Tips & Takeaways from "Teaching Boldly"

In the myriad of books I'm reading for my goal to read 52 books this year, one that I read this summer was Teach Boldly: UsingEdTeach For Social Good by Jennifer Williams. It definitely is one that is rising to the top of my list as one of the most poignant reads of both the year and the summer. There are so many things in this book that speak to me...I see the potential  makings of a few posts inspired by this book.

Published by ISTE [International Society for Technology in Education] in 2019, Teach Boldly integrates technology standards for educators and students. The things I love about this book are the reasons I write this blog: 

• it incorporates innovation and the design process;
• the importance of empathy and teaching for social good both in your classroom culture and on a global scale for building multiple perspectives and viewpoints;
• edtech as tools for being creating rather than solely consuming by way of digital storytelling and creating a natural application for digital citizenship.

The irony of this book is that it was published prior to the pandemic, however it talks about innovative teaching styles we used during the pandemic: synchronous, asynchronous, and remote learning. It talks about bias, diversity, perspective, and a sense of belonging, which have become more and more a part of our educational conversation. It embraces choices and creativity as offerings for our students. It discusses the importance of taking action, being change makers who make a positive difference, making an impact through meaningful project based learning, and taking time to reflect. It is through the debriefing that everyone can discover what went well, what was missed, and what were the challenges.

It's a book for our time!

My first recommendation: read the book.

My second recommendation: Check out some of these resources she mentions in her book:

General Online Resources:

• Jen William's Website for Templates & Other Resources
• ISTE Standards for Educators
• ISTE Standards for Students

Frameworks for inspiring lessons and promoting projects for social change:

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Adopted on December 10, 1948 to protect the rights of all humans)
• The Sustainable Development Goals (Created in 2015--our 5th graders have done Genius Hour projects based on these the last 3 years.)
• For an educator site with additional resources, go to TeachSDGs.org.
• Global Citizen: Take Action, highlighting defeating poverty, defending the planet, and demanding equity.

Museums focused around social good that are good for a virtual visit:

• National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC
• Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, California
• Museum for the United Nations--UN Live in Copenhagen, Denmark

Social Media folks to follow:

• @JenWilliamsEDU
• #TeachBoldly

Book image from https://www.amazon.com/Teach-Boldly-Using-Edtech-Social-ebook-dp-B082FQ3R22/dp/B082FQ3R22/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1629311004; quote from the book and image created from canva.com

Cicadas & Social Justice: A Surprising Combination

Now that it's August, the end of summer sounds of locusts and cicadas are the musical backdrop of your typical late summer soundtrack. A far more subtle and different cry from the cicada symphony that Brood X cicadas brought this past spring.

Even this spring, depending on where I went , the sound of the cicadas differed. By my school, it was a complete roar that I didn't even recognize the first time I'd heard it. From my backyard, a significantly quieter buzz. Reports from friends in both Eastern Shore Maryland and downtown Baltimore indicated that cicada sounds were actually nonexistent.The reasons were many and they all make sense: 

• sandier soil on the Eastern Shore was not a good place to dig deep and call home for 17 years; 
• construction dug up the earth, destroying cicada nesting spots; 
• the concrete jungle doesn't make for good digging and hibernating.

But Ronak Shah's article in Chalkbeat made things make even more sense. Entitled "When Students Ask Why They Haven’t Seen Cicadas, We Need to Talk About Environmental Racism," this article brought about some "ah ha" moments. Ronak, a 7th grade teacher in Indianapolis, also noticed that not everyone was experiencing the sounds or signs of cicadas. Having grown up in the Midwest, I know it's not because of sandy soil. And, while Indianapolis could be considered a concrete city jungle with more streets than trees, he points out in the article that neighborhoods within the same city experienced different volumes of cicada songs (from loud to non-existent). Clearly there's more to it than being an urban, suburban, or rural thing. He notes that the cicada's presence seemed to land on historical lines: those dating back to desecration of schools which in turn led to the white flight of folks to mid-to-upper echelon neighborhoods. All of this really just perpetuates segregation in communities based on economics and how the schools are districted. This, in turn, ultimately creates the proverbial "right side of the tracks" versus "the wrong side," delineated by socio-economic status--which often times is also associated with race.

Intersectionism: where systemic racism and environmentalism and social justice collide. Case and point, this quote from Ronak's article:

"One of the lasting impacts of segregation is environmental injustice, and it impacts humans and cicadas alike. Most of our city’s toxic brownfields are located in Center Township south of 38th Street and along the northern Mass Ave corridor, another line of segregation. The lingering arsenic, mercury, and lead in water and soil impacts human health while also sickening or killing cicadas gestating underground. These lands are often paved over to become asphalt deserts, and the compacted, rubble-filled soil that drives flood water into people’s homes also makes it harder for cicadas to burrow, let alone emerge. Trees are scarce, and greenhouse gases are abundant, creating urban heat islands that confuse the bugs and leave little room for cicada breeding, all while contributing to disproportionately higher asthma rates in people. Redlined housing practices forced a higher population density into racially segregated areas, which means less available land for cicadas to hatch."

