June 2022 Newsletter
Summer! Or, for those of you in the southern half of the planet, winter!
Either way, I hope there is a bit of a break for you to recharge your teaching and learning batteries. About this time every year, we scale back the newsletter a bit, even while ramping up the giveaways (see Super Sips, below). Enjoy what we’re prepared for you, and as always, please let us know what you think.
Powerful Prompts
All year, we’ve been sharing NVIV posts, our weekly pieces with thought-provoking videos. If you’re looking for a way to spend a few moments each week thinking about fascinating stuff, we hope you’re enjoying them. Feel free to binge.
This week’s post is called Filling a Need. It is about a boy with duchenne muscular dystrophy and a guy named Bill who helps him.
Raising Your Game
We’re talking about either your teaching or meetings game. Adding a cool technique to your teaching toolbelt is easier than most think, and many staff/team meetings could use a bit of a rethink, so we’re thinking free mini-courses for the month of June is an easy way to help you think about how to make either of those things happen.
You can find them both at this page from Warm Demanders, a cool Canadian company we’re connected to.
Contests for You
This fall, we’ll run another short video contest. In it, we’ll ask students to creatively explain anything one might encounter in school in 90 seconds or less. Looking for some examples of what’s been submitted before? Here are a few winners from our past contests:
How mRNA Vaccines Work: Coronavirus Edition
from the Creative Recovery ’21 contest
Photosynthesis From Stop Motion
from the Creative Bridge ’19 contest
Paragraph Pirates
from the Creative Fire ’17 contest
Kindergarten Solar System
from the Soaring Creativity ’16 contest
Even better, we’re willing to run a contest specifically for your students for free. You read that right. We want great content, and your kids enjoy getting certificates and prizes. Win-win! To make this happen, though, you need to reach out to us directly. Do so on our Contact Us page, and let us know you’re interested in having kids do a contest. We’ll find a time to Zoom with you to discuss our rules and how to help the kids make the strongest videos they can.
Super Sips
Last month’s Super Sips winner was Pat Hensley, so a big and jittery Woohoo! to her. This is actually not her first time to win, either. Why? Because she enters, that’s why.
As it happens this time of year, many folks stop reading educational newsletters, even ones as fun as ours are. Shocking. That’s why we give away more Starbucks cards than usual, as a way of saying thanks to those who keep reading.
So, we invite you to enter by using our Contact Us page to tell us what you think of either any of the four contest winner examples above, or the Filling the Need NVIV post mentioned earlier. We’ll give away at least two cards, as long as we get at least two people to enter. Good luck!
image by Fahmi Fakhrudin from Unsplash (license)
First Finish
Well, that’s a wrap for June, not counting all the great freebies that follow the First Finish. Enjoy!
May you inspire, and be inspired, each and every day!
Rushton and the Next Vista team
Rushton Hurley (@rushtonh)
Next Vista for Learning (@nextvista)
Muchas Freebies
We love sharing cool free stuff, and invite you to help us out. You can find the best of what we’ve gathered over the years on the Next Vista Resources pages, but if there is something free and powerful you love that you don’t find there, let us know about it using our resources submission form.
Images in the freebies section are screenshots from videos or web pages unless otherwise noted.
