Good resources from Scholastic January 25, 2010
Posted by Wendy Wolfe in Educational Resources.Tags: Interactive Whiteboards, Lesson Plans
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Scholastic is producing some impressive and free resources for many subjects and all grade levels (though the emphasis is K-8). What first caught my eye this week were the 27 interactive whiteboard activities for Language Arts, Social Studies, Science and Math with some additional “Learning Games and Teaching Tools.” From touring the Mayflower and learning about the first Thanksgiving and travelling the Underground Railroad, to creating a Character Scrapbook and more, the activities would be good with an interactive whiteboard but could also be used individually by students.
After a little more digging around Scholastic’s site, I found Make Your Case, which takes the user through the process of a court case in the role of an attorney. Fun for a courtroom-related unit, Mock Trial supplement or prep, etc.
Scholastic also has many lesson plans “browseable” by subject and grade level and ideas for thematic lesson plans throughout the year as well as many tips for teachers, learning tips for students, and other literacy-related resources. I was impressed that the company had such a broad range of material for more than merely elementary students.
Did you know? January 15, 2010
Posted by Wendy Wolfe in Assessment.Tags: Grading, US Government
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Clearly Article I, Sections 4-8 of the Constitution have been amended. The following are the answers from three fill-in-the-blank questions on exams my students submitted today…
1. The President can call a extraordinary session of Congress if it is deemed necessary.
2. All bulls for raising revenue must begin in the House of Representatives, but the anybody has the right to propose bills.
and
3. Members of both houses [of Congress] are free from treason during their attendance at the session of their respective houses.
Granted, none of these are as funny as an answer I received about five years ago on an exam about Japan. Question: What did you find most interesting during our study of Japan? Answer: It is great that Japan is so much healthier than the United States. I am sure it is because they have a national diet.
Well, Japan does have a Diet, but it isn’t exactly about food…
Ok, back to grading. Hopefully the Constitution doesn’t change much more.
Wiki Boot Camp January 14, 2010
Posted by Wendy Wolfe in Wikis.Tags: Wikis Tutorials
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I am still working on the blog problem (thanks Ben for the tips, please keep them coming if you get more 
), but just finished the major directions and video tutorials for a wiki boot camp and wanted to share it. I will be designing one more set of directions customized for the classes which will use the Wiki Boot Camp, but otherwise I think it is set. Feel free to use, copy, share, etc. at will.
Now off to grade finals. Oh boy.
Class blogging January 14, 2010
Posted by Wendy Wolfe in Blogging.Tags: Blogging
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I admit, I am stumped. What is now the best (and still free) tool to use with students for blogging? In the past I used Edublogs and it was great. Students were able to design their own blogs, the administrator could approve all posts and or comments if s/he wanted to, it was free, and if students wanted to export their writing to a WordPress blog, they could do that at the end of a class and not lose any of their work.
Now, one of my colleagues would like to start blogging with students next week and it looks like Edublogs has turned my favorite aspects of its program into a paid service. 
I did find 21 Classes and it looks great…for a teacher with ten students. Blogger would be a possibility, but the administrative control is not great. I’m leaning toward exploring Class Blogmeister in the morning, we’ll see how that goes.
Any suggestions? My buddy Ben would throw this out to his Twitter network. I’m not so good at Twitter, but it might be my next stop…
