THE Journal

THE Journal is an online journal about transforming education through technology. It has some of the very latest news on technology in education. Take a look at http://www.thejournal.com/

Tax Day Tea Party

On April 15th, there is a protest planned throughout the country called the Tax Day Tea Party. This is a protest against the stimulus packages and the amount of our money that is being spent to bail out companies. There is not as much oversight and transparency of the money being spent in this package. You can participate in Baltimore or go to http://taxdayteaparty.com/ for more information.

Online Teacher Resources

Telecollaboration

Telecollaboration seems like it would be an excellent tool to help engage students with learning and also with their peers across the US and world. As a future social studies teacher I hope I would be able to find the time to include at least one telecollaborative project into a semester. With the emphasis on curriculum and testing, teachers do not have the extra time to include projects that take so much more time, but the benefits seem to be worth it.
I really liked the Iearn projects and Thinkquest. Both sites had projects that were telecollaborative than just seeking information on the internet.
Did anyone ever do a telecollaborative project with their class? I was wondering how you were able to implement it into your curriculum.

Review of 5 Educational Blogs

History Tech blog http://historytech.wordpress.com/
This blog combines technology and history. The most recent post included a review on Remix America. It seems like it would be very informative for the social studies teacher. Remix America has three sections. “America Then” has vintage speeches, music, etc. “America Now” has commentary on today and speeches. You can take these and then mix them into your own creation. The author states that the creation process is pretty simple which is great for me at least. I could use this tool to mix up speeches or events to my liking. Some of his other entries deal with personal stuff, but most deal with issues, new technology for social studies teachers.
Michael Yell’s blog http://www.socialstudies.org/blog/6
This blog is from Michael Yell from the National Council of Social Studies. It seems like it would have some good information. However, the recent posts deal with the recent conference and its speakers which does not include practical concerns for the social studies teacher. It also has great information on the new facebook account that they opened for social studies teachers and other professionals.
Megan Cawley’s Social Studies blog http://blog.bakerdemschool.org/mcawley
This seems like it would be a good resource for social studies teachers. Cawley posts for her class the whole project for her 8th and 7th grade classes. This project includes all the information that the students need to have to complete this project. It has many great ideas and includes many links to additional blogs, such as the homework blog. However, there were not many posts.
Dpietran’s blog http://elearning.monroe.edu/blogs/dpietran
This blog definitely seems like it would be very good in providing ideas for my social studies lessons. The first few posts included links to engaging lesson plans about the Eleanor Roosevelt. It included some further links for women’s history and other historical information. It included a link for a kid’s writing contest dealing with Ken Burns and favorite National Parks.
Speaking of History blog http://speakingofhistory.blogspot.com/
This is another great blog with lots of info to help draw out the students’ motivation and interest. It has many links. One link was for a freebie for teachers for a video from CSPAN. There was a link to a great professional opportunity for teachers from the Truman library to create lesson plans from their archives. A great link for podcasts of students reading The Gettysburg Address on the 200th Anniversary.

Webquests

I had always assumed that webquests were not the same as research module or project and that they could only be done in one or two days. However, webquests could be more like the research modules or projects and take a week or more to complete. Unlike the research module, webquests don't involve more than one type of source.
Has anyone created a longer webquest in one of the web editor programs? I was wondering did I need to have a webeditor program to make one of the more complicated, longer webquests which would be more than one page long?

Good Book

Recently I have started reading A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East by Kenneth Pollack. I really am enjoying this book. One thing I like is that the author lays everything out on the table. His introduction includes his own beliefs and biases which I really like when I read nonfiction books with an admitted agenda. For a long time, I, too, have felt that the politicians in the U.S. have been short-sighted. A good politician needs to see the long term effects that their policies have for the U.S. and the world.

Effective Use of Research Modules

Research modules could be a useful tool for students to learn the research process. The research modules that I clicked to from the Canter website did seem to rely too much on the teacher. However, as a first research project (in later elementary or middle school) or a research project for students who need more help, I believe this would be an excellent resource.
Also, the research modules and the examples provided could be modified by the teacher to fit the needs of their students. If you have students who are already familiar with the steps of research project, then this much scaffolding would not be effective in teaching them crititical thinking skills. I really wanted to review the examples from Baltimore County and I was able to find one on pfisteria. This research module had less scaffolding. It did not give a list of print sources and for online sources it provided a list of some but with expectations of the student to look for more on their own. Therefore teachers can and should modify research modules towards the needs of their students.

Teens and the Internet - Pew Internet and American Life Project

For me, the most interesting finding of the Pew study was that 32% of all teens do not use the internet at school, eventhough most (99%) have access to the internet at school. Why are these teens not accessing the internet at school? The study's findings suggest that the reason is not economic and suggests the problem might be one of accessibility. Another reason could be that some teachers do not use the internet in their classroom lessons or some teens might not be taking classes in which internet use is more likely to occur. I would have liked some more follow-up questions on this issue.

One more alarming statistic is that 75% of teens report going online at someone else's home. As a parent, that statistic is surprising, because I wonder who is monitoring these teens or if they are being monitored at all. It has been my experience that some teens will try to access inappropriate websites and/or do some questionable things through the internet. Even when I have older children over at my house, I do not let them on my computer. I do not want to be responsible for what they might get into if I step out of the room.

Another reason to hate 95.

I spent the weekend in Pennsylvania. Usually we take the backway to and from my sister-inlaw's house. But on the way back we decided to take 95, because it would be quicker. There was a big accident, so we decided to get off eventhough we didn't know that way. It took us so long to get home probably an extra hour. Next time I'll stick to the scenic route.

Starting Class Again

I am back to school after taking a semester off to have a baby. It's exciting to be back and can't wait to learn more about the internet.