Worth the Watch
* I love seeing a really clever social benefit effort that incorporates technology in a powerful way. Just weeks ago, we passed the ten-year anniversary of Hans Jørgen Wiberg coming up with the idea that became the Be My Eyes app. This short video pitches the idea to those who might choose to help, and as six million people in over 150 countries have responded, he was clearly onto something. (1:35)
* This math professor from Biola University did a screen prank for his students a few years ago, and the class loved it. See if you can figure out how he made the different pieces of the prank happen! (2:47)
* The United States Agency for International Development is an arm of the American government that works to be a catalyst in driving development. In this story, called Shova’s Journey, they describe how they have helped in Nepal following the terrible earthquake there in 2015. (2:47)
* If you have ever been to Singapore, you’ve probably discovered the tasty delights of hawker centres, which are a type of food court that is typically outdoors. In this Great Big Story video, you’ll meet Chan Hon Meng, whose soya sauce chicken stand caught the attention of a Michelin employee and impressed enough to earn Chan a Michelin star for his stand. Count this a great story of food, travel, and humility. (3:01)
* The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has hundreds of videos about content and projects of the museum on their YouTube channel. This one, called How was it made? Stained glass window, is accompanied by soft piano music with subtitles but no narration. Get a nice mug of tea and enjoy! (3:54)
* Staying with arts, here is Wynton Marsalis at Harvard describing the meaning of swing, along with some pretty stunning musicianship from those on the stage with him. (5:21)
* If what you need is about three minutes of a higher level of cuteness, 24 Curious Goat Kids from the Sunflower Farm Creamery should fit the bill. (3:11)
Worth the Read
* Every so often you read something that really captures something complex in a way that is explained really well. This (very) long article from the New York Times (it may be behind a paywall) about large language models and artificial intelligence was such a piece for me.
* An EdSurge post caught my eye called, Want Students to Remember What They Learn? Have Them Teach It, as the philosophy underlies much of the thinking of the Next Vista library. The article includes good pointers on when having students teach their family members can prove helpful.
* Those looking for a quick read about dealing with adversity might take a look at Aubrey Patterson’s Smooth Stones Take Time. It includes a John McDonnell quote worth sharing here, just in case you don’t go to the post: “Every problem introduces a person to himself.”
* For the poignantly thoughtful, check out David Yaffe’s Too Young to be Singing the Blues. Yaffe is a musician who, in this post, writes about his autistic and nonverbal son.
* Tony Frascone is a guy who has had some challenges – multiple heart attacks and more – and yet he has come through with an unfailing optimism about the world around him. This post from him on LinkedIn is called The Snail, and it’s about owning your weaknesses, or at least what others perceive as being so.
Worth the Try
* Despite the name, Expeditions Pro is a free tool for using material created in Google’s Expeditions and Tour Creator tools, as well as making your own using the app. It wasn’t clear to me what the business model is, but for those who sank into depression when Google stepped away from Expeditions, this might be what you’ve been needing. Thanks to Richard Byrne of Free Tech for Teachers for sharing this one.
* Sudan’s Pyramids of Meroë are beautifully brought to the screen through Google Arts & Culture. This interactive site includes stunning graphics, AR possibilities, and plenty of extensions for the curious student.
* Another Arts & Culture offering is Milan Cathedral Remixed, which introduces viewers to the history and art of the more-than-600-year-old gothic church. There are virtual tours and interactive stories; this is another reason that I’d say Arts & Culture is one of the most important efforts to come from Google.
* If the idea of spending a little time playing Galaga, Tetris, or Q*bert appeals, check out the Internet Archive’s collection of emulated video games from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Just remember to take time to eat, sleep, and bathe.
* A long list of “car hacks” might be both a strong resource for prompting creative ideas, and an opportunity to make something happen with your vehicle you didn’t know you could do, like using a plunger to remove a dent. Shout-out to my friend Shags for sharing this one.
* Another I learned about from Richard Byrne is TypeLit.io. It has a number of classic books that you can use to develop your typing skills by typing the text. It tracks your accuracy as you go, and introduces the typing reader to some great literature along the way.
* The Shorecrest Preparatory School’s K-12 Technology Skills Scope and Sequence is a great resource for adapting your school’s or district’s framework to meet ISTE’s Standards for Students.
Recent Newsletters
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Last Bit
The last bit of each newsletter is a chance to share a cool image. This month, we’ll highlight a cafe in Paris, where (just maybe) someone will be on a cell phone reading this newsletter sometime this month. Call it a mathematical possibility.
photo
by Marloes Hilckmann
from Unsplash (license)
See you next month!
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