The fact that scientific data on Brood X dates back to historical data and timellines of Indianapolis is striking because it goes to show how tied and interrelated things are. It goes to show how much information (in other fields of study) has historical roots. It reminds me of Spanish philosopher George Santayana's quote that often pops into my mind (guess I must be an educator): “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"... or Winston Churchill's version:“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” It is our duty as educators to teach history. All of it. The good, the bad, the ugly, and the uncomfortable. Whether it's about cicadas or just about anything else.

Title image created at canva.com and Intersectionality
image from https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/5/5/2029108/-Environmental-Justice-Social-Justice-Economic-Justice-Intersection-of-schools-environmental-racism

Blue Mind, Concert Style

About 3 weeks ago we went to the Jimmy Buffett concert in Northern Virginia. My husband and his buddy have a long history of Jimmy Buffett concerts, so by marriage, of course, I too am a Parrothead, longing for Margaritaville.

Not only was it amazing to be back at a concert after the long sequester of Covid (and possibly before the next Delta-induced sequester), but it was wonderful to be soaking up the sweet sounds of familiar songs in the outdoor arena. During several of Jimmy's songs, he had a bounty of #bluemind scenes of as the backdrop on the Jumbotron.With a slight wind in the arena, breeze in my hair, and tropical tunes in my ears, I seriously had a blue mind moment with all of these pictures. A serious sense of peace. 

I compiled just a few of the photos from the concert here, to share the wealth of that #BlueMindMoment.

Video created at canva.com from photos from the August 7, 2021 Jimmy Buffett Concert in Northern Virginia.

Welcome Back to School

School starts for me (by way of teacher meetingsI) today. Official school for our students starts next week, but first day photos on Facebook show me that schools have started back in action almost up to a month ago in some areas.

This year, school starts with some trepidation. Remote learning, hybrid school, and the pandemic the last 18 months have sent all of us spinning a bit. Variants are on the rise after we've all tasted the sweet elixir of freedom in June--it's leaving my colleagues and I wondering what the future holds. Mask? Zoom? Quarantines? Covid cases? Or are we all back to normal? Only time will tell.

In the meantime, let's all take a deep breath, muster our strength and stamina, pray for good wifi if we need it, and hope for the best for a good school year ahead, connecting with our students. In the last 18 months, students and teachers have learned to be flexible, to pivot when needed, and to be creative problem solvers. We can do this. May the rejuvenation of the summer stay with you, and may you always be a good trouble shooter with a good sense of humor. Stay healthy, stay strong, and have a great school year ahead! Cheers!

Image created at canvas.com using my Bitmoji.com.

Rainy Days

Lyrics from an old Karen Carpenter song are melodically meandering in my brain: 🎶"Rainy days and Mondays always get me down."🎶 I’ve always enjoyed that tune—truthfully more for the sweet sounds of Karen Carpenter versus the lyrics. But, when one of your last days of summer freedom (insert another pop culture icon: Mel Gibson from "Dances with Wolves”), the rainy day initially got me down. Sitting outside on a bench in the sun to read for awhile or a last ditch pool day soaking up the sun were my main agenda. Sadly, there’s no sun to be had, no idyllic day.

Being out and about fairly early after dropping off my son at sports, I found myself pondering what to do with this now-rainy-day. Clearly not Plan A. 

So Plan B started with getting my hot green tea (“with honey and 10 ice cubes, please”--much to my husband's chagrin) at the local mom & pop coffee shop.  Then, assessing the rain, I decided to sit outside under the awning of my coffee shop and watch it rain. In doing so, I get my #NatureFix of being outside (which is really more street-and-parking-lot-view rather than a green one, but still a refreshingly cool breeze and some nature sights in the vista of the my view). I also got the #BlueMind aspect in the rain of this rainy day--gazing out at the forming puddles, the steady sight and sound of it coming down, and the mist hitting me as the wind shifted. 

Being outdoors (especially when indoors and delta variants and Covid are all a creeping concern) was therapeutic. Time was mine. Rain was fine. Perfect way to be present to read, think, observe, and literally soak it in.

Not to shabby, all in all, and not too far from my original game plan. I’ll take it. Better yet, I’ll embrace it.

Image from my camera from where I sat.

Cycling Spots, Part Deux

My last post got my biking juices spinning and searching for more. 

Not far from Belgium's "Cycling Through the Trees Path" is "Cycling Through Water" in Bokrijk, Limberg, Belgium. Passing through the water on a path built below the water's surface, you can get more than a bird's eye view. It's more of a water level's view where you can put yourself right in the middle of the watery habitat.

Odds are if you are inspired by either of these 2 biking paths in Belgium, you may be itching for more. This Fast Company find might be just for you: "These 15 Mind-Blowing Bike Projects Will Make You Hate Your Regular Bike Lane." These global bike sites are the pictures of modern architecture and engineering.

For some a little closer (perhaps) to home (if you live in the US), here is a short video of the 10 best car-free bike paths in the United States. Some might be near you.

Rail-trails are my favorite, as previously mentioned, as I like the defined, smooth terrain. To find a rail-trail near you, check out the Rails-To-Trail Conservancy.

Makes me want to go pump up my tires, check the chains, and head out for a bike ride. May it inspire you to go jump out and take a spin yourself.

