A Piece of My Mind

I recently came across several really neat podcasts that you might be interested in:

Science
60-Second Science - from Scientific American comes the latest science news each weekday

Spanish
Learn Spanish Survival Guide - self-explanatory

Geography
Travel with Rick Steves - 30 years of globetrotting for PBS has helped create this content

Language Arts
Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing - one of the top podcasts regularly, great for everyone not just ELA teachers

To take advantage of these podcasts, do the following:
1. Open iTunes
2. Go to the iTunes Store (menu on the left side of screen)
3. Click on Podcasts in menu of iTunes Store
4. Click on Power Search in the right hand side of screen
5. Copy and paste the titles that are in bold print above into the Description box on the power search screen
6. Click the name of the podcast, and then click subscribe
7. If all else fails, call me to come help you out

If you find any great podcasts you want to share here, email them to me or leave the information about them in the comment field and I will make a post about it.

Technorati Tags: Scott_S_Floyd, science, geography, podcasts, esl, ela

If you are discussing the events of the California wildfires with your students, you need to integrate Google Maps into your lessons/conversations. Check out what folks are doing with this online tool and others to aid citizens and emergency staff here.

Take a look at the citizen pictures on Flickr.  Amazing!

Now that is harnessing the power of the Read/Write web!

Image by Google.

Technorati Tags: Scott_S_Floyd, geography, web2.0, online_tools, Google, Google_Maps, teaching

Hey history and social studies teachers!  Here is a great chance to get your kids involved with the upcoming election in a 21st Century way.  Here is what their site has to say about the event:

On November 14, 2007, The EWN Foundation together with the Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government at The University of Central Florida, The Presidential Classroom and The United States Association of Former Members of Congress will conduct a three hour National Youth Presidential Forum (NYPF). The NYPF will be webcast to an estimated 25 million students, who will be first time voters.

Presidential Candidates will participate in the Forum from remote locations of their choice. The candidates will field questions from a moderator and students representing the Presidential Classroom. After the webcast, students will participate in an on-line vote for the candidate they would choose in the 2008 Presidential Election. Student’s feedback about the candidates’ responses will be collected and provided to the candidates after the event.

Each student will receive a login code from their teacher, 7-10 days before the event. They will pre-register to vote at www.rocktheweb.org. There will be pre-event class work assigned by the teachers. Then each student will attend the event at their respective venues. After the event, each student will receive a unique ballot code that will enable them to return to the web site and cast a vote and complete a survey about the Forum.

The goal of the NYPF is to increase the knowledge of our youth and to promote participation in the upcoming 2008 Presidential Election.

Check out the Rock the Web site for information and registration. 

Technorati Tags: Scott_S_Floyd, history, election, rock_the_web

What else can I say about the technology sessions offered in the k12online conference? Check out the poster below, and then check out the site. This is your chance to learn new technologies and the pedagogy behind them without having a class full of people sitting around you. No pressure to move on until you are ready. Yet, there is a ton of free support offered in this as well, so you are not left stranded. The conference is one I highly recommend.

Oh, did I mention it is free?

If you need help getting an RSS feed reader set-up so you can follow the conference happenings easier, let me know. I am always more than happy to help out.

Technorati Tags: Scott_S_Floyd, k12online07

Now, we all know there are several great resources out there, but this one is SOOOOOO valuable to upper grade educators.

Hippo Campus has videos, both instructional and informational. These things ROCK! I realize you may not be as excited about it as I am, but cool, free, awesome resources are so needed with our curriculum these days. Kids can access these from the house for help with homework. They can use them to enrich current lessons or presentations. You can use them to give a twist to your lessons while letting the students know they are out there for reference. Your students will love it.

You are in luck if you teach one of these courses:

• US History (AP and regular)
• Algebra (Elementary, IA, and IB)
• American Government (AP and Regular)
• AP Biology
• Calculus (AP I & II, General, and Intro)
• Environmental Science (AP and Regular)
• Physics (AP B & C, College Prep, General, and Intro)
• Religion

Please check this site out. My post cannot do it enough justice for the value of the content found here. (Or am I just too PBS or something?)

Technorati Tags: curriculum, Scott_S_Floyd

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