Social Media's Big Tobacco Moment

I've seen "it" slated as "Social Media's 'Big Tobacco' Moment" in at least a half dozen locations.

What is the "it?" The "it" is the fact that social media court cases are starting to loudly prove that yes, social media is an addiction, and it can cause harm to kids. 

Two landmark trials have been in the news in the past six weeks. Earlier this year on March 24th Meta (parent company to Facebook) was ordered by a jury in New Mexico to pay $375 million due to violating state consumer protection laws, viewing both the Facebook and Instagram platforms to be "a breeding ground for predators." The very next day, March 25th, a lawsuit in California sided with a 20-year-old female who was suing Meta & Google (who owns YouTube), awarding her $6 million for causing years of mental health issues. The endless scrolling, algorithms, and purposeful addictive nature created by social media companies were ruled to be the blame for endangering children. And while tech companies are appealing these verdicts, multiple additional lawsuits are cropping up. The very loud message: tech companies knew the dangers in these devices, platforms, and programs... and sold them to our kids anyway.

So the table is turning when it comes to technology, apps, doomscrolling, and more. 

For those who don't get the "Big Tobacco Moment" reference, here's the backstory. Smoking, which long goes back in our historic timeline, really became glamorized throughout society from the 1920s to 1960s. Seemingly everyone smoked. Despite growing scientific studies over time that this is not a healthy habit, smoking had been pitched as "It's all on the person, and it is a personal choice." Awareness and science began leaning more heavily to "The product is the problem, and we need to pitch the product as such." Tobacco companies put a lot of money into advertising and debunking these claims. The tide slowly began turning in 1965 when a Congressional ruling stated that cigarette packages need mandatory warning labels. Then, TV and radio ads were banned in 1970. But despite all of this, smoking continued to be a large part of global culture, with people viewing it as "cool," relaxing, and socially acceptable, regardless of what science had to say. 

Things significantly began changing in 1994 when several cigarette company CEOs came before Congress to say that nicotine was not addictive nor dangerous to your health (despite scientific evidence proving otherwise). The downfalls continued to come with multiple lawsuits. In 1998 there was a Master Settlement Agreement for over $206 billion, covering 46 states and making it the largest settlement in US history. This loudly emphasized that yes, smoking causes serious health risks, diseases, and cancer. This led to a 2-3 decade decline in smoking, where now in 2025 less than 10% of American adults smoke. Clearly the pendulum has swung and a majority of Americans now outwardly see the perils of this habit.

Which now takes us back to "Social Media's Big Tobacco Moment." With the first iPhone coming out in 2007, we are now nearly 2 decades into this "social experiment" of allowing handheld mini-computers into our daily lives. Not just adults, but kids and teens too. Throw in iPads, tablets, and ready-to-use laptops at every age, where are we now? Many of us (grownups and kids alike) are completely sucked into our devices:

• autoplaying the next video,
• scrolling scrolling down the suggested path created by stronger and more stringent algorithms than even a decade ago,
• fearing the loss of our "streaks"which brings us repeatedly back every day,
• riding the comparison mentality, stuck in social media with FOMO (fear of missing out),
• neglecting those around us while being addicted to what our online friends have to say,

Then insert AI in here, which makes everything even more complicated, addicted, and fuzzy as to where the blended line separating reality and "fake news" actually exists. All of which leads to an overwhelming state of loneliness and disconnectedness despited the moniker of "social" media.

And none of these features came by accident. Designers and programmers built these devices to act exacty in this way: holding our focus, bringing money to the company through our hijacked attention, and profiting off our clicks. 

And I must admit: I fall just as victim to it as all the rest! I am no better than any of the rest of us. Despit my "tech teacher, book reading" self! It makes us feel weak for getting sucked into the vortex and having no self control. And I'm an adult. What about our kids and our teens and our young adults?

But maybe... just maybe... it's all in the addictive nature of the dopamine-hitting design versus our own willpower. Just like the addictive nature of tobacco. Souds like it's not a fair fight. How are we ever to win? Perhaps though more guardrails that tech companies clearly need to help protect us all, old and small.

What that means is that we all need to both become informed citizens, and then start behaving like them. Advocate for safer design and legislation--especially those that protect our kids. That might look like taking action, signing petitions, or voicing your concerns to your community.