Video from https://youtu.be/UJDOOiNkzA4 and https://youtu.be/hXBCmwM_uFw and https://youtu.be/P82r2xo-PjU. Image from canvas.com

Biking In the Tree Tops

I love a good bike path. And I'll admit, I'm not talking "dirt trail bike path." I'm talking smooth and paved and navigationally easy. That's the way I roll...quite literally.

Ever have that desire to be at the tip and top of the trees? Might take a little to get to, but you have that opportunity on the "Cycling Through the Trees" path in Limberg, Belgium along its cirular path taking you to the tops of the trees. It may take a suitcase and a plane to get there, but you don't have to pack your bike--you can rent one there.

To learn more about what it's like to bike at canopy level, check out Fast Company's article "This Treetop Bike Path Takes Uou 30 Feet Up Into the Canopy of a Forest" or go to Limberg's tourism site "Cycling Through the Trees in Bosland."

Video from https://youtu.be/OVcGmommaZ4

Running the Waves Inside the River of Grass

Vacations are for expanding your horizons and trying out new experiences. The activities and events stick with us. And, it is through these adventures that we all grow. Not to mention, I keep finding my mind heading back there--especially the closer school keeps coming!

It might also have something to do with the fact that #BlueMind has been heavily on my mind this summer!

One of our new experiences on our Outer Banks vacation in July was taking a wave runner tour on the waters of the Curritick Sound, seeing Duck and Corolla from the water side. It was more than just "driving to drive." It was an hour and a half game of "follow the leader" outside the partitioned areas to really see some of the surroundings and learn a bit of history along the way. 

Now, out of full disclosure, I'll start by saying this. I do a lot of things well. Driving a wave runner is NOT one of them. I tried, I really did, and it didn't go well. I over-compensated with my steering. I was riding far too cautious to keep up with the group. Mostly, I couldn't get past the fear factor of impending doom and possible death. Luckily everyone else in my family are bigger adrenaline junkies than I am, so I could switch places with my teenage son and let him take over. That just left me holding on and getting to take in the scenery, fully enjoying the wind in my hair and the water spray on my face. A definite win-win for everyone!

So driving in and between the grass beds, past old abandoned duck blinds (where only the birds have taken up residency), past old hunting clubs, and even seeing Corolla's Curritick Beach Lighthouse in the distance, we got a chance to change our perspective. We saw the Sound from the inside out versus from the barrier islands looking in. We got to be one with the water, running those waves. We got to see from a vantage point we would have missed. We got to breathe it all in and experience life in a new way. We got to see this bird sanctuary from the bird's eye view, flying on the water, riding the waves, and running in the space between the grass. 

No wonder that #BlueMind vision is still riding my heart. 

Photos of our trip compiled in the PicCollage app, Travel quote created at canva.com

Blue Marble Project

When I was a kid, I had this jar of marbles. One of those really old fashioned jars with a wire-closing lids that lock in place. I have no idea where I got it (maybe my grandparents). Playing marbles wasn't really "a thing" when I was a kid in the '70s, as that was more the generation prior to me (or even prior to that one). I don't really remember what it's purpose was, other than decoration and fascination. Back before technology, looking at cool marbles on a summer day and sorting it, and pondering them as currency or whatever was just the thing to do.

Having run across this concept of Wallace J. Nichol's "blue marble" (which started in 2009), it reminded me of my marble jar. I'm definitely going to have to dig around my childhood bedroom to see if I can find that marble jar. Maybe in a box somewhere, or maybe it's just plain in the land of the lost (like so many of our childhood "things."). Maybe it once was part of my classroom "stuff" when I was a "marble jar" teacher, rewarding collective good behavior. Bottom line, I haven't a clue where it could be now.

But, it's got me thinking. Did I have any blue marble in there? Law of averages says yes.

But the bigger question is: What is the Blue Marble Project? The blue marble at arm's length represents the view of our blue planet Earth from space. Here's Wallace J. Nichol's to tell you all about it:

Still curious and want to learn more? Check out these resources. Maybe it'll encourage you to get a bundle of blues and start sharing it forward as a li'l random act of blue kindness to spread 'round the world. When we care about something, that's when we want to protect it!

• A Million Blue Marbles
• The Biosphere Foundation: The Blue Marble Project

Image found at https://www.coachmyrna.org/coachmyrna-blog/marble-jar-friends, video from https://youtu.be/NufUn2SPeHw

EdTech Resources for News Literacy

Words have always fascinated me. In fact, back in the pre-Internet era, one of my most used high school graduation gifts and favorite books was a hard cover Roget's Thesaurus. I still have it, though thesaurus.com is where I tend to go more often these days than to my bookshelf. 

Words have meaning and importance. Our lexicon has meaning, and we are always adding new words as ones come to fashion. Many, as of late, stem from the onslaught of political discord, partisanship, divisiveness, 24-7 news....all of which show us the need for news literacy. For example:

• Post-truth--Oxford English Dictionary's [OED] 2016 Word of the Year. Definition: When "objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” 

• Fake news--Added to the OED in 2019, yet even though it gained traction during the 2016 election season, it strikingly it's been around since 1890. 

