Cybrary Man for Writing Rubrics

Cybrary Man has an amazing number of lists that can help you, but one that is going to be a super help to you is the list of rubrics.  My favorite is Rubistar which allows you to enter information about your project and then spits a rubric back at you which you can use with your students.  Both of these are featured in my "interactives" section of my book Deeper Learning Through Technology: Using the Cloud to Individualize Instruction.

Diigo for Bookmarking

I have been using Diigo for years and have written a number of posts as it allows you to bookmark websites and share them (or not). You can categorize the sites you select and find them on the web or on your smartphone.

Above is a great video I found today on FreeTech4Teachers.

Simulations for Your Econ Students

If you are looking to do some simulations with your students you might want to try these "active learning" techniques" which cover everything from diminishing returns to the stock market to comparative advantage to supply and demand and everything in between. 

Grooveshark/Spotify to Sharpen Student Focus

So my students have been listening to music long enough in class that they used to just start the songs on their iPods and not have to worry about it.  I let them listen to music as it actually helps most of them focus.  Now they often like going to YouTube.  The problem with that is that the kids have to find a new song, oh every three minutes and that is not productive. So I tell them they get one change a class.  So many use Spotify or my suggestion which is Grooveshark.  Both are free and let students find an artist and play any group of songs.  This will show my age, but when an album comes out it is the first place I go (everything is there) to see which songs I want to buy for my own playlist.  Try it out for you and your students.  

Personalized Learning in Spain

Okay so this summer I am teaching a two day institute on personalized learning.  Yes, it will highlight some items from my book such as

• how to flip your classroom
• building your PLC beyond your school walls
• finding resources for your classroom
• and creating one or two lessons you can actually use in your classroom next fall.

So if you love the Spanish coast and want to combine some vacation with learning, then you might want to check out my course which you can register for right now. 

Inflation Calculator

Here is the Bureau of Labor Statistics site that allows you to calculate inflation.  So for example if I put $100 away when I was born back in 1963, it would now have the buying power of $773.  So when you cover inflation it might be a useful site to use for your students. 

Game Theory and the Super Bowl

If you look at this NYTImes article, it argues that Game Theory says that the coaching decision by the Seahawks to throw the ball on the one yard line was a good decision.  I found the article on the Facebook page for AP Economics teachers.