It's Time for the AP Govt. Review!!

Stevenson High School's American Government teachers Andy Conneen and Dan Larsen, will be reprising their "Cram for the Exam" review show on C-SPAN Saturday morning, May 1. The pair will appear on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, bringing their unique spin to American government and politics. Students across the country will be invited to call in with their questions in preparation for the upcoming Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics exam on May 3.

Check out Larsen and Conneen's blog, CBS 2School, on the CBS 2 Chicago website. Throughout the month of April, they have been featuring "Cram for the Exam" posts that serve as a primer for American government and politics.

Free Google Guide for Educators

Google offers dozens of free resources that teachers and students can use to improve their learning experiences. This 33-page guide by Google Certified Teacher Richard Byrne, is intended for teachers who would like to know more about Google Search, Google Docs, and Google Maps. This guide begins with an overview of advanced Google Search tools that can improve Internet search experiences.
See the detailed list below which includes information about using Google Gadgets for creating word clouds and checking readability levels (Pages 20-4) as well as...

Search Tools
An overview of Google’s lesserknown search tools. Google Books, Google Scholar, Google News.
Pages 2 - 3

Google Books
How to access Google Books advanced search. How to embed books into your blog or website.
Pages 4-6

Google News Widgets
How to put custom Google News on your blog or website.
Page 8

Google Docs
Nine uses of Google Docs beyond word processing and presentations.
Pages 9-11

Creating Quizzes in Google Docs
Step by step directions for creating a quiz and posting it online using Google Docs Forms.
Pages 12- 17

Google Maps
Six ways to use Google Maps beyond the Social Studies classroom. Directions for creating placemarks in Google Maps.
Pages 25 - 32

Visit: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/03/free-33-page-guide-google-for-teachers.html

You can view this guide electronically (consider the environment before printing!)

Film Your Issue

Only a few weeks remain to submit films to the "Film Your Issue" competition. Check out winning submissions and jury and audience favorites from past FYI competitions published in the iTunes podcast channel:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/film-your-issue/id360749159

What's Your Issue? Competition... spreading the word...

Are you familiar with "What's Your Issue?" -- "It's a global initiative and competition for the next generation of leaders and social entrepreneurs. The mission of What’s Your Issue Foundation is to provide a unique national platform for young adults to propose creative solutions to some of our nation’s most important challenges and for that voice to be heard, honored, and acted upon by leaders in government, the media, the private sector, and the nonprofit world.

The broader year-round mission of this dynamic and multi-faceted initiative is to encourage and support civic engagement by young adults – supported by an educational platform offering leadership and social entrepreneurial skills, as well as video-making skills."

Perhaps your curriculum includes units covering one of the eight issues listed below. Maybe you sponsor a club or activity that is committed to solving some of the problems in the world. In my years at Stevenson I have witnessed so many teachers, staff and students giving generously of their time and talents in support of a variety of local, national and global issues, whether it be working with the local senior citizens, honoring our veterans, or raising funds for victims of catastrophes, such as the recent earthquake in Haiti.

Today's technology allows our young people to have a global voice!! This is an amazing effort to better our world through the creative thinking of those who, one day, will be our caretakers. I urge you to share this with your students.

The "Film Your Issue" competition is open now! From the website: http://whatsyourissue.tv/competitions/

We are seeking your innovative solutions to issues. We think that 14 to 24 year olds can offer a fresh, innovative approach to problem-solving. Specifically, we are looking for workable project ideas that can be locally launched that would tangibly tackle a problem. An example might be program or project in a city or town to deal with surplus cellphones, or with under-employed youth, or that would deal with national security or human rights.

Check out the eight front-burner issues we’ve listed on our Issues page. We’ve listed some considerations for each issue there that may get you started in thinking about your solution-project.

Then submit your three-minute video to the Film Your Issue competition that both articulates the problem and proposes a specific project to deal with the problem. Submission is open January 18 through April 12. When you submit your video, we will ask for a one-sheet outlining your project in more detail.

The more dynamic the presentation of the issue and your proposed project, the more you will capture our enthusiasm. While cinematic quality always helps, a great project idea will sway our hearts. Innovative thinking is as important as slickness.

Just remember that American and global leaders will be selecting the winning solutions that will be presented to senior officials in the Obama administration, broadcast on screens in Best Buy stores across the planet, posted on our iTunes tile and YouTube playlist. We will also fly U.S.-based Jury winners to Los Angeles for our Awards ceremony co-hosted by Sony Pictures.

