Diving Below the Surface (Writing About Me)
This is a workbook that is filled with prompts for students to write about themselves.
This page identifies some useful resources
This is a somewhat helpful video for people just starting to learn to make videos.
How to Make a Video for Class - Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x57hI...
9 cuts every video editor should know: https://youtu.be/Wv3Hmf2Dxlo
Cuts and Transitions 101 is better than 9 cuts but some of the imagery may not be totally classroom appropriate: https://youtu.be/OAH0MoAv2CI
Some useful free resources
Free Music Library on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/...
Fair Use Media Database: https://archive.org/
Screencast-O-Matic: https://screencast-o-matic.com/
Pixabay (Fair Use Image Site): https://pixabay.com/
Unsplash https://unsplash.com/
This site: https://www.turnersgraphoftheweek.com/ has lots of great lesson materials on graphing.
Introduction to Adobe Express: Web-based, works on Chromebooks https://youtu.be/jDqlff4Igjo
Sketchup is also available in a Web version for Education and runs on a chromebook.
This is the start of a simple number talk.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1562594549221822464
This is a short trick to determine if a number is divisible by 7.
This site makes available a no-screen coding lesson plan that appears to be useful. zorbitsmath.com
Mathigon is an online tool for illustrating mathematical concepts using manipulatives.
Videos make great hooks for lessons and they make great time fillers if you have 5 or 10 minutes at the end of a lesson and want to keep the students focused on something before the bell. Videos are also a great starting point for discussions or debates so they don’t have to be just entertainment. As a supply teacher who is stepping into another teacher’s day that may or may not be thoroughly planned out, it’s not uncommon to have to be prepared to fill in some or all of a period.
With this in mind, I’ve built up an inventory of classroom suitable videos of varying lengths that can be associated with different subject areas. In the same way that a short reading can be used as the stepping off point for a discussion or to measure practice comprehension, a video can serve the same purpose. When possible, I’ve included a Pre-Question to get students thinking in a certain direction
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Drew Dudley |
Everyday Leadership |
05:00 |
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We have all changed someone's life -- usually without even realizing it. In this funny talk, Drew Dudley calls on all of us to celebrate leadership as the everyday act of improving each other's lives. |
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Pre-Question: How do you define leadership? What makes a leader? |
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Angela Lee Duckworth |
Grit and the Power of Perseverance |
06:00 |
Motivation |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_grit_the_power_of_passion_and_perseverance |
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Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn't the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of "grit" as a predictor of success. When you think I’m not smart enough, that’s OK. You need to persevere more than you need to be brilliant. |
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Pre-Question: What determines who will do best at school and at finding a job? |
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Adora Svitak |
What Adults can Learn from Kids |
08:00 |
Inspirational 6+ |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/adora_svitak_what_adults_can_learn_from_kids |
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Child prodigy Adora Svitak says the world needs "childish" thinking: bold ideas, wild creativity and especially optimism. Kids' big dreams deserve high expectations, she says, starting with grownups' willingness to learn from children as much as to teach. |
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Pre-Question: Should we let kids make the decisions in the world. |
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LXD |
In the Internet Age, Dance Evolves |
17:00 |
Dance |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/the_lxd_in_the_internet_age_dance_evolves |
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The LXD (the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers) electrify the TED stage with an emerging global street-dance culture, revved up by the Internet. Directed by Jon M. Chu, this astonishing troupe of dancers and musicians show off their superpowers. |
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Joachim de Posada |
Don’t Eat the Marshmallow |
05:47 |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/joachim_de_posada_don_t_eat_the_marshmallow |
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In this short talk from TED U, Joachim de Posada shares a landmark experiment on delayed gratification -- and how it can predict future success. With priceless video of kids trying their hardest not to eat the marshmallow. |
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William Kamkwamba |
The Boy who Harnessed the Wind |
05:44 |
Science / |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/william_kamkwamba_how_i_harnessed_the_wind#t-313993 |
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At age 14, in poverty and famine, a Malawian boy built a windmill to power his family's home. Now at 22, William Kamkwamba, who speaks at TED, here, for the second time, shares in his own words the moving tale of invention that changed his life. |