Additionally, we the parents, educators, and consumers all need to step up and fight the addictive nature and parent both ourselves and our children. This can also do include:

• Turning off all non-essential notifications to help us become less connected to our devices.
• Eliminating "tech-grazing time" by building in more boundaries in our homes and schools. This could look like "no-phone-zones" or windows of time where we don't use tech. (For example: before bedtime, right when we get up, less multi-tasking on multiple devices).
• Removing the apps on our phones that suck us in the quickest: games, social media, and other ones that get our most addictive attention. We need to break our own bad habits.
• Carefully curating your feed. Make it a space of inspiration, not gloomy news or topics that lend toward depression or anxiety, pulling you deeper into doomscrolling.
• Building in time limits on your kids devices, and creating opportunities where you "tech together" then play or learn together in no-tech ways too. 

The pull is hard. But it's not just us. The game IS rigged. And now by way of social media's 'Big Tobacco Moment," courts, doctors, researchers, educators, parents, and even some platform designers are saying what maybe we have already felt for a long time: The problems isn't just us or our willpower. The product is flawed by designed to keep us stuck. 

So it's up to all citizens to keep up the noise, the lawsuits, the conversations, the advocating for better guardrails, and the protection of our kids. It's also our role as parents and educators to really speak about how these tools work our brains, hearts, and emotions. Tech is a tool... but it isn't our everything or even a fraction of what is important. People are. That is certainly worth fighting for.

Images from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/march-30-social-medias-big-tobacco-moment-newslitproject-xf2ac/ and https://highschool.latimes.com/news/a-big-tobacco-moment-for-big-tech-the-cost-of-addictive-design/ and Time Magazine cover screenshot from https://onlineexhibits.library.yale.edu/s/sellingsmoke/page/big-tobacco--big-lawsuits and https://www.thetimes.com/business/companies-markets/article/social-media-addiction-lawsuit-tiktok-meta-mark-zuckerberg-5q2mbkmsn

Online Advent Calendars For This Season

Advent calendars are fun way to celebrate the season during the month of December. Here are two wonderful ones I ran across for 2024, both accessible by way of the wonderful world of Facebook.

#OneGreenThing Advent Game

Author Heather White (who has written Eco-Anxiety and One Green Thing) has created a digital daily advent calendar where she is posting new small, bite-sized eco-actions you can do every day. Posting daily to her Heather White, Author Facebook Page, you can find her daily inspirations. Given she's a week in already, some ideas include: using little libraries for your next read, going outside for a winter walk and connecting with nature, reducing your plastic footprint and more. Great daily doses of little things to make your day and help the planet!

The 25 Days of CANVAmas for Teachers

Created by Canva Education Creator LaNedra Johnson, this private Facebook group is an amazing collection of Canva creations. LaNedra Johnson has a public FB page, then she created the CANVAmas group for special for this advent season. Some special treats she has in there for teachers are a teacher planner page for 2025, lesson plan template, substitute teacher guid template, and more. Additionally she has another private group entitled "Canva Creators for Teachers" (with 40,000+ members). She's a great resource for teachers on how to maximize Canva creations for your classroom!

Title header created at Canva.com; Screenshot from https://www.facebook.com/heatherwhiteofficial and https://www.facebook.com/groups/1219727522639849

Threads for Educators

Threaducators unite!

Have you jumped on the Threads bandwagon yet? 

Threads, Meta's Intstagram-related social media alternative to Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter), hit the world just over a month ago on July 5th, 2023. Since it's roll out, Threads hit record-breaking highs for initial users only 2 days after coming out. Its user numbers surpass 100 million here, a month later. Given those numbers, Threads has a lot of potential as a PLN (Personal Learning Network), which is how many professions have used social media. I've learned a lot by following educators and environmentalists. 

So it's no surprise that "Threaducators" is an actual thing! Merge Threads + educators, and that's what you have. Now all you have to do is find your people.

Lucky for you, Eric Curts from Control Alt Achieve has made that easy for you. Right after Threads release, he created a Google form to collect educator information then published the growing list of educators. At this writing, nearly 1,100 teachers have added themselves to the list (including yours truly). Will you want to follow everyone. Probably not. But you can search the fields to find like-minded educators to find good fits for you and your interests. Let your personal learning begin! Just in time for the new school year to begin!

Image from https://www.controlaltachieve.com/2023/07/connect-with-educators-on-new-threads.html

Birthdays & "Be Kind"

Birthdays always put a smile on your face. Especially if you are a kid--what a jubilant day! Your day! But even as an adult, and even as those numbers get bigger, it's that special day all of your own. It's a day of a little bit extra attention, a tad more novelty, and maybe even a surprise or two. If you are on Facebook, you know that they give out birthday notification for your FB friends, and it's touching to see all those people from every corner of your life who took a minute or two out of their day to wish you well. Love or hate Facebook, it's the one thing that they do really well.

