to edit my life. Somehow we realize that great stories are told in conflict, but we are unwilling to embrace the potential greatness of the story we are actually in. We think God is unjust, rather than a master storyteller.Donald MillerA Million Miles in a Thousand Years, p 100 If I’m going to edit my life, I’m going to have to not only write this blog and tweet and these other things. But I’m going to have to make time to write the books that are on my heart. I’m going to have to overcome my fears of self publishing or my self-doubt that people may not want to read it. I see where I want to go with these books but I have to go there. Overcoming Conflict Gives You Purpose I remember being a sixth grader who was bullied beyond belief. I cried every single day for four years - from halfway through fifth through halfway through ninth grade. It was hard. I was one of those who ran for every election and never won one I couldn’t even get elected to carry the banner for the Homecoming parade. What I’m saying is I think life is staggering and we’re just used to it. We all are like spoiled children no longer impressed with the gifts we’re given - it’s just another sunset, just another rainstorm moving in over the mountain, just another child being born, just another funeral.Donald MillerA Million Miles in a Thousand Years, loc 719 I remember it was in sixth or seventh grade and Mom and I were driving in the car to Albany to shop. I had my shoes off with my argyle sock clad feet on the dashboard. I told her that I knew deep down I was called be a leader but that no one would let me lead. That I had something to say and no one would let me speak. Was I going to have to live my whole life alone when I had these things inside me that had to come out? I felt like I was going to explode. I had stuff to share and do. Things needed to be done. And I was invisible. Overcoming Conflict Writes a Great Story So, Mom bought me a book. It was my Granddaddy Martin’s favorite book after the Bible. How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. She  told me to read it until it made a difference.  I remember keeping the book in the bathroom and reading it while I took the long hot baths that have marked the end of my day since I was in the second grade. I read it. I read it. I reread it. By ninth grade I understood that thinking of others first was the key. Of course, we all star at the center of our own play - as evidenced by my introspective book review here — but as you look at your goals, looking at others first will help you shape your own goals to be a more helpful person. Genuinely help others because you want to and in the end, you help yourself. You reap what you sow. If the point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is a character transformation.Donald MillerA Million Miles in a Thousand Years, loc 821 I stopped talking about what I wanted and started looking at what others wanted. For for my next election I asked "What do ninth graders want?" In my generation we wanted to hang out - boys and girls. Lights off and dance. Not this dirty dancing stuff they do today but in our day our music was considered pretty raunchy too. Careless Whispers and rock stars who dressed like zombies, wore one glove and grabbed their crotch. Naughty stuff, mind you. So, I ran on a platform of more dances. That election and every election after it, I was blessed to be voted the winner. Even through college and beyond. Not because of me but because I learned to think of others. Transformed character through overcoming conflict. Story. Overcoming Hard Things Makes Good Stories, Good Stories Make a Great Life And that story is pretty cool. It is one I could tell my children and they can understand. I always tell my kids — "Don’t you know we always have to start off with nothing and earn it. That is who we are." My Recommendation I highly recommend this book. While there are some religious overtones, I would recommend it to anyone. There’s great clarity that comes from looking at your life in this way. And that clarity, like this book, is a gift. Part of me wonders if our stories aren’t being stolen by the easy life.Donald MillerA Million Miles in a Thousand Years, loc 1948 Awesome book. Great read. I’ve already given away two copies. It is that good. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years is one of my best reads of 2014. The post Book Review: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years [Book] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

YouScience is an online research-based program to help an individual understand their personal aptitudes and where they overlap with interests.  The College Success Profile generated by the YouScience program works to tackle these common problems: Why should students go to college knowing so little about their talents? Why do we spend so much money to go into one major without doing any real research on a student’s likes, dislikes, and talents first? Why do we wait until we’re older to find out what we really love? If someone wants to change careers, how can they save time and make sure they will do something they enjoy and can be good at doing? Do Aptitudes Change Over Time? According to  co-founder Betsy Wills and the experts at YouScience, at around age 16, our aptitudes are somewhat set (particularly over the next 10 years - they recommend retesting at that time).  What will change, of course, is our interests. They have taken current research and condensed it down into a series of tests to determine your aptitude. Additionally, they survey your interests and help you find their overlap. What I also love is that you’re also tested on how you interact with others (think something similar to Myers-Briggs). The result of the YouScience testing (which takes a little over 2 hours) is a 50 page profile about you. YouScience is a program to help you learn more about yourself. Our seniors here at Westwood are participating in the program this week. We’re so excited! While our students are taking the test, I’m also taking it and my college aged children will be taking it as well. Betsy says that many adults looking to change careers also use their comprehensive system. I’ll be sharing more about my own results and that of my students in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, I thought you might want to tune in