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James Leslie

Carter Center Teacher Resource Center - Middle & High School Lessons - 2 views

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    Another page with links to teaching resources and lesson plans.
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    I just took a glance at one of the lesson plans from the Carter Center and I love how thorough it is. Great resource!
Maria Mahon

N.B.A. Players Return to Where They Once Hastened to Leave - College - NYTimes.com - 1 views

  • “I have a younger brother, and it sets an example for him and how important it is,” said Westbrook, who declared for the N.B.A. after his sophomore season at U.C.L.A.
  • People who criticize me for that have something to think about, I think, because that’s an important time in anybody’s life,” Carter said at the time. “There’s not one person who could sit there and say that they would miss their graduation for nothing.”
    • Maria Mahon
       
      Role models who pursue education should be made available to the students, I think. Rather than not wanting to discuss sports stars or entertainers, I think it would be great to hold up the ones who do prize education.
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    This article caught my attention because my practicum placement cooperating teacher has a bulletin board and he encourages students to bring in newspaper articles that catch their attention. However, he has said that he hopes that they will not all be about sports stars and entertainers. Yet, the students are constantly talking about entertainers (especially Lil Wayne - he's all the rage in middle schools apparently!) and sports starts. I feel like a story like this could be used to help inspire the students to stay in school - seeing people they admire commit to their education could be very valuable.
James Leslie

Considerations in Teaching Culturally Diverse Children :: Educational Resources :: ADD,... - 2 views

  • There has been growing concern about how best to meet the educational challenge of learner diversity. Some researchers (National, 1991) have raised questions about the efficacy of teacher education programs which attempt to deal with learner diversity and which explore changes in prospective teachers' roles in modifying instruction. However, other researchers (i.e., Banks & Banks, 1989; Bennett, 1990; Sleeter & Grant, 1988) have recommended that the following be included within the teacher education curriculum: At least one course in multicultural education that takes into consideration the needs of all students Information about the history and culture of students from a wide number of ethnic, racial, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds Content about the contributions made by various groups Information about first- and second-language acquisition and effective teaching practices for working with students from limited English proficient (LEP) backgrounds Field experiences and student teaching opportunities with students from varying backgrounds
  • This background is important for the teacher to have in order to understand the rights and responsibilities of students as well as of teachers and parents. While having this information may not eliminate the stereotypes or misconceptions that teachers have about groups, it can serve to inform more directly future instructional decisions which they will make.
  • Many African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asian Americans have had educational experiences where they suffered as a result of negative social, economic, and educational policies (Banks & Banks, 1989). Practices such as referral of these students in disproportionate numbers to special education classes continue even today. With additional information, teachers may be able to ask further questions or request technical assistance in providing appropriate instruction before a referral is considered.
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  • Communication can be increased by using the home language for conferences and providing written notices in both languages for those parents who have difficulty with English. Community liaisons, aides, translators, or volunteers who are bilingual can assist in this area. The teacher can solicit more participation and cooperation from parents if the message is communicated appropriately.
  • The incorporation of information about first- and second-language acquisition and effective teaching practices for working with students from LEP backgrounds is critical for teacher planning. Information about the language strengths and needs of students will be helpful for working with special personnel such as bilingual teachers and English as a second language teachers.
  • here is a need for field experiences and student teaching opportunities to work with diverse students. Prospective teachers can benefit interacting with these students before they enter the field and while they are still able to dialogue with teacher educators and teachers in the field. It can be a time to design instructional activities which can be applied within a variety of contexts and with different learners. With changes in school populations projected within this decade, it is important for prospective teachers to also have contact with the populations which they will ultimately serve.
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    This is an article on the challenges that can occur in teachings classrooms of diverse children.
Erin Power

National Historic Landmarks, List of sites: National Park Service - 1 views

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    This has a list of historical landmarks in each state.
Erin Power

Video Gallery - Famous Speeches - The History Channel - 2 views

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    This historychannel website has a great collection of speeches, and sections of speeches that would be great to incorporate in a lesson.
Lindsay Andreas

