Attending a Conference in the Near future?

If you ever viewed the presentation You Suck at Powerpoint, you know that Jesse Desjardins is a very talented designer. I just came across another one of his presentations, which offers advice about surviving conferences. Funny and true.

Conference Coma from Jesse Desjardins - @jessedee

Summer's Almost Here: Why Not Take a Free Online Class?

As I've said before, free is good. That's why I've put together a listing of hundreds of class offerings via the Internet which won't cost you a penny. Some of these sites are referred to as MOOCs. (Massive Open Online Course) Check out this infographic about MOOCs.  Learn while you are sitting on a beach with your laptop and WI-FI. Hang out in your backyard hammock. Opportunities like this are all worth looking into once the school year has ended.

700 Free Online Courses- Open Culture

Carnegie Mellon University Free Courses

Coursera- professional development

Harvard Open Courses- noncredit courses offered by the Harvard Extension School

iTunes University- many colleges and universities offer free classes here; learn on your computer or iPad

M.I.T. Free Courses

Modern Lessons- technology-related, including lessons on the iPad, Pinterest, Facebook

Open Education Database (OEDb)- over 10,000 free online classes

PBS TeacherLine- now also offers self-paced classes

SkilledUp- search over 60,00 courses from 200+ providers

UC Berkeley- free classes

Udacity- three levels of classes, inlcuding these subjects: business, computer science, mathematics, physics, psychology

University of Washington

20 Places to Find End of the Year Resources

10 Free End of Year Worksheets- from Busy Teacher

17 Simple End of the School Year Student Gifts and Writing Activities- from Teach Junkie

34 End of Year Activities, Gifts and Printables

Easy and Fun Activities to Wrap Up the School Year

End of School Lessons and Teacher Resources- listed by school subject

End of School Theme Unit- from Edhelper

End of School Year Theme Unit- from ABC Teach

End of the Year Activities Roundup!- over 150 ideas here

End-of-Year Activities- ESL

Lesson Planet End-of-Year Activities- Pinterest board

Making the Most of End-of-School Days- Education World's list of five lessons

School End-of-Year Activities- nice Pinterest board

School Memory Book-from Enchanted Learning

Six Engaging End-of-Year Projects- from Edutopia

Super Teacher Worksheets- teachers add their suggestions on this site

TeacherVision's End-of-Year Activities, Lessons, and Advice- extensive listing for K-12

Tips for Making the Most of the End of the School Year- from Imagine This

Tips to Wrap Up the School Year- from Scholastic

Top 12 Effective End of Year Activities- from TeachHub

Vicki Blackwell's List of End of School Year Activities

Job Resources for Teachers

It's that time of year when students are graduating college and school districts are eliminating positions for next year. I am once again posting my comprehensive list of resources for teachers looking for a job. ( I work in N.J. so there are many links specific to our state)  Good luck!

Job Interview Tips
Anatomy of a Job Interview

Interview Thank You Letter

Job Interview Follow-Up Do's and Don't's For Job Seekers

Job Interview Questions- covers interview questions, interview guide, after the interview, salary negotiation, second interview

Job Interview Tips- taken from the Occupational Handbook 2010-2011 edition

Virtual Job Interview

What to Wear and What Not to Wear to an Interview- infographic

Job Search
10 Things Job Applicants Should Know- from the NY Times

Career Builder- search for all types of jobs on this site

Education Job Descriptions

Indeed- one search, all jobs

Jobs 4 Teacher- search by city, state or zip code

K12 Jobs.com- site says they have served a million teachers and administrators in a year.......

K12 Jobspot- search by job title and state; when you pick a city it shows you how many positions from the drop-down menu; also shows the location on a map.

Monster.com

NJ Hire- search by job type, location or keywords

NJ.com- postings are constantly being updated

NJ School Directory- all school web sites are listed by county; check employment opportunities on each site.

NJ School Jobs- search by county, specialty, school or date

Peterson's Private School Search- covers The United States and countries

Resources for Teaching Jobs- only ten states are listed here

Teacher Jobs- join for free; search the United States for a job.

Teachers-Teachers.com- site says it lists jobs for 1775 districts and they are in partnership with the NEA.

Resumes and Cover Letters
The 25 Most Creative Designer Resumes You'll See This Year

38 More Beautiful Resume Ideas That Work- from JobMob

Cover Letters- from Career Lab

Create a Free Teacher Portfolio

Got Resume Builder- build your resume online; download as a pdf, Word doc or text file

JobMob- 36 beautiful resume ideas

Resume Help- site has examples resumes

A Resume in Prezi

Resume Tips and Advice- from Monster.com

Sample CV for Education Counselor- from CV Tips

Sample Teacher Cover Letter

Sample Teacher Cover Letter2

Teacher Cover Letter Sample

Teacher Resume- from Microsoft online; you need MS Word to use this template

Teacher Resume- from Monster Worldwide, Inc.

