No Time to Sleep

Lesson Plan on Identify Theft

Wendy Wolfe — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:39:18 +0000

My first post of the new year is actually a lesson plan I customized from the free curriculum on Online Identify Theft: Information is Power from Common Sense Media. Our technology office teaches what I would describe as a survey course in technology and digital citizenship and safety landed in my corner for the upcoming semester. While the customized lesson uses a lot of the Common Sense Media lesson ideas and resources, I found a few more resources and was a bit more specific on the use of a webtool. As of this writing, I am glad to see that it looks like “ID Theft Faceoff” the “game” designed by several federal government agencies to explore identify theft is back online (it wasn’t looking so good about two weeks ago).

Too often teens think identity theft is only something adults need to be concerned about. I hope we are able to bring this issue to light with our students next semester.

A New Look at the War of 1812

Wendy Wolfe — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:00:10 +0000

The USS Constitution Museum published a new website which has an interactive experience for K-12 students focusing on 19th century naval life and the War of 1812. From an interactive exploration of Old Ironsides to a role-playing game which puts the player in the position of a sailor, to an exploration of those who served on board the USS Constitution, this is a fun and engaging web-resource. Lesson plans, ideas for classroom integration, and activities for families are also offered on the site.

Web 2.0 for Advent

Wendy Wolfe — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:26:27 +0000

Christmas is coming, but I do love Advent so much. My buddy Ben shared this “Web 2.0 Advent” calendar with me last night. It looks like it was originally created for the 2010 Advent, but I’m guessing it will still be fun to explore the tools each day! Thanks to iLearn Technology for creating the calendar.

Getting Ready for Election 2012

Wendy Wolfe — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:22:21 +0000

It seems like we just went through a presidential election cycle, but we’re gearing up again. For the 2012 election, C-SPAN has produced a new Electoral College map which is available at no cost to anyone with a C-SPAN Education Membership. The membership can be great for many disciplines as there is public speaking, public policy relating to all content areas, and, of course, government content. The account also allows for access to more content than an unregistered visitor and when logged in, the videos can be edited within C-SPAN’s video library to allow only clips to be seen which saves a great amount of time.

To become a member, visit the C-SPAN Classroom site and register. For the Electoral College poster, visit the special offers page.

New Things

Wendy Wolfe — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:05:01 +0000

For a variety of reasons, I am intrigued by using handhelds in the classroom. This time, my interest stemmed from a discussion I had with a friend from St Olaf. Her school is focusing on inquiry based learning this year and we explored this article, “How to Write Effective Driving Questions,” as part of our conversation. Included in this article was a link to the Buck Institute for Education’s YouTube channel with a video on project based learning. I noticed one of the other videos on the side, Tony Vincent’s K12 Online Conference presentation entitled, “Project Based Learning in Hand.” Since watching that presentation, I have become more intrigued about the potential for iPod Touch and iPads in the classroom.

I have access to 7 gen 4 and 5 gen 1, 2 or 3 iPod Touches which I will be trying out in a variety of ways in my classes this year, the first is going to be early next week with our Constitutional and Criminal Law class, we are going to interview a Founding Father. The second will be with the same class, the plan is to have students make some sort of video or flip book about the Constitution. The ideas are gelling, I will let you know how it goes…