The economic impact of post-secondary education

WASHINGTON, DC - Cutting the nation's high school dropout rate in half would have tremendous benefits for the economy. But as a new economic analysis released today by the Alliance for Excellent Education shows, cutting the dropout rate in half and ensuring that those "new graduates" meet national goals for postsecondary attainment creates new jobs, increases earnings for individuals, and boosts states' tax revenues.
"Just crossing the finish line and earning a high school diploma is no longer enough in today's global economy," said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. "Today, a high school diploma must be the jumping-off point-the ticket to the additional education students need to compete for and land good-paying jobs." (from the Alliance for Excellent Education website)

The above refers to a report that was released December 14, 2011. To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Click here to see statistics for North Dakota. Click here to see statistics for Minnesota.

Note: This blog will be on hiatus during the winter holiday break for Grand Forks Public Schools. Posts will resume January 3, 2012.

Perhaps it's winter at midnight

Winter begins! The name "winter" comes from an old Germanic word meaning "time of water" and refers to the seasonal precipitation. The winter solstice—the moment when the sun's apparent path is farthest south from the equator—is used to officially mark winter's beginning. In the Northern Hemisphere, winter begins on the "shortest day" of the year, which most frequently falls on December 21, but occasionally occurs on December 22. Winter lasts until the vernal, or spring, equinox--equal night--around March 20, thus marking the beginning of spring when day and night are equal in length. (from the Library of Congress)

National Archives of the United States teaching resources

Teaching With Documents:Lesson Plans

This section contains reproducible copies of primary documents from the holdings of the National Archives of the United States, teaching activities correlated to the National History Standards and National Standards for Civics and Government, and cross-curricular connections.

Teaching with primary documents encourages a varied learning environment for teachers and students alike. Lectures, demonstrations, analysis of documents, independent research, and group work become a gateway for research with historical records in ways that sharpen students' skills and enthusiasm for history, social studies, and the humanities. (from the National Archives of the United States)

The above is literally the "tip of the iceberg" of resources at the National Archives. To explore, click the hyperlinked text and then move around from there.

Interesting science resource

Science NetLinks is a premier K-12 science education resource produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. At Science NetLinks, you'll find teaching tools, interactives, podcasts, and hands-on activities, and all of it is free!
Who is it for?Science NetLinks provides K-12 teachers, students, and families with quality resources for teaching and learning science. (from the Science NetLinks about page)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Picture book resources

Picture books have been used in the primary grades for decades, but they are a quick and convenient way to help older students activate their prior knowledge.  There is a new focus on picture books that deliver difficult content in simple language.  Picture books are a great model for student writing, as they contain vivid language and a variety of text structures.  The beauty of using picture books in the upper grades, middle and high school, is that they can be read in a few minutes and provide students with information connected to the concept or skill being introduced.  (from the West Virginia Department of Education)


If you're considering using picture books with older students, you'll find the resource linked above helpful.

A site to inspire

InspireMyKids.com is a place where people can find inspiring, age-appropriate, real-life stories, videos and projects to share with the children and teens in their lives to help them take positive actions and become the best people they can be.
We created this site because it’s something we wanted for ourselves and our kids. Like all parents, we want to try and do whatever we can to help our kids become people who value what matters most, whether it’s helping others, showing compassion, acting bravely, being a good citizen, or persisting in challenging times.
We choose each story for this site because we feel it offers a great example of behavior or values we admire and want to instill in our kids (like courage, determination, honesty, humility, kindness, responsibility, tolerance, etc.).    The idea – which has proven out in our families – is that sharing these stories with kids will spark the kind of meaningful discussions that can really help shape a kid’s perception of what it is to be a good person. (from the "about" page at Inspire My Kids)

Resource for educational videos online

The Vision behind WatchKnowLearn is simple:
Free educational videos delivered over the Internet. Viewed any time, from anywhere.
We believe that everyone should have the same opportunity to learn. The best way to make this possible, we believe, is to organize into one, super directory the hundreds of thousands of good videos currently available on the Internet. To make this a reality, we invite teachers, instructors and educators to suggest videos for inclusion into our directory, and then to review, approve, and assign those videos into appropriate categories using a wiki framework and philosophy. The videos are the highest quality found on the World Wide Web, cover all major educational topics from elementary to secondary schools (or age range 1 – 18), and are Kid Safe! (from the "About" page at WatchKnowLearn)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

In case you're wondering

Did you ever wonder why a camel has a hump? If you can really tell the weather by listening to the chirp of a cricket? Or why our joints make popping sounds? These questions deal with everyday phenomena that we often take for granted, but each can be explained scientifically.
Everyday Mysteries will help you get the answers to these and many other of life's most interesting questions through scientific inquiry. In addition, we will introduce you to the Library of Congress' rich collections in science and technology.
All of the questions presented on this Web site were asked by researchers and answered by librarians from the Library's Science Reference Services. (from Everyday Mysteries at the Library of Congress)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

A closer look at education in Finland

Over the past decade, students in Finland have soared on international measures of achievement. They've continued to post some of the best scores in the developed world in reading, math and science, according to a respected international exam. The country has one of the narrowest gaps in achievement between its highest and lowest-performing schools, and on average spends less per pupil than the United States.
The country's education system has come to be regarded as one of the highest-performing in the world, and a growing number of foreigners are trying to figure out if and how they can emulate it. (Erin Richards at Education Week)

Edutopia's Common Core resources

Feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of dense information out there about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)? You're not alone. Here's Edutopia's guide to resources that will help you make sense of the initiative and join the conversation. (from Edutopia)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked test.

Thinkfinity Education Speaker Series

The Thinkfinity Education Speaker Series brings the most interesting voices in education to you.

The Thinkfinity Education Speaker Series, a series of video interviews with nationally known individuals with a passion for education, is available exclusively to all members of the Thinkfinity Community. Enjoy our  video interviews and supporting resources as they become available simply by logging in – no additional registration or live participation is required.