The Film Your Issue competition is open to all global young adults 14 to 24.

Global submissions are eligible for all our Jury Awards, and all presentation platforms. Due to the labyrinth of global legalities of any competition, the Audience Favorite winner, as selected by the public on YouTube, is only eligible to U.S. residents.

The eight issues are:

Education

Environment

Economic Recession

Health and Healthcare

Pathway from Poverty

National Security and Defense

Public Service

Human and Equal Rights

Technology

Additional information on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/filmyourissue

A few recent finds....

Over the past several weeks it seems I've found it difficult to make time for certain things ... such as posting to this blog. This has been partly due to the holiday season and end of semester/beginning of semester work, and partly due to my efforts on various committees (NICE Mini-Conference, ICE Educator of the Year, etc.), and extra-curricular activities (I'm now iLife Certified!)

Although I bookmark items as I find them, here are a few recent "finds" I'd like to share here:

100 Interesting Ways:

http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2009/01/26/100-interesting-ways/#comment-3448

10 Teacher Development Tasks for Web 2.0 Tools:

http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2009/11/10-teacher-development-task-for-web-20.html

What's Working in Schools (HOPE Foundation blog):

http://hopefoundation.org/hope/blog/

LoudLit.org -- Literature for your eyes and ears:

http://www.loudlit.org/

Do we know what good teaching looks like?

http://1to1schools.net/2010/01/do-we-know-what-good-teaching-looks-like.html

Technology Resources to Support the Struggling Reader (Meg Ormiston's wiki)

http://megormi.wikispaces.com/reading

Best Online Collections of PowerPoints for Teachers (Larry Ferlazzo's posts are always top-notch!!)

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2010/01/24/the-best-online-collections-of-powerpoints-for-teachers/

Web 2.0 for Speech Teachers

http://farroutlinks.net/blog/integration-muse/web-2-0-resources-and-web-links-for-speech-teachers/

What to Educational Innovators Really Do?

http://www.schoolnet.com/viewpoints/Customized%20Leadership/viewpointpost.aspx?postid=39&paged=true&page=1

5 Reasons Why Educators Should Network

http://www.convergemag.com/workforce/5-Reasons-Why-Educators-Should-Network.html

Enjoy!

Happy Holidays

Google hosted another teacher academy in Washington D.C. last week, so there has been a bit of activity and discussion among the Google Certified Teachers. Kern Kelley shared some tips for using Google Gadgets on a Google spreadsheet, such as this "Word Search" gadget. (Read his blog for more tips.)

Enjoy this holiday word search (click and drag your mouse over words you find):

Here's more on how the gadget works.

Are you and your students blogging yet?

Stevenson teacher Chris Salituro ("Sal"), has been interacting online with his Sociology students for some time. Several years ago Sal began extending his classroom discussions beyond the school day using an online discussion board. Web-based tools have improved over the years, and through that experience, Sal has transitioned his Sociology class discussions into a "Ways of Thinking" classroom blog. Sal recently shared his rationale for using a blog, and has granted me permission to publish his comments here.

My use of blogging was a long time in developing. I was always reluctant to simply use technology for the sake of technology. But as blogging became more popular and the technology became more available I decided that blogging would be a way of using technology to educate students in a way that was previously impossible.

First, the rise of blogging in general seems to necessitate, to me, a blogging literacy among students. A number of our grads have gone on to work in media and they have returned to school to emphasize the multi-media explosion of the last few years. For example, one student works for Fox and he is producer, but he also does on-air reporting and throughout the last presidential campaign he maintained a blogsite for Fox that would be updated throughout the day. Many other traditional news sources such as newspapers are turning to blogging as well. My first goal is to introduce students to this up and coming trend.

Second, I have been very aware of the change from a producer to a consumer society. We have become a nation of consumers. By creating a blog, it makes students producers again. The student-managed blogs are productive in that students are producing their own writing and thoughts. Blogging is unique in that it allows for a forum for students to produce something that reaches millions of people. The seriousness and meaningfulness of blogging changes the dynamics of what would be a traditional assignment. Rather than a journal that is turned in to a teacher and then discarded, the blog is something that can be accessed by the general public. One example from my own life recently is that I was googling an article that we read last year in class because I couldn't find my copy of it. The first few yields of the google search were my previous students' blogs about the article. Now I not only had the article I was looking for, but I also had the context with which we discussed it in class. Students are now helping to produce the content of the class, and content for anyone with the Internet to see.

