Tag: figjam

“Every Friday, I like to high-five myself for getting through another week on little more than caffeine, willpower, and inappropriate humor.” —Nanea Hoffman

“It’s a new soundtrack, I could dance to this beat, the lights are so bright, but they never blind me” – Taylor Swift, Welcome to New York, 1989 (Taylor’s Version)

Happy Friday, gang! We made it! I’ve got a few interesting tidbits to share with you this week:

• Explore various Internet artifacts through the ages (it’s been ages, right?) and find some cool things for you and your students to discuss, research, or just laugh at.
• Yes, AI really can help students write, not just cheat.
• How the ‘science of reading’ benefits English learners
• In case you haven’t heard, Google Jamboard goes away next year. Figjam is a great alternative; here’s a bit about how to use it with students.
• Part of being a good digital citizen is knowing what music you can use for projects and what you can’t. Here are several royalty-free music sites you and your students can use when creating videos, podcasts, etc.
• Since we’re amid the very witching time of the year, think about using these “nine horrifying instruments” as sounds in a project. Or, have kids write about how the sounds make them feel or write a story inspired by the sounds.
• You all know I’m a huge fan of project-based learning. One of my favorite non-education examples of “project–based learning” is the Ghost Town Living YouTube channel. Brent Underwood moved to Cerro Gordo, an abandoned mining town in California, at the pandemic’s beginning. His journey to rebuild the town and explore its history is incredible and might inspire some of your students (and you!).
• Oh, yeah, ChatGPT released a teacher’s guide for teaching with AI.
• Maybe we can use the Swiftie Army to make literature pop for students.
• If you want to know how I really feel about technology, I agree wholeheartedly with Austin Kleon’s take as a techno-pragmatist (BTW, he mentions Ursula Franklin’s amazing Real World of Technolgy book, which is 30 years old but still incredibly relevant).

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