I am trying to vary up my selections for different topics/subjects areas, so hopefully if you do not necessarily think the links are useful to what you are teaching, you can share them with others in your own school.
Here are some of the fascinating links that I wanted to share with you this week:
1. What have we been teaching? – This amazing post by Ira Socol (along with this post on ‘Democracy in America‘ and this one on ‘Occupy Davis‘), talks passionately about many current events happening in the world, while also being a go-to person on the topic of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
There are a few reasons that I wanted to share this post. The first of which, is that this would be a great discussion piece in many humanities courses, while also giving the students the opportunity to share their own thoughts with the other. Another reason is that Ira models what I hope many of our students would be able to articulate in their writing. I am not saying that I expect everyone to agree with his politics, but the way he so eloquently writes and backs up arguments with fact, showing deep critical thinking in what he posts, and then asking questions that challenge the reader to get into conversation. I wish I had one-tenth of the writing ability he does. I don’t always agree with Ira, but I am always moved by what he writes.
Here is one powerful question that he poses in this post:
“So, I am forced to ask this question, what have we been teaching, in our schools, in our homes, in our churches, in our everyday lives, that has allowed so many completely amoral people to not just be among us, but to rise to positions of responsibility?”
Hopefully you read more of his work as he has some powerful work.
2. The Flickr Blog – I stumbled across this blog awhile ago, and I always find the images are extremely powerful, yet often show a different perspective on the same topic. Visuals are something that we need to take advantage of more in the classroom, as they inspire different emotions out of students. This blog usually curates pictures on a topic, five times a week. This could be the inspiration for discussion, or else inspire the burgeoning artist/photographer. This post entitled, “What a face” (picture below), shows the amazing process of art done one pixel at a time. If you are into art/photography, definitely check out this blog (along with the “Big Picture“).
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Joel Brochu
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Joel Brochu
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Joel Brochu
3. Smart Every Day (YouTube Channel) – This great channel shared by Dean Shareski on Twitter has some great resources for science. As someone who really struggled with this as a child, I found myself watching these videos with great interest. Some of the high quality, slow motion shots are extremely interesting, but the creator also has a pretty fun personality that makes it so much more enjoyable to watch. Definitely check out the videos shared on this channel. The “Water Balloon to the Face” was one that I found pretty amazing to watch (see below). It seems to update with a new video weekly and could spark some great questions in many science classes.
I hope that some of the links shared here today will help you, or your colleagues out.
Have a wonderful week!