Visit the Speaker Series section of the Thinkfinity Community: thinkfinity.org/speakerseries

Each of the interviews is available as video on demand on the dates listed for each speaker and will be archived for future access by Thinkfinity Community members. To receive an email reminder when each interview is posted, sign up for the Thinkfinity newsletter. (from the Thinkfinity website)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Tips for improving student engagement

The educators at Cochrane Collegiate Academy, in Charlotte, North Carolina, have developed an instructional model called Interactive Learning (IL). It is a collection of their ten best practices, which they call their non-negotiables, and teachers must implement them in every lesson, every day.
Shana Oliver, the school's academic facilitator, runs the training sessions for these best practices, and she helps the teachers see and experience how they can incorporate all ten into one lesson. Here are Cochrane's IL non-negotiables, with additional comments from Oliver. Watch the video to see what they look like in the classroom and go to our Resources and Downloads for a sample lesson plan that includes all ten practices.(Mariko Nobori at Edutopia)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Free Rice provides vocabulary practice and more

About FreeRice.com

FreeRice is a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Programme.
FreeRice has two goals:

• Provide education to everyone for free.
• Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Word clouds in science

Should arts be added to STEM

The acronym STEM—shorthand for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—has quickly taken hold in education policy circles, but some experts in the arts community and beyond suggest it may be missing another initial to make the combination still more powerful. The idea? Move from STEM to STEAM, with an A for the arts.
Although it seems a stretch to imagine STEM will be replaced in education parlance, momentum appears to be mounting to explore ways that the intersection of the arts with the STEM fields can enhance student engagement and learning, and even help unlock creative thinking and innovation. (Eric W. Robelen at Education Week)

Jamie McKenzie on the right words

Our capacity to grasp complex ideas or deep concepts is tied in part to the shades and distinctions supported by our vocabularies. As we add new words to our collection, we can appreciate the difference between enchantment and charm, delight, capture and fraud.
If our brains are filled with simple word lists, we are likely to see things in simple terms and respond eagerly to those who give us simple answers to complex problems.

The above comes from a piece at Visual Thesaurus. To read more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Where can you make a Wordle?

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends. (from the Wordle website)

The word of the week posters at Grand Forks Central have been made using Wordle, which is referenced above. To learn more about Wordle, click the above hyperlinked text.

Looking for vocabulary activities?

What's available at VocabularyCoach?

The choice to view words according to difficulty.
Think you are a word guru?
Various word games and activities to better help you master new words.
Enjoy both active games and hands-free games, where you just watch and learn.
No account needed, and it's free.

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

A little reminder

 Visuwords™ online graphical dictionary — Look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts. Produce diagrams reminiscent of a neural net. Learn how words associate.
Enter words into the search box to look them up or double-click a node to expand the tree.Click and drag the background to pan around and use the mouse wheel to zoom. Hover over nodes to see the definition and click and drag individual nodes to move them around to help clarify connections.

• It's a dictionary! It's a thesaurus!
• Great for writers, journalists, students, teachers, and artists.
• The online dictionary is available wherever there’s an internet connection.
• No membership required. (from Visuwords)

National Student Poets Program

The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services have partnered with the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers to launch the National Student Poets Program (NSPP), the country's highest honor for youth poets presenting original work. Five outstanding high school poets whose work exhibits exceptional creativity, dedication to craft, and promise will be selected annually for a year of service as national poetry ambassadors.

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

What's up at Reading Today Online?

Reading Today Online is updated daily with articles on the following topics: Articles on Reading Today Online are divided into six topics: Teaching Literacy, Children’s Literature, Councils & SIGs, Research & Grants, Legislation & Policy, and Member News. You can access articles one at a time by clicking on their links, or you can view all of the articles of a certain topic by clicking on that topic name. You can also view all of the articles in a list, shown in reverse-chronological order. If you especially enjoy a certain article, click on the sharing links at the bottom of its webpage. There are links to Facebook, Twitter, and more, as well as a link to share the article URL via email. Some articles even have “discuss on Engage” buttons that allow members to login to chat with other members about topics covered in the articles.  (from the "About" page at Reading Today Online)


To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Note: You don't need to belong to the International Reading Association to access content at Reading Today Online.

Young authors guide at New Pages

This is guide where young authors (as defined by each publication - sometimes it includes college-age) can find places to publish their writing. It is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather a select list of publications in print as well as online that have open submissions with guidelines, an editorial selection process, and a regular print cycle. Some publish only young authors, some publish all ages for young audiences. For more specific submission guidelines, visit the publication's website. (from the New Pages blog)

How to denote foreign words

Whether or not to italicize foreign words depends upon the word’s familiarity to the intended audience, the context in which the word appears, and the frequency with which the word appears in a given text.


In American usage, if a foreign word has an entry in Merriam-Webster, it need not be italicized. According to that rule of thumb, kafé and nan would be italicized; retsina and puja, not. (from Daily Writing Tips)

To read more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Take a look at Teaching Channel

Here's another 'Central' to explore

Welcome to the new Merriam-Webster's Word Central now reprogrammed for superior word power and language fun.
Introducing…Alpha-bot! The word-spelling robot hosts the latest amazing word game and challenges spellers of all ages.

Word Central includes terrific word-related resources as well as a special section for educators. To explore Word Central, click here. 

How the brain holds language

The brain holds a "visual dictionary" of words we have read, allowing quick recognition without sounding out words each time we see them, a new study finds.

The research, presented today (Nov. 14) at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, D.C., could be useful for understanding the causes of reading disorders such as dyslexia, according to the researchers. The study reveals how the brain works with words, which have both a visual, written component, and a sound-based phonology component. (Stephanie Pappas at Yahoo!News)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Reading resources at the Library of Congress

Books can open windows to new worlds and doors to adventure. As part of its Lifelong Literacy Campaign, which encourages children and young adults to become engaged in reading, the Library of Congress presents a sampling of suggested books that will spark imagination and transport readers to new and exciting places. Look for them at your public library or in your local bookstore. Explore new worlds. Read. (from the Library of Congress New Worlds Booklists section)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Can games help students learn?

Even though more people are recognizing the potential for teaching and learning through video games, there are still plenty of skeptics -- those who see video games as a mindless distraction, as entertainment and not education. But the work of a research center at the University of Washington may be at the forefront of challenging that notion. And this isn't just about how students can benefit from educational gaming either; it's about how scientific discovery can benefit from gamers.
That latter element has found UW's Center for Game Science in the news a lot lately, as one of the games it developed has helped lead to a breakthrough in AIDS research. (Audrey Watters at Edutopia)

To read more, click the above hyperlinked text.