Teacher Resume Template

VisualCV- free Internet-based resume

Your Cover Letter Information Center

Jobs for Retired Teachers
5 Part Time Retirement Jobs That Pay Well- from retirementcheatsheet.com

6 Best Part-Time Jobs for Retirees- from Marketwatch

8 Part Time Jobs for Retired Teachers

The 10 Best Part-Time Jobs for Retirees

Adjunct Part-Time Positions- teach on the college level!

Adjunct Professor Jobs- from CareerBuilder

Art with a Heart- located in Indianapolis, many volunteer jobs here, including teacher, classroom assistant, photographer, Board of Directors.

Christian Mission Trips for Retiree Missionaries- "Teachers, agriculturalists, business people, artists, doctors, coaches and many others serve on church-planting teams in over 92 countries…"

Education Employment and Volunteer Opportunities for Retirees- MTRS (Massachusetts Teachers' Retirement System) members

For a Fun Job in Retirement, Think Out of the Box-

Great Jobs for Retired Teachers- from AARP

The Hottest Jobs and How to Get One in Retirement- from Forbes

NEA-Retired- get involved in advocacy groups

The New Retirement: Peace Corps in the Golden Years

Newly Retired Teachers and International Schools- not ready for the old rocking chair?

Opportunities and Employment- for FREA (Florida Retired Educators Association) members

Retired Teacher Jobs- from Indeed

Seasonal Jobs for Boomers, Seniors and Retirees

U.S. Department of State- long list of volunteer opportunities!

WorldTeach- volunteer to teach outside the United States

The Kids Think Design Collaborative

The Kids Design Collaborative consists of three areas of study:  

1. DESIGN DOSSIERS®, a series of books on design for kids 9+ developed in conjunction with Paintbox Press

2. KIDSTHINKDESIGN.ORG, a website that promotes design thinking and provides a showcase for kids' original projects

3. KIDS DESIGN LAB, a school and museum initiative to connect kids with creative professionals

I had the chance to take a look at KidsThinkDesign and was impressed at how kids in grades 5-9 will enjoy navigating the site. I chose book design, and was then brought to a page where there was a biography about a book designer, with these sub tabs at the top: book arts, meet a designer, think like a designer and design a project. Students can learn about printing, design, (lots of online tools) and how designers see the world.

21 Websites with Summer Reading Ideas for You and Your Students

With only 15 days left in our school year, it's time to plan those summer reading lists. It is a proven fact that kids who read in the summer tend to score better on reading tests. (See chart at the left) I have already started to line up those summer "beach reads" and intend on taking some photography classes to hone my skills. The list below for teachers also includes books related to education.

STUDENTS
An Excellent List of Summer Reading for Your Students

Association for Library Service to Children- color and black and white brochure formats to download covers grades K-8

Barnes and Noble Summer Reading List

Books For Reluctant Readers- my list covers K-12

Humor That is Seriously Funny- with categories such as Picture Books With a Kick, Funny Transitional Titles, Middle Grade Malarkey and Older Kids Love Laughs Too, School Library Journal's listing is a must-see.

Middle School Summer Reading List- for grades 5-9

Parkway Elementary School Summer Reading List- covers Pre-K to 6

Reading List for Seniors- this is a Google Doc created by high school English teacher Meenoo Rami; other teachers have added title suggestions

Summer Reading for Ages 0-9 Years- from Reading Rockets

Summer Reading for all Ages- Amazon list covers Baby- Adult

Summer Reading From the Horn Book- nice listing covers grades K-12

Summer Reading Tips From Librarians- Scholastic

TeacherVision's Summer Reading Lists- extensive and covers grades Pre-K through 12

TEACHERS
10 Books Educators Should Read This Summer- from ASCD

14 Books you Really Should Have Read By Now- Reader's Digest

Hitting the Books: Summer Reading Recommends- from Edutopia

Mashable's Summer Reading List- covers new releases, casual beach reads, deep dives, mysteries and thrillers

Summer Reading for 21st Century Learning: A Dozen 2013 Suggestions

Summer Reading for Educators: My Favorites- by Mark Phillips, Teacher and Educational Journalist

Summer Reading for Teachers- from We are Teachers

Summer Reading List: Curated Recommendations for the Curious Mind

Summer Reads for Adults- from Amazon

Are You the Proper Candidate for a Chromebook?

This week I am "test driving" an HP Chromebook.  This particular model feels sturdier than the Samsung laptop, and I'm glad that our technology team is looking at the HP models to purchase for September. Chromebooks are perfect for schools, because they don't allow any software installs or Internet downloads. (No viruses is a good thing, right?) The Chrome browser works seamlessly in the cloud, connecting with G mail accounts and Google Drive. There is no need for Microsoft Office, because Google Apps offers the creation of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms, quizzes and more. BUT...if you are like me and use software outside the Internet, such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Dreamweaver, the Chromebook will not be for you. Watch the videos below to help you decide: