Thursday, August 27, 2009

Stay Informed About H1N1 Flu Virus.

The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) has developed a H1N1 Web page , designed to be your definitive source for the latest H1N1 virus developments and resources. The website's mission is to help minimize the flu's effect on student learning by utilizing a variety of resources and information from ASCD, the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and others. The web-page will be continually updated as more resources and information become available.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Links to Content-Specific Resources

The internet provides a wealth of resources for in-service and pre-service teachers. Becoming wise consumers of information and learning to identify effective websites compared to those primarily seeking to sell a service is an important skill in itself. The goal of this post with embedded links is to provide resources that will make an educator's work more efficient and effective.

Multidisciplinary:

The New York State Education Department's (NYSED) Curriculum, Instruction & Instructional Technology (CI&IT) E-Blast home page is available and provides links to content-specific resources, E-Blast archives and employment opportunities. Interested parties can receive email notifications of the monthly CI&IT E-Blast news and updates by sending an email request by clicking on the link below. Please submit all relevant contact information in your request. Sign up for E-Blast email notifications

S.C.O.R.E. - Schools of California Online Resources for Educators provides a lot of links in math, science, social studies, and language arts, including full lesson plans with embedded links for resources.

History and Social Studies:

ProjectExplorer provides students with access to peoples and places theymay never have seen or knew existed. ProjectExplorer’s online film series, photos, travel blogs, and encyclopedia-style research are provided free-of-charge. ProjectExplorer’s programs cover multiple subject areas that foster cross-cultural understanding. This site features blogs, movies, cultural info, and more about countries and regions around the world. Currently developed for middle, elementary and higher (lower elementary under development) in Jordan,South Africa and Shakespeare's England, the development continues. The principals are all young adults, and the orientation is fresh andinquisitive.

World History for Us All is a powerful, innovative model curriculum for teaching world history in middle and high schools. World History for Us All is a national collaboration of K-12 teachers, collegiate instructors, and educational technology specialists. It is a project of San Diego State University in cooperation with the National Center for History in the Schools at UCLA. World History for Us All is a continuing project. Elements under development will appear on the site in the coming months.

The goal of the Just Choices program is to assist teachers in encouraging grade 6-12 students to explore new ideas and reevaluate old ones while developing a strong understanding and appreciation of historical and contemporary social justice movements. Through this program, students will learn how their everyday choices affect others in society and will be inspired to take on issues with passionate civic engagement. Teachers can order a free teacher's guide, worksheets, poster, and video.

Science:

Google Earth is a wonderful educational resource. Glenn A. Richard of Stony Brook University created a website that provides great strategies, including ready-to-use classroom activities, when using Google Earth for teaching geoscience

With its website, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute offers curious students the opportunity to explore biology...on screen, off screen, and in between. The Institute also offers free curriculum materials (including video tapes and/or DVDs!) on science topics for older students.

Physics may have been easy for Dr Einstein but the rest of use could benefit from having a great set of online games that demostrate physics concepts.

English Language and Linguistics:
Language in Use advances the philosophy of "hear it, see it, understand it, use it." The website aims to help students learn about - and teachers teach - the English language. There are tasks to help work through the material, expert advice and strategies for identifying unknown texts.

Grammar:

Grammar Monster is a great reference site that also acts as a tutorial