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Laura Wood

Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools - 1 views

  • Civic Education on the Daily Show!
    • Laura Wood
       
      "In early March, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart featured former Supreme Court Justice (and current CMS co-chair) Sandra Day O'Connor discussing the importance of the civic mission of schools. Click to watch the video."
  • Civic Mission of Schools Report
    • Laura Wood
       
      My thesis draws heavily from this report. It's fantastic. "Written and endorsed by more than 50 scholars and education practitioners, The Civic Mission of Schools report summarizes the status of and need for civic learning in schools, kindergarten through 12th grade. It analyzes trends in American political and civic engagement; identifies promising approaches to educating students for democracy; and offers recommendations to educators, policymakers, government officials and funders."
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    From the website: "The Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools is a coalition of over forty partner organizations working to improve civic education in America's schools. The Campaign's goal is to increase and improve civic learning in grades K-12 by working for policies that implement the recommendations of the Civic Mission of Schools report. This includes efforts to bring about changes in national, state, and local education policy."
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    They also have civic lesson plans under resources and a toolkit for advocating for the civic mission of schools which I, personally, think is critically important in this age of education for economy, and such.
Laura Wood

Center for Civic Education Home - 2 views

  • Listen to today's podcast
    • Laura Wood
       
      Daily 60 second podcast!
    • Laura Wood
       
      Also, you can search previous podcasts to find ones that have to do with your specific lesson. Listening to the Podcasts could be a "Do now" activity or an activity at a station students rotate through.
  • Daily civics quiz
    • Laura Wood
       
      Daily 1 question civics quiz! These questions are not always about post Constitutional US. Some of the questions that I have seen had to do with Enlightenment thinking, the middle ages, ancient Greece, etc.
    • Laura Wood
       
      Mission Statement From the site: The Center for Civic Education is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational corporation dedicated to promoting an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy in the United States and other countries. . . . The Center specializes in civic/citizenship education, law-related education, and international educational exchange programs for developing democracies. Programs focus on the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights; American political traditions and institutions at the federal, state, and local levels; constitutionalism; civic participation; and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.
  • ...2 more annotations...
    • Laura Wood
       
      "Resources" contains lesson plans for various grade levels, online resources, links to other organizations, etc.
    • Laura Wood
       
      The cite largely correlates to the classroom text: "We the People"
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    So this may be my favorite organization ever. They have an international branch, a branch in DC and a branch in California. They have a daily civics quiz on the the website and a daily 60 second civics podcast . . . I'm in <3.
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    I'm just overwhelmed. I want to work at this organization . . . so many incredible incredible programs, teacher trainings, professional developments, etc. Lynn Cohen worked with Civitas in Bosnia.
Laura Wood

Civic Participation and Citizenship Collection - 3 views

  •  
    Goldmine! Annotated Civics Website Collection. Links to some fantastic civic resources - with brief descriptions of each. A nice collection of current issues, civic procedures and ESOL resources. Also some interesting websites about civics for folks with limited resources/incomes - hmmm . . .
Debbie Moore

Center for Civic Education Home - 3 views

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    The Center for Civic Education is website designed to educate students in citizenry, the constitution and democratic constitutionalism. The Center offers a full curriculum at all three learning levels: elementary, middle school and high school. Their materials include full lesson plans and textbooks that support their program. The lesson plans include critical thinking exercises, vocabulary lists, problem solving activities and cooperative learning activities. The program is designed so that teachers can use it to supplement an existing curriculum or as the foundation of their curriculum. My cooperating teacher is going to use parts of the program to supplement her curriculum. The lessons focus on life in American, the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, political traditions and institutions, different levels of government (local, state and federal), constitutionalism and the rights and responsibilities of citizens. The center also offers professional development seminars that are often free of charge to DC teachers. For example, on October 27th, there is a free seminar for DC teachers on "We the People Through Primary Sources and Documents" being held at the National Archives….they even provide a free lunch! Here is the direct link to the professional development page: http://www.civiced.org/index.php?page=state_programs&&p=101&&st=DC.
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    Haha, I love this site! I posted on it the week before last. I reeeeeeaally want to get a job working for them! :-)
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    Laura, that is funny....we seem to like the same sites. It is an awesome sight...and the program is awesome too. Do you have a set of the books? Good luck...I hope that works out for you!!
Laura Wood

