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Spencer at the Staten Island Zoo

Spencer at the Staten Island Zoo a video by The Farbers on Flickr.

In a World Gone Mad...

My 6th grade students just completed a PBL in which they created a "Press Kit" to sell a fictional movie about European explorers.  Students used a list of web resources to research their assigned explorer.  Each "Press Kit" contained 3 components:

1. A 300 word description of their movie, which is similar to what is found on the back of a DVD, or Netflix red envelope.  Students were given a list of 9 questions to research.
2. A "Coming Attractions” poster, created using a free online site, http://bighugelabs.com/poster.php.  
3. A “Coming Soon” movie trailer created using the class' free Animoto account.  

Also part of the student's grade was to have a consistent theme (e.g., movie title, release date, tagline, stars, movie reviews).  Grading was done by rubric.

Below are some examples of student-created movie trailers:

Here are some permalinks to some of their movie trailers:

• http://animoto.com/play/fyFeLO55VaJVKrMIbVh2gw
• http://animoto.com/play/hj0v2OH8J1h92EyhV0STyA
• http://animoto.com/play/IsnZsz7yrHVpEb7DHoXgvw

"We the People: The Citizen & the Constitution" E-Books

E-book versions of the We the People: The Citizen & the Constitution are now available for all grade levels (elementary, middle school, high school).  Thanks to a PTA grant I won, I use a class set of 30 with my 7th graders.  The teacher's edition, which comes with the class set, can be purchased separately. 

Here's the link for the middle school edition:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/48891630/We-the-People-Middle-School-Textbook 

Below is a preview:We the People Middle School Textbook

Portal 2, a Video Brain Game Review - NY Times

 

 

 

Arts

Physics, With Wormholes by You

By SETH SCHIESEL

Published: May 10, 2011

"Somewhere out there an innovative, dynamic high school physics teacher will use Portal 2 as the linchpin of an entire series of lessons and will immediately become the most important science teacher those lucky students have ever had... You might even learn something." 

 

Interesting review.  Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/arts/video-games/portal-2-a-video-brain-game-review.html

Cartoonatic iPhone App

Cartoon Spencer in the park with our dog Lizzie.

National Security Webinar

Yesterday my 7th grade social studies class, along with over 1,600 classrooms, plus tens of thousands of students across the globe, tuned in to a live webcast to hear Ben Rhodes, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor, discuss Osama bin Laden.  Over 1,700 questions were submitted from students. Students watched the webcast on our SMART Board.   

You can watch the three-part archive of this historic event here:  

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/national-security/webinar.cfm

White House Webinar

I registered my 7th grade social studies class for a live webinar, sponsored by Discovery Education.  Below is the complete description:

Teachers and students are invited to join Ben Rhodes, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speechwriting, for a very special webinar on Thursday, May 5 at 1PM ET.

• Presentation (15 minutes) Ben will provide context and perspective
• Q&A from Students (15 minutes) Students will have the chance to submit questions to be answered live

Free QR Generator

URL shortening websites are not only popular on sites like Twitter (due to the 140 character limit), but also in the classroom.  I frequently use URL shortening sites (tinyurl.com and http://bit.ly/) to help guide students directly to websites.  When you use Google to shorten a URL (http://goo.gl/), click "Details" to get a QR code.  QR codes are growing in popularity.  QR (Quick Response) codes can be scanned with smartphones and take users directly to a linked website.  Here is the QR code for http://mrfarbersroom.blogspot.com/:

Shakespeare and Social Media

Check out the link to the first ever Facebook performance of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing from Weekly Reader magazine: http://www.weeklyreader.com/ado.

Here is the link to download the PDF of the William Shakespeare issue of Weekly Reader's Read: http://www.weeklyreader.com/sites/default/files/RDS14.pdf. 

Below is a hip-hop animation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing by Flocabulary:

Google Docs - Tipsheet and Resource Guide

Google Docs - Tipsheet and Resource Guide

I Love To See You Smile

Following Authors On Twitter

Recently, I've tweeted Enchantment author Guy Kawasaki and The Informationist author Taylor Stevens.  To my surprise, they tweeted back!  Pretty cool!  Anyway, I think children would be further engaged in reading for fun by being able to follow their favorite authors on Twitter.  Best of all, you don't need a Twitter account to read the feeds!

List of Children's Picture Book Authors and Illustrators: http://t.co/jgwWDGP

List of Young Adult Authors (Books for Teens): http://tinyurl.com/3l2r9me

Less Is More: Using Social Media to Inspire Concise Writing

This week the New York Times' The Learning Network published a post titled, Less Is More: Using Social Media to Inspire Concise Writing.  I left a comment on my use of Edmodo with my 7th grade students.  Here's the link to my comment: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/less-is-more-using-social-media-to-inspire-concise-writing/#comment-163043

How You Like Me Now?

How You Like Me Now?

"Mall Pride" At The Rockaway Townsquare Mall

Mall Pride at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall, in Rockaway, NJ, starts today, March 20th, and runs until March 27th.  Mall Pride is sponsored by the Morris County Council of Education Associations.  Area schools display the works of students.  Some of my 6th grade student's Asia: Then and Now scrapbooks are on our school's display table.  Our school's table is located outside of Precision Time and Godiva Chocolate.  Mall Pride info: http://www.simon.com/Mall/PrintNewsEvent.aspx?eid=49635

Japanese Earthquake Tsunami Teaching Resources

Compiled by fellow DEN (Discovery Educator Network) teacher Jennifer Dorman (cliotech).

• Scholastic News - Tsunami Strikes Japan
• Satellite Photos of Japan, Before and After the Quake and Tsunami
• BBC - Japan Earthquake
• BBC - Video Footage of Tsunami Striking Japan
• Global Giving - Japan Earthquake And Tsunami Relief Fund
• NY Times - Japan
• NY Times - Teaching Ideas - Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
• The Washington Post - The Answer Sheet - Japan Earthquake: Basic facts, resources on quakes, tsunamis
• Tsunami Visualizations
• Stop Disasters - Disaster Simulation Game
• USGS Earthquake Resources
• USGS Flash Animations for Earthquake Concepts
• Google Earth KML Files
• IRIS - Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology
• Discovery Education - Ready Classroom: Emergency Preparedness for Teachers, Students, and Families
• NOAA Tsunami Resources
• FEMA for Kids - Tsunamis

Latitude and Longitude

Spencer's Latest Movie Trailer

Virtual Student Constitution - 2011 Edition

This week my 7th grade students took part in a Virtual Constitutional Convention Simulation PBL. They met in class and online in a private, secure social network set-up on Edmodo. Their goal was to write a Virtual Student Constitution (Student Handbook).  Their culminating activity is on a wiki, which includes student-created Voki talking avatars.  All of my 7th grade students collaborated to create the wiki.  Here is the link: http://farber7th.pbworks.com/w/page/34319057/FrontPage.

*Update: Results of the student vote are in! (66.7% vote of "yes" was needed to ratify the Virtual Student Constitution wiki.) Question: I think the Virtual Student Constitution Wiki should be ratified (approved). Yes 53.85%, 35 vote(s), No 46.15%, 30 vote(s)