Op-Ed Columnist - The Uneducated American - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • Until now, the results of educational neglect have been gradual — a slow-motion erosion of America’s relative position. But things are about to get much worse, as the economic crisis — its effects exacerbated by the penny-wise, pound-foolish behavior that passes for “fiscal responsibility” in Washington — deals a severe blow to education across the board.
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      The gradual decline of funding priority for education may not be immediately felt but I think the effects later down the road could be bad. I think we take education very much for granted.
  • But these days young Americans are considerably less likely than young people in many other countries to graduate from college. In fact, we have a college graduation rate that’s slightly below the average across all advanced economies.
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      I wonder who he is talking about specifically with this statement? European countries? I wonder how much of an impact in that is because many of them have free higher education, or at least highly subsidized. But then again their tax rates are outrageous. The great thing about our system is that we have a lot of choices, so it's hard to compare in many ways too.
  • For example, the Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported on the plight of California’s community college students. For generations, talented students from less affluent families have used those colleges as a stepping stone to the state’s public universities. But in the face of the state’s budget crisis those universities have been forced to slam the door on this year’s potential transfer students. One result, almost surely, will be lifetime damage to many students’ prospects — and a large, gratuitous waste of human potential.
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      I think this is a very interesting example, it always seems to be a question of equity or choice.
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  • Beyond that, we need to wake up and realize that one of the keys to our nation’s historic success is now a wasting asset. Education made America great; neglect of education can reverse the process.
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      "Not a wasting asset" is so on point. I think it is hard for policy makers to realize that results are not instant. It is a hard balance, to look like you are making gains quickly or willing to wait for systematic change.
Alan Edwards

Race & Place: An African American Community - 0 views

    • Alan Edwards
       
      This website was created and maintained by the Virginia Center for Digital History, the Carter Woodson Center for African and Afro-American Studies, and the University of Virginia. You can contact these folks about the project via email.
    • Alan Edwards
       
      The site emphasizes a great holistic approach to studying an African American community in Virginia after the fall of the Confederate States of America and up through the first half of the twentieth century. They include oral histories, maps of Charlottesville, census reports, city records, political materials, personal papers of residents, newspapers (including two African American papers), as well as images.
    • Alan Edwards
       
      For educators, I think this might be a great way to teach Jim Crow and/or Reconstruction in the South through exploratory web quests. If the students have access to computers in a school, they could investigate the website at their own pace and answer essential questions or pose questions themselves for others to answer. Also, teachers could use the primary sources as classroom aides for their students to examine.
Joellen Kriss

All About Explorers | Everything you've ever wanted to know about every explorer who ev... - 1 views

    • Joellen Kriss
       
      Looks like it's pretty real, informational.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      The For teachers link shows teachers how to use this in classrooms
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      Something weird happened with my sticky notes, so it'll all be in this one here.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      The Explorers A to Z link sends you to the explorers page, where the real stuff gets done.
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    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.
Debbie Moore

The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War - 1 views

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    The Valley of the Shadow (also called the Valley Project) website is a part of the Virginia Center for Digital History at the University of Virginia. The material in the site documents the lives of two communities during the Civil War period; one community from the South and one community from the North. The site is an online library or an archive filled with primary resources such as letter, diaries, census records, government records, newspapers, speeches, maps, images and other materials. The site contains thousands of documents. The archive is divided into three sections: The Eve of War (Fall 1859-Spring 1861), The War Years (Spring 1861-Spring 1865), and The Aftermath (Spring 1865-Fall 1870). An example of one such document is a letter written in August, 1864 by a young militiaman to his parents telling them that he is well and that he will be sending home his pay. I have added a few lines because I find it so interesting and compelling. The letter comes from a camp near Petersburg. Dear Parents it is with the Greatest of Pleashure that I seat My self to inform you and My Brothers and Sisters that I like it well and am well feal Hartey like ite beter now than Ever I did I hope that youens Ar all well and all the Rest about [unclear: tomstorm] ile now state to you that I Received your Letter last Knight And was Glad to here from youens And was glad to here that Youenes wasened yet dissturbed By The Johneys Rebes you Stated in your letter that tha Wes moveing every thing out Of Town now if tha wold be men tha wold take In the same document but another page, the young man writes about his pay. Read this letter we ar getting Paid off to day I draw 1.20.10 that is one hundrad 20 dollars 10 cts Ile ex press 1 hundrade 10 dollars and mebbey fifteen dollars I dont want to ceep so mutch money here I cend it to you and if you want to make youse of it whi you may get the Chirldren wat ever tha want that is in the eating line And Close but you must be A littl
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    I ran out of room in the box above.....anyway, I am not certain what the citation rules are regarding this but I found the letter on the website that I have bookmarked, The Valley of the Shadow. Anyway, it is a great site….there is soooo much more.
Debbie Moore