What Kids Can Do - 4 views

  • stay informed
    • Laura Wood
       
      From the website: "Based in Providence, R.I., What Kids Can Do (WKCD) is a national nonprofit founded in January 2001 by an educator and journalist . . . they felt an urgent need to promote perceptions of young people as valued resources, not problems, and to advocate for learning that engages students as knowledge creators and not simply test takers. Just as urgent, they believed, was the need to bring youth voices to policy debates about school, society, and world affairs. Using the Internet, print, and broadcast media, WKCD presses before the broadest audience possible a dual message: the power of what young people can accomplish when given the opportunities and supports they need and what they can contribute when we take their voices and ideas seriously. The youth who concern WKCD most are those marginalized by poverty, race, and language. On this website, WKCD presents young people's lives, learning, and work, and their partnerships with adults both in and out of school. Our community of readers stretches from youth organizers in some of this country's toughest urban areas to policy makers at the national level. We believe that a good story well told crosses geographies, generations, class and race, and position. Our publishing arm, Next Generation Press, honors the power of youth as social documenters, knowledge creators, and advisors to educators, peers, and parents. WKCD is a grant maker, too, collaborating with youth on multimedia, curricula, and research that expand current views of what constitutes challenging learning and achievement. Starting in 2006, WKCD began working with youth worldwide. WKCD has become an international leader in bringing the promise of young people to the attention of the adults whose encouragement can make all the difference."
  • Youth in Policy: Civics2
    • Laura Wood
       
      Here they have collected various articles about how youth around the country and around the globe have been actively involved in policy making and shaping. This may be great to get teachers and students started thinking about project ideas or to inspire students (and teachers!) that students really can make a difference.
  • Want to bring public attentionto your work? WKCD invitessubmissions from youth andeducators worldwide.
    • Laura Wood
       
      ARG! My diigo isn't working at all. Very frustrating. I have to highlight stuff four times and then add the comments in on this page. Technology is not my friend this week.
    • Laura Wood
       
      So if you do a rad civics project with your students, students can then write an article about what they did and send it in to WKCD. They will then put it up on this cite and your students will have something to be uber proud of. This is another reason to make sure you photo document rad projects.
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    • Laura Wood
       
      Similarly, one of the links on this page is to news articles from around the country where kids are making a difference. A teacher might assign students to check out some of the ways that students are getting things done and getting noticed in order to inspire kids, get their creative juices flowing, etc.
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    Articles on what kids in the US have done politically, with pictures! Collected by a journalist and an educator.
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    This is the organization run by the author of "Fires in the High School Bathroom." As the only permanent staff are journalists and web designers (and the staff is tiny!). I believe they just collect and make available student stories (as well as apparently offering grants!) rather than actually participating or spearheading any projects themselves. They do publish works every so often - I believe collections of the things students have done.
Jamie Gravell

The Civic Mirror | A citizenship education program that turns classrooms into countries... - 3 views

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    Civics program, interactive simulation. Paid accounts. 
Laura Wood

Civic Voices - Welcome - 3 views

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    So this site has a survey that students from different countries around the world have taken about citizenship. You can sign up for free as a teacher and there are two different projects. 1. Survey - See what your students think are the most important responsibilities of citizenship and how they compare to students in other places around the world. There is also a reflective essay assignment for students if you like. 2. Memory Bank - Students record stories of civic engagement from around their own neighborhoods and upload them to the site. Currently there are none up. But yours could be the first!
kkasargodstaub

Environment Facts, Environment Science, Global Warming, Natural Disasters, Ecosystems, ... - 1 views

  • The ocean needs your help
    • kkasargodstaub
       
      The site relies on a lot of different sources but National Geographic is a reliable source. There are great tools here for teachers to take current issues and make them relevant in students' lives. You could use the site for research, inspiration and/or to get students involved in local community issues. It's great for a civics, current issues and/or geography class.
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    I absolutely LOVE the National Geographic Website as a social studies tool. I've specifically used it in civics classes or geography classes for students to study current events, but the options are endless. They have videos, pictures and great information.
Walter Antoniotti

Civics learning materials - 0 views

I have collected and written these materials: Civics Course Notes, Political Economy, Interesting Videos and book summaries at http://www.textbooksfree.org/Civics.htm

history resources education teaching Social Studies socialstudies

started by Walter Antoniotti on 14 Oct 16 no follow-up yet
Tiffany Gilmore

http://civics.sites.unc.edu/files/2012/05/SocialStudiesStrategies.pdf - 0 views

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    Tricks for engaging students in SS while reading.
Sarah Franquemont