The Literacy Project

As part of The Literacy Project, Google provides, among other things, a way to search for literacy-related sites. A bit of a descriptor from Google follows. 

Use this customized search engine to find literacy-related documents on the web.

• Search literacy organizations’ websites.
• Search across languages and countries.
• Find everything from statistics and reports, to project and contact information.
• Add your literacy organization to the index.

'Focus' resources

A quick Google of "Focus Mike Schmoker" yields a number of hits, the first of which takes you to the ASCD page where Schmoker's work is highlighted. At this link, you can watch several short videos in which Schmoker talks about his book, Focus Elevating the Essentials To Radically Improve Student Learning.

To view, click here.

Grand Forks Central teachers and staff are doing a book study of Focus.

Resources for helping adolescent readers

AdLit.org offers lots of articles that provide research-based and best-practice information for educators, parents, and others interested in helping young people become better readers and writers. Click below to find articles organized by topic or browse an alphabetical list of all our articles. (from All About Adolescent Literacy)

The All About Adolescent Literacy website is rich with articles and resources specifically directed at helping adolescent students read better. Do click around the site and enjoy.

NAEP results are out

New national test data show that 4th and 8th graders have inched up in mathematics, but the results are more mixed in reading, with 4th grade scores flat compared with two years ago.
Overall, achieving proficiency in reading and math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as “the nation’s report card,” remains an elusive goal for the majority of American students. Only about one-third reached that level or higher in reading and 8th grade math, the 2011 data show. At grade 4 math, meanwhile, the figure was slightly higher, at 40 percent. (Eric Robelen at Education Week)

To read more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Kentucky Education department literacy strategies

Included in this glossary are definitions of common terms used around literacy instruction. The strategies can be used by teachers in every content area to support literacy instruction. Some of the terms have accompanying word documents with templates and/or examples of the strategy for teacher use.

The glossary mentioned in the above hyperlinked text comes from the Kentucky Department of Education. To look at the literacy strategies referenced above, click the hyperlinked text. 

Free reading

The entire text of all new Stenhouse books is available for free online reading. Click on a title you're interested in and then click on Preview the Book Online to see the entire book. For older titles, at least one chapter of nearly every Stenhouse book can be read for free online. For videos, click on a title to watch sample clips.
To look for books and videos by author, title, topic, or ISBN, visit our search page. Or browse books, videos, and e-books by using the links to the left. 

Yes, Stenhouse is a book publisher, a business designed to make money. Still the Stenhouse website is full of free resources, including the complete texts of its new books. To check out the free books, click the above hyperlinked text.

Student essay contest

The Bill of Rights Institute is currently hosting an essay contest for high school students. The contest asks students to write an essay (1000 words max) about the following question, "how does the Constitution establish and maintain a culture of liberty?" Cash prizes of up to $1000 will be awarded in five U.S. regions...Entries are due by December 15. (from Free Technology for Teachers)

To learn about the contest rules, click here.

The lighter side of English

One way to 'build' vocabulary

Thinking about having a word wall in your classroom? Take a look at the following.

What are Word Walls?
A word wall is an organized collection of words prominently displayed in a classroom. This display is used as an interactive tool for teaching reading and spelling to children. There are many different types of word walls including high frequency words, word families, names, alphabet and "doozers". [sic] (from Instructional Strategies Online)

Ways to increase reading comprehension

Can you connect with the book you are reading?  Can you imagine yourself in it?  Does it remind you of things from your life?  If not, maybe it's just not the book for you.


The process of reading is when a person reads text and their inner voice makes connections between the words, and their life and prior knowledge. The more closely the reader connects to the text, the higher the level of comprehension.

At times connecting is simple. At others, especially when the text is not in an area that the reader has background knowledge, comprehension is difficult. To be a better reader, think about how the story relates to your life. 

Readers should concentrate on their inner voice and connections. (from The Reading Workshop)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Dealing with math anxiety

And dyscalculia—a serious math disability—affects about as many people as dyslexia. So which comes first: the struggle to do math, or the fear of it?

The latest study suggests fear may be a bigger hindrance than previously thought. The researchers analyzed 32 college students, ages 18 to 25, identified as high or low math anxiety based on their answers to a questionnaire. The students were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI—a brain imaging technology which measures blood flow to different areas of the brain—while the students performed a series of equally difficult math and spelling tasks. As expected, students who were highly anxious about math performed less accurately on math than on spelling and less accurately in math than students who were not afraid. But the story doesn't end there.  (Sarah D. Sparks at Education Week)

Reading Rockets' resources

We bring the best research-based strategies to teachers, parents, administrators, librarians, childcare providers, and anyone else involved in helping a young child become a strong, confident reader. Our goal is to bring the reading research to life — to spead the word about reading instruction and to present "what works" in a way that parents and educators can understand and use.

The Reading Rockets project includes PBS television programs (also available online and on DVD); online services through the websites ReadingRockets.org and ColorinColorado.org; professional development opportunities; and a robust social community on Twitter and Facebook. The project is guided by an advisory panel made up of leading researchers and experts in the field of reading. (from the "about" page at Reading Rockets)

Though Reading Rockets maybe seem geared toward parents, guardians and teachers of elementary students, it's rife with resources for those who work with older students. To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text and explore.

National Day on Writing resources at ReadWriteThink

To draw attention to the remarkable variety of writing Americans engage in and to help make writers from all walks of life aware of their craft, the National Council of Teachers of English has established October 20, as the National Day on Writing. To celebrate composition in all its forms, NCTE invites diverse participants to submit a piece of writing to the National Gallery of Writing. (from ReadWriteThink)

ReadWriteThink has a number of resources and activities for the National Day on Writing, which is October 20. To explore those resources, click the above hyperlinked text.

You can't go wrong with Curious George

The Library of Congress has enlisted the iconic Curious George to encourage parents to read to their children. Among the resources and suggestions from Curious (or is it better to say Mr. George?) is the following checklist of considerations to use when getting a child to read a book. 