The National Portrait Gallery/Education/Teacher Programs - 1 views

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    The National Portrait Gallery is one of the Smithsonian Museums in the DC area. The great thing about NPG is that it has resources available online for teachers. There are a variety of school programs and teacher programs but the best offerings are the online exhibitions. It is like having the gallery right there in your classroom. Some of those exhibits include George Washington: A national Treasure, Presidents in Waiting, and A Brush with History. The online exhibits are usable in the classroom directly from a computer or lap top. For example, the George Washington online exhibit begins with a famous portrait accompanied by an audio explanation of the portrait and the symbolic and historical items found within the portrait. Using the portrait as a starting point provides students with a visual association of that person and the historical events surrounding that person. There is also a link to biographical information about Washington and his role in our country's history. The Teacher's Guide associated with the George Washington exhibit includes lesson plans, activities and other teaching ideas; all printable and useable in class. NPG also offers two publications both of which are available on line. "The Patriot Papers," designed for students, features various historical events in an interesting and engaging fashion. For example, there is a "Special Edition on Slavery" featuring information on slavery and the key players involved. One of the articles in this publication is "A Chat with Harried: 1869" and also includes her portrait. The second publication, NPG in your Classroom, provides information to teachers on how to integrate NPG into classroom lessons. There are many more valuable tools on this site such as a "Reading Portraiture Guide for Educators." Check out the site….it is awesome!!!
jbdrury

Integrating Film and Television into Social Studies Instruction. ERIC Digest. - 0 views

  • Visual media also address different learning modalities, making material more accessible to visual and aural learners
    • jbdrury
       
      Addresses diverse learners issue.
  • However, the very qualities that make film and video so popular present problems as wel
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  • It reinforces the passive viewing and unquestioning acceptance of received material that accompanies growing up in a video environment.
  • That passivity and lack of critical awareness is anathema to a democracy.
  • Did this production influence other works? social movements?
  • an excellent starting point is John E. O'Connor's IMAGE AS ARTIFACT: THE HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF FILM AND TELEVISION
  • (1) Questions about Content.
    • jbdrury
       
      Another good source that I used in my class with Brec is called "Reading in the Dark", which is geared specifically for using film in the English classroom; however, the book provides a review of this basic terminology of film analysis mentioned here.
  • Teachers should be familiar with editing techniques, camera angles, the uses of sound, and other aspects of the presentation.
  • Beyond the cultural and social aspects of the film, what influences were at work in shaping the document?
  • (2) Questions about Production.
  • (3) Questions about Reception.
  • Thirty years ago this meant teaching students to read the newspaper critically, to identify bias there, and to distinguish between factual reporting and editorializing. Critical viewing skills must be added to this effort.
  • FOUR FRAMEWORKS FOR HISTORICAL INQUIRY
    • jbdrury
       
      This site doesn't go quite as in depth as I would hope, however these four frameworks do manage to get one thinking about the different ways in which film might be used in the classroom
  • (1) The Moving Image as Representation of History.
  • (2) The Moving Image as Evidence for Social and Cultural History
  • While film can serve as an engaging introduction to a subject, students should be aware of the constant shading and biases, why these occur, and what they accomplish.
  • (3) Actuality Footage as Evidence for Historical Fact.
    • jbdrury
       