Teaching Constitution Day - 0 views

    • Sarah Franquemont
       
      This site provides excellent lesson plans on the Constitution, but its limited focus makes it American History specific.
    • Sarah Franquemont
       
      Some lessons include "lesson audio" and "teacher audio" links.  Clicking these links provides audio instructions to help the teacher prepare for the lesson.
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    This website provides lesson plans for every grade level on the content and significance of the U.S. Constitution. Lesson plans are designed for civic education and are meant to be implemented on Constitution Day (September 17th). This site is a resource for American History teachers teaching the Constitution.
Laura Wood

Teaching with Historic Places - 1 views

  • Curriculum Standards for Social Studies
    • Laura Wood
       
      WOW! They even connect their lesson plans to the NCSS standards. This link takes you to a page that lists all the lesson plans that meet each of the NCSS standards You can click on the NCSS Standard at the top of the page and it will take to you a list of those lessons that meet that one. There are a ton for each!
  • National U.S. History Standards for Grades 5-12
    • Laura Wood
       
      Hrm. They also link to a set of standards I've never heard of . . . "Part of the National Standards for History developed by the National Center for History in the Schools, these voluntary standards promote historical thinking skills and understanding" I'm glad I haven't had to hear of them, but this page will tell you how to meet these standards as well.
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    From the site: "Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) uses properties listed in the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places to enliven history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects. TwHP has created a variety of products and activities that help teachers bring historic places into the classroom." Including lesson plans and tips!
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    Lesson Plans: The Lesson Plans link has SO MANY lesson plans. They are designed at a middle school level but can easily be adapted (says them). The lesson plans are organized by Location/State; Theme; Time period; and Skill - meaning that you can click on any one of those subdivisions and search them that way. Very exciting! You should definitely check these out. Even if you're not in that state, they still have pictures, mapping materials, and activity ideas that you can use to incorporate geography into historic concepts. For example, the Battle of Bunker Hill lesson contains two maps (of Boston today and in 1775) and inquiry questions for these, a section of text (looks like a high school level to me) and inquiry questions for that AND three images (one a sketch of an encampment and two pictures) and inquiry questions for those. These might make fantastic "Do Now"s for the beginning of the lesson even if you didn't use any of the rest of the sites info. So neat!
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    Also they have lots of tips for how you can incorporate place into your lessons. AND! you can submit your own lessons. They take you through the TwHP lesson creation process and you can submit them.
Kenneth O'Regan

Truman Library - Social Studies web sites - 1 views

  • The National Assessment of Educational Progress has a website where released U.S. History items may be found
    • Kenneth O'Regan
       
      Some items on this site might not be entirely up to date. It appears to me that this link is no longer active.
  • A website on the flags of the world
    • Kenneth O'Regan
       
      Other websites, like this one, seem to be a little bit suspect. Use discretion.
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    Say what you will about Harry Truman, but his library website has a vast cache of social studies links and resources, organized by topic. Some of the items go beyond social studies and into the realm of homework help and other teaching strategies. You may need to a dig a little bit to find exactly what you are looking for, but you can probably somehow get to it from here.
Elliot Borg

National Constitution Center: Educators - 0 views

  • Resources to engage students in the Constitution, current events and civic learning.
    • Elliot Borg
       
      Under "Classroom resources," teachers can find print resources links to sites that provide students with the tools they need to better understand the context and content of the Constitution
    • Elliot Borg
       
      This site uses decades of commentary and sites from other organizations to provide the most access points to students to promote a good learning environment for them all.
    • Elliot Borg
       
      In an American History or American Government class, this site would prove extremely useful to better my students understanding of the dense, old, and vague language of the Constituion.
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    The National Constitution Center in Philidelphia has a website that has information for the general public and educators. It has lots of information that teachers could find useful in a classroom setting.
jbdrury

Re-thinking Newsweek and U.S. News Rankings - 0 views

  • Re-thinking the Rankings
  • B-CC had been ranked as the nation’s 64th best high school on the 2008 Newsweek list, but it was missing from U.S. News’ top 100. One parent e-mailed: “Should I be worried?”
  • In the 2009 Newsweek rankings, released in June, four county schools (Richard Montgomery, B-CC, Thomas S. Wootton and Winston Churchill) were ranked among the nation’s top 100, with two others (Walt Whitman and Walter Johnson) narrowly missing
  • ...31 more annotations...
    • jbdrury
       