The 3 I’s:

• Interest: When a child wants a book for information and/or enjoyment.
  • Build on their interests, hobbies, favorite activities or a trip you have taken by asking them if they would like a book about one of these topics.
• Integration: Using reading as a connection to other subjects – math, science, art, sports, music and more.
  • Find out what real-world topics your child is interested in and suggest areas of the library or bookstore that have books on that topic. Connect reading to at-home experiences. For example, finding a book on machines would help explain why a toy or clock is not working at home.
• Invention: Creating something that relates to a book.
  • Reading that initiates or inspires creations or inventions motivates many children. For example, a child who has read “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” may want to create porridge that Papa Bear would enjoy. Reading with invention in mind is spontaneous and often occurs after reading is finished. The creativeness involved with this motivation allows children to further their reading interests and “invent” themselves.

Open Library

One web page for every book ever published. It's a lofty but achievable goal.
To build Open Library, we need hundreds of millions of book records, a wiki interface, and lots of people who are willing to contribute their time and effort to building the site.
To date, we have gathered over 20 million records from a variety of large catalogs as well as single contributions, with more on the way.
Open Library is an open project: the software is open, the data are open, the documentation is open, and we welcome your contribution. Whether you fix a typo, add a book, or write a widget--it's all welcome. We have a small team of fantastic programmers who have accomplished a lot, but we can't do it alone! (from the Open Library "About" page)

Open Library includes a number of books online, many of which can be embedded on a blog or website. Below is the "The Odyssey" embedded.

Looking for writing prompts?

The Time Is Now offers a weekly writing prompt (we’ll post a poetry prompt on Mondays and a fiction prompt on Thursdays) to help you stay committed to your writing practice throughout the year. We also offer a selection of books on writing—both the newly published and the classics—that we recommend you check out for inspiration, plus advice and insight on the writing process from the authors we've profiled in Poets & Writers Magazine. And don’t miss Writers Recommend, which includes books, art, music, writing prompts, films—anything and everything—that has inspired other authors in their writing. (from Poets and Writers magazine)

To read more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Thinking about using a new strategy?

ReadWriteThink is a website full of resources, including strategy guides for teachers. To learn about those guides and to actually look at them, click the text below.

Looking for new teaching strategies or interested in brushing up on the strategies you are already using in your classroom? Strategy guides define and provide examples of effective literacy teaching and learning strategies and offer a wealth of related resources to help sharpen your instruction.(from ReadWriteThink)

On writing

The National Day on Writing is October 20. Writing is a certainly a good way to get better at writing. Still, advice from the best of writers is helpful. Below is some advice from Mark Twain at Advice From One Writer to Another at About.com  To read more, click the hyperlinked text below.

"I notice that you use plain, simple language, short words and brief sentences. That is the way to write English--it is the modern way and the best way. Stick to it; don't let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them--then the rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are close together. They give strength when they are wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice."(Mark Twain)

Need a book recommendation?

BookSeer's webapp answers the question "What should I read next?", using Amazon, LibraryThing, and the last book you read and enjoyed.
Joining the ranks of other book recommendation tools, like previously reviewed BookArmy, WhichBook, BookLamp, and What Should I Read Next?, BookSeer offers a simple interface and answer system. (from Lifehacker)

To read more, click the above hyperlinked text.

What's in a name?

NASA needs help renaming two robotic spacecraft heading into orbit around the moon. And it's looking for suggestions from students in grades K-12.
Entries must be submitted by teachers using an online entry form by Nov. 11. The final round of judging to pick the names will be chaired by former astronaut Sally Ride and Maria Zuber, a researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (Erik Robelen at Education Week)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Not just an online dictionary

Dictionary.com LLC’s online and mobile properties are destinations for learning. Our goal: to empower word discovery and learning. We provide resources that create success for users in their schoolwork, careers, relationships, and life. (from the "About" page at Dictionary.com)

Dictionary.com's "About" page doesn't really do the website justice. The site is full of word games, tools, etc. To explore, click here.

Bad or badly?

I don’t want to make you feel bad, but because so many writers handle this issue badly, I’m going to discuss the use of bad and badly.
Let’s start with badly, which is an adverb. Roughly speaking, an adverb describes how something is done: “She handled the news badly.” Bad, on the other hand, is most familiar to us as an adjective, but what stymies us sometimes is that it can also be an adverb.
In adjectival form, bad provides detail about the noun it accompanies: “I have a bad feeling about this.” As an adverb, bad modifies the preceding verb: “Now I don’t feel so bad about it.” (Mark Nichol at Daily Writing Tips)

The above comes from Daily Writing Tips. To read more, click here.

Spotlight on The National Academies Press

The National Academies Press (NAP) was created by the National Academies to publish the reports issued by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council, all operating under a charter granted by the Congress of the United States. The NAP publishes more than 200 books a year on a wide range of topics in science, engineering, and health, capturing the most authoritative views on important issues in science and health policy. The institutions represented by the NAP are unique in that they attract the nation’s leading experts in every field to serve on their award-wining panels and committees. The nation turns to the work of NAP for definitive information on everything from space science to animal nutrition.

The National Academies Press has a huge offering of books available digitally. To learn more about NAP, click the above hyperlinked text.

Quizlet for studying and learning

Quizlet is an online site for learning vocabulary. Here's a bit from the Quizlet "About" page.

What is Quizlet exactly? We start with flash cards. Students can make their own, or choose from millions of flash cards sets created by others. But that's just the beginning - once you've got flashcards, you can use several study modes including multiple choice tests and study games. You can add images and listen to audio, and even study on the go with one of dozens of Quizlet-compatible mobile apps.
Students are the core of Quizlet. High school and college students, language learners, grad students, home school students, anyone studying anything. Quizlet makes it easy to create and share study materials, to study with a few friends or an entire class. And Quizlet is good for studying almost any subject, from languages and vocabulary to history to science and the arts.




Below is an example of a state capitols review game at Quizlet. Give it a try.