I recently had a birthday, and it certainly was the novelty of the day that made it. The kindergarten and the second grade class that spontaneously broke into song when I walked in their doors. The well-wishes from colleagues and kids alike as I walked down the hall (having heard my name in the list of birthdays du jour). My daughter joining us at my son's soccer game with a bouquet of flowers. Birthday cards and gifts that were unexpected. Trips made in the few weeks before and after that were loosely tied to myur birthday to be special visits with special people. I think it's the novelty and the adventures that were missed most during the 18-20 months of the pandemic, where days rolled into each other with a very "Groundhog's Day" movie of each day being on solitary retreat. 

One of the many surprises along the way came from a dear friend of mine who sent me Ellen DeGeneres' "Be Kind" box. The arrival on my doorstep was a good surprise as it was, but I really loved the sentiment that Ellen put into the concept of the box of goodies that came my way. She's been long known for her charitable works and in 2016 she was the recipient of the People's Choice Award for Philanthropy. She was quoted as saying, "It is a little strange to actually to get an award for being nice and generous and kind, which is what we are all supposed to do with one another. That is the point of being human." 

"Be kind" has become her trademark and motto over the years. Approximately 3 years ago, Ellen created her Be Kind Subscription box. I got the Fall 2021 box from my friend. Yes, it's a lovely gift, but the elements in side and the meaning behind them are some of the most beautiful part. I found myself reading the booklet of the box's content and my heart filling up with the humanity and charitable association that backed everything. It had me diving into websites to learn more about these amazing brands that are affiliated with the contents of this Be Kind box:

• A bottle of ZenWTR -- where the bottle is made from "100% recycled, certified ocean-bound plastic" in order to reduce marine debris. 1% of their sales go to preventing ocean pollution & promoting recycling campaigns. 
• Earrings from The Sanctuary Project -- Their mission is to provide jobs and job training to women who have not only endured but survived trafficking, violence/abuse, and additiction. 100% of their sales are reinvested in this mission.
• An organic cotton zippered small pouch from Terra Thread -- Created by the father and daughter team Via and Vizan Girl to create environmentally friendly, fair-trade, carbon-neutral products, where the purchase supports Feeding America. The collaboration with Ellen's Be Kind Box this season will provide 460,000 meals to American who struggle with hunger.
• Exfoliating bath body scrubber from Daily Concepts -- An organic, vegan, biodegradable soy-based bath scrubber that tells you when it's time to replace when the label text fades. This company supports LAVA MAEX which provides Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area homeless folks with mobile showers.
• Laundry detergent sheets from Miracle Brand -- Zero waste laundry detergent
• Self care items like the Modern Monet paint by number kit and Rose Quartz bracelet (the stone of compassion, peace, and unconditional love) from Charged Wellness (where you can opt into a donation to their monthly for a discount on your purchase). Both of these companies hold balance, creativity, self-renewal, and rejuvenation central to their mission.

With the holidays swiftly approaching, it may be worth considering checking out a Be Kind box or longer term subscription for your friends or your family....or visiting one of the affiliated companies included here. Next season for Winter there'll be a new box. Might be an interesting quarterly check in to see what good you can do for you (or a loved one) and our world. What a great way to "Be Kind" indeed!

Be Kind box from https://www.ellentube.com/video/get-groovy-with-zenwtr-and-the-fall-be-kind-by-ellen-box.html, Birthday image created at Canva.com

Matchmakers For the Environment

Dating apps are all the craze and have been for years. I know a number of people who have met their future spouse through these--whether it's one of the "swipe right or left" variety or another kind.

Would you swipe right or swipe left for a cleaner environment to help reduce and repurpose waste?

Maayke Aimée Damen brings about an interesting and innovative parallel to dating apps with the work she does at Excess Materials Exchange [EME]. Maayke is one of the co-founders of this Amsterdam-based digital platform. Since 2017, EME has worked to help create a global circular loop by reusing materials and exchanging them with other companies that need these materials as raw products. In doing this, it helps repurpose what was potentially seen as waste and funnel it to some one else who needs it--which in turn helps create a much smaller ecological footprint for all parties involved. Classic case of "supply & demand" meets "one man's trash is literally another's treasure. 

Maayke speaks about it here in her 2020 TED Talk. She describes how they are   basically "materials matchmakers," helping to find the best environmental fit for other companies. 

To learn more, check out the visual below and investigate Excess Materials Exchange's website.

