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Want to take your class on a trip to the Grand Canyon to see the Colorado River? How about a trip to New York City or Paris, France? Can’t afford the gas you say? Well not to worry. With Google Earth 4.3 you can take your students to any location on the globe without leaving the comfort of your classroom, or filling up your gas tank!

If you haven’t used it before, Google Earth is a Web-based program that uses satellite imagery to show places all over the world. All you need to do is download the free program and you are ready to get started. If you have used Google Earth before, version 4.3 has some great new features to take advantage of as you travel around the world. Some of these include photo-realistic buildings, swoop navigation from space to street-level, numerous layers that can be turned on to show anything from locations of volcanoes to the weather. With Google’s new street view, you can place your students virtually on almost any main street in the country. You can show your students how day and night work on our planet by using the dawn to dusk views with the sunlight feature. Take your students to any landform and not only see the 3-D image, but also view all the sight-seeing pictures and information provided by numerous professional organizations to help make this learning experience more memorable.

The new Google Earth 4.3 is out of this world - and if that is your next destination, just click on the outer-space feature and you can explore our solar system in the same way you explored our planet. -MONIQUE ST. LOUIS

Google Earth 4.3

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A picture is worth a thousand words, and several minutes, too. When it comes to Web searching, we’re stuck trying to figure out if a site is worthwhile by reading a few lines of text on Google’s results pages. Usually, you can tell at first glance whether the page you’ve landed on is what you’re looking for. So why do we waste our time reading text-based descriptions of a site and not just cut to a picture of the site itself?

That’s why RedZee designed its search engine to give you visual results instead of words, letting you find what you need in a hurry without having to read through what you don’t. Type in your search terms and RedZee gives you snapshots of the results. The pics are arranged on a “wheel” that you can quickly scroll through, letting you identify what you want by sight, rather than the traditional process of read, click, hope.

RedZee is also kid-friendly, and not just by virtue of its adorable red zebra mascot. RedZee filters out porn and other inappropriate content, so you don’t need to worry that Little Johnny will “accidentally” stumble across something he shouldn’t be looking at on a school computer.

I like Google just fine, especially their super-handy apps like Google Docs, Google Maps…I could go on all day. But it’s nice to see a new idea in the Web search game, and searching by sight is both fun and fast. You can cover a lot more ground in your searches, so to speak, with visual results. At RedZee, a picture is worth a thousand words you don’t have to scan to find what you’re searching for.-BILL FERRIS

RedZee

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Welcome to the Carnival of Education Career Fair! We’ve retracted the bleachers and set up the booths on the gymnasium floor so these brave teachers can see what they might be doing if they weren’t teaching (perish the thought).

Motivational Speaker
Mr. D at I Want to Teach Forever agreed to sport a freaking mohawk as long as his students worked hard, which was about three weeks. Sadly, his motivational experiment has concluded. Long live the mohawk.

Camp Counselor
As a kid, my wife got to go to Space Camp and Marine Science Camp. Had Tisha Kulak and American Consumer News been around back then to point out how to save money on tuition to summer research camps, I might’ve been able to go, too.

Productivity Consultant
Instructify-favorite studenthacks.org has some great tips for students who want to learn how to write a research paper.

Pro Athletes
The Jose Vilson uses Derek Jeter as an example of how nurturing students’ talent and leadership ability early on can reap great results.

And over at Jay P. Greene’s Blog, the author talks about the importance of identifying students’ talents, whether they’re a left tackle or potential honor student.

Economist
ESL teacher Larry Ferlazzo knows that money is the international language.

Translator
Melissa B. at The Scholastic Scribe provides a handy-dandy English-to-Eduspeak dictionary.

Director
Mathew Needleman at Creating Lifelong Learners takes a proactive approach to managing disruptive students during a class movie project.

Advice Columnist
Let’s Play Math! has some advice on teaching math to a struggling student.

Detective
OverwhelmedMom gets to the bottom of problems that gifted students face.

Investigative Reporters
The proprietor of a voice from the middle knows the means to discovery is asking the right questions.

In addition, eduwonkette responds to a Wall Street Journal article about the criteria used to evaluate teachers.

Game Developer
Alvaro at SharpBrains shares a few games to stimulate your temporal lobe.

Diplomat
Coach Brown tries to reach an understanding with hostile parents.

Nutritionists
At Homework. Dinner. Life. Angela points out that good nutrition habits ought to be maintained year-round, not just a few days before the test.

Meanwhile, Chanman at Buckhorn Road says all that caffeine students drink can’t be good for them.

Cartographer
Dan Callahan, a.k.a. geek.teacher, harnesses Google Maps for a lesson in community mapping.

Librarian
@EDU takes the work out of student research by pointing them toward Google Alerts.

Politician
Jane Artabasy at Golden Apple Teaching Excellence Network unloads the loaded word of the day, “elitism,” showing it’s nothing to be frightened of - especially in schools.

The folks at Golden Apple also mull over the differences in races and learning styles.

Astronaut
HowDoWhy asks, what is a solar system, anyway? Furthermore, just how big is ours?

Human Resources Specialist
Over at Right on the Left Coast, Darren discusses the sticky situation of a teacher dating an 18-year-old student at a different school.

Mentors
Allison Jones at Entry Level Living wants to revamp the way young people think about leadership.

The folks at the Efficient Leadership Files have some ideas on that as well.

Statistician
Lead from the Start crunches the numbers about the disconnect between teachers and EdSector.

Strategist
Seth Pearce at NYC Students Blog has an intriguing idea on how to overcome schools’ non-stop test preparation.

Lobbyist
PZ Meyers at Pharyngula has some news about a disturbing bill in the Oklahoma legislature regarding religion in schools.

Road Grader
As the great homework debate rages on, Shabam School makes a good case for grading homework.

Kindergarten Teacher (sorry, I couldn’t come up with anything else)
Kiri at Elbows, Knees, Dreams shares her thoughts (and asks for others’ opinions) about early entrance to Kindergarten.

Photo credit: ou_ags on flickr

Back in February, Jeremy blogged about Doodle 4 Google, a contest where students redesigned the Google logo based around the question, “What if…?”. The entries are in, and you can now vote for your favorites. The winning drawing will replace the usual Google logo on May 22.

If you missed the contest deadline, you can still take advantage of the lesson plans Google has made available for the project. The contest’s central question, “What if…?” can be a springboard for lots of creative ideas beyond just the Google logo. For example, I think the Instructify banner at the top of this page would be a great choice. -BILL FERRIS

Doodle 4 Google - Vote

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Want to check out where, exactly, the eagle had landed? From the folks who brought you Google Earth (namely Google) comes Google Moon. Now your students can explore the Sea of Tranquility from their desks.

Google Moon works a lot like Google Maps and Google Earth except, you know, on the moon. In addition to satellite imagery, Google Moon has facts from all six manned missions to the moon, including samples of moon rocks, descriptions of gravity experiments, and a few words about moonquakes. Students can also get closeup views of the lunar surface, and a little background information on the brave astronauts who hurtled through the cosmos and landed on the famed green cheese orb.

Sadly, though, Google’s normally excellent driving directions don’t seem to work with Google Moon. -BILL FERRIS

Google Moon

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Odysseus may be hopelessly lost, but you and your students don’t have to be. Thanks to Google Lit Trips, you can follow the story from above with all the clarity of Zeus. With the satellite imagery and smooth-sailing style of Google Earth, these tours of the greatest road trips ever written will help your students put what they’re reading into perspective.

There are Lit Trips for all grade levels, from Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey to Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. The maps are handy enough on their own, but they’re also accompanied by contextualizing photographs (a picture of a dust storm for the first chapters of The Grapes of Wrath for instance) and often discussion questions as well.

There are plenty of epic journeys not up on Lit Trips yet, so if you’re excited about the tool and feeling ambitious, make it a class project to develop one. There has already been a trip developed by a first grade class, so how hard can it be?

A word of caution: beware the allure of detours! I started off following Steinbeck’s Joads to California and ended up on the opposite coast hovering over my parents’ house. -MARIELLE PRINCE

Google Lit Trips

Unless you have never seen a computer in your entire life or have never heard of the Internet, you know all about Google and what a wonderful tool it is. Heck, I bet you’ve even used the word “Google” as a verb in the the past twelve hours. If you’ve used the search engine on any given special day, chances are likely that you’ve seen those cool sketches that surround the logo, giving you the reminder of what holiday it is (hmm… brb, gtg get flowers) while giving you a smile at the same time.

Now its your school’s turn to show the world what you’ve got. Doodle for Google invites K - 12 Schools and their students to an compete for a chance to have their very own doodles featured on the front page of the #1 search engine in the world. This year’s theme is “What if…” - which might be the broadest topic imaginable - but it encourages students to use their imaginations in a very big way. All the details and materials are available via Google - all you need to do is register your school before March 28th, and get those entries in by April 12th. Google has even gone an extra step to create lesson plans and templates for you to integrate the project right in with your lesson plan, no matter what the grade level.

For further inspiration, check out this video featuring Dennis Hwang, Google’s resident doodler. You can also read an interview with the 29-year-old artist here, in which he offers some great tips to get you started. - JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Doodle 4 Google

It’s high time you started using Google Docs. In their ongoing efforts to take over the world, Google has created a free online word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation application. There’s nothing to download, you can save in Microsoft Office formats, and you can share your documents online with as many (or as few) people as you want.

We realize Google Docs have been around for a while. But you can now access your online documents easier than ever before with the new Google Docs Bar. This Firefox extension lets you access all your Google Docs with only one click of the mouse. You can also easily upload documents for collaboration, or for a backup copy.

Of course, you need to use the Firefox Web browser to use the Docs Bar. Honestly, though, you ought to be using Firefox anyway. Once you add the Google Docs Bar extension, you’ll be able to access any file you need, anywhere you have an Internet connection. -BILL FERRIS

Google Docs
Google Docs Bar

Top Ten Obscure Google Search Tricks - Lifehacker provides us with this list of 10 ways you didn’t know you could use Google just in time for the new year (Has it been 2008 for a week ALREADY?). Included in this list are useful, and definitely obscure tips like “Get the local time anywhere” and “ID people, objects and foreign language words and phrases with image search.”

10 Ways to Make Your iPod a Better Learning Gadget - If you haven’t already broken it, use that new iPod you got from Santa for something other than listening to Kanye 24/7. Openculture presents this list to help you remember that gadgets can be used for something other than just a distraction or entertainment. My favorites on the list: “Create eBooks,” and “Put Wikipedia on your iPod.”

Cool Ways to Use Your Digital Camera or Camera Phone - For those of use who didn’t find an iPod under the tree this year, but a digital camera instead, 1 Heck of a Guy brings us this list of ways to use your new point n’ shoot to your advantage. Think outside the frame and use your 7.1 megapixels for something useful like creating an electronic whiteboard or take pictures of landmarks to help you get where you’re going. Or better yet, get back to where you’ve been (i.e. where you parked).

15 Ways to Restart the Exercise Habit (And How to Keep It) - Lifehack unfailingly brings us a list to help us improve our lives, and this time, they are promoting something most of us can benefit from in order to extend the life we are trying so diligently to make more productive. This list provides tips to help you get your big butt in the gym, and how to keep it there. So if you’re as unsatisfied with the ways the holidays have treated your midsection as I am, then you’ll surely jump on this list with gusto. - JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

(photo by Triotex )

When I kick back and grade papers on the couch, nothing annoys me more than calls on my cell phone. Hello, I’m paying for those minutes, and I’ve got a perfectly good home phone you could call! GrandCentral is a new Google service (I do love those Google services) that gives you total control of your phones. Give your friends your hand-picked GrandCentral number, set GrandCentral preferences to include your home, cell, and/or direct work numbers, and when someone calls you, multiple phones will ring.

Currently available by invitation only, GrandCentral is loaded with features. You can screen callers, so you don’t have take that personal call while you’re in the school media center. You can specify which phones ring based on who’s calling, listen to your voicemail online, get call notifications by e-mail or text message, and block unwanted telemarketers. Or, if you really need to grade those papers, silence all those ringers and just let voicemail pick up for a while.

While it’s in beta, GrandCentral is free. It won’t stay that way forever, but given Google’s tendency to leave things in beta for a loooong time (Gmail, anyone?), GrandCentral could be a great value for months—or years—to come. Need an invite? The comments section might be a good place to fish for one. –ROSS WHITE

GrandCentral

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I can’t remember the last time I used a phone book for its intended purpose (though I do have two copies of the Yellow Pages currently raising my monitor to the appropriate height). When I need a phone number, I generally just Google it. This has worked great on most occasions, but I’m consistently foiled when I need a phone number and I’m not near a computer.

That ends today, though - I just programmed Google’s newest service, Google Voice Local Search, into my mobile phone’s speed dial. When I need to call a business - or find a business within a certain category—I just call Google’s toll-free number, 1-800-GOOG-411, say my city and state, then say the name or category of the business I want to call. Google Voice Local Search will give me a list of options, and then connect me for free. It’s the “free” part which sets Google’s service apart from my old pal, 411.

Google’s site says, “Google Voice Local Search is still in its experimental stage.” I’m doing a little experimenting of my own - with a new Chinese restaurant I found using this new service. –ROSS WHITE

Google Voice Local Search