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study states flash cards

Check out 'The Digital Textbook'

I created The Digital Textbook as an alternative to paper texts which are static, generally only black-and-white, and often dated. In a world of so many types of text, some of which focus on words while others incorporate a range of media, it seems negligent to offer only the dry pages of an old textbook or novel. The Digital TextbookDigital Textbook is intended to be a dynamic, evolving site. If you find what I have included here does not meet your instructional needs, by all means steal the idea of such a site and create your own version that best meets your students' needs.  (from Jim Burke)

To view the resources at The Digital Textbook, click the above hyperlinked text.

Remembering America at the Library of Congress

American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning. (from the "About" page at the Library of Congress American Memory site)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Publication information for young writers

New Pages is a hub for nearly all things literary. The site includes information about literary magazines, new books, writing contests, etc. And it includes a section devoted to young writers. Below is some information about the resources for young writers.

Where young writers can find literary magazines to read, places to publish their writing, and legitimate contests. A select list of children's, teen, and young adult publications in print and online that have open submissions with guidelines, an editorial selection process, and a regular print cycle. Some publish only young writers, some publish all ages for young readers. For more specific submission guidelines, visit the publication's website.

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text, which is quoted from the New Pages website.

UND Writers Conference 2012 line-up

The line-up for the 2012 annual UND Writers Conference is up at the conference website. Authors scheduled thus far are: Jane Smiley, Lee Ann Roripaugh, Pam Houston, Brenda Miller, Hal Herog, Mark Doty and Grand Forks' own Aaron Poochigian. Follow the above hyperlinked text to the website and you'll be able to read authors bios and more.

The theme for the 2012 conference is "Humanimal." The conference runs from March 27-31, 2012 at UND.

Hey Scrabble players...

Word recognition behavior can be fine-tuned by experience and practice, according to a new study by Ian Hargreaves and colleagues from the University of Calgary in Canada. Their work shows, for the first time, that it is possible to develop visual word recognition ability in adulthood, beyond what researchers thought was achievable. Competitive Scrabble players provide the proof. The study is published online in Springer’s journal Memory & Cognition. (from ScienceBlog)

New report says formative assessment helps students write better

"Student writing skills can be improved in the classroom by having teachers provide students regular feedback, track their progress, and encourage them to evaluate their own skills, finds a new report from the Carnegie Corporation of New York released today. (September 16, 2011)
'Informing Writing: The Benefits of Formative Assessment' examines whether formative assessment can improve students' writing skills and what techniques are best to help them improve. The research was published by the Alliance for Excellent Education, an advocacy group based in Washington that supports college readiness for high school students."

The above comes from Nora Fleming at Education Week. To read more, click here.

The Writing to Read report is on Slideshare

Writing to read report

View more documents from Lesley Roessing

Teachers' Domain resources to check out

Teachers' Domain is a free digital media service for educational use from public broadcasting and its partners. You’ll find thousands of media resources, support materials, and tools for classroom lessons, individualized learning programs, and teacher professional learning communities. (from the Teachers' Domain website)

You can find resources for standards by content area as well as organization. The Common Core Standards, for example, are included.

Don't forget the sidebar of this blog

The sidebar of this blog not includes profile information, upcoming events---when applicable---etc. It also includes links to blogs and other resources.

The newest addition is the plain box which lets you tap into the Snappy Words Free Online Visual Dictionary.  (It's the eighth item down in the sidebar). Simply type in an appropriate word and hit search.

Adding this gadget is easy. Here's a link to the code, in case, you're interested in adding this feature to your blog or website.

The importance of writing across the curriculum

Why should students engage in writing activities in every class? An important answer to that question is that student writing, in any classroom, is a window into how students think about the concepts they are learning. Writing assignments make terrific formative assessments. Something as simple as an exit pass, a few sentences written on index cards summarizing the day's lesson, allows teachers to gauge the level of concept mastery students have attained. Written products, whether simple or complex, reveal the extent of a learner's understanding and are a window through which the writer's thinking processes can be viewed. For this reason alone, writing activities are essential learning experiences and should be a part of every teacher's routine practice.(from the Teachers At Work column at Visual Thesaurus)

To learn more, click the hyperlinked text above.

Every species gets a nod

"The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) began in 2007 with the bold idea to provide 'a webpage for every species.' Now, EOL brings together trusted information from resources across the world such as museums, learned societies, expert scientists, and others into one massive database and a single, easy-to-use online portal at EOL.org .
EOL is expanding to become a global community of collaborators and contributors serving the general public, enthusiastic amateurs, educators, students, and even professional scientists from around the world. Learn about The People of EOL and EOL Governance."

The above comes from the EOL website, which is full of text and other media, a stunning collection of resources for teachers. To learn more, click here.

Vocabulary and more

Regardless of your education level or age, Vocabulary.com will help you to master the words that are essential to academic and business success.

Check out Vocabulary.com by clicking the hyperlinked text above. At the Vocabulary.com website, you can find what appears to be quite the dictionary. Here's a bit about it.

Unlike most online dictionaries, we want you to find your word’s meaning quickly. We don’t care how many ads you see or how many pages you view. In fact, most of the time you’ll find the word you are looking for after typing only one or two letters.

Sir Ken Robinson on re-thinking education

One view on teaching about the tenth anniversary of 9/11

I have snapshots in my mind of a 16-year-old, curly haired girl doodling in her notebook, desperately trying to avoid being called on in Spanish class.  Her biology teacher bursts through the door, interrupting her stupor with the words “a plane just crashed into one of the Twin Towers.” Today, that girl is a 26-year-old teacher standing in front of a room full of students who do not have such snapshots. None of them were beyond the age of 3 when the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, occurred. In a few more years, I will face students who will only know 9/11 as a historical event that happened before they were born.

These past and present snapshots remind me it is essential that middle school educators take into account that while our mental snapshots of 9/11 are our own, for our students these snapshots have been handed down to them in an album created by others. Yet despite the fact that these snapshots were not taken by our students, we must realize they are affecting the conclusions students draw about 9/11. We must encourage our students to develop multiple perspectives about 9/11 and draw their own conclusions. (Teaching Tolerance blogger Jacqueline Yahn on the tenth anniversary of 9/11)

To read more, click the second paragraph of hyperlinked text above.