Video from https://www.ted.com/talks/maayke_aimee_damen_how_i_am_going_to_save_the_planet_by_running_a_dating_site?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

Images from https://plasticsmartcities.org/products/excess-materials-exchange and https://excessmaterialsexchange.com/en_us/about-us/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company/excess-materials-exchange/?trk=public_profile_experience-item_result-card_image-click&originalSubdomain=uk

Mark Your Calendars

By day, I am a technology specialist and my world has a lot of digital components. But I'm still a tried-and-true "paper" girl when it comes to things like my lesson plan book and my calendar. Additionally, I'm a list maker who takes great pleasure in crossing items off. I like to see it all in front of me--as if in doing so, "it" all will magically make more sense. "It" being "life," of course! (I'm sure there's something in there about "control" as well, but I digress!)

I've recently found new inspiration in the digital calendar world--I've looked long and hard over the years and I did not think it would ever happen. I found an online calendar that not only syncs well across devices but also integrating my Apple and Google calendars nicely AND has an element of cute to it!! (Being a highly visual person, I have an extreme need for color, cute, fun fonts, and more.) But, I think I found nirvana in Artful Agenda--especially with all of that, plus inspirational daily quotes, and lists that give you the ability to cross them through. Add in, they have a Facebook group called "Arfully Obsessed," and it was there I got the idea to use my "Meals" section as a gratitude journal. It really hit my sweet spot and it has become my first stop every morning as I get organized for my day ahead. 

So of course, in my process of making it my own, I've been adding other elements to it too, because this calendar has become my latest obsession! I added some of the dates that our Diversity Director at school sent our way to create a separate Diversity-Equity-Inclusivity calendar in my master Google calendar, and found these 3 exceptional resources so I'll always know which months honor different cultures or what specific days are noteworthy.

• Kazoo's 2021 Workplace Diversity & Inclusivity Calendar
• Diversity Resources' 2021 Diversity Calendar
• Diversity Best Practices' 2021 Diversity Holiday Calendar

That, in turn, inspired me to go on the hunt for an environmental of "eco days," so I could be in the know if it was International Day for Biological Diversity (which is today--May 22nd) or World Environmental Day (coming up ahead: June 5th). The beauty of this one is that if you click on a date, you can automatically add it to your iCal. Additionally, each calendar date has some detailed information about what is specific to that environmental date. Yes, I'm in love! 

• ITU AbsorbTech's 2021 Environmental Days Calendar

So, if you too can get a little excited by random bits of knowledge, your calendar just may need these items!!! 

Have I ditched my physical calendar or notebook? No. But, I am finding I can live more harmoniously in both the paper and digital calendar worlds!!

Images from https://www.conversketch.com/blog/how-to-decide-paper-or-digital-graphic-recording-with-conversketch and https://www.artfulagenda.com

Earth Day Bitmoji Board o' Books

Anyone who has been hanging around for any amount of time over here knows that I am a major fan of Bitmoji Boards as an edtech way of sharing resources.

Here is a great that I ran across for Earth Day, created by @MissHecht. You can find this and approximately 80 more of her Bitmoji creations at her LinkTree Account. She has one on Recycling, Biomes, and Animal Adaptations too, which might also serve your environmental needs here this Earth Day. You can also buy her (aka Bridgette) a cup of tea as a way of saying thanks, or follow her Creative Teaching with Miss Hecht page on Facebook.

 

Bitmoji Boards created by @MissHecht and you can find them to make a copy of her amazing boards at https://linktr.ee/misshecht

Happy 50th Birthday Earth Day 2020

For 50 years, Earth Day has been a time honored tradition, growing more and more important as we see more and more the effects of our human impact. As I showcased in my "5 Decades of Environmentalism" this past fall, we've made a lot of strides to be proud of in these 50 years.

This year, Earth Day won't be marked in marches on Washington or major community clean up events due to the global health issues from Covid-19. However, now, perhaps more than ever, community has taken on greater meaning, and we see the effects of that human impact in major cities that have been pollution-free for weeks for the first time ever, based on our staying home efforts. Additionally, the impact of contaminated waste (such as discarded gloves or masks road side or in parking lots) may be seen by many more (than ever before) for the health problem that they are.

From Earth Day Network's website:

So in honor of that, what can you do this unusual Earth Day? Turns out, a lot:

1. You can join Earth Day Goes Digital With 24 Hours of Action.
During the 24 hours of today, April 22nd Earth Day, Earth Day Network will have a lot of digital "global conversations, calls to action, performances, video teach-ins and more. "

2. Find Digital Earth Day Events.

3. Make Earth-friendly decisions in your home.

4. Do an individual clean up as part of Earth Day Networks' Great Global Clean Up.
Given the social distancing, you should not take part in any group events! Additionally, please take proper precautions if you are handling waste. During this time of coronavirus, gloves and possibly even masks should be worn during clean up. For other individual clean up help, check out their website. Then mark yours on the map!