A whole lot of other words fall in the category of synonyms for "fake news" and further point the finger to the need of news literacy. None of them are new, but their definitions are distinctive:

Misinformation (noun): "incorrect or misleading information"

Disinformation (noun): "false information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth"

Propaganda (noun): "ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause"

Conspiracy theory (noun):" a theory asserting that a secret of great importance is being kept from the public"

Gaslight (verb): "to attempt to make (someone) believe that he or she is going insane (as by subjecting that person to a series of experiences that have no rational explanation)"

Of course there are more and we could go on.

So yes, I am a lover of linguistics and the precision of language, but this is not just a semantic conversation nor is it a political conversation. It's all part of news literacy. As teachers, it is our duty to help our students develop the critical thinking skills necessary to discern between fact & fiction, and muddle through all the uncertainties & confusion to help them (and us) get to the truth by way of research and verification.

Luckily there are some great online resources out there which I was lucky enough to acquire in one of my toe-dips into "school stuff" this summer at a one-day workshop at school led by one of my colleagues. She shared some amazing resources on how to navigate the crazy world of news literacy in today's world. These are definitely worth checking out!

• SchoolJournalism.org's "6 Principles of News Literacy"
• Teaching Kids News "Fake News" Resources
• The Center for News Literacy 
• News Literacy Project (especially Checkology & InfoZones from Checkology)
• Common Sense Media: Turn Students Into Fact-Finding Web Detectives
• Poynter.org's article 7 Games to Teach Kids Fact Checking 
• How to Spot Fake News video from FlackCheck.org
• Seven Standards of Quality Journalism from the News Literacy Project

A smattering of specific lessons:

• TED-Ed's "How False News Can Spread" by Noah Tavlin
• PBS's News Literacy-Social Studies Shorts for grades 3-5, 6-8
• News Literacy Project's Classroom Activity: Is it “checkable”? for grades 4-6
• News Literacy Project's Critical observation challenge: Was Elsa really arrested? for grades 4-6

Good fact checking websites:

• Rumor Review
• Snopes Fact Checking
• The Sift
• Politifact

Along my own pursuit of information in the mis- & dis-information field, I ran across the fact that there's an International Fact Checking Day. The irony was not lost on me that this is annually on April 2nd, right after April Fool's Day. There are some great resources there on their website too.

News Literacy is vital for all citizens of all ages. The more our youth is presented with information on social media and more, the more important it is. It's about focusing our critical thinking skills. It is NOT a partisan activity but rather a pursuit for the truth in the middle of a lot of messages. By being news literate, we can navigate the noise and land on the news. Possibly one of our most important duties yet and a form of activism that we cannot overlook!


Fake news definition image from this OED tweet: https://twitter.com/OED/status/1181991604170694658, All other images created at canva.com

Summer PD: A Walk on the Wild Side

I mentioned in my toe-dipping into back to school ideas that I've been attending a series of one-day summer institute professional development days at school. They're run in-house and on a completely optional basis (though paid!) and cover a variety of subjects. One of the nicest parts is that you can gear it toward your own professional learning and interests. Additionally, it is a great way to meet up with a variety of our preschool to grade 12 colleagues and get to know them better. Classes run from from anywhere to 6-20 "students" (aka other teachers), so a quick connection builds and the discussions can become quite rich--both on topic during class and off topic during lunch.

Like most teachers, I love learning new things. I also often teach a class or two in the summer. This year, I co-taught a class called "Walk on the Wild Side: Integrating Environmental Education in Your Classroom" with an Upper School Science teacher. We taught it in Summer of 2019, and rebooted it this year. One of the fun perks is that we have all of the participants bring their bikes and we bike the 2+ miles between campuses on the community bike trail and picnic and geocache about halfway along the way. 

In addition to discussing  Florence Williams' book Nature Fix and the health benefits of why we need to get outside, we incorporated some tools such as scavenger hunts and nature observations which can help teachers get in touch with the outdoors. 

One of our activities was to inspire our participants to come up with a setting outdoors for a 2 inch Playmobil figurine using only natural items. (My kids loved these when they were little and we have a ton of them. They make the perfect teaching tool!) The neat thing about this activity is the curricular connections: it could serve as inspiration for a story students would then write;it could be to build and showcase a chapter in a book; or it could be a maker activity putting the design process to work solving a problem. Our adult creations and backstories were phenomenal. Plus, it got the juices flowing for other ways teachers could modify these (and other) activities in class.

Along with afternoon work time for teachers to think of their own ways to infuse the outdoors in their classes, we invited participants to add to the growing document of ideas that we started, that grew in 2019, and grew even more this year. The list is housed in a professional development part of our online portal and available to all. Here are some of the inspirational and collective ideas from our teachers to you! We broke them down into time periods so anyone could find something that fits with whatever time block they have available!

5-10 Minute "Walk On The Wild Side" Classroom Activities to get kids outdoors--Many at this time period could be"brain break" events:

• Hide and seek with objects or people -- especially in foreign language classes
• Pato pato ganso (Duck Duck Goose in Spanish) or on hot days, drip drip drop or tie in with new vocabulary (example: noun, noun, adjective)
• Numbers freeze dance on playground using sidewalk chalk and music
• Compare our weather to weather in target country
• Sidewalk chalk recording and illustrating the themes in the book as an anticipation strategy prior to reading
• An inside activity, but daily: tally the number of days or hours you DON’T need to turn on lights due to lights coming into the room.

