+ Academic Clubs for Teaching Social Studies

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The Lab School of Washington (LSW) has a unique approach to social studies and humanities instruction, according to a rich article by Noel Bicknell in the LDA publication Learning Disabilities: a Multidisciplinary Journal.

In this arts-driven lower school program, every child spends 40 minutes a day in a room that simulates a specific historical time and place.  These sessions are called “academic clubs.” 

Currently, there are seven:

• Cave Club — for the study of human evolution and pre-historic culture.  Students evolve through five stages of early human development, and explore the origins of human language, shelter, agriculture, and culture.
• Gods Club — for the study of Egyptian, Greek and Roman history, mythology and culture.  Students become “gods” and “goddesses,” and study daily life, art and period technology.
• Knights and Ladies Club — for the study of medieval Europe, emphasizing the influence of church and feudalism.  Students progress from page to knight and study warfare, arts and the trials of daily life.
• Renaissance Club –  is set in the city-state of Florence.  Students study the rebirth of Greek and Roman ideas, influences from Asia, and developments in the arts and sciences.  A student works as a guild artist for a patron (teacher) to explore daily life, humanities, geography and the history of the technology.
• Revolution Club — is set in Colonial America.  Sessions build chronologically to the declaration of independence from England.  Students become historical characters who represent the multiple experiences and perspectives of early American life during this period.
• Museum Club — study of world history through the eyes of museum curators preparing exhibits.  Periodic museum openings presented to the larger LSW community exhibit recreated artifacts from early civilizations, such as Mesopotamia and ancient China.  Includes a comparative study of world religions.
• Industrialists Club — a study of American history through the eyes of powerful industrialists as well as their adversaries.  New technology, the conflict between capital and labor, economics, management of natural resources and the progression of civil rights are explored.

Designed for the non-reading and possibly motor-impaired  student, academic clubs aim to build on children’s strengths.  

Students with learning disabilities are often disorganized, but they can also be very creative, visual thinkers.  They frequently show a talent for making quick connections between disparate concepts and ideas.

The academic club provides order and structure: the way the room is entered, the seating arrangement, the ritualistic opening ceremony, the activities presented, the formal dismissal.

LSW feels that this total environmental approach envelops a child in a number of topics and, by using all five senses, helps him or her amass a storehouse of information.

Furthermore, since students with learning disabilities are often passive learners, instead of offering lectures the clubs allow a child to become an active part of each topic studied. 

The content of LSW’s club activities is highly academic.

Using a panoply of art forms students learn history, geography, civics, archaeology, literature and economics.

Participants risk trying new skills and foster a tightly knit group dynamic by developing passwords, routines and rituals.  This learning is total immersion – multi-sensory and project-based.

Terminology

The word club was chosen carefully.  It implies membership, belonging and ownership.  Clubs are groups where each person has a recognized place.  There is room for individualization built into group activities in a club. 

LSW feels that a club is non-compartmentalized – arts, subject matter, concepts and  ideas all bear on one another; they reinforce one another and funnel toward the same objectives, while the children are immersed in their play. 

The word leader is used instead of  ”teacher.”   “Leader” reflects the experiential nature of the academic club environment, where   children are given active rather than passive learning roles. Leaders act as facilitators of discovery. 

Clear Structure

• Imaginary identities give each child a specific role and the teacher authentic authority.
• A decorated entrance door depicts the club’s theme.
• Specific historical characters/roles are given to students and teachers.
• Costumes suggest time and place.
• Passwords, used for entry, convey membership.
• Total room decorations communicate the club’s topic.
• An opening ritual marks entry into time and place.
• A behavior code based on the club’s theme is established.
• A closing ritual helps students transition to their next activity.

The leader’s role is to help find each child’s path to learning.  Importantly, the dramatic framework provides psychic cover for students who have experienced previous academic failure. 

According to Bicknell,

Just as each plant or animal in an ecosystem occupies a specific environmental niche — its own critical habitat to survive — students with learning disabilities need a highly structured yet pedagogically flexible environment in which to learn how to learn and express their strengths fully.

For the entire article, with much more information about how this rich learning experience is mounted and deployed, see “Learning Disabilities: A Multidisciplinary Journal,” Spring/Summer 2010.  Noel Bicknell’s article is titled “The Academic Clubs: Theory to Practice,” pp.85-89.  