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Smarter Every Day |
Manipulating the YouTube Algorithm |
20:21 |
Media Literacy |
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Smarter Every Day investigates some peculiar behaviour by the YouTube algorithm. Investigating videos that are fake news. The coordinated, well-funded attacks. |
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Richard Turere |
My Invention that made peace with Lions |
07:09 |
STEM / Environment |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_turere_my_invention_that_made_peace_with_lions |
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In the Maasai community where Richard Turere lives with his family, cattle are all-important. But lion attacks were growing more frequent. In this short, inspiring talk, the young inventor shares the solar-powered solution he designed to safely scare the lions away. |
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Sirena Huang |
An 11-year-old’s Magical Violin |
24:29 |
Music |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/sirena_huang_an_11_year_old_s_magical_violin |
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Violinist Sirena Huang gives a technically brilliant and emotionally nuanced performance. In a charming interlude, the 11-year-old praises the timeless design of her instrument. |
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Thomas Suarez |
A 12-year-old App Developer |
04:25 |
STEM |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_suarez_a_12_year_old_app_developer |
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Most 12-year-olds love playing videogames -- but Thomas Suarez taught himself how to create them. After developing iPhone apps like "Bustin Jeiber," a whack-a-mole game, he is now using his skills to help other kids become developers. |
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Beau Lotto |
What are you Reading? |
15:00 |
Science |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/beau_lotto_amy_o_toole_science_is_for_everyone_kids_included |
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How your brain takes information and makes it meaningful. What do science and play have in common? Neuroscientist Beau Lotto thinks all people (kids included) should participate in science and, through the process of discovery, change perceptions. He's seconded by 12-year-old Amy O'Toole, who, along with 25 of her classmates, published the first peer-reviewed article by schoolchildren, about the Blackawton bees project. It starts: "Once upon a time ... " |
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Award-winning Teenage Science |
16:01 |
Science |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/lauren_hodge_shree_bose_naomi_shah_award_winning_teenage_science_in_action |
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In 2011 three young women swept the top prizes of the first Google Science Fair. Lauren Hodge, Shree Bose and Naomi Shah describe their extraordinary projects -- and their route to a passion for science. |
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Taylor Wilson |
Yup, I Built a Nuclear Fusion Reactor |
3:17 |
Science 9+ |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/taylor_wilson_yup_i_built_a_nuclear_fusion_reactor |
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Jack Andraka |
A Promising Test for Pancreatic Cancer from a Teenager |
11:00 |
STEM 9+ |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/jack_andraka_a_promising_test_for_pancreatic_cancer_from_a_teenager |
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Over 85 percent of all pancreatic cancers are diagnosed late, when someone has less than two percent chance of survival. How could this be? Jack Andraka talks about how he developed a promising early detection test for pancreatic cancer that's super cheap, effective and non-invasive -- all before his 16th birthday. |
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Jennifer Lin |
Improvising on Piano |
23:53 |
Music 9+ |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_lin_improvising_on_piano_aged_14 |
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Pianist and composer Jennifer Lin gives a magical performance, talks about the process of creativity and improvises a moving solo piece based on a random sequence of notes. This probably only suited for those students who are really into music. |
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Maya Penn |
Meet a Young Entrepreneur, Cartoonist, Designer, Activist... |
07:04 |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/maya_penn_meet_a_young_entrepreneur_cartoonist_designer_activist |
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Maya Penn started her first company when she was 8 years old, and thinks deeply about how to be responsible both to her customers and to the planet. She shares her story -- and some animations, and some designs, and some infectious energy -- in this charming talk. |
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Mckenna Pope |
Want to be an Activist? Start with Your Toys. |
05:00 |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/mckenna_pope_want_to_be_an_activist_start_with_your_toys |
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McKenna Pope's younger brother loved to cook, but he worried about using an Easy-Bake Oven -- because it was a toy for girls. So at age 13, Pope started an online petition for the American toy company Hasbro to change the pink-and-purple color scheme on the classic toy and incorporate boys into its TV marketing. In a heartening talk, Pope makes the case for gender-neutral toys and gives a rousing call to action to all kids who feel powerless. |