10-20 Minute Activities

• Scavenger hunt with nature vocabulary, team building, or tie to concepts and bring it outdoors
• Bury magnetic letters in sandbox and have preschoolers dig out and identify letter
• Book Club Activity based on a novel about survival/nature
• How many triangles can you make with 9 sticks?
• Practice writing letters using water and paintbrushes
• Play season detective and scour the schoolyard for all the signs of the given season 
• Use sidewalk chalk to create a grid where kids can count and sort objects
• Build a nature structure using “found nature” items outside for a “character” (Lego or Playmobile figure). Put a time period on it. Photo and share (or annotate), museum walk, etc. Put on parameters about how tall, wide, the perimeter, etc.

20-30 Minute Activities

• Maximizing the exploding can (hydrogen coffee can experiment)
• Bohr Model of the Atom Amphitheater
• Build a Structure for Lego person and calculate “you size” (scale/dimensional analysis?)
• Soccer with language immersion (foreign language)
• Collect flowers and leaves and do leaf rubbings with crayons (younger students)
• Novel read aloud at outdoors- have the kids “act out” different characters and add stage directions to the text 
• Shape walk, followed by sketching and labeling what you saw
• Write math problems on the blacktop with chalk and have students find pinecones, rocks, etc., to represent the answer.
• Build a model of a topographic map with natural items

30-45 Minute Activities

• “Escape Room” that takes place/incorporates outdoor space 
• Have students chalk compass directions onto the blacktop and take note of what they see in each direction. 
• Form adjective list, then go on a walk or on schoolyard nature trail and try to find an object that matches each descriptive word.

45-60 Minute Activities

• Kite flying (and making) for the Breadwinner chapter book unit
• Book-themed party hosted outdoors w outdoor challenges/activities 
• Scavenger hunt from PD Day 
• Solar Ovens/Wind Turbines
• Water Quality in pond or stream
• Carbon sequestration (tree diameters)

An Hour-long + Activities

• Itsy Bitsy spider unit
• Adventure Lab-History and English 
• Sic Semper Tyrannis Adventure Lab (of Abraham Lincoln & John Wilkes Booth)
• The Wind in the Willows Adventure Lab 
• Water quality analysis through precipitation reactions
• Combustion analysis of wood samples to determine empirical formula
• Library hosted day of reading outdoors. Set up blankets/snacks, provide magazines/books
• ecoMUVE virtual world for data collection. Useful for rainy days. 
• Outdoor Backpacks to check out from the library 

Apps & Other Goodies

• Cyanometer -- this is a tool that measures the amount of blue in the sky (which is tied to the amount of dust and water vapor in the sky)--on Apple App ($0.99)
• Merlin Bird App from Cornell Ornithology Lab--on Apple and Google
• Plant Snap App--on Apple and Google
• iNaturalist App--on Apple and Google
• CloudySky App--on Apple ($0.99) and on Google as Field Guide to Clouds App
• Geocaching 
• Geocaching App on Apple and Google
• Cachly App on Apple ($4.99)

Art from my camera or created on canvas.com

Canva For Education

In my last post, I mentioned toe-dipping into some edtech tools this summer. It left me with needing to put Canva in a post of its own!

Canva has long been a go-to website for me for creating digital signage and imagery. I've used it frequently here at GTG, always referencing when I do. They've made some additions with their Canva For Education which make it a teacher's dream! No doubt it's one of the many edtech shifts that have come out of remote and hybrid teaching during the pandemic, making it easier for students and teachers to connect.

The perks of Canva for Education:

• It's free to K-12 teacher's and their students--sign up just entails a teacher login on your school domain and verification.
• Teachers can invite students to their Canva classroom to assign and manage class activities.
• It works seamlessly with Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, and more.
• It opens up pro features including fonts, icons, and images.
• The templates!! A wealth of customizable templates on every subject including social-emotional learning. Insert 3 thumbs up here!! Some of the broader category of school-specific templates include:
• Class Posters
• Schedules
• Graphic organizers & mind maps
• Lesson Plans
• Certificates
• Bookmarks
• Certificates
• Class Decor Kits
• Not to mention all the templates they already had which could be adapted to the classroom: 
• Integrating Bitmoji's (just discovered that one!)
• Presentations
• Infographics
• Business Cards
• Brochures
• Newsletters
• Resumes
• Invitations
• Even fun stuff like T-shirts, menus, postcards, and logos. Just think of the literature extension ideas you could use by assigning creative activities like these.

The possibilities are endless, both from the teacher productivity standpoint and the "create and write" standpoint for your students! 

"Head Back to School With Canva" art created at canvas.com; Graphic organizer image screenshot from https://www.canva.com/education/; Logo from canva.com

Toe Dipping into EdTech Tools For the Fall

I think I've entered that "toe dip" season of the year. I'm not talking pool or beach or other water sports, which are all at full emersion! The "toe dip" of which I speak is that point in the summer where my mind is slowly going to thoughts for the new year. Slow. Bite sized. Bits. Then instantly jumping right back into the full emersion part of the pool! A slight visit, but then a swift return to make sure that I'm "wearing my summer well." It's an interesting evolution that happens for teachers. It's all part of the swirling healing process of closing out one school year and the recouping and readying for the next year.

