Check out this podcast from Bruce Basinger that introduces the use of game shows to motivate students to learn. If you don’t have time to listen to the entire podcast, the script is provided on the page. In this podcast, he points to this web site that includes nine game templates created in PowerPoint. These include, Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Twenty Questions, Guess The Covered Word (four block and vocabulary words), Hillsborough Squares (a.k.a. Hollywood Squares), Weakest Link and Concentation. What’s cool is that Basinger provides a couple of ideas that reduces the amount of time you need to create a show and involves the students. Once created, they can be used year and year with little or minor tweaking.

I subscribe to an electronic newsletter from MACUL called the “Big Deal Book of Technology” and in the April 1, 2008 edition I noticed that Atomic Learning has created free video training sessions for Google Docs.  It will only be free through May, so don’t hesitate to check it out.  This quote is taken directly from the newsletter:
 
“Atomic Learning recently announced a free tutorial series on Google Docs, the free Web-based word-processing program that allows users to keep documents up to date and allows selected individuals to update files from their personal computers. The Atomic Learning series, titled “Google Docs—A Focus on Docs,” includes more that 60 short, show-and-tell movies that guide users through the creation, implementation and use of Google Docs. Topics include working with documents, organizing files, document options, sharing and publishing, working with collaboration, and utilizing the edit, insert and revision tab options. The series is being offered, free of charge, through May 1, 2008.”

View the Videos Here!

There are dozens of search engines available for public use. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. That’s why I tend to use more than one search engine when researching because one engine may catch a key web site that another engine may have overlooked (or buried deep in the list). One search engine that I reference often is “Clusty”. What makes it so appealing is that when you may type in a keyword or phrase (such as Marzano’s “Cues, Questions and Advance Organizers” strategy), it does more than just list umpteen sites. It breaks the key phrase into smaller groups (clusters). In the case shown to the left, it displays 10 of the 21 clusters available on the topic. Most of the clusters were relevant to the key search.  This is a great tool for narrowing your focus in a timely manner.