      The book I mention in my sticky note below has a great section on critically analyzing documentaries, which some people have a bad habit of regarding as "fact", simply because the film is labeled as a documentary.
  • Documentary footage, however, is never wholly objective.
  • An examination of filming and editing, circumstances surrounding production and distribution, and the producer's intentions are essential for studying such material.
  • (4) The History of the Moving Image as Industry and Art Form
    • jbdrury
       
      I have been looking online for awhile, and most of the sources that come up are actual books for purchase like these - I might cross-reference some of these titles with our university library to see which ones come up
  • "Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies" at http://h-net2.msu.edu/~filmhis/.
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    This is sort of a basic review of how and why we as teachers might use film in the classroom. This is my first post on this issue; I am searching for some more in-depth sites that might have models for lesson plans. Many sites have lesson plans based around a specific film; a site that provides lesson plan templates that are applicable across a wide variety of films would be more applicable/useful. However, the comments made here by Paris provide a good base from which to start thinking about the idea.
Lindsay Andreas

Association for the Study of African American Life and History - 1 views

  • Journal of African American History
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      This is an important scholarly journal for African American history and a great resource to keep in mind.
  • Barack Obama and the 2009Black History Theme
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      The other great thing about having this website, every year they set the official theme. At my after-school program we use the ASALH theme for our own Gallery of Black History every year, this year's theme will be "The history of Black Economic Empowerment." I think the themes are helpful to focus study because there is so many different people and ideas you could potentially cover, it can be overwhelming. Last year I liked that they incorporated Obama and the centennial of the NAACP.
  • Order your 2009 Black History Theme Products Now!
    • Lindsay Andreas
       
      It is always helpful to see what books and other kinds of classroom resources are available. Particularly, these kinds of resources are approved by the organization, so you know that they are quality. Even if you don't want to buy them, getting the names of the books, so you can get them from the library for free is always useful.
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.
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    • 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

National Constitution Center: Interactive Constitution - 1 views

  • Search theInteractive Constitution:
  • Discover how the Constitution relates to more than 300 indexed topics from school prayer to civil rights.
    • Laura Wood
       
      You can search by topic and see how different hot topics relate to the Constitution
  • Search the text of the Constitution by Supreme Court decisions.
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  • Search the text of the Constitution by Supreme Court decisions.
    • Laura Wood
       
      So this I think is super rad, you can search by Supreme Court cases and see which piece of the Constitution each case centered around
  • This Interactive Constitution is based on The Words We Live By:
    • Laura Wood
       
      Very Important! So this interpretation of the Constitution is taken from the perspective of Linda R. Monk who wrote the oft used text "The Words we Live By" and "Bill of Rights: A Users Guide". For more info about Linda Monk, check out http://lindamonk.com/
  • Interactive Constitution:
    • Laura Wood
       
      You can search the Constitution by keyword!
    • Laura Wood
       
      At the bottom right of the page is a button where you can pring the constitution in its entirety
    • Laura Wood
       
      At the top of this home page are various boxes that say "Preamble," "Article I," etc. If you click any of these, what comes up is that section of the Constitution. If you hover over a section of the text, a portion will be highlighted. If you click on that section, that bit of text will be explained below. The interpretation given of what that text means comes from Linda R. Monk's book. There are also sometimes interpretations given by Supreme Court justices or other additional information.
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    Interactive Constitution! Broken down into Preamble, Articles, and Amendments, which are each broken down into the original text, and then if you click different pieces of the text it explains what they mean. You can also search the entire constitution for key words, search by topics, or search by court case
Maria Mahon

Au Contraire! Rhee Disses Layoff Claims | NBC Washington - 1 views

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    I happened to see this clip on TV this morning while having my cereal and getting ready to head off to my practicum placement. In it, Rhee addresses the security issues and says that the security company "went under" and that is why police were called in. This was a big topic among my teachers today at school.... they feel that the story about the security company "going under" is false and are pretty angry that they had NO security last Friday and that teachers had to take turns outside the school acting as security.
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    Oh good gravy. What next?!
Lindsay Andreas

Students Skip Classes to Protest D.C. Teacher Layoffs - washingtonpost.com - 0 views