      Not to detract from MCPS, but I have often wondered if the fact that the designer of the index happens to live in the Bethesda is at all a coincidence?
  • Most years, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has more schools in the top 100 of both lists than any other school system in the country
  • rankings validate that the school system is “seeing the benefits of providing the academic support that allows our students to aim high and achieve at the highest levels.
  • But do the rankings really mean much?
  • I feel obliged to question the validity of the methods used to rank high schools.
    • jbdrury
       
      This is the basic explanation for how Newsweek ranks its schools; interesting to note that it is based almost solely on a sort of "preparation for college" mindset
  • for ignoring graduation rates and achievement gaps among socioeconomic and ethnic segments.
    • jbdrury
       
      The author speaks directly with the designer of Newsweek's index
  • Mathews’ goal is to improve students’ academic preparation, especially in lower-and middle-income neighborhood schools. His solution is to expose more students to challenging course work, and he unapologetically describes his purpose as “advocacy as well as evaluation.
  • He says the Challenge Index’s key attributes make it the singular best measure of a school’s quality: It can be easily understood; it points directly to implementing positive change through rigorous course offerings; and it can be applied meaningfully to all schools—unlike quality evaluations based on traditional measures such as test scores, which, he says, are inherently biased toward schools in wealthier, upper-middle-class neighborhoods.
    • jbdrury
       
      As a side note; this is my former social studies teacher and the person I credit most with making me want to become a teacher
  • Walter Johnson Principal Christopher Garran
  • Critics
  • have attacked the Challenge Index for not effectively capturing what it purports to measure (school quality), in part because it doesn’t gauge student achievement, only the number of rigorous course exams taken.
  • Newsweek ranks schools based on the Challenge Index, which was developed by Washington Post education reporter (and Bethesda resident) Jay Mathews. A school’s Challenge Index score is the number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge tests taken by all students in a school year divided by the number of graduating seniors. (AP courses are well-known; IB and Cambridge also consist of rigorous courses for which students can receive college credit. Like AP, their standardized exams are graded by outside examiners.)
    • jbdrury
       
      U.S. News also uses its own "college prep" index, but includes standardized test results, and takes socio-economic and racial differences into account
  • U.S. News’ approach
  • far more computationally complex
  • a school must do significantly better on standardized state English and math tests than statistically expected given its economic makeup; be in the top half of its state (approximately) in the performance of its minority students
  • “College Readiness” formula combines two components: the percentage of 12th-graders who had taken an AP or IB exam during or before their senior year; and the percentage who passed at least one exam—equivalent to an AP test score of 3 and an IB score of 4.
    • jbdrury
       
      He also directly quotes the manager of the U.S. News' index
  • U.S. News project, cites three ways its methodology is superior: “We measure success [tests passed]—not just quantity of tests taken. We factor in how well schools do in serving economically disadvantaged students and minorities. And we recognize schools within their respective state.”
  • The U.S. News rankings have been attacked by education experts for intermixing highly selective “elite” schools, such as Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va.—currently their top-ranked school in the U.S.—with schools having open admissions
  • Unlike U.S. News, Mathews eliminates some academically elite schools, setting the cutoff at the level of the highest average SAT/ACT scores of any “normal enrollment” school in the country.
  • “It would be deceptive for us to put them [schools above this threshold] on this list [because] the Challenge Index has been designed to honor schools that have done the best job in persuading average students to take college-level courses and tests. It does not work for schools that have no, or almost no, average students.”
  • As of 2009, schools with AP exam pass rates lower than 10 percent (schools that would have made the list in previous years) have also been eliminated from the main Newsweek ranking. Most of these schools, which are typically located in low-income neighborhoods, have recently introduced their students to academically challenging courses as a form of “shock therapy.”
    • jbdrury
       