Along the lines of being productive, the third point about blogging that I have found to be transformational is that it requires students to take the class content and apply it to their own lives. In doing so, and in sharing this application, the students become teachers for themselves. In other words, I am not the only one giving examples of our lesson to the students, but now the students are giving each other a lesson as well. I do not want students to be simple consumers of my sociology, but I want them to produce their own sociology that I can learn from as well. With the blog I am finding more and more that students have insights and stories to share that add to our understanding of the content, and these stories would not be available without the blogging.

One of the reasons that the student insights are available because of blogging is the limited amount of classroom time. The blog is an unlimited classroom where students can read as much as they want and are free to share as much as they want. On the blog, I never have to say to students, “Okay, we have to move on.” This virtual classroom allows motivated and interested students to be as involved as they would like to be, without dominating the class. Incidentally, this has been really useful in terms of absences. My classes have a notoriously high absence rate. When students return and ask, “What did I miss?” I say, “Check the blog.”

Lastly, I have always been wary of what we were measuring with our objective tests. The blog is a type of online portfolio that allows real assessment of a student’s grasp of the subject matter and the student’s ability to apply that subject matter to his/her real life.

If you are a teacher who is "still on the fence" about whether blogging is worth the time and effort for you and/or your students, I hope that Sal's comments help you decide in favor of allowing your students to move from being only consumers of content, into the roles of knowledge producers and contributors to the stories that "add to our understanding of the content."

K12 Online Conference starts this week

The K12 Online Conference 2009 begins this week! This year’s conference begins with a pre-conference keynote by classroom teacher and international educator Kim Cofino (http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=394)

The 2009 conference theme is “Bridging the Divide.” K12 Online 2009 is a FREE conference, run by volunteers and open to ANYONE interested in integrating emerging technologies into classroom practice. A primary goal of the conference is to help educators make sense of and meet the needs of a continually changing learning landscape. Live events and twice-monthly webcasts will continue into 2010 via EdTechTalk, and Professional Development Credit is available.

The following two weeks, December 7-11 and December 14-17, over fifty presentations will be posted online to the conference blog ( http://k12onlineconference.org/) and Ning (http://k12online.ning.com/events ) for participants to view, download, and discuss.

Live Events in the form of three “Fireside Chats” are listed on the events page of the conference Ning and Facebook fan page, and live events will continue in 2010 through twice-monthly “K-12 Online Echo” webcasts on EdTechTalk. Everyone is encouraged to participate in both live events during and after the conference as well as asynchronous conversations.

Over 122 presentations from 2008, 2007, and 2006 are available, along with archived live events. Follow the K12 Online Conference on Twitter (http://twitter.com/k12online ) and Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/K12-Online-Conference/168872343206?ref=ts )!

To participate and begin learning, visit http://k12onlineconference.org/

Hope for schools of the future?

My niece Katelin is a student at Illinois State University, studying to become a Special Education teacher. She is also a recent Golden Apple Scholar awardee. In her EAF (Education and Foundation) 228 class, she was assigned to write her reflection on the state of education in the U.S. ... and to be creative. She has written the following poem (which she has given me permission to share). I applaud her ideas about schools needing "positive attitudes, high spirits, hope, and caring people" as critical resources. It's her hope for schools of the future. What do you think? Please feel free to leave a comment for Katie.

The State of Education

Geoffrey Canada once shouted through poetry to take a stand
An equal education is all we demand
But is it really equal?
We claim that our education is free
But since we’ve enforced NCLB
All our teachers are paying with time.
Precious time, our teachers invest.
Just so their schools can pass a standardized test
And keep what resources they have.
I worry about it as a teacher in training
That when I get there, my time will be draining
And I’ll miss those teachable moments.
I worry about the state education is in
Its imbalances are practically a sin
Children don’t have the same opportunities
Students up in the wealthy suburbs
Get all that a student deserves
And then grow up to be a success
While on the other side of town
School enrollment is down
Teachers are in a state of distress.
Because their school doesn’t get
Brand new laboratory sets
Or books with fresh, crisp pages
They just want what every school needs
And hopes to exceed
Society’s expectation of them.
I worry with my peer, Mae
who had much to say
about the schools on the other side of town.
She said its ignorant to be color blind
For these poor students you’ll find
Are no different from anyone else.
They start off with hope, but it becomes hard to cope
In a neighborhood that deals with dope,
Alcohol. Gangs. Fear.
Everything I’ve seen and everything I knew
Cannot compare to what these students have been through
They’ve had to give their education to chance.
Mae agrees that they easily fall
Into statistics, and find it harder to crawl
Out of the labels they’ve been given.
How its always the minorities
Getting gypped by the authorities
Because they’re low income, low property tax.
Their test scores are skewed,
They’re wrongfully viewed,
All they need is a chance.
Mae’s father says times have changed
Plans must now be arranged
To have a concentration in school
And to go onto college
And expand that specific knowledge
To excel in today’s society at all.
Such wisdom was passed to Mae
Who had something to say
Growing up in a white middle class suburb
Although her neighborhood changed
And races were rearranged
She never found it strange to adapt to.
She feels you could have the best schools
And still educate fools
Resources aren’t the only factor
While another school could be falling down
Yet have the brightest kids around,
All it takes is a chain reactor:
Positive attitudes, high spirits, hope, caring people.
American education is doing its best
To teach students from east to west
Lessons of the world around them.
These are the words of Miss Mae
But my opinions must stray
From something which sounds so clear.
For I feel education is split
Into a wide open pit
And all that is seen is an achievement gap
That must immediately be closed
Despite those who are opposed
To spend their tax dollars on proper education for all kids.
There are those who are with me
And those who disagree
One day I hope to resolve
We must all lend a hand
And together take a stand.
To fight such a huge discrepancy.

