Technology Sites

Book Questions

Current Events

Websites for Professional Development

Primary Sources

     

 

 

                                       

 

PRIMARY SOURCES

 

 

 

 

    Teachers—Are you looking for some great sites for getting primary

information?  Below are some excellent sites.  When you have time take a look at them.  They will also be on the library’s home page under teacher information.

 

Smithsonian Artifact & Analysis

http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/idealabs/ap/index.htm

Designed as a companion site for an advanced placement history course, many of the learning activities may be used with all classes.  Artifacts analyzed range from Fiesta dishes to jeans to Barbie dolls to lunchboxes.  Student worksheets and writing assignments are included. 

 

History Now

http://www.historynow.org

Provides a wealth of teaching ideas along with access to primary source materials.  A teacher resource link provides lesson plans.  The quality of materials and thought-provoking discussions make this a true gem.

 

Research Channel

http://www.researchchannel.org

Large number of on-demand videos dealing with research activities at universities and corporations.  Video library includes subject headings on arts and humanities, engineering, health and medicine, social sciences, and K-12 education.  Many project links.

 

American President

http://www.americanpresident.org

Treasure trove of primary source material housed at the University of Virginia.  This site provides a nonpartisan look at presidential history.  A vast number of images, speech and interview transcripts, and actual White House recordings are available.  An exhibit on the Nixon resignation and a newly started oral history project on the presidency of Jimmy Carter are included.  A great starting point for finding primary sources on any U.S. President. 

 

Cybrary of the Holocaust

http://www.remember.org

    Founded in 1995, Remember.org (A Cybrary of the Holocaust) is an educational community of contributors, sharing the stories of survival through art, photography, painting, and remembrance.  You can take a virtual tour of Auschwitz.  Lesson plans for students in grades 4-12 are indexed and available. 

 

University of Michigan Library’s Documents Center

http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/docnewsnew.html

Provides access to news articles, video clips, and audio clips for use with current events research.  The 2006 archive includes information on avian flu, Supreme Court nominations, Iraqi war debate, domestic wiretapping and other topics.  Primary information on Sam Alito and his nomination is included.

History and Politics Out Loud

http://www.hpol.org

Provides access to over 100 audio files indexed by date, speaker and title.  Speeches and interviews with world leaders, past U.S. Presidents, Supreme Court judges, and other political figures—starting with the 1930s—can be found on this site. 

 

Great Speeches from the History Channel

http://www.historychannel.com

Another source for a large number of speeches.  When you get to the site scroll down and click on speeches. 

 

Lost and Found Sound

http://www.npr.org/programs

Produced b y National Public Radio, includes a number of primary sources related to various aspects of the world   The archives are rich in history.  The ‘Audio Artifacts” link includes a number of files never used in stories.  One such item contains a number of tapes on 20th-century war.  This site provides a number of excellent starting points and background information for students studying a specific period in history.

 

Geostat Center

http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/

Here students can examine data from the 1790-1960 censuses.  Information categories include population, education and literacy, agriculture, slave population, and ethnicity, as well as economic and employment information. 

 

Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education

http://www.k12science.org/realtimedatasites.html

Information on animals, weather, oceanography, space, earth science, and other categories.  In addition there are links to a number of archived data sets, which can be used as an introduction to analyzing data.  One example is tracking radio-tagged w hales and seals via satellite. 

 

 

 

 

Websites for Professional Development

 

 

These are some of the best online professional development sites for educators.

 

http://learn.amnh.org     Seminars on Science

Seminars developed and facilitated by the American Museum of Natural History.  Taught by scientists and educators, the various courses are a mixture of online discussion, projects, and reading assignments.  In addition, the site links to educational exhibits at the museum. 

 

http://www.unitedstreaming.com   United Streaming

Offers more than 80 professional development options available from United Streaming.  On this site, educators will find video clips from the Association of supervision and Curriculum Development, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, United Learning, and sunburst. topics range from best practices, writing instruction, teaching reading, and science and math projects.  Each video is indexed via clips and includes a teacher’s guide. 

 

http://www.atomiclearning.com/home   Atomic Learning

Here you will find a number of well-produced tutorials on both Windows and Macintosh software—for example, free tutorials on Windows Movie Maker

 

http://www.learner.org/index.html   Annenberg Media Learning

You can investigate the school reform movement, learn more about teaching writing, brush up on your own math skills or help teach someone with a geometry concept, or learn more about the constitution.  There is a myriad of options.  The courses are all online and registration is free.  And there is a possibility of obtaining graduate credit from Colorado State University. 

