Go Noodle: A Site Teachers Are Raving About

Just today, I came across blog posts from two teachers who praised GoNoodle.

https://www.gonoodle.com/

This is not a site I know, but it is one I plan to explore.

For now, I offer links to the posts where the teachers explain how they use the site.

In this post, kindergarten teacher, Matt Gomez, gives an excellent overview of the site. Click on the image to learn what Matt has to say about the site. You can see his students' enthusiasm in the picture.

http://bit.ly/1gQiOgH

In this post, another teacher of young children, Nikki Vrandenburg, recommends the site in her list of sites she uses with her students.  GoNoodle comes up first in her post: "My New Favorite Web Tools."

And just an hour after I originally wrote this post, I found on my Twitter feed this picture posted by a former graduate student who teaches 2nd grade, whose students judging from the picture are excited to use GoNoodle:

So I got back in touch with the teacher on Twitter to ask her how her second graders liked GoNoodle, and here's her reply.

@JudyArzt @GoNoodle They love it! They get so excited to complete the levels and watch their mascot grow! They're always adding new videos!
— Nada Noujaim (@MissNoujaim) May 31, 2014

Do these teachers' endorsements convince you to check out the site? Had you heard of the site before? Based on what you learned about the site, would you consider exploring it for use in your classroom?

100 Top Tools for Learning

This slide presentation in a few slides tells what are the top 100 tools for learning. It is worth going through the slides. Interestingly, Twitter is in the number one spot this year. Other popular tools at the top of the list include YouTube and Google Doc. Check the presentation, and leave a comment about which tools you find helpful for learning and which you want to explore in the future. If you prefer, you can view the slides in full screen. Remember to use the arrows to advance through the 14 slides.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2013 from Jane Hart

Teacher Motivation and the Start of the School Year

Justin Tarte, Director of Curriculum and Support Services for the St. Louis, MO schools created this slide show presentation and uploaded it as a video to YouTube. He used it for the opening of the school year, and since he posted a link to it on Twitter, others have asked permission to use it. YouTube rights show the video can be shared, so here it is, and let me know what you think. What do you think are effective ways for school administrators to open the school year?

 

On another note, a Texas school district superintendent creates live videos to share with the public and posts them to YouTube. Here is the opening video he used last year, and just wondering what you think of school superintendent's using social media to communicate with the public in this way.

Every Teacher Needs a Sense of Humor

Some years ago, the saying, "Said No Teacher Ever Said," got popularized. Recently, another video using this phrase was made, with lots of irony and satire. I discussed the video (online via Twitter) with another teacher, and we wondered together if it was worth showing to teachers in my class this semester. Well, here it is, and you can decide for yourself. Perhaps you've already seen it. Let me know what you think, and I can send feedback to my colleague who was curious about how teachers in a graduate course would react. There's also the possibility you have already seen it; the video had over 360,000 hits on YouTube as of today, August 27, 2013.

Passionate Teachers

Wallingford, Connecticut, 8th grade social studies teacher Paul Bogush created this video. He is looking for responses from per-service teachers, teachers, and other educators. After watching the video, you can respond to him on his blog at this post, "Passion."

 

 What does his video suggest to you about the field of education? Do you agree with Paul's viewpoint?

Teachers Care

I usually don't create posts such as this one, but a colleague in a course I am taking posted it on Google+ in our class community. It was created by a teacher in her school, and it has already received over 6,00 hits on YouTube since it was posted there recently. Regardless of what age you teach or the work you do, this video should resonate. Let me know what you think of it. You can also visit the video at YouTube, and read some of the comments there.