5. Be a part of the Earth Day Challenge 2020.


What is Earth Challenge 2020? An effort to bring together citizen scientists to empower people around the world to take action for the environment. By tying together mobile technology and open citizen science data, Earth Day Network, the Wilson Center, the U.S. Department of State, and more organizations are working together and hoping to create the biggest citizen science event ever.

Do you need to be a scientist--no! That's the beauty. You can be an average person that helps collect data on all sorts of environmental data--in a myriad of areas such as plastic pollution, water quality, air quality, biodiversity, and more. This data then will be gathered in a central database, which then can help promote environmental policy and education.

And yes, there's an app for that--both for Apple devices & Android. The information will support their 6 Earth Challenge 2020 research areas:

Whatever you do this Earth Day, take a minute and do something that makes a difference. Just think what kind of world we would live in if we all did just that. 

The power of one can be downright enormous! 

Video from https://youtu.be/ci4hF9IVPws, Earth Day 2020 image from https://thematthewsgroup.com/events-calendar/earth-day,  screen shot images from https://earthchallenge2020.earthday.org and https://www.earthday.org/campaign/digital-earth-day/, quote from https://ecogirlshop.com/quotes-for-earth-day-and-every-day/

Trailforks: Making It Easy to Trailblaze

In the attempt to unplug and get more hours out in the great outdoors, hiking and biking are two great ways to go about that. State or National Parks make sense for that, but sometimes you just want a little something closer to home. With that though, sometimes you don't know where to begin that quest. Trailforks makes it easy!

Trailforks is a trail management system that ties with its own app to help you find where to go and what level of difficulty the trail holds. It's crowd-sourced with the help of GPS to create a common community. This means that users can update the information to help you know about the condition and other user-data that may be helpful. It gives recommended rides, notes the popularity of the trail, and reviews. You can also check out trail-specific photos and videos other people have uploaded to the database. You can also use GPS to map your trail while traversing on it. Not only does it accommodate the hikers or bikers out there, but it provides information for skiers, snowshoe'ers, snowmobile'ers, ATV'ers, horseback riders, dirt bikers, and electric bikers too.

Makes you want to go forth and plan some outdoor adventures!



Video from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNPkKe3U6I4; logo from https://www.trailforks.com

Virtual Valentine

I love The 10 Minute Teacher Podcast with Vicki Davis (aka CoolCat Teacher). 10 minutes is the perfect nugget of knowledge for busy teachers, and I always learn something new.

It's here I learned about Virtual Valentines--just in time for that sweet holiday ahead!

This is a passion project created by Dyane Smokorowski, Michael Soskil, Micah Brown, and Stacey Ryan. Their goal--to connect students around the world, inviting them to a take part in a creative design challenge while learning a little bit along the way, making a global connection.  Authentic audience anyone?! I love the tagline: Melting the Miles Between Classrooms!

There are a slew of creative ideas for your valentines here on this portion of their website.

There are 2 levels of involvement options:

* Level 1: Students create a virtual valentine to share with others who have participated around the world to see work from all over the globe.

* Level 2: Get a partner classroom, research the community your partner class is from AND determine the mileage away they are. Then "virtually meet" via Skype.

But move fast! The registration window is closing--this week! The deadline to register is THIS FRIDAY, FEB. 8th! Click here to register!

Images from http://virtualvalentines.weebly.com/map.html and http://virtualvalentines.weebly.com/

Tonight's The Night! Earth Hour 2018: #Connect2Earth

Tonight's the night ~ Earth Hour 2018! 

Lights out from 8:30--9:30 pm in your time zone.

Take a stance and make a stand for our Earth, our environment! 

Be a part of the millions of people, businesses, & landmarks

 to shine a light by going dark!

Check out my previous post for specifics on Earth Hour. (and some ideas for how to spend your hour switched off and unplugged). Additionally, watch this video to #Connect2Earth and keep the conversation going after your dark part of Earth Hour!



Logo from https://www.earthhour.org/ Video from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr1rC6Dut-U

Take Part in #ISTE17 This Weekend--Whether You Are There Or Not!

Football fanatics have the Superbowl.
Soccer fans have the World Cup.
Baseball aficionados have the World Series.
Movie lovers have the Academy Awards, while music lovers have the Grammy's.

If you are an #EdTech Teacher, your ultimate "Superbowl" is the annual ISTE conference.

And ISTE 2017, my friends, is THIS weekend: June 24th--28th, 2017 in San Antonio, Texas!

Man, do I wish I were there!

Disclaimer: I've never been to ISTE, but being a bit of a techno-nerd, it is on my bucket list. I'd be in my own personal nirvana! (Though I will say, that FETC 2016 was pretty darn awesome and a super second place!! And, as a Maryland environmental educator, MAEOE ranks right up there too!)