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    Video of the McKinley student protest outside Rhee's office building. Notice that they are chanting, "No teachers, no peace"--a play on words from a popular civil rights era chant "No justice, no peace." Tomorrow is going to be utter chaos, my cooperating teacher is there but no more Mr. Hawkins who was a wonderful man. :(
Erin Power

Reauthorization of ESEA: Why We Can't Wait -- Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Mo... - 1 views

    • Joellen Kriss
       
      What a conundrum this is...
  • People want support from Washington but not interference. They want accountability but not oversight. They want national leadership but not at the expense of local control.
  • And now that I'm here I'm even more convinced that the best solutions begin with parents and teachers working together in the home and the classroom.
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  • Many teachers complain bitterly about NCLB's emphasis on testing. Principals hate being labeled as failures. Superintendents say it wasn't adequately funded.
  • And many parents just view it as a toxic brand that isn't helping children learn.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      I like how he/his speech writers recognize here that schooling is something that belongs to the states. It seems like he's saying that the federal government is just stepping in for a moment, until things start going well.
  • Until states develop better assessments—which we will support and fund through Race to the Top—we must rely on standardized tests to monitor progress—but this is an important area for reform and an important conversation to have.
  • it places too much emphasis on absolute test scores rather than student growth—and it is overly prescriptive in some ways while it is too blunt an instrument of reform in others.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      SUPER DUPER BINGO! NCLB encourages hig TESTING standards, but not LEARNING standards!! Good for you Arne (that's what he wants his staff to call him...in case you didn't know.)
  • NCLB is that it doesn't encourage high learning standards. In fact, it inadvertently encourages states to lower them. The net effect is that we are lying to children and parents by telling kids they are succeeding when, in fact, they are not.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      This is one of the issues in my practicum schools and one of the big debates there right now.
  • We don't believe that local educators need a prescription for success. But they do need a common definition of success—focused on student achievement, high school graduation and success and attainment in college.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      ...because the goals are and always have been, decent, but the means, are and always have been, bad (to keep it clean.)
  • In my view, we should be tight on the goals—with clear standards set by states that truly prepare young people for college and careers—but we should be loose on the means for meeting those goals.
  • They are simply not ready for college-level work when they leave high school.
    • Joellen Kriss
       
      But do they really?
  • Before we do, however, we want to hear from you. We want your input.
  • We don't need another study. We must stop simply admiring the problem. We need action.
  • And so the work of reauthorizing ESEA begins in states and districts across America—among educators and policy makers, parents and community leaders. This work is as urgent as it is important.
  • And yet we are still waiting for the day when every child in America has a high quality education that prepares him or her for the future.
  • Our shared goals are clear: higher quality schools; improved student achievement; more students going to college; closing the achievement gap; and more opportunities for children to learn and succeed.
  • Let's build a law that respects the honored, noble status of educators—who should be valued as skilled professionals rather than mere practitioners and compensated accordingly.
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    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.
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    The Duncan speech we were talking about in class
James Leslie

GO.HRW.COM - 1 views

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    This page contains links to strategies that you can use to help struggling readers.
James Leslie

Social Studies Homework Help - 2 views

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    This site has a variety of resources that can help students and teachers with studying at home.
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    This site has a variety of resources that can help students and teachers with studying at home.
jbdrury

The Great Famine in Ireland - 0 views

    • jbdrury
       
      This is another privately-run site. The chief qualification for the two men operating the site is that "both have lived in Ireland for their whole lives." This should be considered when using this site.
    • jbdrury
       
      The demographic section is interesting; it has a map showing where most of the potato farming took place. I didn't realize it was concentrated chiefly in the western part of Ireland.
    • jbdrury
       
      "The Potato" section provides a little bit of the science behind how the potato blight works - including a picture of a 'blighted' potato
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    • jbdrury
       
      "Emigration" has a simplified chart showing the emigration patterns to different parts of the world (USA, Canada, Britain)
  • This section was written for The Ireland Story by Wesley Johnston.
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    One more interesting website with lots of resources on the history of Ireland and its people; this specific site I've tagged is yet again regarding the potato blight. It some more images that could be used in the classroom.
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