Noel Bicknell is in his eleventh year leading Academic Clubs at The Lab School of Washington.  He also coordinates the Academic Club Teaching Service, a training program for schools interested in using the methodology in thier programs.

Become a member of LDA, Learning Disabilities Association of America: http://www.ldaamerica.org or email info@ldaamerica.org.  

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021  or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Socratic Schooling in Cincinnati

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According to Ben Fischer in the Concinnati Enquirer, Paideia education is alive and well in his town.

Paideia schools, where the Socratic method (long discussions and classical debate as a form of learning), have declined in popularity for more than a decade. 

Paideia was born out of philosopher Mortimer Adler’s 1982 book “The Paideia Proposal,” and the hope has been to restore “classical” education to public schools by teaching children critical thinking, debating and synthesizing information. 

In its ideal form, it includes foreign languages and fine arts as part of the regular school day (those features haven’t survived budget cuts in many schools).

According to Terry Roberts, directory of the National Paideia Center in Chapel Hill NC,  Cincinnati is a rare holdout in keeping the programs.  Chicago and Chattanooga TN are the only other school districts in the US to still provide paideia education from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Elements of paideia instruction, such as Socratic dialogue, are informally used in many schools, says Roberts, but not as a formal curriculum focus.

In addition, he says, paideia is at odds with modern high-stakes standardized testing.

What Does It Look Like?

Writes Ben Fischer:

Sports fan and Shroder Paideia High School senior Brandon Ross thought departed Cincinnati Bearcats football coach Brian Kelly was a disloyal turncoat before a December 16th class with teacher Chad Flaig.

Then, with the desks arranged in a circle, Flaig asked tough questions:  What does loyalty require?  Can you be loyal to only one group at a time?  What about loyalty to yourself?  Is it possible that loyalty to his players led Kelly to downplay the Notre Dame job until after the crucial Pittsburgh game, avoiding distractions?  Or does being loyal require absolute honesty at all times?

The teens didn’t have all the answers.

But they debated Kelly’s departure for the entire class, moderating their opinions when Flaig made a good point and pushing back when they disagreed.

Afterward, Ross wasn’t so sure.

“At first I thought he was just turning his back on the team,” Ross said.  “But then I realized this was a dream job and to ask him to give it up would have been selfish.”

The Socratic method and heavy emphasis on verbal exchanges between teachers and students is undoubtedly not an efficient way to guide students to passing scores on the all-important Ohio Achievement and Ohio Graduation Tests, which are the basic standard  of measurement for school quality undier the No Child Left Behind Act, says Roberts.

“Many times that’s viewed as ‘slow learning,’ if you will.  To be honest, I think they’re right.  But not only is it slow, it’s much more long-lasting.”

Paideia education came to Cincinnati in the late 1980s when a group of Kennedy Heights residents asked for it to be installed at Shroder, which was then a junior high school.  Teachers are trained in the paideia method of instruction at Xavier University.

In a paideia school no more than ten percent of all instructional time should be spent in a traditional lecture mode.  Most of the time, teachers should be “coaching” students with a pattern of difficult questions, quiding them to the correct answer or a new revelation.

In addition, the seminars, such as Flaig’s session on the topic of Kelly, develop children’s critical thinking and verbal skills.

Says Flaig, who has taught at Shroder since 1987 when paideia was just gaining a foothold, 

That’s one of the things as a teacher in seminar, you are not the information provider.  You are just kind of the guide, and sometimes they’ll go down a different path.  You just kind of go with it, and the big thing is to make them think and get them out of their comfort zone.

Unlike a method such as Montessori, paideia is highly structured.  All students take the same classes.  Principal Yenetta Harper emphasizes that the school is a community of learners all working together.

Judged by the scores on Ohio’s standardized tests, Cincinnati’s four full-fledged paideia schools are only middle of the pack academically.  As a group, they are close to the Cincinnati Public School average.

But defenders say paideia learning will come back into vogue.   The current mode of content-based standardized tests, they feel, will give way to the so-called “21st century skills” advocated by certain educators: critical thinking, teamwork and creativity.

Harper and Flaig say they will continue to teach paideia method. 

Even in the hallways or at basketball games, that means, they say, “because” isn’t a reason.  You can’t just “feel” something.