Typically 18,000+ teachers attend, and the learning and experience are at a global, exponential level. From Expo Hall to Keynotes, to workshops and networking, it's just downright like no other!


Like I said, I'm not going to be there this year either; however, listening to Vicki Davis (aka @CoolCatTeacher) and her "The 10-Minute Teacher" Podcast this week & interview with Peggy George (episode #105: "5 Ways to Participate in #ISTE17 Even If You're Not There #NotAtISTE17), I can be there without being there. That's pretty darn awesome!



If you are like me, and long to be there, you can learn from your couch, computer, car-ride commute, patio, or poolside these next few days ahead.  Check out the following:

• ISTE Schedule  (or download the ISTE app)
• Meet the Keynotes (These top two bullet points are so you can effectively drool at what you are missing!)
• Not At ISTE Google Plus Community
• Follow #ISTE17 or #ISTE2017 on Twitter
• Follow #NotAtISTE17 on Twitter
• Follow ISTE on Facebook
• #NotAtISTE17 Livebinder   
• If you are an Instagrammer...Check out @ISTEConnects
• Follow the presenters of ISTE at #PresentersOfISTE 
• Submit your email to follow along via EdTechHub to get emails straight to you.

And don't forget to check out ISTE resources for 2016 (just replace "17" with "16" to see what you missed last year.   You could have a boatload of professional development between them both and all these resources!  Which, let's be real, isn't that part of how we teachers spend part of our summer?!)

I'd love to hear about your favorite finds as you parallel travel alongside the ISTE Conference--whether you are there or not. I'm certainly going to be making my way along the above links myself!!

ISTE/Coolcat poster from http://www.coolcatteacher.com/5-ways-participate-iste17-even-youre-not-notatiste17/; 10 Minute Teacher Podcast from http://10minuteteacher.libsyn.com/5-ways-to-participate-in-iste17-even-if-youre-not-there-notatiste17-this-episode-is-sponsored-by-powerschool-i-am-so-excited-to-be-at-iste-with-powerschool-on-monday-june-26th-2017-at-4-pm-in-room-225-a-and-b-i-will-be-leading-a-panel-discussion-o; Video from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzBqHfSpSWw

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Wisdom comes in many forms and from many places.

In this case, wisdom comes from a 5-year old fellow who is upset about what the current state of the environment. As much as it breaks your heart to see him at the height of emotion, it also serves to give you hope that we have these sweet souls on the planet--not to mention inspiration for Earth Day ahead (April 22nd).

"Henry the Emotional Environmentalist" apparently has his own Facebook page. You can follow Henry and see where his passion will take both him and the planet here at this link.

 

Image from http://emilysquotes.com/we-dont-inherit-the-earth-from-our-ancestors-we-borrow-it-from-our-children/; Video from https://www.facebook.com/CollectiveEvolutionPage/videos/10154683863428908/

Litterati: The Digital Landfill

We've all heard the catch phrase: "There's an app for that."

The same can be said for the world of windblown trash & litterbugs.

on Earth Day 2016, a new app was launched by social entrepreneur Jeff Kirschner called Litterati. Inspired by his daughter and an initial 2013 Instagram picture of trash, first a hashtag (#litterati) then a crowdsourced digital landfill was born.

Think of it as a pollution-free version of Pokemon-Go!

By having the iPhone app, people can submit data photographically to be collected in Litterati's database. Additionally, people can track their own personal impact and see both where (internationally) and what physical types of trash is abundantly out there. Or shall I say, "was" out there...because half of the beauty of the app is the inspiration to pick up the litter and make the world a better place.

I've always said that innovation was the key to our environmental success.  Here's yet another shining example of how that is true.

To learn more about Litterati and Jeff Kirschner's brainchild, watch the video here. 

Litterati app photo and screenshot from http://www.litterati.org/; digital landfill gallery from http://www.sagemagazine.org/litterati-a-21st-century-solution-to-litter/; video from https://www.facebook.com/thelitterati/posts/876452159130663

Why Only 1 Week? Computer Science Education Week EVERY Week

We are wrapping up Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek), which was December 5th through the 11th. This is an annually dedicated week to intrigue and inspire all students, kindergarten to 12th graders) to take the mystery out of computer science, coding, and other STEM-centered activities.


Initially, it fell to this week to honor computing pioneer Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, who was born on December 9, 1906, a woman ahead of her time, and one of the first computer programmers in 1944

Since its beginnings in 2009, CSEdWeek has grown over time and in its own magnitute.  Code.org is an affiliate dedicated to furthering this education, feeling it should be part of core curriculums in all schools.  As we become a global community where technology advances are exponential, computing is certainly a core of many industries.