I've had some mid-summer one-day professional days at school.We do these "Summer Institutes" every summer so our teachers can learn from our teachers on a myriad of topics. These become the perfect toe-dipper kind of days. Good time to rejuvenate and refocus, and learn new items, which in turn start those spinning wheels to start looking into other things. My next several posts will be on some of those workshops, and on some of my other toe dips along the way.

Today's toe-dips include some really cool online edtech resources I've run across that would benefit any teacher. They include timesavers as well as other inspirational finds. May you enjoy toe-dipping into them at your leisure:

• Shake Up Learning with Kasey Bell is both a super podcast and a great website with loads of learning resources for teachers. I get the weekly email updates from and found her post on Free Templates for Teachers: Where to Find Them & How to Create Them fabulous. She references these sites that are definitely bound for your bookmark bar. You can learn more about them from her post or go to them directly here:
• Sarah Keifer's & Beth Kingsley's TemplatesForTeachers.com
• Paulina Martinez's SlidesMania
• Ed Curtz's Control Alt Achieve & Google-related resources & updates
• Tony Vincent's resources at Learning In Hand including ShapeGrams with Google Drawings

• Seesaw Connect, which is an online virtual global conference for Seesaw Teachers next week: July 26-30. Once you register (free!), you can can take a multitude of online, on-demand short courses to get your gears turning on how to incorporate Seesaw in many different ways. Access remains open until August 13th.

• Education World has a slew of templates, diagrams, forms and charts all classroom-centric that you can print. Great resource!

• Edutopia has a super article from April on "Powerful, Lesser-Known Tech Tools For Teachers." In it, they detail the following, which I want to look more into:
• Mote
• Dotstorming
• VideoAnt
• Blooket
• Kialu Edu
• Classkick
• Adobe Capture

Best part of toe-dipping....you can take one, try it out, then go right back into summer mode. You can investigate while you've got some of that free time on your hands and check out what's new out there. May this little list inspire a tidbit of toe dipping, then let you re-immerse yourself into whatever part of summer you wish. My favorite is always my pool!

Art created on Canva.com (my next-time toe-dip tool to share!)

The Power of the Wind and the Weather

Two days prior to my wedding (in the wayyyy back machine), we had a "Hurricane Day" off of school (think "snow day") two days prior due to Hurricane Floyd. It rained and rained, and I gleefully tackled all those last minute bride things. Unfortunately though, our wedding venue had it's power knocked out, and we had to re-route the entire wedding in about 24 hours. We did--the day ended up being a beautiful day--and we are still in our "happily ever after."

Flash forward a handful of years.

We moved to Florida for my husband's job, where we lived about 6 years. During the first two weeks of our move there we had a tropical storm. I don't even think it had a name. The idea of it scared this Midwest girl to death. Unlike before when I was living in Maryland and it wasn't a direct hit, the intensity of Florida weather brought about more of a fear factor. All we got in my Hurricane Floyd experience was rain and power outages. Not necessarily direct hits. I was way more accustomed to the occasional weirdly-green sky that accompanies a tornado and the dash to the basement than any kind of water/ocean destruction. Other than anxiety, we clearly survived with the only fall out we had was a hyperspaz dog and watching the intensity of rain fall on us. 

Flash forward another handful of years.

After living in Florida, you find yourself saying seemingly-bizarre statements like "It's only a Category 1 hurricane" and "that 'cone of uncertainty' will shift and we'll be fine." It's funny how experience of "weathering the storms" gets you here. Yes, we boarded up our house a few times, and we also packed and left occasionally, to go to the other side of the state to avoid the brunt of it. But we were always fine. However, we also saw the destruction from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. At one point earlier in its trajectory, Katrina had been tracking right to us. Luckily it shifted leaving us fine, but horrified for New Orleans. We counted our blessings on more than one occasion.

Flash forward 16 more years.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Elsa swept through our time while we were vacationing in Duck, NC a few weeks ago. We had a lovely day of massages in store--perfect for the rainy weather--and were surprised by the limited amount of rain we actually got. We had already preemptively "battened down the hatches" the night before at our rental house,  so we weren't really worried. Yes, there were white caps on the 2-3 foot deep Currtick Sound out our back window, but nothing more. Those comments came back to our kids: "It's only the tail end of a tropical storm." It made for a relaxing indoor day of books and games and comfort food. Until bedtime.  That's when the strongest band of weather came through. Being in a beach house and right on the water, we were more exposed than I had ever been in a weather situation. I've never felt a house shake like this. The wind was intense. I later discovered it was upwards of 25 mph with gusts up to 42 mph--all from 11 pm to 3 am. No wonder the house was shaking, the way these homes are built up--not fully on stilts, but with openness underneath.  I never got into full panic mode, but it was a level of angst I hadn't felt in awhile. I think some of the calming effects of the massage earlier that day had worn off.

But we weathered the storm and even slept some. In fact, the sun was out and skies were clear by 7 am the next morning. The only true evidence of a storm (other than the still-jitters in my stomach) was the debris line halfway up the yard showing how high the water rose.

