Friday, May 24, 2013

The Week's Best Links: May 20 - 24

by Derek Spencer


Hey there! Here's the shortlist of links we found enjoyable and useful this week. If you have any you'd like to share with your fellow teachers, let us know in the comments!

Tech:


From the Free Technology for Teachers blog, this link has a few great resources for teaching the works of Shakespeare. The TED-Ed video about Shakespearean insults is particularly amusing — and it's based on analyses of dialogues from a couple of plays, so it shows students how Shakespeare's specific words produce specific results.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/05/5-good-resources-for-teaching-learning.html#.UZ5BSZzB-So

More and more schools are adding Twitter to their teaching toolboxes. Whether you're new to Twitter or a seasoned pro, this lovely infographic might help you discover new hashtags related to education, which will then help you discover new topics, new people, and new ideas.

http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2013/03/printable-list-best-education-hashtags-infographic

Leadership and Professional Development


According to this article, praising students for intrinsic qualities (such as intelligence) might actually decrease their motivation to learn and to improve.

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/23/stephen-grosz-examined-life/

Summer's almost here, which means it's almost time to start planning for fall. Here's some advice on developing a plan to improve your school's climate — and making sure you accomplish your plan's goals:

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2013/05/creating_a_plan_is_easyfollowing_through_is_hard.html


ELA in the real world:


If your students ever question the value of learning punctuation, you might want to show them this article — a Canadian company may have lost one million dollars (cue Dr. Evil pinky-to-lips gesture) thanks to ONE comma in a contract.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/25/business/worldbusiness/25comma.html


Ideas and Opinions on Education


Seth Godin is a smart guy (that’s an understatement), and he has eloquently expounded upon several subjects in various fields like marketing, web design and — here — education. The link below takes you to a page where you can download a free copy of his ebook Stop Stealing Dreams in several formats. It's a sizable ebook, so it might be good for a weekend read.

http://www.squidoo.com/stop-stealing-dreams

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