New release - Monkey Business!



There’s no business like…monkey business? 

 

Our new izzit.org teaching unit follows Katarina Rybarikova and her family in Slovakia as they pursue Katarina’s dream of bringing the Paul Frank brand, with its distinctive monkey logo, to Europe. As a child growing up in communist controlled Czechoslovakia, she experienced very little freedom or economic opportunity.  Even after liberation from the Soviet Union and the split into two separate countries, times were tough. But with the right economic changes, things are looking up for Katarina and her family!

 

The DVD is recommended for grades 7-12, and covers a variety of topics, from Communism and Democracy, to Paternalism and Individual Responsibility. It includes a bonus interview with the authors of the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World Report, explaining how the index works and the correlations they’ve discovered between economic freedom and people’s well-being. It also covers the U.S. decline on the index, and likely reasons for the change.

 

Back-to-School Contest Winners!

Our Back-to-School contest, run on our Facebook page, was a lot of fun! Many teachers shared pictures and stories from their summer vacations.





We had so much fun reading them, we added special categories for additional prizes. (Things like izzit.org travel mugs and magnetic clips.)

Congratulations to our winners:

Most Unusual Summer Activity - David Gardner
Best Proposal/Wedding - Ken Wayman
Most Accomplished - Shelly Liles McAninch
Best Home Improvement Project - Lisa Scott
Most Scenic Picture- Laurie Stricklan Bender
Band-Aid (TM) Award - Micky Pelletier
Cutest Kid Pic - Cora Kiene
Cutest Animal Pic - Sara Kimball Smith


    And our "Grand Prize" winner of the Kindle Fire:

    Jason Rasmussen!

Laurie Bender's Grand canyon photo

 Stay tuned! There will be other contests from izzit.org throughout the year!

Big Shipping Day!

It's shipping day today at izzit.org, and this week was a big one - over 3600 DVDs going out today! Each of those mailing bags (we had to use the big bags this week) holds about 100 DVDs.

Half of those are our newly updated The Great Depression 2.0!

We had two teams running shipping this week, and it took us about 3 1/2 hours to get them all prepared to go out.

Here's hoping we have more great weeks like this one. (So don't forget to tell your teaching friends about us!)



Our new DVD, The Great Depression 2.0, is flying off the shelves! Just last week, more than half our inventory was selected by teachers eager for this useful, updated tool for their classroom.

But don't worry - we've already ordered more copies! So if you've been looking for a video to help you teach the Great Depression, look no longer. The Great Depression 2.0 is available now!

Perhaps you've been using the original version of our DVD.  Please visit the product's webpage to see the updated Teacher's Guide. (If you're eligible to pick a DVD, you can choose the new version, The Great Depression 2.0, because our website considers it an entirely different product.)

Have you gotten your free izzit.org DVD yet this year? *



*(Offer available to all US K-12 teachers.)

New Release & Contest!

Welcome back!

 Summer zoomed past us and by now, most of you are back to the classroom. We’ve got some great stuff coming up for you.

Great Depression 2.0 is our first “new” release for the year. It’s actually an updated version of our popular Great Depression DVD. We found that there was some confusion on some of the main points, so we’ve updated it to clarify. It’s got a new introduction, a new conclusion, and the Teacher Guide has also been updated. (If you selected the original version and are eligible to choose another FREE DVD, you can select Great Depression 2.0 – it’s considered a different product by our system, so it will allow you to choose the updated version.)

Want to win a 7” Kindle Fire HD tablet? Check out our Back-to-School contest!  There’s no essay involved, but we do want to know about your summer vacation!

As for me…during one of my summer road trips, I visited the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI. It was beautiful! So head over to our contest page, read the rules, and tell us about something you did this summer to enter!

Teacher of the Year Dave Smith visits our Erie, PA Headquarters!

Last week, one of our 2013 izzit.org Teachers of the Year, Dave Smith, came to Erie for a visit. He had breakfast with our CEO and COO, toured the offices, even saw our shipping process – which is not anything automated. It’s all done by hand by a team (or teams, if it’s been a busy week!) of izzit.org staff members. Dave even had a mini-lesson in video editing.

He provided us with more teacher insights, answering many questions for us about technology in the classroom and what teachers might be looking for from us in the future. (You can send us feedback, too! Send an email, call us, let us know what you’re interested in seeing izzit.org provide to better serve teachers!)

Dave learning about video editing from Michael Kraus

Dave breakfasting with our COO and CEO




Teachers of the Year Enjoy Wonderful Dinner in Chicago!

          Last Wednesday in Chicago, we wined and dined our Teachers of the Year. We’ll be adding more pictures in the next few days, but let’s start with this: the dinner menu created especially for our Teachers at Smith & Wollensky. Everything you’ve ever heard about the restaurant is true. The food was awesome. The beef melted in our mouths. We’re proud of our Teachers of the Year, and are delighted we had the chance to share such a fantastic meal with them in Chicago.