Respect for graphic novels growing

In the past four years, we've seen an increasing number of graphic novels reviewed alongside traditional texts in our most trusted professional publications, and they currently represent the fastest growing section of most libraries and bookstores. More teachers than ever before are taking advantage of them, and our national and state literacy organizations offer more presentations each year devoted to integrating the medium into our instruction. It seems graphic novels are here to stay - and if they haven't yet, it's only a matter of time before they make their way into your classrooms and libraries. (Donalyn Miller on graphic novels at Education Week)

To read more, click the hyperlinked text above.

Usage and more

Daily Writing Tips provides reminders about usage as well as resources to get writing. Here's a bit from today.


Into and onto are prepositions, words that describe relative position. They are part of prepositional phrases, such as “She settled herself into her seat” or “He climbed onto the roof.” These words are forward looking, in that, as their grammatical name implies, they are positioned before the object.
“In to” and “on to,” on the other hand, are combinations of an adverb (in or on) and the preposition to. Unlike the single-word forms, they look both backward (in and on refer to a preceding verb) and forward (to pertains to the following object).

To read more, click the above hyperlinked text. 

Words can work

When language-mutilator Yogi Berra said that something was “like ‘deja vu’ all over again,” everybody laughed. Lately I get the feeling that some people who say it don’t know it’s a joke.
Yogi’s “belts and suspenders” approach to words seems to be on the increase. We’ve all seen ads that offer “a free gift.” Sometimes it’s “an absolutely free gift.” It’s as if people don’t trust a word to mean what it means. (from Daily Writing Tips)

To read more, click the above hyperlinked text.

What's at Wolfram Alpha

Yes, Wolfram Alpha fits the following description:

Free online access to the Wolfram|Alpha computational knowledge engine: answer questions; do math; instantly get facts, calculators, unit conversions, and real-time quantitative data and statistics; create plots and visualizations; and access vast scientific, technical, chemical, medical, health, business, financial, weather, geographic, dictionary, calendar, reference, and general knowledge—and much more

But what is that "much more"? That much more covers knowledge on a lot of topics. To explore that part of Wolfram Alpha, click here.

PARCC content frameworks released

The Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is pleased to provide you with a draft of the PARCC Model Content Frameworks in English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics. These frameworks have been developed through a collaborative state-led process between state experts and members of the Common Core State Standards writing teams. The model content frameworks serve several purposes: They help identify the big ideas in the Common Core State Standards for each grade level; help determine the focus for the various PARCC assessment components; and will support the development of the PARCC assessment blueprints.(from the PARCC website)

To learn more, click the above hyperlinked text.

Read, Write, Think student interactives: alphabet organizer

Read, Write, Think has myriad resources for teachers, including student interactives. Here's a bit of description of the Alphabet Organizer. Click on the hyperlinked text below to learn more.

Alphabet Organizer has numerous applications for classroom instruction. Students have the option to enter one word, more than one word, or a word and related notes for each letter of the alphabet. Elementary students can use the tool to create an alphabet book with words for each letter of the alphabet. The tool can also be used to have students brainstorm and discuss background knowledge on a topic they are beginning to study. At the end of the unit, the chart can be revisited to add new information or to correct erroneous information. Alternatively, the tool can be used for a vocabulary study by having students enter vocabulary words and related notes or definitions. This interactive tool enables students to print an alphabet chart or pages for an alphabet book.

To explore other student interactives, click here.

9/11 resources

Whether it’s with a moment of silence or an outpouring of service, schools across the country are considering how to help their students observe the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. A wide range of resources are available to assist educators as they seek learning opportunities around this emotion-charged date. (Suzie Boss at Edutopia)

Follow the hyperlinked text above to learn more about the resources Boss suggests.

Check out TED

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize. (from the TED website)

Perhaps the above text doesn't do TED justice. So below is one of the many talks available at TED.

The value of getting it wrong

People remember things better, longer, if they are given very challenging tests on the material, tests at which they are bound to fail. In a series of experiments, they showed that if students make an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve information before receiving an answer, they remember the information better than in a control condition in which they simply study the information. Trying and failing to retrieve the answer is actually helpful to learning. It’s an idea that has obvious applications for education, but could be useful for anyone who is trying to learn new material of any kind. (Henry L Roediger and Brigid Finn at Scientific American)

California looks at digital textbooks

California schools have cracked the spine on open source, free digital textbooks in an attempt to save money and to make educational resources easier to access and update.


The cash-strapped state launched the nation's first open source digital textbook initiative last May, asking content providers to submit high school-level math and science texts for free. The state reviewed 16 digital textbooks, available as PDF files (downloadable at the California Learning Resource Network), scored by how well they align with state standards. Teachers began accessing the texts online last fall. (Kara Platoni at Edutopia)

Want to participate in an international book club?

Summer vacation

This blog will be on hiatus for the summer and return with posts when the new school year begins in August.

Math meets reality tv

GET THE MATH is a convergent media project designed to help middle and high school students develop algebraic thinking skills for solving real world problems.  Drawing on conventions of popular reality TV shows, video segments begin with profiles of young professionals, who then pose challenges connected to their jobs to two teams of teens.  At that point viewers are encouraged to try the challenges themselves using interactive tools provided on the GET THE MATH website, before returning to the video to see the teams’ solutions.  Students can further explore the same algebra concepts through additional interactive challenges on the website. (from the Above page at GET THE MATH)

Below is the music video for GET THE MATH.

Watch the full episode. See more THIRTEEN Kids.

Brady Mallory

WDAZ Reporter Brady Mallory concluded not on the "Best of" week of Literary Lunches, he closed out this school's run. Mallory read from Ellen DeGeneres' The Funny Thing Is..., a collection of humorous essays. Early in the Literary Lunches season, Mallory first read an excerpt from Harper Lee's classic To Kill A Mockingbird early in the Literary Lunches.

Roger Dykstra returns to Literary Lunches with Butterflies

     Pastor Roger Dykstra brought a sampling of the reading he is currently reading and some favorites to literary lunch today and had the group decide the selection.  The book that was chosen was The Butterfly Effect, by Andy Andrews.  It was given to Dykstra by his mother-in-law, and helps show the theory of the far-reaching implications of any action.  While "The Butterfly Effect" was initially scoffed at when presented in the 1960s, it is now considered a law of "Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions," which relates to both physical matter and people.

