The Curse of Oak Island by Randall Sullivan

I am obsessed with Oak Island.

Much like Rick Lagina of the now hit show on History Channel, I read an article about the island as a child, and I've been hooked since.  Just after I started teaching, the first History documentary came out.  Using it and articles, I had my 7th graders draft research proposals to investigate the island.  Now in their 30s, some of them are my Facebook friends.  I was amazed how many of them watch the show and are now crazy obsessed like me!

I visited Nova Scotia last in 1997.  We were researching family history (my family name Eagles originates in NS; we're somehow related to Charles Barkhouse too).  At the time, the island was closed to visitors, so I was only able to view it from afar.  I tried to get tickets to the tours this summer, BUT THEY SOLD OUT IN FOUR MINUTES!  Being the person I am, we are now chartering a boat to sail around the island with the one and only Tony Sampson of the show!

Randall Sullivan has appeared on a few episodes lately.  At first I was skeptical, like could this guy really write a book with anything I didn't already know about the island?  I was really surprised how in depth his research into the very early history (the McGinnis/Vaughn/Smith or Ball stories) and the more modern feud between Fred Nolan and Dan Blankenship.  Both Nolan and Blankenship appeared in that first documentary, where Nolan's cross was what convinced me something was really special about this island.  I also believe Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare's plays and the Knights Templar were in North America.  Infer what you will.

I am excited to donate this to our library and keep one to bring with me to hopefully get signed by cast members!

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All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.

   

The Top 50 Chrome Extensions for the Classroom by Christopher Craft

Christopher Craft aka Crafty is a MASTER of the Google.  I have had the pleasure of hearing him speak and attending his sessions at Google Summits and also bantering with him via Twitter about barbecue. 

Crafty is a wizard with Google for Education and his latest book is pretty sweet.  It's a very compact book, but it's loaded with all sorts of nifty extensions for Chrome, including some of his own making.

This will be shelved in our professional section, but students may check it out as well.

Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS

All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.