 

http://www.memory.loc.gov/learn/            Library of Congress

Presented are instructions on how to use primary sources, search the American Memory collections, and integrate the various collections into the classroom.  Each workshop contains a brief overview, a complete facilitator’s guide and practice exercises.  Be sure to examine the PowerPoint Pizazz option and the Students as Historians option. 

 

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/   Concepts to Classroom

This is a series of free online professional development workshops produced by a New York public broadcast station.  Topics include inquiry-based learning, using multiple intelligences, interdisciplinary learning, assessment, evaluation, and curriculum redesign, cooperative and collaborative learning, teaching to academic standards, WebQuests, Why the Net? An Interactive Tool for the classroom.  Each workshop contains an explanation section, a series of video and web site examples, and a series of questions to explore the implementation of the topic, and each ends with a fully detailed implementation section.

 

 

 

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/archives/virtualwkshp.shtml  Education World

See what four-block model, multiple intelligences, and project-based learning through these virtual workshops.  Each workshop includes a brief explanation and a variety of Internet resources for additional information  THE SIDEBARS OFFER MANY OPTIONS FOR SUPPORTING NEW TEACHERS, gathering best practice ideas and considering discipline strategies that work. 

 

http://www.intel.com/education/guide/index.htm  Intel

Intel has developed some excellent online options for helping teachers integrate technology into the classroom.  Five workshops contain presentation slides, facilitator notes, and presentation handouts. Facilitator notes are comprehensive. 

 

 

 

CURRENT EVENTS SITES

 

 

SingingFish     http://www.singingfish.com   

A search engine devoted solely to audio and video sources.  Simple interface allows for easy user control of categories and media.  Standard search strategies for phrases and other Boolean options work here as well.  In addition a family filter option helps to provide age-appropriate resources as results. 

 

The Why files    http://whyfiles.org

This site introduces students to a new story each week.  This site offers superbly designed web pages that are easy to read, and each week includes an in depth article and a brief front page story.  Teachers will find helpful classroom materials as well as a large archive of lesson activities.  “The Cool Science Images” section also provides materials for teaching in depth questioning and scientific inquiry skills.

 

Newseum   http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages    Explore over 450 front pages of newspapers from 47 countries by visiting the front-page option at the Newseum.  Indexed in alphabetical order, this site provides an image of the front page of each newspaper and a corresponding PDF, which can be used for activities dealing with various points of view and for detecting bias in news coverage.

 

Places in the News   http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/plnews.html

Is a feature of the map division of the U.S. Library of Congress.  Here learners find information and high-quality maps for areas in the news.  The maps can be viewed in detail by using the various zoom options on the site.  In addition, there is a collection of over 10,000 maps available.

 

Science Daily    http://www.sciencedaily.com

This site is updated every 15 minutes and covers a range of science topics for high school students.  Students can access daily videos on science, space, technology and nature.

 

BBC News Country Profiles    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles

Help students expand country reports by having students use information from other points of view. Students will find an overview from a British vantage, a brief set of facts, a short entry on the current leader with links to further information, and information o the various media in the country. 

 

World News Network   http://www.wnnetwork.com

This global leader in online news has around 300 media partners, ranging from the BBC and CNN to Al Jazeera, All Africa.com, and the New Zealand Herald.  Students will find brief statements from several highlighted articles along with links to the original source and a wealth of topic-oriented links at the homepage.

 

New York times Learning Network    http://www.nytimes.com/learning

 

CNN.com Education with Student News    http://www.cnn.com/EDUCATION

 

 

 

                           BOOK QUESTIONS*

 

 

 

Questions to ask ourselves when we give a reading assignment:

 

Why are we asking our students to read this book?

 

What do we expect the students to know, understand, and do because of this lesson or unit?

 

What are the lifelong learning skills that it contributes to?

 

What specific concepts, knowledge, attitudes, values, and skills do we want the students to develop, practice, consolidate, understand, and achieve by the end of this lesson or unit so that they can continue to learn?

 

How will these concepts, knowledge, attitudes, values, and skills contribute to their understanding of the world? 

 

 

The following can be used with any book a student reads:

 

How did the title prepare you for what the story was about?

 

How did the main character change and develop throughout the story?

 

If you were the main character, how would you have resolved the problem?

 

How did the text and illustrations support your understanding of the story?

 

These are on a deeper more critical level:

 

Did the book meet your expectations?

 

What did you need to know already to understand the text?

 

How did what you already know help you to understand it?

 

What does the writer want you to know?

 

What is the between-the-lines message of the story? 

 

What is this text really about, and what tells you this? 

 

How does that fit with what you already know and believe?

 

Does the author see the world in the same way that you do?

 

What are the key similarities and differences? 