Says Harper:  “You don’t ‘feel’ here.  If you have an opinion, or a feeling, you must have some reason and fact behind it.” 

Additional Facts

Paideia (n) [pronounced 'pie-day-ya']:  from the Greek pais or paidos, meaning the upbringing of a child.  In ancient Greek culture, it referred to the sum total of all experience and training a child needed to become a model citizen.

Paideia comes from the same Greek word that forms the second half of the word “Encyclopedia.”

Hallmarks of paideia education:  A uniform curriculum for all students at a school, with no electives,  including fine arts and foreign languages.  Regular “seminar” classes in which students discuss themes explored in an assigned reading passages, with teachers using the Socratic Method. 

No more than ten percent of all instructional time should be taken up by a teacher lecturing to students; most of a teacher’s time should be spent in a “coaching” mode, rather guiding students to new information.

sole source: Ben Fischer’s article in the Cincinnati Enquirer (www.news.cincinnati.com)  on 2/2/10.   For more information about the National Paideia Center in Chapel Hill, visit     http://www.paideia.org/content.php/system/index.htm

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021   or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ “No Child Left Inside:” Developing Environmentally Literate Kids

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The Four Horsemen of the Environmental Apocalypse:

• warming
• species loss
• water scarcity
• population growth

Mike Weilbacher, director of the nonprofit Lower Merion Conservancy in Gladwyne PA, has written an article in the May 2009 issue of Educational Leadership, a pulbication of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). 

Weilbacher’s organization surveyed high school students and found that although they are overwhelmingly “pro-environment” they have remarkably little information about breaking environmental issues.

They asked students to name one bird they can identify by song.  No one could do it.

“If  local birds disappear from the landscape because of extinction, or arrive three weeks late because of warming climates, it’s possible that no one will notice,” he writes.

An International Union for the Conservation of Nature reports that one in four of the world’s mammals are at risk of extinction from habitat loss.  Many critically important rivers no longer empty water into the sea.

Even though an interest in green ideas has been resurging recently, the issues are far more global than they were forty years ago when the environment became an topic for educators.  They are also intertwined with politics.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels currently exceed 385 parts per million, nearly 40 percent higher than pre-Industrial Revolution levels — and rising every year.

Students simply have to become environmentally literate.

The Problem —  Four Issues

1. Viewing screens has become a child’s full-time job. They are plugged in 24/7, watching 25 hours of TV a week and vast numbers more on the Internet, Facebook, phone and games.  Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods (2005) has coined the phrase nature deficit disorder. 
2. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has caused many schools to trade field trips for test prep.  Science teachers routinely eliminate environmental education, because such topics don’t appear on mandated tests.
3. Student exposure to environmental issues depends on the luck of the draw: if you get a teacher who’s interested in things related to nature, you’ll learn those topics, but if your teacher is a drama afficionado, that’s what you’ll spend time on.  Says Weilbacher, why not cross-pollinate?
4. In a universe of nonprofit environmental educational facilities, teachers approach environmental education like a Chinese menu.  They pick a field trip from Column A and a lesson plan from Column B; toss in an occasional Earth Day assembly and then assume that students are environmentally literate.  (And nonprofits want kids to keep coming back, so they emphasize fun over content, immersing students in activity-based education designed to be an appetizer but which ends up becoming the main course.)

Research May Turn the Tide

The Children and Nature Network (www.childrenandnature.org) showcases data demonstrating the educational benefits of immersing kids in the outdoors.  There is a massive amount of such data.

The American Institutes for Research (2005) studied the effects of weeklong residential outdoor education programs.  Comparing these students with  control groups, they found a 27 percent increase in measured mastery of science concepts, enhanced cooperation and conflict-resolution skills, higher self-esteem, and gains in problem-solving, motivation and classroom behavior.

According to a Canadian study, children whose school grounds include diverse natural settings are more physically active, more aware of nutrition, more civil to one another and more creative.

Another study determined that children who played in green settings have reduced symptoms of ADD.

Promising Models

“No Child Left Inside:” more than 1,000 nonprofits have launched a variety of efforts loosely organized under this title.

The National Audubon Society has pledged to place a family-oriented nature center in every congressional district. 

Connecticut governor Rell launched a special Web site (www.nochildleftinside.org) promoting state parks. 