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Simone Giertz |
Why You Should Make Useless Things |
11:45 |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/simone_giertz_why_you_should_make_useless_things |
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In this joyful, heartfelt talk featuring demos of her wonderfully wacky creations, Simone Giertz shares her craft: making useless robots. Her inventions -- designed to chop vegetables, cut hair, apply lipstick and more -- rarely (if ever) succeed, and that's the point. "The true beauty of making useless things [is] this acknowledgment that you don't always know what the best answer is," Giertz says. "It turns off that voice in your head that tells you that you know exactly how the world works. Maybe a toothbrush helmet isn't the answer, but at least you're asking the question." |
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Roman Mars |
Why City Flags May be the Worst-Designed Thing You’ve Never Noticed |
18:11 |
Human Interest |
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Roman Mars is obsessed with flags -- and after you watch this talk, you might be, too. These ubiquitous symbols of civic pride are often designed, well, pretty terribly. But they don't have to be. In this surprising and hilarious talk about vexillology -- the study of flags -- Mars reveals the five basic principles of flag design and shows why he believes they can be applied to just about anything. |
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Billy Collins |
Two Poems about what Dogs Think (probably) |
03:51 |
Language Arts 9+ |
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https://www.ted.com/talks/billy_collins_two_poems_about_what_dogs_think_probably |
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What must our dogs be thinking when they look at us? Poet Billy Collins imagines the inner lives of two very different companions. It’s a charming short talk, perfect for taking a break and dreaming Not sure if these would be engaging for kids but might be appropriate in high school poetry. |
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Sara Valencia Botto |
When Do Kids Start to Care about Other People’s Opinions? |
10:03 |
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Drawing on her research into early childhood development, psychologist Sara Valencia Botto investigates when (and how) children begin to change their behaviors in the presence of others -- and explores what it means for the values we communicate in daily interactions. (Watch for cute footage of sneaky toddlers.) Not sure if these would be engaging for kids |
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Ann Makosinski |
Why I Don’t Use a Smart Phone |
12:00 |
Thinking 9+ |
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Imagine all the things you can do…off of your phone. Parents be warned. |
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Go Experimental |
7 AMAZING Physics Tricks That You Must See |
06:46 |
Science |
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7 Amazing physics tricks that you can try at home! |
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Veritasium |
5 Fun Physics Phenomena |
05:27 |
Science |
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Cool physics tricks and why they work. |
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Veritasium |
Anti-Gravity Wheel |
05:41 |
Science |
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Gyroscopic Procession and the Anti-Gravity Wheel |
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Veritasium |
3 Perplexing Physics Problems |
13:58 |
Science |
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Why does shaken soda explode? Does ice melt first in fresh or salt water? |
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SciShow Kids |
Favourites Compilation |
16:00 |
Science |
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Cat Superpowers, |
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Transport for London |
Awareness Test |
1:08 |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4&feature=youtu.be |
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This is a good time killer if you need to keep them busy for a couple of minutes. |
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Soul Pancake |
Kid President Pep Talk |
3:54 |
Inspirational |
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An inspiring message to students and teachers. Everybody’s a teacher. Middle school and younger. |
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Andrea Gardner |
The Importance of Words |
01:47 |
Language Arts |
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A moving video that shows the power of words. |
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Kseniya Simonova |
Sand Animation |
08:32 |
Art |
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An amazing, creative artwork in sand and light tells a story. |
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Eric Whitacre |
Virtual Choir ‘Lux Aurumque’ |
06:20 |
Music |
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2052 People singing “Sleep” |
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Cambry Kaylor |
Living Beyond “What If?” |
14:47 |
Inspirational |
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The Story of Cambry Kaylor. A former equestrian vaulter. Rising above challenges. What is stopping you from doing something. |