- by Katelin Johnson

Wolfram|Alpha Homework Day, Oct. 21

Last May I posted information about the debut of Wolfram|Alpha -- a website providing "free access to computable knowledge in nearly every imaginable subject area. Whether you're working on problem sets, papers, or projects, Wolfram|Alpha's algorithms compute answers that can help you not only complete your assignments but take your understanding of the subject to the next level." (Learn more about Wolfram|Alpha in this 12-minute screencast)

Now that school has started, Wolfram|Alpha is hosting a Homework Day on Wednesday, October 21, where "attendees" can:
*Learn tips and tricks to make schoolwork more fun,
*Chat with the experts behind Wolfram|Alpha, and
*Be a part of the webcast and win prizes

Wolfram|Alpha is soliciting homework questions or video clips showing how Wolfram|Alpha is being used in Math, Biology, Computer Science, Calculus, Chemistry, Finance, Physics, Astronomy, or ??? Visit the Wolfram|Alpha homework day website http://homeworkday.wolframalpha.com/ to submit your questions or videos... then visit the site on Oct. 21 to see whether your question or video is featured.

Your Vote Can Help Change the World!

Last September, 2008, Google launched a contest called Project 10^100 -- it was a "call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible." Almost a year later, it's time to choose!



More than 150,000 ideas were submitted from people in more than 170 countries, which has been narrowed down to 16 possible "big ideas" --

Community:
Create genocide monitoring and alert system
Create real-world issue reporting system
Collect and organize the world's urban data
Create real-time natural crisis tracking system
Make government more transparent

Education:
Enhance science and engineering education
Make educational content available online for free
Encourage positive media depictions of engineers and scientists
Provide quality education to African students

Energy: Drive innovation in public transport

Everything Else: Build real-time, user-reported news service

Environment: Work toward socially conscious tax policies

Health: Promote health monitoring and data analysis

Opportunity:
Build better banking tools for everyone
Help social entrepreneurs drive change

Shelter: Create more efficient landmine removal programs

When deciding how to vote, consider the following criteria:
Reach: How many people would this idea affect?
Depth: How deeply are people impacted? How urgent is the need?
Attainability: Can this idea be implemented within a year or two?
Efficiency: How simple and cost-effective is your idea?
Longevity: How long will the idea's impact last?

Google is committing $10 million to implement these projects, and their goal is to help as many people as possible. So remember, money may provide a jumpstart, but the idea is the thing.
Voting is open now, until October 8!

Here's YOUR chance to build a better world. Note... you may only cast one vote for the idea you think is best.

I just love "feel-good" stories!!

What are your technology goals this year?

Welcome back to school! The 2009-10 school year is just getting underway. Each year, we ask teachers to reflect on their use of technology and to set personal learning goals (relating to technology integration) for the upcoming year. Often, teacher learning goals are "skill-based" or pertain to increasing productivity (learn to use Excel, Word, PowerPoint, or learn to manage email, or post assignments online, etc.). Although these technology "skills" are important, it is equally important to consider ways in which technology used by the teacher, will directly impact student learning, and consider what will "success" look like? For the teacher? For the student?

Once goals are set, the next step is to and locate resources to help teachers reach their objectives. Is there another teacher who can help? What is available online? What workshops or after school classes can be offered?