Even the osprey nest next door looked like it had also weathered the storm quite well. Given that, I'm a bit in awe at their construction skills!

It definitely shows you the power of nature, and leads you to a reverence where you honor that power. It causes you to take pause as you watch the events and intensity on the rise and breaking records. And it certainly has you counting your blessings. 

"Tropical Storm Alert" image from https://www.chathamstartribune.com/image_0040049a-d587-11ea-b0c2-afda90ad2572.html, Hurricane Floyd weather map from https://www.weather.gov/ilm/Floyd, Category 1 hurricane chart from https://aerindustries.com/blog/2017/11/28/hurricane-categories-related-damage/, Wind Chart for Duck, NC from https://windalert.com/spot/40944, all other photos from my camera.

Biodiversity, Birds, & The Outer Banks

As I mentioned in my previous post, we vacationed this summer in Duck, North Carolina. A trip planned in February when the future of the pandemic was still unknown and a driving getaway vacation seemed like the best plan. Mountains last year in New Gorges River, West Virginia; beach this year in the Outer Banks.

I've never been to Duck, nor the Outer Banks in general. I've been reading about this "ribbon of sand" of barrier islands in a book in our rental house entitled Duck: An Outer Banks Village by Judith D. Mercier. Printed in 2001, it is 20 years out of date; however, given it's a historical "biography" of the town, it's only omitting the last 2 decades. History is history, and it's been interesting learning about Duck's and seeing in the pages some of the places we have already been. 

Additionally, Duck is a designated bird sanctuary. Approximately 400 bird species have been seen in and around this part of the the Outer Banks and their waters. The variety of habitats such as tidal flats, ponds, salt ponds, grass beds, shrub thickets, and maritime woods--plus other factors including the barrier islands becoming a good "stopping spot" when winds and weather hit--makes it a perfect spot for a bird sanctuary, indeed. Additionally, it's part of the migratory waterfowl's Eastern (or Atlantic) Flyaway, making it another reason for birds to stop and visit, especially in the spring and fall. Ironically, the only thing using the duck blinds out in the sound are the migratory birds!

Not far south of Duck is Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1938. It too is a "nesting, resting" sanctuary spot for migratory birds and other animals, including the endangered Loggerhead sea turtle.

Darn it, why did we forget the binoculars!

Interestingly, Twiddy (the rental company we got found our vacation stay through), has an amazingly extensive Birding Guide to the Outer Banks of coastal North Carolina birds of the barrier islands. Featured on that page along with the slew of native birds to this area are 20 bird facts featured in infographics.

Another excellent resource on birds is The Cornell Lab's online portal "All About Birds." Using this, I think I've determined that my white diving fisher birds are Northern Gannets. They do make a dramatic plunge!!

Of course, I can't mention Cornell's Bird Lab without mentioning Merlin--their birding app. I had to move this one to a more prominent spot on my phone and make sure to add the US: Southeast Bird Pack!

From Mercier's book mentioned above: "Today, ornithologists and ecologists value ospreys as an indicator species. These birds help gauge the general well-being of an area's ecosystem and the health of its waterways" [page 249]. Despite the growth of development in both Duck and all of the Outer Banks aver the last several decades, the fact that we have these bird sanctuaries and the variety of biodiversity bodes well for the area. Just as we have seen eagle populations grow and flourish over these decades, ospreys have too. 

All of which brings me back to the osprey nest I've been watching here from our back balcony at Duck. As quoted from Judith Mercier's Prologue [pages ix-x]:

"A pinch of earth separates the Atlantic Ocean from the Currituck Sound. Generations ago, a meager band of seafarers, fishermen, and duck hunters settled this area of North Banks land. They and their families built a small community, a neighborhood sheltered by the oaks and pines growing atop the sand hills. Today thousands of summer tourists visit the same place, a bantam village they know as Duck.

Duck constitutes barely 2 percent of the land area of North Carolina's Outer banks. Virtually hidden until the early 1980s, the village and its inhabitants enjoyed several centuries of solitude and anonymity."

Yes, traffic was a bear on Duck Road when we arrived. However, once landed, like the nested ospreys I'm watching, you understand why. The Northern Gannets know why. And probably so do the other 300 or so species. 

Duck is certainly a good spot to nest and rest. 

Quotes from Judith D. Mercier's book: Duck: An Outer Banks Village, map from https://www.visitob.com/duck-nc/map/, all other pics from my camera and compiled in Canva.com

#Blueminding in Duck, NC

As I'm writing this, we are on vacation in the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Duck, specifically. 

It ties in so brilliantly with having finished re-reading Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do byWallace J. Nichols. Our backyard view is the Curritick Sound and water as far as the eye can see. In fact, on our dock this very instant, I have a hunting osprey who is lying in wait atop a post, ready to swoop down on any fish nearby to bring home to his or her little one in the nest two doors down. All of this puts 3 ospreys in easy view, adding both a show and symphony from their squawks of these magnificent birds. 

Other seabirds are fishing too, leaving a plethora of things to capture my interest the water, distracting me from my writing task at hand. However, ironically, the distraction IS the task. The writing IS the distraction. The water IS the point. Each dive-bombing bird on their fishing expedition brings a smile to my face. Being brought up a midwestern girl, this vista wasn't my typical landscape growing up. The cornfields are home, but water is my sanctuary.

