National Geographic resource

The cover story on the May issue of National Geographic is about the sketches of artists during the US Civil War and how those sketches helped to tell the story of the war. You can view a gallery of sketches here. One of the online features supporting May's issue is a timeline spanning 1526 to today. The timeline is focused on the Civil War and the years following. Along the timeline there are images and short stories of significant moments in the history of civil rights in the United States. (from Free Technology for Teachers)

The Bard animated

Shakespeare Animated is a YouTube channel containing twelve playlists ten of which are animated adaptations of Shakespeare's most famous plays. Some of the animated plays that appear in the Shakespeare Animated playlist are Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, MacBeth, and The Taming of the Shrew. I've embedded part one of Romeo and Juliet below. (from Free Technology for Teachers)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

A reminder: TED-Ed...take a look

Consider this a gentle reminder about this new venture from TED.

Questions to consider before' flipping' your classroom

It seems like you can't open an education periodical these days without finding an article espousing the wonders of flipping the classroom. Like most initiatives in schools, flipping the classroom does have merit in the right situation. But also like most initiatives it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. Here are three questions that I have to ask before flipping a classroom. (from Free Technology for Teachers)

Common Core Standards and implementation

In less than three years, the Common Core State Standards have vaulted over three key hurdles, surprising more than a few naysayers. In June 2009, governors and education chiefs in 46 states pledged their support for the idea. A year later, panels of experts unveiled the completed standards. By last November, all but four states had formally adopted them. (Catherine Gewertz at Education Week)

Click the above hyperlinked text to read more.

You can participate tonight

What is World Book Night?

World Book Night is an annual celebration designed to spread a love of reading and books. To be held in the U.S. as well as the U.K. and Ireland on April 23, 2012. It will see tens of thousands of people go out into their communities to spread the joy and love of reading by giving out free World Book Night paperbacks.

Want to check out EdChat?

As more and more people join the world of Twitter (460,000 signups per day), school parents and teachers are more commonplace on this global social media tool. According to a recent Pew Internet Study, 84% of all Twitter users are between the ages of 18-49. Why is this important to school officials? The age range includes the majority of our school parents.
As an educator, there are tons of great hashtags available to find the resources I’m looking for. Hashtags are usually found at the end of a 140 character tweet. I think of them like television channels, only there are many more to choose from and you can even create your own for your organization or team. Today, the most widely used educational hashtag on Twitter is called #edchat. On Tuesdays at 12pm (Eastern) and 7pm (Eastern), you can join hundreds of educators around the world discussing a topic chosen by a public poll during the days leading up to the chat. For more information on #edchat check out a recent piece by educational technology guru Steven Anderson (@web20classroom). (Joe Mazza at Edutopia)

History resource from Free Technology for Teachers

History Engine is an educational project developed by The University of Richmond for the purpose of giving students a place to explore stories of American life and publish their own stories based upon their research. (from Free Technology for Teachers)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Pinball and mindmaps

Pinball is a suite of fun tools from the BBC for organizing ideas and generating new ideas. In Pinball you will find tools for creating mindmaps, outlines, and simple slideshows. Pinball also has tools to help you brainstorm and generate new ideas. Each one of the six Pinball tools provides options for including text and images in your mindmaps, outlines, and slideshows. If you're struggling to think of new ideas, each Pinball tool has a "lucky dip" button that will serve up a random image or bit of text to prompt you. (from Free Technology for Teachers)

Race to the Top spending slow

Almost two years into the federal Race to the Top program, states are spending their shares of the $4 billion prize at a snail's pace—a reflection of the challenges the 12 winners face as they try to get ambitious education improvement plans off the ground.
Through the end of March, the 11 states and the District of Columbia had spent just 14 percent of their Race to the Top money, with New York, Rhode Island, and Hawaii spending the least as the midpoint of the four-year grants approaches, an Education Week analysis of federal spending reports shows. (Michele McNeil at Education Week)

Explania explained (a bit, that is)

Explania is a platform of Instruxion, a multimedia company specialized in the creation of high-impact explanatory content. For more information about our company, visit the Instruxion website at www.instruxion.com.
All animations of Explania – not just the animated videos but also the interactive animations – can be embedded into other websites.  This way, an animation can be used by anyone interested in the subject, and as such spread across many other websites. (from the Explania website)

New resource goes live

The team of English-language learner experts assembled by Stanford University education professor Kenji Hakuta to create resources for teaching the common-core standards to ELLs launched its Understanding Language website today.The Understanding Language initiative has multiple aims: to help teachers and administrators fully appreciate the central role of language in the more-rigorous new standards that have been adopted by all but four states and to provide resources to educators to make sure that they are equipped to deliver the type of instruction that ELLs will need to fully access the more-demanding content. (Lesli A. Maxwell at Education Week)

Google opportunity

Titled Education on Air this live Google+ Hangout will happen on May 2nd. Education on Air is a day of hangouts hosted by teachers for teachers. Throughout the day there will be presentations centered around the following themes; Hot Topics in Educational Technology, Communication, Google Apps, Harnessing the Power of the Web, Instruction and Assessment, and Productivity. (from Free Technology for Teachers)

Technology and the future of classrooms

Teleporting, flying cars and Back To The Future style hover-boards. These have all been promised to us within the next few years, but there is little hope of seeing them any time soon. These far-fetched technologies fill us with excitement about what the future may hold, inspiring generations of dreamers to learn math, science and engineering.
But what about the technologies that will help these aspiring inventors, scientists and engineers learn? What does the future hold for our classrooms, and what kinds of technologies will shape the minds of our children's children? (Nick Granthan at Edutopia)

New literacy standards and their demands

Zach Morales learned early that high school would go more smoothly if he kept certain things to himself.
But privately, the unassuming teen is proud of his passion for reading. So he hesitates for only a moment before opening the door to his small bedroom.
“I have a vast collection of books,” says Morales, sweeping an arm towards shelves packed with horror novels, Harry Potter books, and biographies of professional wrestlers.
“Every book in this bookcase, I’ve actually read,” he proclaims. (Benjamin Herold at Education Week)

A TED Talk example

1100+ talks to stir your curiosity. Browse by subject, length, or rating (inspiring, jaw-dropping, funny…)

The above is the description you'll find when you visit the TED Talks website.  But, perhaps, an actual TED Talk does a better job of conveying the essence of TED .

Math skills predict learning

In "School Readiness and Later Achievement," a widely cited 2007 study of large longitudinal data sets, University of California, Irvine, education professor Greg Duncan and his colleagues found that in a comparison of math, literacy, and social-emotional skills at kindergarten entry, "early math concepts, such as knowledge of numbers and ordinality, were the most powerful predictors of later learning." A large-scale Canadian study from 2010 echoes those findings: Math skills at school entry predicted math skills and even reading skills in 3rd and 2nd grade, respectively, better than reading skills at school entry. (Deborah Stipek, Alan Schoenfeld, and Deanna Gomby at Education Week)