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Let's be friends, eh?
My musings on teaching are of a somewhat intimate nature, therefore I must make this journal friends only. If you would like to be friends, comment here and perhaps we shall find some common ground.
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The News
I think one of the most important things a social studies teacher can teach his/her students is to care about what's going on. That is, of course, a broad and very general goal (not to mention extremely difficult). But if you try to dissect that broad goal into more specific sub-goals, I think an important one would involve the news. More than ( Read more... ) -
FutureMe.org
Continuing with my random obsession with writing prompts in the classroom, may I present FutureMe.org, a website that sends you an e-mail on a future date. Today I received my first e-mail addressed to my future self, and it was sent to arrive on my 30th birthday. It arrived then, but I didn't read it until now. It was dated December 22, 2005.
My ( Read more... ) -
Class Blogging
I've had classroom blogging on the brain lately, and whaddya know, this article crosses my path.
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Electronic Journals
I've been trying to compile a list of electronic journals that might be used with students. In general, I'm always looking for ways to reduce paper in the classroom. There are several reasons for this:- An electronic format means I don't have to carry something around to review/grade.
- The student doesn't have something they can forget to bring or ( Read more... )
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Design a Country
We were assigned an activity in school when I was a youngster that has really stuck with me over the years. We were asked to create a country. (I'm not sure if it was "create our idea of a perfect country" or not.) We had to name our country, design its flag, but most importantly, write up its laws or constitution.
It was so much fun!!! Not just ( Read more... ) -
Where do you go to think?
I was perusing the Wikipedia page of comedian Bill Hicks today. I vaguely remember watching his standup on HBO when I was younger. Hicks was a critic of pop culture, mass media, and many other things, which rubbed some people the wrong way. I found this characterization of his criticisms very resonant, particularly in today's climate where ( Read more... ) -
Vocabulary
I always enjoyed learning new words in school. That enjoyment has definitely carried over into my adult life -- I still love adding a new word to my repertoire. English-speakers are lucky in that they speak a language that is so colorful and endlessly descriptive. In English, you can describe something as simple as a table, but go on and on, ( Read more... ) -
A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words
Life Magazine was a staple of American life for many years. Their pages were filled with photojournalism of a quality and quantity matched by only a few other notable publications. I remember hearing when they ceased the publication of their most recent format that their archives would eventually be made available online.
Now they are.
Obviously, ( Read more... )
