This web site is pretty old, but as of at least 2004 it was still being updated. The creators have been traveling the country since 1997 and at every place they go, they post a unique "postcard" and information about the site. They make "stamps" out of important wildlife, people and others. This could be a fantastic and fun teaching tool for younger grades to provide an interesting way to learn about the country.

So this article from the Washington Post talks about a report that examines college graduation rates. The findings are illustrative of the situation Lindsay and I encountered at McKinley this semester and I found it interesting that there's data that supports this. The advice I'd give people who want to decrease the gap (and I'm sure Lindsay would agree): schools need to be preparing these students for rigorous college work loads instead of coddling them and focusing on just getting them into college.

This is the web site of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The organization is dedicated to the study of American History and aims to promote this study among teachers, students, scholars and the general public. Their website provides something of a one stop shop for American History. They have a store where you can buy history related items, there is an document repository and an area for educators. It's pretty great.

The website for Colonial Williamsburg is in a word, sweet. Not only do they have areas for teachers and other research but they offer a ton of multimedia items. There's a daily today in the 1770's newsletter that has selections from the Virginia Gazette and that's just the beginning of the "wealth of online resources" (there words not mine) that they provide. What makes it so great is that Colonial Williamsburg is relatively speaking, so close! Using this website when teaching about 18th century life and then taking a field trip there would be a great way to tie everything together.

So this isn't article doesn't have a practical application, but it is very heart warming and inspiring. It's about an 81 year old guidance counselor in northern Virginia who has actually dedicated her life to serving her students. She continually works to build upon her skills and hone her craft and really seems to be the exemplar of what an educator should be.

Ok so this is not as ridiculous as the last video I posted I swear (but it's still a little ridiculous). This guy performs a rap about Alexander Hamilton in the character of Aaron Burr. Definitely a way to make learning about an important man a little more fun. Probably only for high school students though as there's some minor language in it.

So I got this link from a friend of mine and I had no idea what he was sending me. It didn't make any sense until he told me that the artist is an Italian singer who sang this song in an American accent and so the song is basically what English sounds like to people who don't speak it. And then I had a light bulb moment-- what a FANTASTIC way to illustrate cross cultural differences. Show this video and ask the students to comment on it and then tell them that this is what songs sound like to people who don't speak the same language as us. That's just ONE possibility...there are so many more!

I have no idea either! Which I guess is what it sounds like to Italian people when they listen to like Britney Spears or something like that. I think it would be a cool thing to use to teach about cross cultural communications or something like that.

This article is about a speech Arne Duncan gave about the reevaluation of teacher programs in the country. Every time I read something else he's said or written, I like Arne Duncan more. He knows his stuff from a practical standpoint and goes where it matters to get his information: right to teachers and students. This article is small but pretty interesting.

Part of Enchantedlearning.com, this site has easily accessible and fairly comprehensive information about different topics. This page specifically is about explorers (clearly) and could be very useful as either a place to direct your students to for their own research OR a personal crash course.

So this web site is a really fantastic way to teach critical reading skills. It appears to be a very real web site to teach about explorers. In actuality, it's a trick. The biographies of the explorers are full of misinformation, like one explorer inventing the cell phone and another having dreams of being an Olympic athlete. It's a fun and interesting way to teach students not to always go with the first thing that they see and not to believe everything they see on the internet.

This web site provides lesson plans using the google earth program. The really fantastic thing about google earth, which many of you I'm sure know, is that one has the ability to see what the geography and layout of an area at a different point in history was, Ancient Rome being one example. It's a really fantastic resource, to show or to use together.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's speech at the Monthly Stakeholders meeting this past week. It's a part of a series of town hall style meetings that the secretary is holding with those who have a stake in the policy they will be shaping: teachers, parents and others. The speech is interesting mostly because, what he's calling for sounds great to me, but I wonder if there's any possibility of anything this reasonable ever happening. Secretary Duncan seems like an ok guy (didn't know he is a former superintendent) but I still wonder what the next big thing is going to turn out to be and how/if it's going to help.

So there aren't a whole lot of floating sticky notes on the page but this site is really cool. It's you tube...for teachers! It allows you to upload your own video's and use other teachers for your classroom. It's got educational videos, how to videos, audio files and a lot more. I think this could be a really valuable resource.

This Washington Post article talks about the competative hiring market for heads of private schools in the DC area, but also raises some interesting points about school culture in the process.

Marty Hittelman offers one of the most comprehensive, well rounded opinions on the current policy reforms being enacted. It covers everything, which might be something I think because I agree with it all, but just read it. It's pretty good.

The Discovery Education website provides some really great resources for students and teachers. It can provide a nice jumping off point for one's own lessons and activities.

Like the other article I posted, this one deals with the IB program, but rather about it's possible implementation in a school district on Long Island (where I'm from.) It highlights all of the benefits of the program, where the other article highlighted the "weak" points of the course of study.

This is a letter written by a parent into the Washington Post Education section. As an IB Diploma recipient, I find this extremely interesting, as the parent ignores all of the wonderful and beneficial things that one gets out of an IB education, questioning it because it doesn't allow his daughter to accelerate her math classes.