     This theory highlighted Dykstra's theme/advice to seniors that every action matters--that every decision (good or bad) can ripple and cause unknown consequences.   While society may tell people that "if they work hard enough they will get whatever they want" may not be true, there will often be unintended or unforeseen rewards later on. 

Picturing reading

At yesterday's session of Literary Lunches,  Torie Johnson, director of special education for the Grand Forks Public Schools, read from a number of different books: two familiar children's books, Thomas' Snowsuit written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko and Love You Forever also written by Munsch and illustrated by Sheila McGraw, and Jacqueline Woodson's Locomotion, the story of William C. Motion written in poetry.

The common theme was pictures. Thomas's Snowsuit and Love You Forever both include illustrations; Woodson's does not. Still, Johnson encouraged us to really listen to and think about the images Woodson has created for Locomotion.

Here's what Woodson says about Locomotion at her website: 

Lonnie C. Motion has had some tough breaks in his life. But this fall, Lonnie’s fifth grade class is learning to write poetry and suddenly, Lonnie is finding the words to tell the world about his family, the fire that took his parents away, his little sister, his world.

The best of week continues

As part of this week's "Best of Literary Lunches," former Grand Forks Central teacher and coach Serge Gambucci read yesterday from America's Coach: Life Lesson & Wisdom for Gold Medal Success; A Biographical Journey of the Late Hockey Icon Herb Brooks by Ross Bernstein.

Check out a bit about the book below:
The inspirational story of legendary coach Herb Brooks comes to life in the pages of “America’s Coach,” a heart-warming motivational biography that celebrates the legacy of a true American hero. As the architect of the fabled 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey “Miracle on Ice,” Brooks showed the world that through hard work, commitment and dedication, dreams really can come true. It doesn’t matter if you know the difference between a blue line and a clothes line, Brooks’ unorthodox ideologies and philosophies on team-building, leadership and motivation can be applied to the real world just as easily as they can to the business world. Follow along as Brooks’ amazing life is chronicled from the frozen ponds of St. Paul’s east side, to the bright lights of New York City, and everywhere in between. Woven throughout this colorful tapestry are anecdotes, quotes, funny stories, and nuggets of wisdom from Brooks himself, which provide a unique insight into the secrets of his success. Best-selling sports author Ross Bernstein, who had actually been working with Brooks on writing a series of motivational books at the time of his tragic passing in 2003, honors the legacy of his late friend and mentor by challenging you to achieve heights you never dreamed possible. And maybe, just maybe, even inspire you to create your own miracles.

Gambucci also read a column by 90-year-old Regina Brett that chronicles lessons she's learned about living. To read the column, click here.

As usual, Gambucci was quick-witted and entertaining....definitely a right choice for the "Best of Literary Lunches" week.

Captain Ahab's grandson comes to visit

     We kicked off our "Best of Literary Lunches 2011" with a reading from none other than Captain Ahab's grandson, Cornelius.  He is onovelThe Young Man and the Sean a quest to take out the white whale that has cursed his family, killing his grandfather and ruining his father's life.
      Cornelius read from the novel The Young Man and the Sea by Rodman Philbrick--a novel that has some eerie similarities to Cornelius' life and the way the sea can affect father-son relationships.  Cornelius also spends his lonely life on the sea by singing sea shanties and writing.



     Justin Fisher did a great job answering questions in personna, and we were lucky to have him start off our "Best of" week!

Feel like checking out a great museum?

GREAT MUSEUMS is an award-winning documentary television series celebrating the world of museums. The series airs coast to coast on public television stations representing more than 85% of US households.


GREAT MUSEUMS opens the doors of the museum world to millions of Americans through public television, new media and community outreach with the goal of “curating a community of learners.”


Executive produced by Marc Doyle and Chesney Blankenstein Doyle, the compelling educational series has won more than forty television awards for excellence, including multiple Cine Golden Eagles, Telly Awards, and Aurora Excellence Awards.(from the GREAT MUSEUMS About page)

To read more about GREAT MUSEUMS, click here. To begin exploring GREAT MUSEUMS, click here.

Officer Troy Vanyo on Friday the 13th!

      Officer Vanyo entertained the groups today with reading from a short story collection entitled The Ghost Next Door.  Some of the selections he read were "The Ghost Hotel," "Strange Doings at the Parker House," "Host of Ghosts."  He also talked about the importance of reading in law enforcement and the ability to write with clarity!




A highlight of the reading:
Officer Vanyo: "I'm going to read a ghost story."
Student: "With the lights on?"

What do these words really mean?

As English evolves, word meanings shift and turn, sometimes reversing themselves altogether. These ten words have shifted their senses over the years. In some cases, we are wise to likewise be flexible; in others, we relax our vocabulary at the expense of useful distinctions:

1. Decimate

The literal meaning of this word, as all you lovers of Latin (not to be confused with Latin lovers) know all too well, is “to reduce by one-tenth,” supposedly from the punitive custom of selecting one out of ten captives by lot and killing those so selected. But the senses for this rhadamanthine Roman policy have proliferated, so that now it means “tithed,” “drastically reduced,” or “destroyed” as well.

The above comes from Daily Writing Tips.

Click here to read more.

Solemn writers to consider

At yesterday session of Literary Lunches, Calvary Lutheran Church pastor Troy Troftruben read selections from Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Elie Wiesel, both of whom spent time in concentrations camps during World War II. The Weisel selection was an excerpt from Night and the Bonhoeffer selections were poems "Power of Good" and "Christian and Pagans."

Follow the hyperlinked text below to learn more about Wiesel.

Elie Wiesel was born in the small town of Sighet in Transylvania, where people of different languages and religions have lived side by side for centuries, sometimes peacefully, sometimes in bitter conflict. The region was long claimed by both Hungary and Romania. In the 20th century, it changed hands repeatedly, a hostage to the fortunes of war.

Follow the hyperlinked text below to learn more about Bonhoeffer.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (German pronunciation: [ˈdiːtʁɪç ˈboːnhœfɐ]; February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and martyr. He was also a participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism and a founding member of the Confessing Church. His involvement in plans by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler resulted in his arrest in April 1943 and his subsequent execution by hanging in April 1945, 23 days before the Nazis' surrender. His view of Christianity's role in the secular world has become very influential.