Of course, it begs the question--why only a week?!

Whether you missed it, want to relive it or extend it, or try your hand at the "Hour of Code" (or more), there's no reason that you should stop at only a week.  Here are some great resources to stretch your own awareness and build your coding and computer science curriculum--both in your school and in your own homes.  Who knows, you might find a resource or two along the way that might make a great Christmas present.

Articles & Information:

• CSEdWeek maps and stats comparing computer jobs to computer science graduates in a clickable map. The numbers for both my home state of Illinois and my current state of Maryland were staggering and differed by a factor of 10-20! The overall overwhelming stat: "There are currently 517,393 open computing jobs nationwide. Last year, only 42,969 computer science students graduated into the workforce.

• Ways to inspire students from CSEdWeek

• Eductopia article: Teach Your Kids to Code: 6 Beginner's Resources for Parents

Resources for Educators:

• Educator Resources from both Code.Org  and other 3rd party resources

• Free worksops from Code.org

• EdWeb.net Coding Webinars 

• Teachercast Podcast: How Can We Infuse Coding into Every Curriculum? 

• Teachercast Podcast: #HourofCode: What Can Your Students Accomplish with @Scratch & @Neprisapp

• Scratch Jr Curriculum

• ScratchED: Online community for Scratch users and teachers

• Kids Get Coding: Find both children's books about coding as well as online exercises from blue{shift}, a West London coding school.

Reviews from Common Sense Media:

• Coding Product Reviews for Elementary Student

• Best Coding Tools for Middle School

• Best Coding Tools for High School   

ScratchJr Website Video from Mitchel Resnick on Vimeo.

Images: STEM image from http://pixelkin.org/2015/08/07/coding-for-kids-4-ways-to-introduce-kids-to-coding/; Sylvia Duckworth photo from http://brianaspinall.com/10-reasons-to-teach-coding-sketchnote-by-sylviaduckworth/, Mark Zuckerberg https://csedweek.org/resource_kit/posters

Videos:  Hour of Code Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsOIlDT145A; ScratchJr Video from https://vimeo.com/101760650; Code.Org "Push Yourself. Anyone Can Code" video https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJyEBMU1xVP2be1-AoGS1BA

Happy 6th Birthday #GTG

It's amazing what happens when you start studying your calendar:  you realize you are amidst a birthday, anniversary, special season.  

That's a little bit what happened here when I realized my first Green Team Gazette post was born 6 years ago:  Feb. 26, 2010.  

A toe-dip out in the blogosphere 6 years ago, 126,012 visitors later, here we are.  I'd like to send out a thank you to all of you who have visited along the way and to all of  you who keep coming back. 

Cheers to the environmentalists out there, the educators, the innovators, the #EdTech teachers amongst you.  Thanks for riding along, and sharing in the resources, the rants, the chuckles, and the cheers of the past 6 years.  Raising a glass for many more as we continue to learn from each other and go forth!

Image created Using the PicCollage app on my iPad.

Fresh Water For You

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

Here in this continuing series on World Water Day 2015, we turn to Christiana Z. Peppard.  In her TED-ED lesson "Where We Get Our Fresh Water" she has a video just over 3.5 minutes that sums up the limited yet valuable resource of water.  She includes some post-video questions for your students to ponder, as well as some additional links in her "Dig Deeper" section.  

Here's the video--which will make you want to head over to TED-ED!

Video from http://ed.ted.com/lessons/where-we-get-our-fresh-water-christiana-z-peppard#digdeeper  
World Water Day logo from http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/

SciStarter

So....

You like science.

You consider yourself a scientist at heart.

You feel the planets would be in line if all the people in the world were out there, doing something, about SCIENCE!

SciStarter is for you!

It houses a database of citizen science projects that are easy to approach, easy to attain, and draw you right in on the scientific level!  Students, teachers, scientists, and more can all be at the same place at the same time!  You can go right in and find projects that might be suited for you, your students, and all of a sudden.... you are there, making a difference!!

And sometimes you get there by way of a little F-U-N!

If you are looking for some fun AND scientific projects to do with your students, then Citizen Scientist is the way to go.  Once you are in on the website, it's only a matter of clicking along the parameters, and you are knee deep in a project you want to be in!  And you are making scientific news, collecting data as you go!  Search projects by free/low cost, featured projects, projects suitable for students or children, projects you can do by outdoors, do--it-yourself projects, or ones where it list available teaching materials.