Speaking of which...it's calling. The water. The writing can patiently wait.

* * *

During our week in Duck, we distracted and #blueminded a lot:

Walk downstairs to paddleboarding 

Watching neighbors & their fishing mornings

Beach lazing 

Balcony gazing

Wave chasing

Deck sunning

Waverunning

Biking and board walking

Boating and dolphin watching

Dining on the gifts of the sea

I'm ready to go back.

Photos from my camera and graphics created at on canvas.com

The Roving Naturalist

Environmental education is the heart of GTG, so it's no surprise that I've fallen in love with Sheryl, The Roving Naturalist. 

Her YouTube Channel is extensive, with the following description.

"Welcome to The Roving Naturalist! On this channel, I want to answer all of the questions you never knew you had about how humans and the natural environment fit together. We'll explore topics related to humans and nature - everything from vegetarianism to green living to how to build a backyard habitat. We'll discuss books about nature, the environment, and science. We'll hear from all kinds of scientists, ranging from seasoned experts to graduate students at the beginning of their research careers. And of course, I'll bring you with me as I go on some of my favorite bike rides, ski trails, paddling trips, and hikes so that we can be roving naturalists together. Subscribe for content that gets you excited about natural science!"

Here's another good sneak preview! 

Her playlists include:

• Environmental Ed 101
• Ecosystem Spotlights
• Nerding Naturalist
• Sheryl Speaks
• Fast Field Guides
• Roving Vlogs
• Turf Wars with her and Nancy from SciBugs
• Explain Yourself
• Science Behind the Movies

With nearly 200 videos, she's definitely one follow! 

Video from https://youtu.be/kwDcszR7dIc and banner from her Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheRovingNaturalist/playlists

Green & Blue: What the Doctor Ordered

On our road trip heading to our vacation destination, I was listening to a multitude of podcasts, and 2 of them talked about our brain's capacity to take in new information. Surprisingly, we can only learn 3-4 hours of new content a day. That goes for teachers and students alike. It really spoke about the exhaustion factor that comes with that--especially in remote (and hybrid) learning. When I think of the intensity of the learning curve for everyone on this planet the last 16 months, it shows me how "wired and tired"and over "tech-ified and fried" we all have been, and how much recovery time we all need. All of which brings me back to Florence Williams' Nature Fix & Wallace J. Nichols Blue Mind and of course the concept of "nature deficit disorder" coined by Richard Louv. We all need prescriptions to get outside, to then nearest waterway or green space. We need moments of eco-mindfulness to re-center, restore, and recover. Aaron Reuben reiterates the same thing in his May 2019 article for Outside Magazine "Science's Newest Miracle Drug is Free." 

If you need help finding someplace, ParkRX America's website is where you need to go. You can type in your address and instantly find some good green and blue space nearby. Plus, in their Media section, you can find a slew of good books to read to reiterate the point (both of which I mentioned above are listed!). And here's a good video from ParkRX to get you in the mood to head outdoors too. Which I will definitely make sure is a large part of my vacation!!!

Video from https://youtu.be/EYVC362i2dk, and images from https://parkrxamerica.org/resources.php and prescription image from https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/Whats-Happening/Pages/parks-rx-day.aspx

Red, White, & Rejuvenate

I ran across Matthew E. May's June 30, 2016 article "The Best Thing You Can Do For Your Productivity Over A Long Weekend Is Also The Most Fun." The "long weekend" in question was the 4th of July holiday, and he wrote it 5 years--long before pandemics and quarantines. Yet, "the meat" of the article still holds so very true. While "Red, White, & BBQ" sound like a great plan for the Fourth, his points in his article make a solid call for nature outings, unplugging, and firefly fireworks as being an even better plan!

He detailed studies from the University of Kansas and University of Utah that investigated the effect of stepping into nature and stepping away from our digital devices and their impact on creativity. I know I was pretty tech-centric 5 years ago (and often wrote about my love-hate relationship with technology--despite the fact that my job is very tech-connected)... but it doesn't hold a candle to the tech life I've lived this past year with zoom calls, hybrid & remote teaching, and the necessity of having to use texts, Facebook, and video calls with loved ones who live far away. If there was a researched and studied benefit 5 years ago, you can bet it's still needed and probably in the category of mandatory versus just plain necessary.

The findings in this study showed that a 4 days in nature (hiking, in this study) showed a 50% improvement in creativity. Futher findings showed that insight and problem solving were also improved due to stepping away from the constant demands that our pinging smartphones and digital data overtax our busy brains. This is particularly true for our the prefrontal cortex which is responsible for processing and organizing information, short term memory, attention, decision making, and impulse control. We get tired and stressed and digitally overstimulated, these sometimes are the first things to be affected and go on the fritz!

Whether it was a result of the increased time in nature, the decreased time with tech, or the combination of the two was not delineated. However, it does seem like a stellar combination to pursue given the outcome. Do we need days on end of this unplugged, nature-centric regimen? Probably not. But some time out in nature, soaking in some green or some blue, might be the best way for you to really reset this red, white, & blue holiday to help you not only rejuvenate but to also up your game at work or at home.

Images created at canvas.com