 

What view of the world and values does the author assume that you hold?  How do you know? 

 

Is the author trying to change that perception?

 

Has the author been successful in making you reflect on what you know and believe?

 

How have your knowledge and understandings been challenged by this text? 

 

Where does the author place you in relation to the text and its message? 

 

How does the structure of this text match its purpose and intended audience? 

 

What mechanisms has the author used to introduce and reinforce the message? 

 

How do the language and illustrations influence the message and purpose? 

 

How are the personalities of the various characters developed? 

 

How are age, gender, and cultural groupings portrayed? 

 

How are the relationships between adults and children portrayed? 

 

Which characters are empowered and which are not?

 

Does one character expressing a particular point of view have a prominent or privileged position in the story?

 

How do these relationships influence the perspective of the story? 

 

Who is not in the story but should be?

 

Whose story is not told?

 

Why did the author leave that character out?

 

How does that influence your response to the story?

 

Where does the author place you in relation to the characters?

 

Is the world that the author portrays real or feasible?

 

Has the author created a fantasy world and characters to present a real-world issue in a less threatening way? 

 

How would the text be different if it were told in another time, place, or culture? 

 

Is your interpretation of the text the only one?

 

What kind of person composed the text?

 

Are that person’s personal interests, beliefs and values evident?

 

What would you ask the author about those beliefs if you had the opportunity?

 

 

*I cannot take credit for this.  Barbara Braxton a great librarian wrote an article entitled “One Size Does Not Fit All”.  In it she discussed how we are turning kids off to reading by forcing every student to read the same thing.  If they don’t dress alike why would they all like the same thing?  The article appeared in Teacher Librarian Journal

                                   

 

 

Technology   Technology  Technology

 

                                  

 

 

If you struggle with technology as I do, here are some great sites to visit to learn about what is new out there or if you are “advanced” just to keep up with the new trends.  (This will also be on the library home page for you to make a direct link—Teacher Info Button)

 

http://www.techlearning.com    Tech Learning Site

Visit this site to stay abreast of current trends and issues.  There are new articles on a daily basis, a list of hot topics with selected resources; and index tabs for teachers, tech coordinators and administrators.   Clicking on the “Teacher” tab provides a selection of articles, a quick software tip, a web site of the day, a grants database, and other classroom based information.

 

http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/teachtech/research.shtm  “Technology and Teaching” page of PBS Teacher Source.  Site is divided into 11 categories, including “Visual Media”,  “Student Learning”, and “Leadership and Technology.”

 

http://cosn.org  Consortium for School Networking

This organization provides excellent tools for examining the total cost of owning technology tools; setting up a student tech support team; and managing Internet access, cyber security, and access to one of the newest initiatives on accessible technology.

 

http://www.edutopia.org   Edutopia a web site of the George Lucas Educational Foundation.

This site covers a wide world of technology uses in education.  There are well-crafted video clips of instructional technology that are being used in classrooms, and educators will find multimedia clips, PowerPoint presentations, and reading materials to help them deliver the content with ease.

Each unit is designed to help educators think about the role that technology plays in instruction and how it can help change their classrooms. 

 

http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/TechHelp/VideoHelp/VideoGuide.html

Designed to help students and educators explore the world of video, this project-based site provides concise understandable information on camera selection, lighting, tripod use, and picture composition.  Production, postproduction, and editing information is also included.

Step-by-step activities that students and educators can use as learning activities are included.

 

 

 

http://www.digitalstories.org           Digital Stories

This site serves as a publishing point for educational, fictional, or personal digital stories.  This site is provided by a school district in Illinois, but it allows Internet submissions.  The selected list of resources and tools needed to create digital stories, as well as the examples provided, creates rich options for those who wish to introduce the concept of digital stories to their students. 

 

PODCASTING

 

http://www.learninginhand.com/podcasting   “Podcasting” section of Learninginhand by Tony Vincent.   This site guides visitors through finding and using already developed Podcasts, subscribing to them, understanding the RSS and XML feed options, and setting up the tools to listen to Podcasts.  

 

http://epnweb.org    Education Podcast Network, by David Warlick and the Landmark Project

This site provides and extensive index of options, including curriculum subject areas, grade-level creations and general education options. 

 

 BLOGS   BLOGS   BLOGS

 

http://ianjukes.com/infosavvy/index.php       by Ian Jukes director of the InfoSavvy Group.  Articles that make one think about the new technology, testing, e-learning, trends and biotech.

 

http://www.speedofcreativity.org by Wesley Fryer   “Moving at the Speed of Creativity.”

Provides updated information about technology use in education and other items to make you think. 

 

 

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