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"While watching the Oscars tonight, I was intrigued to see a promotion that Walmart was running to celebrate the craft of film making. I don't normally pay a lot of attention to  commercials, but these ads managed to catch my attention, and I think that they have some interesting potential for teachers who are looking to add some creativity to video projects in their classroom. Walmart contacted four award-winning directors, Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Neighbors), Antoine Fuqua (Southpaw, The Magnificent Seven), and Marc Forster (Monster's Ball, The Kite Runner). They sent each of them a receipt with the same six items and challenged them to make a one minute movie that was centered around the six items on the receipt. You can learn more here, but take a look at the videos below to see what these talented directors came up with… The three stories are very different, but they would be, wouldn't they? I mean, if you challenged your students to do something like this, the results you got would likely be very different too. Wouldn't they?  Because although the parameters are the same for every student, this is still a very open-ended activity that just screams for a creative outcome."

"GE Teach Tour is a free tool that you and your students can use to create tours to play in the new web version of Google Earth. To get started head to geteach.com/tour/ then enter a title for your tour. The next step is to give your first placemark a title and to enter a description of the location you're featuring with that placemark. To place your placemarks in your tour you can either manually enter latitude and longitude coordinates or you can click on the map to insert your placemarks. Finally, to add images to your placemarks you will have to link to publicly available images that are in your Google Drive account or on another image hosting service like Flickr (by the way, linking to images found on sites that prevent hotlinking won't work)."

"This giant collection of LEGO challenge cards is a simple prep, fun way to sneak some STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning into the day. With cards that range from easy to difficult, little engineers will love tackling the designs. Grab your set below and add them to a classroom center, engineering activity, homeschool lesson, or free play. There are so many ways to use these cards!"

"I had some visitors in my library makerspace last week that were wanting to add an aspect of maker education into their own libraries. As they walked around our space, visited with my collaborating English teacher, and witnessed students prototyping for our invention literacy project, they said something surprising. "We noticed you have traditional wooden library chairs and tables, so it isn't about the furniture, is it? Maker Education? It's about the mindset?""

"There's an old saying that the things that change your life are the books you read, the places you go, and the people you meet. But I'd like to add a fourth: the challenges you face (and how you face them) will always change your life. If we want our students to respond to challenges with creativity and inventiveness, we must create the conditions in which innovation is not only possible but encouraged. You don't help students learn to invent by giving worksheets or cookie-cutter assignments. In fact, these one-size-fits-all approaches may actually take up the time that could be used for such creativity. Get the best of Edutopia in your inbox each week. According to the Torrance Test-which measures CQ, or creativity quotient-the United States has been declining in creativity since 1990. There has to be a reason. Perhaps it is because we focus on students' weaknesses instead of their strengths. In many schools, we'll put a math genius who struggles with grammar into extra English classes. Should we not give this math genius access to college-level advanced math work, and figure out the basic English requirements he or she needs for a basic understanding of grammar? Why do we think that all students should be good at everything? We can either be average at everything or exceptional at something. With this in mind, here are some things we need to do to encourage student inventors as we nurture student passions, interests, and strengths."

"Students in Grade 3 created their own I Spy pages. The items were gathered from yard sales, usually by the bag full, for a few dollars, and put through the dishwasher. The first class was spent exploring 'I Spy' books and arranging the items onto colourful card. I had 9 baskets of items so small groups or pairs each photographed the same designs but did their own clues. During the second class period, students cropped their photos and used PicCollage App to add clues. Image quality is an issue with closeups with our iPad 2s. Other classes will try to find the items in the images and they were included in a school assembly video.  Continue reading to see more examples."

"I am a big fan of music in the history classroom and I have created a number of Spotify Playlists for this purpose. Often this is merely to help create a calm and purposeful working atmosphere, when a bit of Chopin or Debussy sets the tone perfectly. Occasionally it's even possible to have calming instrumental music directly related to the topic in question: for example, Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor, which was inspired by the composer watching British troop ships heading off to France in 1914. However, some songs are better used to stoke up some energy during lessons, whilst the very best of all are historical sources in themselves, combining musical feeling with powerful lyrical content. What follows is a list of songs I regularly use in class, organised in broadly chronological order in terms of the topics they relate to, with a brief explanation of how you could make use of them with your own students. What follows is a list of 25 principal songs, but with links to others on similar themes or by similar artists, bringing the total up to over 50. If you have any other suggestions, please contact me (@russeltarr / @activehistory on Twitter) and I'd be delighted to add them to the list (as long as it isn't "We didn't start the fire" by Billy Joel. Which I admit is superb, but we all know this one, surely?)."

"National Literacy and Numeracy Week, this year taking place on 4-10 September, is an opportunity to focus in on key skills that are essential for life in and outside of the classroom. As these skills are being taught on a daily basis, why not use this week to add an element of discovery and enjoyment to your lessons? We've gathered a handful of resources for each section to get you started."

"Over the course of the past couple of years, I've become particularly fond of a few Chrome tools that I consider too good to miss.  These would be handy across the board, but especially in Google Classroom and Chromebook environments. "

"Overlay or Merge Images Put an animated gif on top of a normal image, or just add two images together. Even with transparency and opacity."

"There's an old saying that the things that change your life are the books you read, the places you go, and the people you meet. But I'd like to add a fourth: the challenges you face (and how you face them) will always change your life. If we want our students to respond to challenges with creativity and inventiveness, we must create the conditions in which innovation is not only possible but encouraged. You don't help students learn to invent by giving worksheets or cookie-cutter assignments. In fact, these one-size-fits-all approaches may actually take up the time that could be used for such creativity. "

"8-year-old Kaori Misue was born without fingers. Usually, creating specialized prosthetics costs upwards of $15,000. However, thanks to a 21-year-old inventor, Misue received a prosthetic hand which has changed her life. Gino Tubaro is offering kids born without limbs the chance to receive a cheap 3D printed prosthetic. Misue's mother, Karina Misue, adds: "It was magical… The confidence it gives kids is tremendous. They're using it with pride." Tubaro's 3D printed prosthetic designs are part of the "Alternative Limbs Project", which began in his home of Argentina. The prints come in a range of designs, offering users the chance to decide what they need the prosthetic for most, whether it's playing an instrument or ping-pong. The prosthetics for kids can even be superhero themed (and shoot rubber bands)."

"https://youtu.be/Iat3cSbt3to"