The US Congress has considered a No Child Left Inside Act that would provide federal funding for environmental literacy efforts.

Green Charter Schools sprinkled throughout the country have been designed around the premise that the entire science curriculum can be taught through environmental education.  Some sites: 

• The Green Woods Charter School in Philadelphia on the campus of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education;
• Wisconsin’s River Crossing Environmental Charter School,
• California’s Environmental Charter High School;
• Connecticut’s Common Ground High School;
• Florida’s Academy of Environmental Sciences.

There is a Green Charter Schools Network (www.greencharterschools.org).

The “Integrating Context for Learning” movement (clumsy title, simple concept) has grown in the last decade.  In this model, the rigorously scheduled normal school day has been replaced by programs that use the environment and the outdoors as the centerpiece of students’ curriculum. 

This format breaks down barriers between disciplines, stresses team building and individualized learning, and involves students in real-world community issues.

Radnor Middle School in suburban Philadelphia engages students in outdoor field studies all year round.

An analysis of 40 Environment as an Integrating Context programs discovered that students in these programs outscored their peers on standardized tests, had better grades, and acted more independently and responsibly.  And at one of these schools, reports to the principal’s office declined 91 percent.

Wood Kindergartens: a radical movement out of Europe.  In this model, child care workers and youngsters aged 3-6 spend the entire day outdoors in nature.  Proponents contend that playing outside for prolonged periods strengthens students’ immune systems and improves development of manual dexterity, physical coordination, tactile sensitivity and  depth perception.  Some nature centers in the US have begun opening variants of these Wood Kindergartens.

sole source: Mike Weilbacher’s article in “Educational Leadership,” the publication of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD); May 2009.  www.ascd.org

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Web Sites for Teaching: Engineering

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This week from EduHound’s “Clasroom Tools and Tips,” the topic is engineering.

On May 13, 2009, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) will celebrate its anniversary: 125 years of ingenuity and innovation in engineering and technology.

• TryEngineering.org — The site is a resource for students (ages 6-18), their parents, their teachers and their school counselors.  http://www.tryengineering.org
• TryScience.org — Features a gateway to experience the excitement of contemporary science and technology through on- and offline interactivity with science and technology centers worldwide.  http://www.tryscience.org
• PreK-12 Engineering — This web site is a free resource for educators and administrators who are looking to integrate engineering concepts and activities into preK through 12th grade classrooms.  http://www.prek-12engineering.org
• TeachEngineering.com — This K-12 teacher resource helps teachers enhance learning, excite students and stimulate interest in science and math through the use of hands-on engineering.  http://www.teachengineering.com
• Alliance for Innovative Manufacturing at Stanford University: How Everyday Things Are Made — AIM has developed an introductory web site for kids and adults showing how various items are made.  It covers over 40 different products and manufacturing processes, and includes almost 4 hours of videos.  http://manufacturing.stanford.edu
• SWE: Internet Activities Center – Each activity includes: grade appropriate materials on science or engineering, a list of materials, instructions, graphics, the National Science Standard which the activity supports, and a fun interactive quiz or activity to check your knowledge.  http://www/swe/org/iac  
• NASA’s Engineering Design Challenges Program — Provides hands-on engineering challenges for students in middle and high school.  These challenges are free for anyone and are downloadable off the Internet.  http://edc.nasa.gov

source: EduHound’s “Classroom Tools & Tips”  newsletter, offering valuable edtech resources to incorporate into K-12 curriculum.  Find educational topics, preformatted templates, technology tutorials and practical tips, as well.  Suggest topics, or share a template to Judi at JRajala@eduhound.com 

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Web Sites for Teaching Poetry

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This week’s “Classroom Tools & Tips” from Eduhound.com offers sites for teaching poetry. 

April is National Poetry Month, inaugurated in 1996, and brings together publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture.