To borrow from a recent presentation, Information Literacy and the Internet– Managing the Change, by Lanie Rowell, here are some ideas to begin thinking about your professional learning goals for the coming year. How will you ...

Use technology to...

• Create students who are information literate
• Motivate students to learn 24/7
• Provide students with reasons and opportunities to connect globally
• Give students an authentic purpose and audience
• Encourage creativity and passion by utilizing their strengths and interests
• Engage the learner and allow them opportunities to become more actively involved in their education as well as develop critical thinking skills
• Act as facilitators guiding students to choose the right tools, find answers, and make decisions

Successful integration of technology extends beyond "basic skills" -- as you plan, consider how technology can transform both your teaching and student learning.

Gear up for Back to School with an online calendar

Scott Meech recently shared this article by Jon Wittwer of Vertex42* on "Embedding Google Spreadsheets Into Your Blog or Website."

As you gear up for back to school, consider Wittwer's examples of using a spreadsheet as a calendar for your class, sport, or activity schedule. And if you don't feel like creating your own, you are welcome to use any of their preformatted Google calendars:

*Vertex42: The Guide to Excel in Everything website provides a large library of free Excel templates for calendars, schedules, budgets, project management, loan calculators, and more!

Archiving images from the past...

Not sure what's available in your area, but if you live in Chicagoland, I found this as I was going through the weekly "ads" this morning. Time to get out your old photo albums and go digital!

From Kodak: Rapid Print Scanner Service, "Exclusively at Jewel-OSCO" -- prints to digital in minutes. You can archive up to 200 photographs on a CD for only $9.99...

Archive images from the past with their easy-to-use scanner.
1. Choose up to 200 images
2. Load 20 at a time (up to 8 x 10)
3. Scan in minutes
4. Create prints, photo gifts or store images on a Kodak Picture disk.

Perhaps this would make a nice summer project?

Build Vocabulary with Google Gadgets

Google developers will be gathering for their annual conference this week, which means information consumers (you and me) can look forward to some new Google tools or features, such as the Flash Cards, Word Study and Word Search gadgets recently announced on the Google Docs Blog:

If you are a user of Google Docs, open a new spreadsheet, and select "Insert > Gadget" from the menu:


Or, open a "Gadget-containing" document from the Template Gallery (New > From Template). If you have not yet browsed the many templates available for students and teachers, it's worth a look!

Wolfram|Alpha: Making the World's Knowledge Computable

Wolfram|Alpha came online at 7 pm CDT on Friday, May 15. I had first heard of Wolfram|Alpha from a NY Times clipping shared with me by a teacher at school this week. Until I actually "saw" it, I had no idea of the power of this new web resource, and the impact it can have for learners everywhere! Wolfram|Alpha was conceived by "Mathematica creator and scientist Stephen Wolfram as a way to bring computational exploration to the widest possible audience." From the website:

Wolfram|Alpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. Our goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries.

Take a peak at the sample topics and examples of data you can retrieve at http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/ which include Mathematics, Statistics, Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, Astronomy, Weather, Socioeconomic Data, Health and Medicine, Food and Nutrition, Words and Linguistics, Places and Geography, Sports, Music, Money and more.

I would also highly encourage you to view Stephen Wolfram's 13-minute screencast "Introduction to Wolfram|Alpha" to experience the scope of information you can retrieve on the Wolfram|Alpha website or view this shorter version (Part 1) posted on YouTube:



And, for a bit of background .…
Stephen Wolfram introduced the Wolfram|Alpha project during a recent webcast from The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TIOH80Qg7Q

Learn more about Stephen Wolfram from this 2003 University of California lecture, "A New Kind of Science" available on YouTube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eC14GonZnU

Wow!

A Twitter Journey reveals "2 Days to Launch!"

This morning's Twitter journey began with a post by @unklar (aka Mark Dunk, an educator from Houston) who tweeted, "@Astro_127 I was nominated to be in mission control for your flight! I'm hoping to hear something soon (hopeful that I'm "approved")" and also, "@Astro_Mike good luck! fix that hubble space telescope for all of us!"

Clicking on "Astro_127" in @unklar's update took me to the Twitter page of Mark Polansky, an astronaut who joined Twitter on May 7th. As of today, Mark has 2,200 followers. Mark shares some good advice on his Twitter stream, "You're never too old to study and learn."

Astro_Mike is astronaut Mike Massimino, a mission specialist for STS-125: Final Shuttle Mission to Hubble Space Telescope. Mike has been tweeting since the beginning of April and has 199,447 followers!