Troftgruben explained that he find both Wiesel and Bonhoeffer interesting because they consider where a god is in horrible circumstances.

Digital storytelling and other resources

Digital storytelling is an ed tech buzz word that’s thrown around a lot. When I first heard it, digital storytelling pretty much referred to podcasts and short films. And, to a certain extent, it still does. But podcasting and film-making no longer require massive amounts of hardware and software, like iMovie or Garageband. Today, anyone with a computer and an internet connection can easily create digital stories. (from Stretch Your Digital Dollar)

There are a number of resources referenced at this post as well as considerations for implement them in the classroom. 

Here is the mission for the site. Stretch Your Digital Dollar provides affordable strategies that can help educators bridge the digital divide. The site is replete with resources for teachers.

Several 2.0 initiatives and their impact

Increasingly, Public Media 2.0 projects are moving not only beyond broadcast to social and mobile platforms, but into the realms of digital and media literacy training. Producers of such projects recognize that in order to participate fully in the new media world, children and adults need to be able to access, analyze, evaluate and communicate messages in a wide variety of forms. Over the past two months, on the Center for Social Media's Public Media 2.0 Showcase, we profiled a series of such initiatives, examining in particular how project leaders evaluate their impact. (from the Center for International Media Assistance)

Click the hyperlinked text above to look at the media initiatives as well as a means to assess their impact on learning.

Weboword

Weboword is a great website that provides visual depictions of vocabulary words. And you subscribe to get updates to the site.

Today's word is decimate. Click here to see its depiction.

The Alliance for Excellent Education

About the Alliance: The Alliance for Excellent Education is a Washington, DC-based national policy and advocacy organization that works to improve national and federal policy so that all students can achieve at high academic levels and graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship in the twenty-first century. The Alliance focuses on America’s six million most at-risk secondary school students—those in the lowest achievement quartile—who are most likely to leave school without a diploma or to graduate unprepared for a productive future. 

The Alliance also has a blog, which includes updates on education and educational policy. To check it out, click here.

LiveBinder it

"LiveBinders is dedicated to helping you empower others with the information you work hard to collect.
If you're like us, you've used 'creative' tactics to keep track of all your links either through email, word documents or endless lists in your browser bookmarks folder. It's hard to put a group of links together in any meaningful format. And sharing a group of URLs is cumbersome for everyone - the sender and the receiver. Have you ever looked through your bookmarks list and forgotten what they are all for?
We created LiveBinders so that you could do with digital information what you do with the papers on your desk - organize them into nice containers - like 3-ring binders on your shelf. With our online-binders you can also upload your documents and easily combine them with your links in a neat and organized way.
We welcome you to create as many LiveBinders as you need to help organize the stuff you collect and share on the Web." (directly from LiveBinders)

LiveBinders let you organize online content in a "binder" on the Internet, in effect, an icon that looks like a binder that can be opened, so you can access the websites you've put there. Take a look at some sample binders by clicking here.

100 images in 100 seconds

This first came to light for this blogger at Free Technology for Teachers, a must-read resources.

News of Osama bin Laden's death breaks on Twitter

Sohaib Athar, a resident of Abbottabad, Pakistan, spent Sunday's wee hours tweeting about helicopters circling overhead and a mysterious blast. Little did he imagine that he was recording America's attack on the world's most wanted terrorist. (Hilary Brenhouse at Time's Newsfeed)

There's more:

On his Twitter page, Sohaib Athar (@ReallyVirtual) describes himself as “an IT consultant taking a break from the rat-race by hiding in the mountains with his laptops.” But this weekend, he found himself at the center of the action. At about 1am local time on Sunday, Athar tweeted about a “helicopter hovering above Abbottabad (a rare event),” later joking that he might have to make use of his “giant swatter.”

Here's part of a New York Times piece on the news of bin Laden's death leaking out.

The terse announcement came just after 9:45 p.m. Sunday from Dan Pfeiffer, the White House communications director. “POTUS to address the nation tonight at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time,” he wrote on Twitter, sharing the same message that had just been transmitted to the White House press corps. (from Brian Stelter)

To read more, click the excerpted hyperlinked text above.

Online course creation funded

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced Wednesday it was donating more than $20 million to create 24 online courses in 42 states.
The courses will be math and language-arts focused and will be provided freely to schools in states that have adopted Common Core Standards, which prepare students for college and careers. (Jason Koebler at US News Education)

To read more, click here.

Literacy coaches improve student reading scores

An innovative study of 17 schools across the country suggests that putting literacy coaches in schools can help boost students’ reading skills by as much as 32 percent over three years.
The study, headed by researchers at Stanford University, focused on the Literacy Collaborative, a program that trains teachers to become literacy coaches. The teacher-coaches then work one-on-one with their colleagues on a half-time basis to spread a set of teaching routines drawn from principles of cognitive science.( from Debra Viadero at Education Week)

To read more, click here.

Free educational resources at Open Culture

Open Culture brings together high-quality cultural & educational media for the worldwide lifelong learning community. Web 2.0 has given us great amounts of intelligent audio and video. It’s all free. It’s all enriching. But it’s also scattered across the web, and not easy to find. Our whole mission is to centralize this content, curate it, and give you access to this high quality content whenever and wherever you want it. Free audio books, free online courses, free movies, free language lessons, free ebooks and other enriching content — it’s all here. Open Culture was founded in 2006. (from Open Culture)

To learn more about Open Culture, click here. 

Argument and the Common-Core Standards

If we want record numbers of students to succeed in postsecondary studies and careers, an ancient, accessible concept needs to be restored to its rightful place at the center of schooling: argument. In its various forms, it includes the ability to analyze and assess our facts and evidence, support our solutions, and defend our interpretations and recommendations with clarity and precision in every subject area. Argument is the primary skill essential to our success as citizens, students, and workers.
The new common-core standards, which include the best English/language arts standards to date, fully acknowledge this. They affirm unequivocally that “argument is the soul of an education.” But, alas, unless adjustments are made, these new standards documents could drown out and obscure the welcome emphasis they put on argument. (Mike Schmoker and Gerald Graff at Education Week)

To read more, click the above hyperlinked text.