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Numberphile |
How the layout of the telephone number pad came to be |
7:40 |
Design |
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This intriguing video explains how we came to have the layout of numbers we have right now on the telephone touch pad. |
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Maurice Ashley |
Working backward to solve problems |
5:56 |
Life Skills |
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Imagine where you want to be someday. Now, how did you get there? Retrograde analysis is a style of problem solving where you work backwards from the endgame you want. It can help you win at chess -- or solve a problem in real life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAsV31ru4Y A game you can never win. |
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Adam Grant |
The surprising habits of original thinkers |
15:24 |
Thought provoking |
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How do creative people come up with great ideas? Organizational psychologist Adam Grant studies "originals": thinkers who dream up new ideas and take action to put them into the world. In this talk, learn three unexpected habits of originals — including embracing failure. "The greatest originals are the ones who fail the most, because they're the ones who try the most," Grant says. "You need a lot of bad ideas in order to get a few good ones." |
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Hans Rosling |
Why the world population won’t exceed 11 billion |
16:36 |
Thought Provoking |
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In part 5 of a 6-part lecture, Hans Rosling uses statistics to give an overview of population growth and an explanation of why the total human population will never reach 11 billion, as others predict and fear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVimVzgtD6w 20 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FACK2knC08E 58 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo Health GDP 4 minutes. |
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Laura Sicola |
Want to sound like a leader? Start by saying your name right. |
15:32 |
Life Skills |
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Introducing your name effectively, upspeak and other impacts of sound presentation. |
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Jennifer Cohen |
The secret to getting anything you want in life |
16:00 |
Life Skills |
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Self doubt. You need to ask for what you want. Be BOLD by asking for what they want, versus taking what is given to them. The challenge is to practice asking for what you really want and getting comfortable with “no’s” (roadblocks) along the way. What impact does the fact that she’s an attractive women have on her approach? What do you think of her attitude about ordering from “off” the menu? |
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Monty Hall Problem |
Math - Probability |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp6V_lO1ZKA Khan academy 7:22 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WvlPgIjx_M Bon Crowder 7:03 |
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A bit of a mind-bending, seemingly paradoxical reaction to the Monty Hall problem. |
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Numberphile |
Josephus Problem |
Math |
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Watch the start of the video to set up the problem. Then let students work on the solution. Return to the video for the solution method. |
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VSauce |
A Game you can always Win |
Math - Probability |
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It seems like a random game but there’s a pattern There are two games in this video. Game 1: Add numbers between 1 and 10 and the person who gets to 100 first is the winner.You can use the same number multiple times. Is there a strategy to always win? Game 2: You have 11 matches (you can just draw them on a piece of paper. You and your partner take turns taking away 1, 2, or 3 matches at a time. Your objective is to make your partner take the last match. Is there a way to always win? |
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Vsauce |
Math Magic |
Math - Probability |
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Card trick - Good logic thinking for computer science class. |
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25 Experiments in 15 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOuEJf8Dr_4
More chemistry/physics experiments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbyOFF-eC-Q
Happy Birthday done different ways
How to spot misleading graphs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E91bGT9BjYk
How to parent from a teens perspective
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vdPxLfAsqo
7 amazing science gadgets
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcKyq-e-Soo
Super Glue and baking soda
In Sync Mythbusters
Spontaneous synchronizatoin
Inverted pendulum
Christmas Lectures
How to Get Lucky, How to Bend the Rules, and How Can We All Win.
This is a fascinating 22-minute video about a drone system being used for medical and other uses.
What do you think about what you've seen?
What country was the medical deliveries system operating in?
Why do you think this would be in a country like that rather than in a more technically advanced country like Canada or the United States or Europe?