      A summary of the author's thoughts; pro's and con's of both methods
  • Just as the Challenge Index is too limited in its concept of best schools, the U.S. News procedures try to cover too much. The crux of the problem is combining three essentially different criteria (college readiness, overcoming economic disadvantage and minimizing ethnic group disparities) into one ranking. Schools that excel in one aren’t necessarily those that excel in the other(s). Some schools that do the greatest job of preparing their minority students might not have total-school achievement scores that are among the best. Other schools characterized by superlative overall college readiness might score only slightly above average relative to their economic profile. In trying to incorporate “economic disadvantage” and the reduction of ethnic group (minority) achievement gaps together with schoolwide high achievement, the U.S. News ranking risks confounding different educational objectives. Depth and breadth of performance, and exceeding expectations, should be reported separately, rather than conjoined. Separate rankings would be easier to understand, more informative and less disputable—although perhaps less likely to help sell magazines.
  • Several principals, including Whitman’s Goodwin, noted how nonacademic programs that help students succeed and are a huge part of some students’ lives (arts, music, sports, civic activities, etc.) are not examined.
  • comparing large and small schools can be misleading
  • eferring to the many qualitative features that go into making a great school, Doran says, “The rankings are measuring the brain of the school—not the heart of the school.”
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    Having grown up in Bethesda, I am well aware of the preoccupation with the ranking of U.S. schools. This article shares some insight into how two of the more popular (or circulated) ranking systems come up with their results.
Jonathon Gordon

PBS Teachers | Resources For The Classroom - 1 views

    • David Loudon
       
      You can select different time periods/themes to search through. The four most prominent sections are Civics, World History, U.S. History and Cultural Studies.
    • David Loudon
       
      The problem with this site is that the links they provide are not often scholarly, and as such aren't as reliable as other sources may be.
  • Source: NOVA 60.0 1 Article/Essay Discover the story of how Dale Larson saved 29 schoolchildren during a 1928 tornado in Thurston County, Nebraska. Imagine how the events of that tornado would have been different with the current advances in severe weather warning systems. Details&nbsp;» Tags: 6-8, 9-12, Science &amp; Tech, Social Studies, Geology &amp; Natural Disasters, Meteorology, Historical Perspective
    • Jonathon Gordon
       
      Searching on this site is extremely easy. By using tags similar to DIIGO, teachers can search for exact lessons or ideas to improve lessons. 
  • the.News: Woody Biomass - Nebraska Source: PBS NewsHour 60.0 0 Resource Set Analyze the use of woody biomass as a fuel. Understand the carbon cycle, calculate your carbon footprint and formulate a policy position on using woody biomass to produce energy. Details&nbsp;»
    • Jonathon Gordon
       
      Classroom resources are not limited to just lesson plans, they also include on/offline activities for students; grade level specific in all cases. 
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  • Earth Days: Technology - Conveniences and Consequences Source: American Experience
    • Jonathon Gordon
       
      The sources from this site come from various PBS programs including "American Experience", "PBS Newshour", and "NOVA". 
  • Classroom Resources Discussions Professional Development Classroom Resources
    • Jonathon Gordon
       
      This is a great website for teachers. It is a credible source of information with multiple options for improving lessons plans. 
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    This website is provided by PBS for teachers to use to help with different classroom applications. It offers teachers the ability get classroom resources, start discussion boards with other educators, and professional development tools. 
Jonathon Gordon

Watergate and the Constitution - 2 views

  • a memo to the Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski, was written by Jaworski's staff as he was considering whether or not to indict Nixon.
    • Jonathon Gordon
       
      The lesson plan gets its direct information from a document that was used in the Nixon hearings
  • This lesson would likely work best after an introductory lesson on Watergate.
    • Jonathon Gordon
       
      Important that the writer of this lesson suggests that students will need prior knowledge on Watergate
  • The lesson is centered around a primary document from the Watergate scandal, and requires students to read the Constitution.
    • Jonathon Gordon
       
      The lesson uses primary source documents which help students learn to read with a historical eye. 
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Historical background is detailed and accurate. The document is from The National Archives.
    • Jonathon Gordon
       
      All historical documents come from the National Archive making them historically accurate 
  • Yes The lesson is clearly presented and is easily adapted to emphasize either History or Civic standards.
    • Jonathon Gordon
       
      This website is very useful for social studies teachers, especially those teaching history, because it helps teachers design valuable lesson plans with accurate information. 
  • One of the suggested activities asks students to identify the specific role each branch of government played in the Watergate affair. Another activity asks students to apply specific sections of the Constitution and determine the role particular constitutional powers and rights played in the Watergate affair.
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    This site provides history teachers with information for helping with their classes. This part of the site includes lesson plans with this one specifically on "Watergate and the Constitution." 
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