• Poets.org: Curriculum & Lesson Plans – Contains teacher-developed units; lesson plans tested in their classrooms. Many of the units use visiting poets or writers-in-residence.  http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/87
•  Poetry Archive: For Teachers — Features poetry lesson plans, activities, and resources for all key stages and for the inclusive classroom.  http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/teachersHome.do
• poetryclass: Poetry Lessons — Features lessons, by age, to help equip students with fresh ideas and methods for making the most of poetry in the classroom.  http://www.poetryclass.net/lesindex.htm
• Poetry 180 — Designed to make it easy for students to hear and/or read a poem on each of the 180 days of the school year.  http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/
• Favorite Poem Project: Lesson Plans — Seeks to improve poetry’s place in American classrooms by encouraging active, engaging poetry lessons that emphasize a direct, vocal connection to poems.   http://www.favoritepoem.org/lessonPlans.html
• Guide to Poetry & Literature Webcasts — Use this guide as a resource for locating streaming video of poets, fiction writers, and critics as they read and discuss their own and each other’s work.  http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/webcasts/index.html
• Poetry Writing : Scholastic.com – Study the genre of poetry by taking part in step-by-step workshops with favorite authors.  Includes teacher’s guide.  http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/index.htm
• Poets’ Corner — Features a user-friendly library that spans thousands of works by hundreds of authors covering thousands of years.  http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/

source: Eduhound’s “Classroom Tools & Tips,” a newsletter that provides valuable ed tech resources to incorporate into K-12 curriculum.  Educational topics, preformatted templates, technology tutorials and practical tips are featured.  Judi Rajala asks you for tips on topics to cover — or your tech tips and templates to share.   Email  her at jrajala@eduhound.com

tutoring in Columbus OH:  Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021  or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ “Whatever It Takes” — Poverty and Learning in Harlem

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Says Jay Matthews in a Washington Post review, Paul Tough’s book about Geoffrey Canada and his quest to effect major change in education is one of the best books ever written about how poverty influences learning — and vice versa.

Tough is an editor at the New York Times Magazine, and he has written about poverty for several years.   Consequently, the book is filled with a remarkable amount of material and deep reporting.

 ”Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America” (Houghton Mifflin) is his first book.  It is about the man who wants to send an entire Harlem generation to college and to lives of creativity and substance.

The eldest participants in Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone have not graduated from high school yet.  The children in his Harlem Gems preschool and Promise Academy elementary school still have years to go before they start college.

The infants who are part of the young families attending his Baby College parenting classes have even longer to wait.

Tough tells the story from the point of view of parents, students, teachers, principals and wealthy funders, as well as that of Canada himself.

Canada is a former teacher who turned himself into a successful educational entrepreneur after growing up very poor in the south Bronx.

His brothers and he were raised by a single mother — a common experience for impoverished children — but Mary Canada had been a bright child.  She had gone to college for two years before her family ran out of money.

And that taste of higher education made all the difference in the stories she told her children.  She knew they weren’t doomed to lead a bleak life.

Tough is adept at explaining complicated research.  He reports on the work of child psychologists Betty Hart and Todd R Risley, who studied 42 Kansas City families. 

Hart and Risley discovered that by age 3 on average the children of professional parents had vocabularies of about 1100 words, while the children of parents on welfare had vocabularies of about 525 words.

Those endowed with more language were not born with more word power.

Over two years, the researchers visited each family once a month for an hour and recorded every word spoken in the homes during that time.  The only significant difference was the middle-class kids were hearing three times as many words as the poor kids.

Tough allows Canada to reflect often on the difference between his upbringing and the upbringing of his young son in suburban Long Island. 

At the Harlem Children’s Zone we meet a variety of people at every stage in the transformation process:  teen parents Cheryl Waite and Victor Boria and their infant son at the Baby College; earnest teacher Monica Lucente at Harlem Gems; bright (but troublesome) middle school students Ymani Jones and Julien Coutourier at the Promise Academy.

Also showcased are a legion of specialists who offer Children’s Zone families support outside of school — the support that is so crucial to keeping children in school.

Tough’s book is vivid, clear and honest; honest about cultural and racial divisions.

He writes

White America didn’t come up very often at Baby College, but when it did, it was regarded with a certain distance.  The idea wasn’t to adopt middle-class white culture, or even to imitate it — it was more like poaching an idea or two, borrowing some tricks and customs, like adapting a recipe from a foreign cuisine.

 Canada himself was open and honest.  During one of his worst weeks, just before he had to acknowledge publicly that his hopes for achievement gains were not going to be realized, Tough says, “He called me on the phone and, in a subdued voice, said he thought I should probably come up to the school next day, as it might be useful for my book.”

The book doesn’t end with trumpets and violins; Canada doesn’t defeat poverty in Harlem.