as I spent 20 minutes interviewing Betsy. I did this on YouTube so we can see Betsy’s screen for ourselves. You’ll see some testing information and some results. Why We’re Using YouScience at Westwood: To Help Students Study Themselves I’m excited, most of all, to help my students (and children) make educated choices about their future. We spend so much time studying subjects, but sometimes the most important subject students should study is themselves! My school is part of a market research pilot program with YouScience. I am also covering this program on my blog and Twitter as part of our participation agreement. The post YouScience: The Science of Talent, Interests, and Career [Video] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Take several notes and make a table of contents note that links to them all. This is a fast way to organize notebooks, projects, and topics. For example, when you scan your student rubrics or work samples into Evernote, it is best save them as individual notes. This way you can share the note with an individual student or parent if they have questions. I’ve found that you can access it faster as well. But what if you want a quick index of all of the rubrics from one assignment? In today’s 2 minute tip, you’ll learn to make a table of contents notecard with a click. Other Uses of a Table of Contents Notecard Create an index of notes on a common topic (used with a tag) - this could be a person, a topic, or a course. Create an index of your journal entries for a particular year so you can quickly go back to a certain date Create an index of your blog posts or other things you’ve sent to Evernote via ifttt.com Evernote is a versatile notebook service and one of three I highlight in Reinventing Writing. Of the nine ways writing has been reinvented, the electronic notebook is one of the most important for students and teachers. Want to know more? If you want to know more about digital notetaking, you might also want to see: Notetaking Skills for 21st Century Students,  PREPS: 5 Steps for Notetaking Success or buy my book Reinventing Writing Speak Out: What is your favorite Evernote tip? What would you like to learn in the next 2 minute tip? You can leave a comment by clicking here. The post How to Make a Table of Contents in Evernote [Video] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Dr. Craig Union talks with Vicki about using Nooks with primary students to engage students in reading. His research found that students can be motivated by using technology to read and raise reading scores. Listen to Dr. Craig Union Add @craigunion31 to your PLN @craigunion31 Dr. Craig Union Listen to Dr. Union Dr. Craig Union - Show #80 - Can Ipads, Nooks and Kindles Motivate Students to Read More? Dr. Craig Union researched how e-readers can be used with primary students to raise their reading scores. He found students were motivated to read outside of the classroom and to use Nooks at home and at school. At the end of the school year, these students who had been the lowest performing third grade students raised end of year reading scores above other end of year third grade students at that school. Listen now to find out how Dr. Union implemented the Nooks to raise reading scores and engage primary students in reading now. Listen to Dr. Union Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly Radio Show by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network with best practices for busy teachers. Subscribe. Show notes prepared by Lisa Durff, Production Coordinator for Every Classroom Matters. Need help listening to the show? If you’re clicking "Play" on the BAM Radio Site, this often works best in Internet explorer. Or subscribe in a podcatcher. If you need help, use this tutorial. The post Can Ipads, Nooks and Kindles Motivate Students to Read More? appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Vinnie Vrotny talks with Vicki Davis about teaching STEAM to his students. He uses a makerspace and Mindcraft. Listen now to find out more about using these with students. Listen to Vinnie Vrotny Add @vvrotny to your PLN @vvrotny Multi-faceted Refractions Vinnie Vrotny - Show #62 - Teaching Girls STEAM in Middle School Vinnie is the Director of Academic Technology at Quest Academy in Illinois. He teaches STEAM courses to girls at a private school. He transformed the computer lab into a makerspace and redesigned the middle school curriculum to include the STEAM courses he now teaches. He has students designing projects using tools in the makerspace. He also uses Mindcraft in his curriculum as both an enrichment activity and as project assessment during the school day. Listen now to find out Vinnie’s current projects with students. Listen to Vinnie Vrotny Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly Radio Show by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network with best practices for busy teachers.  Subscribe. Show notes prepared by Lisa Durff, Production Coordinator for Every Classroom Matters. Need help listening to the show? If you’re clicking "Play" on the BAM Radio Site, this often works best in Internet Explorer. Or subscribe in a podcatcher. If you need help, use this tutorial. The post Teaching Girls STEAM in Middle School appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Tutorial: How to Add Channel Art on YouTube YouTube has 1 billion viewers a month who view more than 6 billion hours of video a month. With YouTube available on more devices and televisions than ever, subscriptions are growing three times faster than ever. Schools, businesses and individuals are creating their own channels. In today’s episode, I teach you how to customize your own YouTube channel art using Canva. If you want information on how to use Canva, I suggest viewing their tutorials to learn how. (Canva has a new design school that rocks.) Disclosure: I have written lesson plans for Canva’s design school website, however they have not sponsored this post. The post How to Add Channel Art on YouTube [Video] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Two educators in California, Maggie Lauder and Joe Kim, talk about the 4 Liters Challenge Project and learning about water poverty with students. Viewing water poverty as a personal issue and relating this to human rights helps to engage students in the project. Maggie Lauder & Joe Kim