Teaching You to Be Beautiful

Alright... This is not really education related, but I've entered Avon's Makeup Maven Contest.

Please view and like my video so I have a chance to win!

Paul Revere DID NOT say, "The British are coming!"

I know I probably just ruined a lot of your childhood images of Paul Revere on his brave steed proudly waving the American flag as he warns his fellow patriots, "The British are coming!"

The real truth is at the time of Paul Revere's famed 'Midnight Ride', American Colonists still considered themselves British.  Had Paul Revere really told people, "the British are coming," it would have been like saying, "we're coming."  Doesn't make much sense, does it?

It's more likely Revere would have said, "The Redcoats are coming" or (according to witness reports at the time) "The Regulars are coming out" to signify the difference between the British from England and the British from the American Colonies.

I'm not really sure when the phrase, "The British are coming," became associated with Paul Revere.  It's likely that it's a phrase that became popularly used during the War of 1812 at which time the United States, now populated by people who firmly thought of themselves as American, declared war against the British Empire.

YouTube

As teachers, YouTube can be the bane of many of our existences.  Students sneak on to watch videos that may be inappropriate or just a plain-old waste of time.  I've known teachers who outright ban YouTube from their classrooms and many districts block it on student accounts.
To that, I have one thing to say: really?
Alright.  I get it.  Letting students go on YouTube with no filtering or monitoring can lead to a whole slew of problems, but think about all that they'll be missing by leaving out this awesome tool!
"What about TeacherTube or other video hosting services," you ask?  Valid question.  They're fine, but they don't have the variety and scope of videos that you can find on YouTube and the search tools can often be awkward and frankly ineffective.
So what can you do to make YouTube a happier place for your students?
Here are three of my favorite suggestions:

Podcasting

Thinking about trying out podcasting?

A few years ago it seemed like this was going to be the future of education!  Podcasting is an excellent tool to support your curriculum.

For more information, please view the slideshow below and be sure to check out the links in the references for even more.

  

Why Blog?

Back in grad school, a classmate and I created this presentation on Blogging.

Now that I'm blogging, I figured what better time to share it?
Not only can you look at this to see what blogging is all about, you can also start to get an idea of how versatile Google Docs is.



Happy Blogging!

Flipped Classroom

Today I took a class on Flip Teaching.

The idea is to take what you'd normally do in the classroom and switch it with what you've been having your students do at home for homework.

Here's a website from the instructor so you can read more about it.

What do you think about a flipped classroom?

Grammar Goes on Vacation

Part Three - Bianca's Leafs

While driving to the beach this past year, I was aghast when I saw this billboard for Bianca's Tea Leafs.

Stay tuned to find out why...