But the preschool and elementary school show promise.  Tough makes a vital point, as do other educators, that if these early-years programs can be expanded, there might be less need for hero teachers working 10-hour days that we so often find in the highest-performing middle and high schools in low-income neighborhoods.

This is an honest, but hopeful, book.

source: Jay Mathews article in the Washington Post on 12/19/08.  www.washingtonpost.com

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards  614-579-6021   or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Study: Poverty Affects Children’s Brain Function

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In USA Today, we learn about a new study: it  finds that certain brain functions of some low-income 9- and 10-year-olds fall significantly behind those of wealthy children. 

The difference is almost equivalent to the damage from a stroke.  

Lead researcher Mark Kishiyama, a cognitive psychologist at the University of California-Berkeley, says “It is a similar pattern to what’s been seen in patients with strokes that have led to lesions in their prefrontal cortex.  It suggests that in these kids, prefrontal function is reduced or disrupted in some way.”

This study adds to a growing body of evidence that shows how poverty afflicts children’s brains.  For a long time, researchers have pointed to the ravages of malnutrition, stress, illiteracy and toxic environments in low-income children’s lives. 

Some of us have seen this first hand.  (For those who haven’t, I recommend you watch DVDs of the shattering television series “The Wire.”)

Research has shown that the neural systems of poor children develop differently from those of middle-class children, affecting language development and “executive function”  — the ability to plan, remember details and pay attention in school.

Deficiencies like these are reversible through intensive intervention such as focused lessons and games that encourage children to think out loud or use executive function.

“It’s really important for neuroscientists to start to think about the effects of people’s experiences on their brain function, and specifically about the effect of people’s socioeconomic status,” says Martha Farah, director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania.

Among issues that are most studied: differences in language acquisition between low- and middle-income children.  The most famous study was done in 1995.  It transcribed conversations between parents and children and found that by age three, middle-class children had working vocabularies roughly twice the size of poor children’s.

For this new study, researchers used an electroencephalograph (EEG) to measure brain function of 26 children while they watched images flashing on a computer.  The children pressed a button when a tilted triangle appeared.

What the researchers found: a huge difference in the low-income children’s ability to detect the tilted triangles and block out distractions — a key function of the prefrontal cortex.

“It’s just not functioning as efficiently as it could be, or as it should be,” says Kishiyama.

Susan Neuman, an education professor at the University of Michigan, says that though the effects of poverty are reversible, children need “incredibly intensive interventions to overcome this kind of difficulty.”

The study appears online in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, and will be published early next year.

source: USA Today article by Greg Toppo on 12/8/08

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email   aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Web Sites for Teaching Maps and Globes

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From EduHound’s “Classroom Tools and Tips” this week: sites for teaching maps and globes.

• MapMachine Student Edition:  More than just maps, MapMachine Student Edition also has photos, facts, and fun.  Here you can find the place you’re looking for — or get lost in the cultures, sights and sounds of the world.  http://java.nationalgeographic.com/studentatlas
• WorldAtlas.com:   Provides facts, flags and maps including every continent, country, dependency, island, major city, ocean, province, state and territory on the planet!   http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/world.htm
• Education Place — Outline Maps:   These world maps may be printed and copied for personal or classroom use.   http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps
• Map Lessons — The Route to Improved Geography Skills:   Features lessons to teach all students about landforms, the global economy, maps from space and more!   http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson287.shtml
• National Atlas:   Federal source for national maps and geographic information that contains an online map maker, dynamic maps, printable maps, articles, free geographic data, and more.   http://www.nationalatlas.gov
• USGS Education:   Discover selected online resources, including lessons, data, maps, and more, to support teaching, learning, education (K-12) and university-level inquiry and research.   http://education.usgs.gov/index.html
• TIME for Kids — Using Maps & Globes:   Students will locate countries on a world map or globe.   http://etgredirect.1105web.com/redirect.aspx?id=900

source: EduHound’s “Classroom Tools & Tips” newsletter, which also provides useful ed tech information and educational topics, templates and tutorials.  Sign yourself up for the newsletter at JRajala@eduhound.com.   Contact Judi Rajala with your own ideas for topics.

