You can make a difference with a click of a button!

As I was doing the reading for this class, I found something in chapter 9 that I was interested in. The author gave a couple of sites where we could make a difference in the world just by clicking a button on a site:

www.thehungersite.com
www.therainforestsite.com
www.theanimalrescuesite.com
www.thechildhealthsite.com
(on the top, there are tabs that lead you to other topics such as breast cancer and literacy)

On each website, there is a button where you can click once a day and sponsors give money to that specific need.This is what shows up after I clicked the button for animal rescue:

-Thank You — your click has been counted!
You've given the value of .6 bowls of food to rescued animals.

I just bookmarked these sites and I plan to click the button once a day. You can help the hungry, the rainforest, animals, and children just with a click of a button. How awesome is that!

The "First" Thanksgiving

This article was in my town’s newspaper. It was about the Deerfield Pre-school, where I attended school. The pictures are of the students re-enacting the first Thanksgiving. The funny thing is that this is exactly what we talked about in class, two weeks ago, about how the first thanksgiving is not told correctly. I find it so shocking that this is a tradition at the pre-school, one which I participated in when I was a preschooler, which is not true at all. This is another part of history that is taught wrong to students. I was just wondering if anyone else participated in an event such as this, or remember learning information that we now know to be false

Single-sex Classrooms

Rules ease restrictions on single-sex schools
Bush administration describes them as tools; critics see segregation

Single-sex classroomsOct. 25: In schools that have divided classes based on gender, grades shot up, and disciplinary problems fell. It was enough evidence to make the Education Department approve divided classrooms, even whole schools, in the public system nationwide. NBC's Martin Savidge reports.


WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is giving public schools wider latitude to teach boys and girls separately in what is considered the biggest change to coed classrooms in more than three decades.

After a two-year wait, the Education Department issued final rules Tuesday detailing how it will enforce the Title IX landmark anti-discrimination law. Under the change taking effect Nov. 24, local school leaders will have discretion to create same-sex classes for subjects such as math, a grade level or even an entire school.

“Some students may learn better in single-sex education environments,” said Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. “These final regulations permit communities to establish single-sex schools and classes as another means of meeting the needs of students.”

Here is the link to read the rest of the article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15400717/from/ET/

This article really threw me for a loop. I could not imagine teaching to a single-sex class. I feel like it is not an accurate representation of society. I am interested to know what your thoughts are-let me know!

How could single-sex classrooms affect education? Pros? Cons? What is your opinion? How would this change the future of education or society? Is this really 'meeting the needs' of students?

Great new resource for teachers

The above photo, taken in 1942, shows a Japanese American man and his grandsons waiting to be evacuated during a forced removal to an internment camp during World War II.

This photograph is one of 2 million from the archives of Life magazine that are now available online via a partnership between Life and Google (here is a link.) There are lots of amazing photos, taken from the 1860s through the 1970s, and most are large, high-quality scans which could be used as full-screen shots in a PowerPoint slide show. It's a good site to bookmark for future use.

Are you smarter than....an elected official?

This from the blog, The Daily Kos:

"US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI)."

You can find the quiz here. I scored an 82% -- 27 out of 33. Doesn't seem that good for a social studies teacher, but according to the test-makers the average for all college instructors is just over 55%. The test itself seems too heavily weighted on economics questions to me, but it's still worth taking, I think. See how you do. If you beat me you automatically get an A in the class.

Just kidding. But you do get bragging rights.

Community/Public Service

So as I was looking for an interesting article to post, I found a list of public service needs in our school district's communities. The list is from The Daily Herald- http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=251369&src=107. Some of the items on the list include blood drives, book drives, committe members, volunteers for different events, etc.

I think that as community members we need to try to take care of each other. I know that we all experience tough times, but I strongly support helping others if at all possible. Even giving a small amount of time, some old clothing, or a small donation, can help someone in need.

I was wondering what you thought about promoting community service in your classrooms. Do you think it is worthwhile? Easy? Necessary? In my opinion, I think that as teachers we can promote small projects like a food drive or sending letters home to bring mittens, coats, hats, etc. to school to donate. I feel that if students are immersed in this at an early age, they will be more likely to carry it through their lives. Let me know what you think!

Back to reality?

This photo shows a charred cross that was burned on the lawn of a couple in Hardwick Township, N.J.. The couple had placed a banner congratulating President-elect Barack Obama on his election victory in their yard and found the banner wrapped around the charred cross on Nov. 6.

Incidents like this are a reminder that, even though the election of Barack Obama was a historic, landmark event, racial prejudice and racism are still part of the American landscape. In fact, according to this article, race-related bias crimes have been on the increase since Obama's election November 4.

Where do you see our country in terms of race relations? How far have we come? And what can we do as teachers to teach against racism?

Reactions Around the World

When I received Greg's email with the link in it to the Huffington Post's slideshow that showed reactions around the world, I immediately went to the website. When I was looking through the pictures, I found myself grinning at my computer screen. The images in that slide show were nothing short of amazing. I couldn't help but think of the hole we have been digging ourselves the past 8 years not only in our own country, but around the world. I agree with what was mentioned in class, that one man cannot be our savior, but it feels nice to once again have that feeling that there is hope, light at the end. I also couldn't help but notice the sense of unity that I was feeling when looking at those pictures. There were people of all different backgrounds, beliefs, religions, etc, that were all excited to see a new leader in our country. There were two pictures that really stuck out to me, the one with the children in Indonesia and the one from Philadelphia, PA. The one with the child holding up the picture of Barack really made me think of how other countries must have viewed the US. If children that would not even be old enough to vote in the election are that elated that we have a new leader, he must really stand for something. I was awestruck by the picture from PA. There is such a great range of emotions in that picture. People are dancing, hugging, and crying, but no matter what they are doing, they are happy. I can only imagine the feeling in Grant Park that night, if I was moved by just looking at pictures. Obama now has some big shoes to fill, a lot of people have very high expectations of him.
Did you have any reactions to the slideshow? How are you feeling about the recent election?