Earth Day Resources Found on Twitter

I swear I find great things on Twitter everyday! Today, there were loads of resources for Earth Day that everyone was willing to share and not just educators! Here is a collection of what I found:

1. 10 Most Incredible Globes: Taking Earth Day Literally http://tinyurl.com/dhtxdr

2. Mashable Social Media & Web Guide to Going Green http://bit.ly/801Jo #earthday

3. A list of Earth day bookmarks shared by McTeach: http://htxt.it/9Pt5

4. Even see how Hollywood gives Mother Earth a beating from TVGuide: http://www.tvguide.com/PhotoGallery/End-Earth-Pop-1005270/1.aspx

5. A quick Earth Day fact from the Jack Diamond Show on Mix 107.3. Did you know that Today is the 39th Annual Earth Day. 77% of Americans recycle! Still behind "the world", but SO much better than a few years ago.

6. Stop by Mom Central Goes Green for green tips and news for moms & families - http://goesgreen.momcentral.com

And some websites I got from teachers in my district that I put on Twitter:
7. Here's another fun earth day site that can be used all year long! http://www.meetthegreens.org/episodes/

8. Thinkfinity also has a page set up just for today at http://thinkfinity.org/highlights.aspx?feature=EdEarthDay

Blowing the doors off NECC

I am so excited about the upcoming NECC conference in Washington, D.C. this summer! It will be my first time at this global conference and what makes it even better is that it's practically in my backyard this year. No airplane fare, hotel fees, lugging luggage, not knowing where I am...just an "easy" drive to the Springfield metro station (depending on traffic) and a metro ride to the convention center.

It looks like Classroom 2.0 LIVE is excited too. Tomorrow they are offering a webinar on everything NECC related, in their "Blowing the doors off NECC" session. There will be a brainstorming planning session with Wes Fryer, the author of the blog "Moving at the Speed of Creativity", and discussions on the third annual EduBloggerCon at NECC being held on Saturday, June 27th for anyone interested in web 2.0 in education, and NECC Unplugged and NECC Live.

I'm not sure what NECC Unplugged and NECC Live are, but I'm guess I'm going to find out. I participated in a mini-edubloggercon at FETC. So it should be a fun session tomorrow! For more information, go to Steve Hargadon's blog. See you online!

FREE 2009 Summer Virtual Technology Camp

Here's a great idea for tech-savvy kids during those lazy Summer days! Freshbrain.org, is putting together a virtual camp where students can learn to create a variety of technology, from websites to game simulations. Freshbrain is a website dedicated to "enhancing the education and development of our youth in the areas of business and technology by providing hands-on real world experience." Campers may spend anywhere from a week to the whole summer participating in one or many different "Learning Paths"; a collection of hands-on activities. The learning paths being offered are:

- Create a 3D Video Game
- Build Applications for the G1 Mobile Phone
- Building Flashy Websites
- Java Development
- Create a Facebook Application
- Make Amazing Videos
- Learn Graphic Design
- Animation
- Music Production
- Photo Editing Techniques

Each Activity within a learning path will take 1½ – 2 days, resulting in about 1 – 2 weeks per path, with an exciting chance to share results. In addition, there will also be “Challenge Activities” that run parallel with the learning paths, and students will have a chance to compete in contests with some pretty neat prizes, such as internships, monetary awards, scholarships, and gift certificates. As students complete a learning path or participate in a "challenge activity" contest, they will receive a "badge". Badges will be visible on their FreshBrain profile and will indicate levels of accomplishment to other campers.

Students can login or Register at this link: http://freshbrain.org/user/register and join the FreshBrain Summer Virtual Camp 2009 Group at http://freshbrain.org/group/summer-virtual-technology-camp-2009-group.

Looking for Internships?

Some of my most rewarding experiences as a student was as an intern. During my summers, and one semester of college, I was lucky enough to get internships that helped me learn how to be professional, responsible, and gain experience to take into the workplace with me. For three years, I interned at the Department of Agriculture; one summer in the Public Affairs office. I also interned at my university in the Public Relations office, great experiences for a journalism major, as I was often writing articles, taking press calls, and helping design websites.

What most college kids don't realize is that this is the exact time they should be looking for these positions and getting valuable experience for their future careers. Living outside the D.C. metropolitan area is great for federal government intern programs, because there are so many different divisions to work for and most of these positions are paid. However, there are other great internships out there, as well. Just this week I found three different positions that would be great for students.

The first is with Discovery Communications, whose summer intern program, has positions available in Silver Spring, MD; Charlotte, NC; New York, NY; Atlanta, GA; Miami, FL; Chicago, IL; and Los Angeles, CA. Their program is looking for interns from June 8 - August 28 and positions available depend on which city you are looking to intern in. Here's the website for more information: https://www.discoveryinterns.apply2jobs.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=mExternal.searchJobs

The other internship is with an online company called, "Shop It To Me". I receive this newsletter once a week, with great sales from my favorite stores. They are also looking for marketing and web designer interns at their headquarters in San Francisco, CA. More information can be found here: http://www.shopittome.com/employment

Shakespearian Digital Experience

Classroom 2.0 and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. are teaming up to present Classroom 2.0 members with A free webinar for all things Shakespeare. Tomorrow night, March 18, from 8:00-9:30 p.m. EST, "speakers will be presenting and demonstrating methods for teaching Shakespeare using digital media. Participants will learn practical and exciting ways they can incorporate Shakespeare's King Lear and other literary works into history, social studies, English, and language arts instruction." Sounds like a unique experience! Here's the link to register if interested: http://www.classroom20.com/events/pbs-cr-20-remixing

Online SOL resources

In preparation for the upcoming VA SOL tests, I have been updating and locating several more resources for review.

I have updated our Portaportal Page: http://guest.portaportal.com/heim. Look under SOL resources and you will find lots of new websites and online SOL activities. I have also found some additional review websites and those are located under your specific curriculum. I found a lot of Language Arts activities recently.

Also, I found some new Quizdom activities on the Internet. All of these are located on the staff shared drive, under teachers resources in a folder labeled "Downloaded Quizdom Activities". You will need to import these activities into Quizdom. See me if you have any questions on how to do this.

Last, I have updated the math folder on the staff shared drive (under teachers resources) with PowerPoint lessons that various schools have shared on the Internet.

I hope these resources will be a big help!

Wordle Up

Trying out wordle today. I've seen it and heard of it before and even played with it, but never to share one before. I was talking with a teacher yesterday who shocked me by bringing it up! I was so impressed that she knew what it was AND wants to use it with her students this week! Of course, excited me started sprouting out ways we could use it - I think I scared her! Look for some of the student's examples soon. For now, here is my play on the character Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables, one of my favorite books: