Real world connections with Google Trends

By Anonymous -
I think all educators would agree that making real-world connections to the content we teach in the classroom enhances the experience for students.  But how can we always know what the kids are interested in?  We can listen to the kids’ small talk or try to pick up what we can from the news but sometimes that just doesn’t cut it.  I know I for one eventually just gave up and made a fool of myself not knowing what the kids were preoccupied with but it is always a better strategy to integrate their interests into the learning.

So how can technology help with that?
Enter Google Trends (trends.google.com).  Scrolling down the page shows you what the population is searching for and will even break the data down into regional interests.  
Once you find a search term to explore, clicking it reveals related search items along with news articles that may be great for prompting lessons or discussions in the classroom.


Perhaps this quick, relatively unknown resource from Google, will help you see what topics may engage your kids in learning.  As we know, sometimes engagement is half the battle! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chat GPT- Your New Personal Assistant

By -
Image
What if I told you that within seconds, you could have a well-written speech, have directions on how to fix your leaky sink, or even generate a personalized workout plan? All of these things are just a small part of what can be done with Chat GPT, and it is revolutionizing how we approach everyday tasks and even the type of work we assign to our students as educators. Chat GPT is a new artificial intelligence (AI) phenomenon that emerged on the scene in November 2022. Users can type in a question and the chatbot will generate a personalized, human-like response to your question. It stands in its own category by itself, for now. Though most people utilize AI through technology like Alexa, Siri, website chat box assistants, and even that autocorrect feature that you so frequently enjoy when typing text. However, Chat GPT is a little different from these tools. It is chartering new territory and causing everyone, especially teachers, to pay attention to just what it can do. Since its arr
Read more

The 5 steps of Focused Note-taking (with Google Slides!)

By Anonymous -
Image
For years, the AVID instructional framework recommended a specific note-taking strategy, called Cornell Notes, to support students in processing the information they learn in class.  Recently, however, AVID revised the note-taking recommendations to be more broad rather than solely focusing on Cornell Notes. The new recommendation is that educators teach students to use a focused note-taking strategy.  This is fantastic because it allows for student choice and voice in how they process their learning and can incorporate technology in powerful ways.  This blog post will overview the 5 steps of focused note-taking along with some digital strategies that align with each step. Step 1: Taking the notes This is an obvious first step!  In this phase, students are capturing information using a method they feel most comfortable.  If students are new to taking notes, very young, or have instructional accommodations, teachers can just share the notes and skip step 1.  Plenty of learning, as
Read more

Reading with a purpose and teachers gathering data

By Anonymous -
Image
In our connected world, people find themselves gathering information from online sources much more frequently than print sources.  Interestingly, the way our brains work to scan digital texts has changed based on the typical layout of websites that present information.  For example, our eyes are more likely to remain focused on the left side of a webpage, where menus and additional links are typically placed rather than scan the entire page fully.  Readers, young and old, typically scan pages in an “F” pattern, tracing their eyes along the text in heavy left-to-right patterns at the beginning of paragraphs but not throughout the entirety of the passage.  Source: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/f-shaped-pattern-reading-web-content/ This isn’t altogether horrible if students are simply scanning to gather rudimentary information but when we are asking students to complete sustained and detailed reading online, these habits suggest that a support for students may help them read more
Read more