Videos
Story videos about Feelings
https://youtu.be/J1_sXDbEKPs - Anxiety
https://youtu.be/uE5HeJcybbs - Grumpiness
https://youtu.be/SJ9i0uDicrc - Grumpiness
https://youtu.be/IQi6TUtzJkc - Cheerfulness
https://youtu.be/iyCH5PfWImA - Happy/Sad
How to Draw Faces that Express Feelings
DPA for younger kids
Art for Kids Hub shows how to Draw different kinds of things: https://www.youtube.com/c/ArtforKidsHub/playlists
You Can Learn Anything: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC82Il2cjqA
Week of Inspirational Math - Youcubed: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr2OeUe-2ouT8ByIy_7WZYeQQD2i4_-XV
https://www.youtube.com/embed/3EBQoMoIkaA
https://www.youtube.com/embed/T0xdvDQ5qNY
https://www.youtube.com/embed/eMWzHFypJkY
https://www.youtube.com/embed/VkTLVFPe1J0
https://www.youtube.com/embed/zzCesSfUue8
https://www.youtube.com/embed/QIoH_8jBoRA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRZ8Sx-vdMU
https://www.youtube.com/embed/mR2KQghqGW8
https://www.youtube.com/embed/PLOAYoT4X-Q
Demo Video
What is it?
EduPuzzle allows you to use a video from a source like YouTube, and then inject your own notes and questions into the video.
You can put in multiple choice questions or short-answer questions and students get feedback on their responses.
If you create user accounts for your students, you can track who watched the video and you can get their responses to the questions.
The editor is fairly basic but includes bold, italics, underlining and the ability to insert graphics, as well as a rudimentary equation editor that allows fairly complex equations in a fairly easy manner. The editor is simple but effective.
Adding Students to Classes
You can create classes and add students to them.
If you're using Google Classrooms, adding students is fairly easy. If you're not, then it's a pain in the backside. You have to invite students to the class. This means you get a link and code that identifies the class they are joining. What could go wrong with that approach? About a million things. So, this is pretty much a deal breaker in my mind. If I can't create the student accounts in advance and have them configured to be the same as their email addresses and existing passwords from their school system, then it's not going to fly.
You can configure the videos to not allow the user to skip ahead if you really want them to watch the whole video (or at least text their friends while the video plays in the background) . Combined with the injected questions, it's a good way of seeing who watched the video and paid attention.
Some Practical Considerations
You can manually mark short-answer questions.
There is a gradebook that can be exported.
The system indicates where the questions and notes are positioned in the videos, so if you allow skipping ahead in the video, students will know where the questions are located.
The system feedback is not extensive, but it's fairly meaningful. It shows:
- what percentage of the video the student watched
- when they last watched
- and you can see their responses to the questions.
How it works
The process is fairly simple. Find a video on YouTube (if you don't have your own video) and get the share link for the video.
- Click on Content | My Content
- Click on the Add Content button that will appear in the upper right of the My Content screen.
- Click YouTube in the left menu.
- In the search bar, enter the link to the video you want to use.
- Click Search.
- When you see your video in the results, click on it to select it.
- When the Video appears in EdPuzzle, click Edit in the lower right corner.
- Click the play button until you come to a point where you want to add a voic-eover, comment or question.
- Pause the video.
- Click Cut, Voiceover, or Questions above the video window and follow the prompts.
- When you're done adding you can continue in the video and add more comments and questions or you can click Finish.
- Once you've finished editing you can assign the video to a class.
Important Notes
Once a video has been assigned to a classroom, you can't edit the location of the voice-over, comments, and questions in the timeline. You have to make a copy of the video and edit the copy and then re-assign it.
Students can't change the speed of the videos even if they originate on YouTube which supports this ability.
If you make a mistake in the answer key for a question, you can't go back and change it.
If you want to delete a question from an assigned video, you also don't seem to be able to do that either. You can only delete questions from a video by making a duplicate of it.
Use it or Not?
It's not difficult to use, and the learning curve is short. The feature set is fairly small but it has the essentials for making better use of video content. That's all good.