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email   aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ Innovative Learning Conference in October 2008

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EVENT:                     Innovative Learning Conference 2008

WHEN:                      October 14 – 16, 2008

WHERE:                   San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, CA
Learn about registration discounts now

 

Innovative Learning Conference 2008 (ILC) is a K–12 event designed to help educators stretch limited resources as far as possible, and does so by bringing some of the brightest K–12 thought leaders together to exchange inventive techniques, “use-it-now” applications and helpful strategies to advance student achievement.  ILC’s comprehensive program offers cost-effective teaching and learning tools and ideas worth the time and investment to acquire:

·     Over 60 skill-enhancing workshops assist educators in applying value-added technologies and methodologies into your curriculum.

·     More than 200 information-rich sessions will deliver easy-to-use teaching and learning initiatives.

·     Valuable leadership forums offer executives a collaborative environment to address and share management challenges.

·     Subject-matter experts present their education successes and challenges in Eye Opening Keynotes and General Sessions.

·     Technology and service leaders explain how leading product innovations can provide cost-saving solutions for student achievement excellence.

 

Indispensable networking opportunities – download the conference brochure now.

 

 

Innovative Learning Conference 2008 (ILC) is a K–12 event designed to help educators stretch limited resources as far as possible, and does so by bringing some of the brightest K–12 thought leaders together to exchange inventive techniques, “use-it-now” applications and helpful strategies to advance student achievement.

ILC even helps you maximize your limited resources by optimizing your experience with these special conference highlights:

·      Danny Forster, host of Discovery Channel’s “Build it Bigger,” as he delivers an entertaining presentation during the Opening Session.

·      Exhibit Hall where you can discuss school and district projects with hundreds of leading solution providers who can deliver budget-conscious results—all in one location.

·     professional growth credit through Fresno Pacific University for attending ILC’s workshops and sessions.

·     Opt to receive a free one-year CUE membership with the purchase of full conference registration and increase your networking resources.

·      numerous conference registration discounts via Early Bird Registration, CUE Member and Group Savings packages help you stay within professional development budgets.

With economic challenges on the rise and expectations to deliver quality education even higher, you can’t afford to miss an opportunity to learn how to use your resources to its full potential. Attend ILC 2008 and be on your way to powering student achievement to the next level. Register now.

 

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com

+ The Civil Rights Struggle: Web Sites

other topics: click a “category” or use search box

EduHound  Weekly provides a lists of Web sites on the topic of Civil Rights:

• THE MARTIN LUTHER KING JR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION INSTITUTE — LIBERATION CURRICULUM  The Liberation Curriculum utilizes online documentary materials concerning nonviolent movements to achieve social justice, transformation, and reconciliation.  www.stanford.edu/group/King/liberation_curriculum/
• CIVIL RIGHTS RESOUCE GUIDE  The digital collections of the Library of Congress offer a wide variety of materials related to civil rights, including photographs, documents, and sound recordings.   www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/civilrights/home.html
• ROSA PARKS BUS  On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African American seamstress, boarded this Montgomery City bus to go home.  On this bus, she initiated a new era in the American quest for freedom and equality.  www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/rosaparks/home.asp
• SEPARATE IS NOT EQUAL, BROWN VS BOARD OF EDUCATION  This online exhibition commemorates the landmark Brown vs Board of Education political case.  www.americanhistory.si.edu/brown/
• THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF MALCOLM X  The site has everything you want to know about this historical figure.  Read his biography and read inspirational quotes from the talented speaker.  Browse the photo gallery for pictures of Malcolm X throughout his life.  www.cmgww.com/historic/malcolm/home.php  
• FROM SLAVERY TO CIVIL RIGHTS: A TIMELINE OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY  Contains hundreds of items documenting African-American history.  The “For Teachers” links will help you extend this activity for your students.  Included are links to specific collections or exhibits as well as links to several excellent resources.  http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/civilrights

In addition,  THE US GOVERNMENT’S OFFICIAL WEB SEARCH SITE:  Official information and services from the US government.  Whatever you want or need from the US government, it’s here on USA.gov.  You’ll find a rich treasure of online information, services and resources.  http://usasearch.gov

source: EduHound Weekly Newsletter, a FREE educational newsletter. www.eduhound.com

tutoring in Columbus OH:   Adrienne Edwards   614-579-6021   or email  aedwardstutor@columbus.rr.com