Citizen Science pics:  http://gnomemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/citizen-science-picture.jpg, http://www.citizensciencecenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Citizen_Science_Center_Infographic2.png

A Dandy of a Day at EdCamp MetroDC

It's always a good day for an EdCamp.  Today was no different.  The sunny day made for an easy drive down to Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart for EdCampMetroDC.

As per usual, the "Rule of 2 Feet" and "Have fun" were 2 of the driving tenets of the day.  You go where you want and take away as possible.  If you aren't in the right session to do that, find the right one for you.  All participants find they all serve as experts in one way or another, and everyone has a day of mutual learning. All for the best-price-ever for professional development:  FREE!

One of the most useful tools of the day is the schedule, which you can find here.  Yes, it was helpful in getting you get where you want to go next on campus. But it's perhaps the most helpful at THIS part of the day...when you are at home on the couch.  When you are reflecting back, perusing the Google doc links that are listed in each schedule block.  All day long, the participants are free to add to the mix of information.  A wealth begins.  It's like the gift that keeps giving, and there are so many good finds.  Here's a peek...but it's only an image. You need to go to the schedule here to get the links.

Here's what my day looked like (not a bad session in the bunch):

Session 1: Teach from your iPad/iPad apps galore

Session 2:  "Things that suck, things that rock" (a unique whole body way of discussing education trends with colleagues by moving to the area of the room that matches your answer.  This could apply to any concept in any classroom--thoough with younger kids, the best plan might be to change the vocab a bit to "things that stink and things that rock."

Lunch, Networking, & Smackdown (which consists of a 2 minute shares per person of apps and websites you love! As you'll see from the schedule doc, there were 18 goodies shared today on a wealth of info.  My personal favorite for future investigation is the NPR Women in Tech series.

Session 3:  The flipped class for the elementary class

Session 4:  MakerSpaces & more

So, the price is right, the learning is good and goes beyond the 4 sessions, they usually feed you at lunchtime from gracious donors, you get to see old friends and meet new ones, AND there are door prizes.  That's a win from every which way!

If you haven't been to an EdCamp, you need to check out their master schedule and keep peeking back until you find one near you.  Then go and bask in the number of take-aways you can keep taking with you!


Logo from the EdCampMetroDC webpage:  Www.edcampmetrodc.org
"Keep Calm & Ed Camp On" from http://www.edcampphilly.org/
Screenshot of schedule from http://edcampmetrodc.org/about/schedule/
EdCamp:  Reclaim Professional development http://edcamp.org/2012/11/thank-you-edutopia-and-matt-arguello-for-helping-share-the-edcamp-love/

Ringing in the New Year with UpWorthy & Gratitutde

I think UpWorthy is one of my new favorite websites and FaceBook pages.  I love how "good" the "meatiness" is. You walk away feeling vindicated...that comfy feeling you get when you are with like-minded individuals.  From their About & FAQ page, this part details their mission beautifully:

"We're a mission-driven media company. We're not a newspaper — we'd rather speak truth than appear unbiased. And we're not a political campaign — we're more interested in the powerless versus the powerful than in Democrats versus Republicans. 

But we do have a point of view. We're pro-gay-marriage, and we're anti-child-poverty. We think the media is horrible to women, we think climate change is real, and we think the government has a lot to learn from the Internet about efficiency, disruption, and effectiveness."

My latest UpWorthy find is about the 365 Grateful project.  Here on New Year's Day, it seems like another good way to refocus your perspective.  Watch the video below to watch creator Hailey Bartholomew describe her vision for how to "shift her vision" through a photo a day paired with gratitude.  She succinctly discusses how gratitude changed her, her marriage, her clarity for life, and her ability to truly see the wealth that surrounds her (both in life and in nature).

[Click here or here if there becomes an issue with the playback for the video.]


365grateful.com from hailey bartholomew on Vimeo.

The wheels in my mind are turning after watching this--both personally and professionally.  Personally, I have seen the healing power in the past that gratitude can bring.  During a really difficult time in my history (roughly 15-20 years ago), I compiled a list of 100 things I was thankful for.  It took 2 months. Being visual, I think the photo element of this could capture a true historical snapshot!  Professionally, I am finding myself contemplating ways I could craft this idea into an iMovie, Smilebox, or iPad lesson activity.  The beauty of gratitude is that it works for any age.

Before I close, I think there's a question that needs to be asked--one that only you can answer for you:

What photo would you take today?  What are you grateful for du jour?

Quote & logo from http://www.upworthy.com/about
Video from http://365grateful.com/ as found at http://www.upworthy.com/you-take-zillions-of-photos-with-your-cellphone-why-not-try-something-new-with-them?c=ufb1
Gratitude image from http://www.brucesallan.com/2012/12/30/new-years-list-seven-attitudes-gratitude/