If there isn't a good way to import student account information, it's pretty much a deal-breaker; however, the ability to track who has watched and how much they watched along with being able to get responses to basic comprehension questions is really compelling. I just can't completely rule it out.
This looks like it has some very useful tools for simulating science experiments and math on-line.
Each student has their own whiteboard and teacher can see what everyone puts on their whiteboard in real time.
LesPlan has several publications that are targeted at different age groups and provide thought provoking articles on topics that tap into what's currently going on in the world. They have some materials available for free but are primarily a subscription service. However, the quality is very good and includes related curricular activities.
I had been using a combination of Excel (to get a highlevel view of my classes and lessons, and OneNote for doing detailed lesson plans. I still have a hard time getting away from the ease of using Excel to sketch out the high level view of my schedule but Planboard became my primary tool for organizing my lessons.
Overall, I really like the software. Some of the things I like are:
- Made in Kitchener, Ontario (support local)
- It handles our school's 9-day schedule fairly well (with some caveats that I talk about later)
- It generates PDFs of the week or the day which can be printed out to put in a day book to keep your admin happy.
- It allows multiple sections of the same course, so if you teach the same course multiple times, it provides a logical way for managing that.
- You can share lesson plans fairly easily between sections.
- Lessons can be organized into units.
- The sections and units are colour coded to help in identifying what's what.
- It handles PD days and holidays automatically once you enter them into the system.
It handles our 9-day schedule fairly well, although it's not able to handle our pandemic hybrid learning schedule which alternates students being in-class and on-line every other day. As a result, I have to identify the on-line classes manually. Hopefully this is the only time when this will be necessary.
It's also not able to automatically handle the fact that our Wednesday schedule is always shortened periods. Rather than 4 periods on the normal schedule with a lunch break in the middle, we have 4 55-minute classes back-to-back and the day finishes at 1:00. That means you have to manually edit each Wednesday schedule but it only takes about a minute or two to do this.
These are both unusual requirements so it's not surprising that the software doesn't accomodate this but I figure they're worth noting for people who face similar scheduling challenges.
The year of the pandemic was a year of constant changes so having a tool which allowed me to move around lessons easily was great. If you lost a day in the schedule, you just had to select a lesson and choose to "Push" it. That moved it to the next class and every subsequent lesson also moved. Similarly, you could pull a lesson earlier in the schedule and everything that followed would pull back one lesson as well.
How I used it - day-to-day
I always had today's schedule open in a single day view so that I was just seeing the current day. On another browser tab, usually also had the weekly view. The one thing you have to be careful of is that if you make changes on the daily view and then switch over to the weekly tab, the changes you just made won't be there and if you then make changes on the weekly view, you can overwrite the changes you made on the daily view.
Post-It note
There is also a handy post-it note feature for each day. It appears on the calendar view for each day and allows you to make notes about the day that might not be specific to a class. I used this to remind me of what photocopying I needed to do or marking that I wanted to get done during prep that day.
There's and App for That
As the saying goes, there's an app for that, and that's the case for planboard as well. An app is available for Android and IOS. The app works well and means you've got your plan in your pocket as well as on your computer. The daily view just shows you tht title of the lesson for each class but when you tap the lesson, you get the details.
What's missing
I really want a "Class View" or "Projector View" of a single class's current day schedule to put on the projector at the start of class. You can, of course, project the day view and just scroll to the current class, but the type is small and is hard to see by most of the class.
I'd like to see a "switch lessons" function which would allow me to select two lessons and switch them.
I'd like an indicator that shows not just the class times but also what period they are. i.e. Period 1, or Period 2, etc.
Overall
This is a very useful product and the learning curve is not too steep. There was some work required in getting everything set up correctly. Entering the daily schedule, creating the courses and sections, adding the PD days and holidays took some time but isn't hard to do. Once I had all that done and got used to the software, it was a huge asset. It kept me organized in a year of chaos. I have a terrible memory so having everything clearly laid out and available from my computer or phone (or printed if necessary) was really helpful.