talk about the 4 liters challenge Add @DigDeepH2O to your PLN @DigDeepH2O 4Liters Challenge Maggie Lauder & Joe Kim - Show #64 - The Four Liter Challenge: Teaching Students About Water Poverty Maggie Lauder helped to write the curriculum guide for The Four Liters Challenge. Both Maggie and Joe Kim have tested this challenge in their classrooms in California. The water poverty challenge is based upon the See, Judge, Act model, which is a curricular model used in the Catholic church, which helps open students eyes to water poverty for those used to easy access to clean water. This challenge helps students act in response to what they have learned. Listen now to learn more about this cross-curricular challenge that anyone can join. Maggie Lauder & Joe Kim talk about the 4 liters challenge Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly Radio Show by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network with best practices for busy teachers. Subscribe. Show notes prepared by Lisa Durff, Production Coordinator for Every Classroom Matters. Need help listening to the show? If you need help, use this tutorial. The post The Four Liters Challenge: Teaching Students About Water Poverty appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Tutorial: How to Create Custom Thumbnails for YouTube Videos We’ve already learned how to create a custom header for our YouTube channel, now let’s learn how to create custom thumbnails. Why is this important? If you share on YouTube, the thumbnail is important. If someone is looking at your channel on their mobile, all they may see is the thumbnail. You can customize these in Canva. Below I share some sample thumbnails and 10 tips to make great thumbnails. Technology Fear Factor in education is the most popular video I’ve ever created amassing tens of thousands of views this year! In this thumbnail, I used a custom image to invoke fear. (Click the picture above if you want to watch it.) 10 Top Tips for a Great YouTube Thumbnail Pick high contrast colors. It should be easy to read even if it is very small. Bright backgrounds stand out. Use text but not too much. If it is a nonfiction or how-to post, you may want to create a large text title for your post. (On a mobile phone, this may be all the person sees.) Size it correctly. I use 1280 x 720 but you can also use 1920 x 1080. These are standard sizes for thumbnails. On Canva, just click custom dimensions as I share in the video. I use a template but change the color based upon the software. Add a border. I’m playing with this one, but some experts think that adding a border makes the thumbnail jump out. Accurate. Your thumbnail must accurately share what is in the content of the video. Be honest if you want to be trusted. Be trusted or be busted. Period. Use close ups of faces. If you have faces in your video, use a close up. Some experts say the faces should be making eye contact with the viewer. Strong emotions on those faces will also intrigue possible viewers. Use branding. I’m working on this for my channel next. The little "bug" usually shows in the bottom right corner of your channel and on the thumbnail. You’ll see, however that many don’t use the bottom right hand on YouTube because sometimes YouTube covers that up with a "watch later" or the time of the video. For now, I’ve opted just to use my Twitter handle but this will likely change in the future. This is the template I used for 2 minute tip videos. I just tweak the settings each time I have a new 2 minute tip video. Create templates. I use templates for different types of videos. You can see the template for my 2 minute tips and my how-to videos. I use the same fonts on all of them. You’ll want to work to get your templates established so you can just tweak the words or graphics. A consistent look is important as it is part of your brand. Emulate the best. As you’re starting, find a couple of YouTube channel experts who you like. Note the things about their thumbnails that you like. Tweak your template until you find something you like and can repeat. Fix the older videos. I’m working through the videos on my channel to create a consistent look. With 100 videos, it will take some time, but if I want to level up it has to happen. This thumbnail is the cover for a tutorial about how to join a Twitter chat. Many educators have used this to teach how to join and participate without being overwhelmed. Disclosure: I have written lesson plans for Canva’s design school website, however they have not sponsored this post. The post How to Create Custom Thumbnails for YouTube Videos [Video] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

How to Write a Letter: Lesson Plan Canva Design School Website - Lesson Plan by Vicki Davis December 2014 This sample letter is one of two in the lesson plan. You start by having students compare the two letters. By comparing the two letters students can discuss what it means to be "professional" and which letter is a better example than that. Click this graphic to download the examples and plans. How to Write a Letter: Lesson Plan In this lesson plan, students learn: The tone and style of business letters. The format of business letters. How to create letterhead. How to proof and print their letters on personal letterhead. This lesson is a great way to incorporate social entrepreneurship (read the post I wrote on Edutopia about this). Students can write letters to real people based upon needs. For example, two of my students created letters to the mayor of Atlanta about the situation of the homeless in certain parts of Atlanta. (This says a lot since these kids live 3 1/2 hours away but take time to volunteer and work in the neighborhoods at question.) I believe that we should all be using graphics to teach. Canva is a great way to do that. Disclaimer: I was compensated to create the lesson plans for Canva’s design school, but not to write this blog post. There are many resources in the Canva design school you can use and I have six lesson plans up on the site so far: Writing Business Letters | Teaching About Fables | An Epic Event: Famous Historical or Literature Characters | Scientific Element Fanpage Designer | Historical Figure Fanpage | Literary Devices Unleashed . They are FREE to take. The post How to Write a Letter: Lesson Plan [Link] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.