International Education Week

November 17-21 is International Education Week.

Like any other commemorative week or month (or year, for that matter) of some merit, the question arises "why just one week (or month or year)?" Today, international/global education is so essential that it should be incorporated into all subject areas spanning many if not all grades.

We all know this, but according to a recent report from the Committee for Economic Development our students, upon graduation, will be: selling to other countries, buying from other countries, working for international companies, managing employees from other cultures and countries, collaborating with people around the world in joint ventures, competing with people around the world for jobs and markets, and tackling international problems such as climate change, diseases, and disaster recovery.

For some good online resources, go to http://delicious.com/sigridlumbra and click on the tag "Global Studies" in the right hand tool bar.

• How do you address global education in your classroom?
• Is your school and/or district supportive?
• What resources, methods, or advice to you have for your colleagues who want to expand global education within their schools?
  

Online Election Resources

The following web sites are good resources for integrating 21st century skills and the election:

• The Living Room Candidate: Web site sponsored by the Museum for the Moving Image that provides clips of presidential-campaign commercials from 1952 through today, as well as background and historical information about campaign advertising.
• National Association for Media Literacy Education: The national membership organization promotes media-literacy efforts. It offers suggestions for teaching about the election.
• Glassbooth: An online quiz that analyzes a user’s position on social, political, and economic issues to see which candidate’s views he or she is most aligned with.
• Mouse: A New York City-based nonprofit organization that supports research, policy initiatives, classroom resources, and training programs for teachers and students that promote the use of technology to enhance instruction.
• Presidential Election Wiki: A wikispace, or collaborative Web site, that includes resources and Web links for teaching about the election process. The site is administered by Joyce Valenza, a library information specialist at Springfield Township High School in Pennsylvania.
• YouTube: The video-sharing Web site has a channel dedicated to the election hosted by YouTube that includes clips of the candidates on the campaign trail and in debate, as well as video commentary by both prominent and unknown pundits.
• Media Construction of Presidential Campaigns: Curriculum materials from Project Look Sharp, the media-literacy program at Ithaca College. It includes a detailed teacher’s guide and downloads for units covering media issues in presidential campaigns since 1800.
• Access, Analyze, Act—A Blueprint for 21st Century Civic Engagement: The Public Broadcasting Service’s resources include a teacher’s guide for developing lessons that tap social media to teach media-literacy, critical-thinking, communication, and technology skills. The site, created by the Media Education Lab at Temple University in Philadelphia, also includes podcasts and interactive simulations on campaign issues.
• Factcheck.org: The searchable Web site from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania monitors the factual accuracy of statements, advertisements, interviews, and debates related to the presidential campaign.
• Get My Vote: A Web site sponsored by National Public Radio that allows citizens to write, record, or videotape their views about issues they deem important to the election.
• The Internet Archive: The site contains historical collections in digital format. It includes video, audio, and print documents, as well as software and Web page archives.
• eLECTIONS: An online, multimedia game offered by Cable in the Classroom in which players are candidates and choose their party affiliation and positions on key issues, then analyze polling maps and choose campaign strategies.
Source: Education Week

• What other good online resources are you using in your classroom?

Presidential Election TV Ads: Past and Present

The Living Room Candidate contains more than 300 commercials, from every presidential election since 1952, when Madison Avenue advertising executive Rosser Reeves convinced Dwight Eisenhower that short ads played during such popular TV programs as I Love Lucy would reach more voters than any other form of advertising. This innovation had a permanent effect on the way presidential campaigns are run.

In a media-saturated environment in which news, opinions, and entertainment surround us all day on our television sets, computers, and cell phones, the television commercial remains the one area where presidential candidates have complete control over their images. Television commercials use all the tools of fiction filmmaking, including script, visuals, editing, and performance, to distill a candidate's major campaign themes into a few powerful images. Ads elicit emotional reactions, inspiring support for a candidate or raising doubts about his opponent. While commercials reflect the styles and techniques of the times in which they were made, the fundamental strategies and messages have tended to remain the same over the years.

For more information go to http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/.

Are you a technophobe?

Are you irritated that your students know (way) more than you do? If so, there's a great web site that could help. It features simple "how to" videos made just for teachers that cover the following types of technology:

• Second Life L1
• Second Life L2
• Mind Mapping Tools
• Make Online Surveys
• RSS Feeds
• All About YouTube
• How to Use Blackboard
• How to Use iTunes to Get PodCasts
• 24 Tips for PowerPoint
• How to Create Blogs
• How to Use and Make Wikis
• How to Use Del.icio.us
• Tips and Tricks for Word
• Drawing and Recording

To view these videos go to http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/.

• How do you use technology in your class?


• What resources do you suggest for people to learn more about integrating technology into their classrooms?

Banned Books Week

From the ALA:
BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

The 10 most challenged books of 2007 reflect a range of themes, and are:
1. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell [Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group]
2. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier [Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence]
3. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes [Reasons: Sexually Explicit and Offensive Language]
4. The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman [Reasons: Religious Viewpoint]
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain [Reasons: Racism]
6. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker [Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language]
7. TTYL, by Lauren Myracle [Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group]
8. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou [Reasons: Sexually Explicit]
9. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris [Reasons: Sex Education, Sexually Explicit]
10. The Perks of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky [Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group]

For a lot of interesting information about banned books, including a Resource Guide, breakdown by year(s), graphs of data including Challenges by Initiator, Institution, Type, and Year, go to the ALA's web site at http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/bannedbooksweek/challengedbanned/frequentlychallengedbooks.cfm.

• Have you ever used any banned or challenged books in your classroom?


• What should social studies students know about banned books or the process of banning books?