Instead of focusing on one area, how about a variety of cool and interesting sites I’ve found recently?
PRESIDENTIAL STUFF:
a) FDR’s “Fireside Chats”: Students today have grown up with YouTube, MySpace, and the like, so why not introduce them to the modern technology of before? Visit the National Arcives to hear the radio broadcasts of FDR.
b) Wish to have materials and links for the Inauguration: Visit Andree’s blog for resources.
MARTIN LUTHER KING:
Listen to his famous speech on Google in entirety
SOCIAL STUDIES/CIVIL WAR:
Wish to give your unit on the Civil War some “pizazz” and show the students what artifacts look like? The National Park Service will send a Civil War kit to your classroom for a small fee. For more information: Go
BLOG READING(S):
Teaching how to think/logic: Recently I was in a class (for adults/not one of our schools), and after about 40 minutes, I was wanting to crawl out of my skin. I couldn’t imagine sitting there for 6.5 hours! Mark Pullen, in The Elementary Educator, writes an excellent post about Embedding Technology in Education. Although the topic does not really fit in with about teaching logic, I do see a similarity in how we (teachers) are teaching students to DO and not CREATE when technology is integrated into a lesson. When a student creates, higher level thinking has begun. You’ll find the posts Inquiry Based Learning and What Did You Teach This Week? quite fun to read.
How Stupid Am I Today? I also wonder if students, when entering a school building, may say to themselves, “OK! Another day to show how dumb I am!” Is curriculum set up to encourage and challenge, to permit different learning styles, or is it a get through the information at all costs before testing? Karen Janowski, at Ed Tech Solutions, writes a post Mistake Tolerant Tools, wondering about how often we permit mistakes in a classroom and the child feels “safe.”