Although these astronauts have many followers, Polansky only follows NASA, and Massimino follows NASA and one other Twitterer. I appreciate the information being shared, and hope that they will join the conversations that are being "@"-ed their way!

Clicking through to the NASA Twitter stream, I learned:

"Countdown sign along the road shows two days until the launch of Discovery! http://tinyurl.com/phmavn" <-- this links to the Flickr page of NASA HQ -- currently 265 images posted from NASA.

I'm not sure what @unklar's tweet about being in mission control was all about, but it started me on a journey that led to the discovery of some great resources from the U.S. Space program. I think it would be exciting to tune in from your classroom and get the latest updates directly from the people involved in these missions! This is an example of how Twitter can be used for education... and if it's blocked in your school, your children are missing out.

Yes, there has been a lot of press lately about Twitter: "It's a waste of time... Who cares what I am doing?" For those who have been "Tweeting" for some time, we appreciate the value of Twitter. We love the connections that Twitter provides into the "happenings" of those we follow -- our chosen "network" of friends and associates (who often become our friends). It's so much more than "what are you doing?" In Twitterverse we "tune into" to the thoughts, ideas, discoveries, successes, disappointments and failures posted by our colleagues -- and we share in kind. We stumble onto websites, learn of new books, review movies and TV shows (sometimes during the broadcasts), find deals to be had and contests to enter. We congratulate one another, offer hugs, encouragement, and ask questions -- our Twitter network is our lifeline. It's something you have to experience, to really "get it."

Social Networking and Teens: What Parents Need to Know

Today I am presenting a session on "Social Networking and Teens: What Parents Need to Know" as part of a 5-week Parent Breakfast Series at Stevenson High School, hosted by Jerry Franklin, academic counselor and Lisa Franz, school social worker. The goal of these meetings is to provide a forum to "discuss some of the challenges parents raising teenagers face during adolescent development. This group will provide information, strategies, mutual support and resources for parents who would like to gain an increased understanding of their children while improving their parenting approach."

Here is a link to the audio file of the presentation.

Here are links to resources mentioned:

Project Tomorrow
http://www.tomorrow.org/

Digital Youth Project
http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/report

Danah Boyd, Researcher
http://www.danah.org/

Danah Boyd on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mzctKajhI0

PEW Internet Report: Social Networking Websites and Teens
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2007/Social-Networking-Websites-and-Teens.aspx

Five Years of Free Friendship – Facebook commentary
http://www.pewinternet.org/Commentary/2009/February/Five-Years-of-Free-Friendship-Online.aspx

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know
http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/

Readers Digest May 2009 Report
http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/parent-alert-teens-and-porn/article125454.html

New NSBA Report on Social Networking
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2007/08/new_nsba_report_on_social_netw.html

Digital Dossier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79IYZVYIVLA

CyberSmart Curriculum

http://www.cybersmartcurriculum.org/

And the slides from the presentation

Special thanks to Steve Dembo, of Discovery Education for his help and sharing his resources.

Additional websites shared during the presentation:

• http://www.zabasearch.com/
• http://isafe.org/
• http://www.spectorsoft.com/products/SpectorPro_Windows/
• http://imsafer.com/
• http://www.spamino.com
• http://www.cybersmartcurriculum.org/

And, for more information about the Illinois Internet Safety Act, please visit: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=095-0869

AP Government Exam Review!!

High school students around the country who will be taking the Advanced Placement Government and Politics exam on May 4 are invited to take part in two live, call-in review programs featuring a pair of Stevenson teachers. AP Government teachers Dan Larsen and Andrew Conneen will appear on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” program from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. (Central time) on Saturday, May 2. They will take questions from students preparing for the annual exam. Students can call 202-737-0001 with their questions.

Larsen and Conneen also will be on Chicago radio station WIND-AM (560) with a live AP Government review call-in show from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. (Central time) Sunday, May 3. Students also can listen live online at http://560wind.townhall.com. Students can call in with questions at 312-642-5600.

Students unable to get their calls answered during the programs can visit the teachers’ blog at www.cbs2chicago.com/school, where Stevenson AP teachers, students and alumni will help answer last-minute questions.

Present at the 2010 ASCD Annual Conference!!

From Dennis Richards for the Learning Beyond Boundaries Team:
ASCD is now accepting proposals for the 2010 Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas, March 6–8. You may submit proposals for concurrent or research sessions. Proposals are due May 1, 2009. ASCD has invited the Learning Beyond Boundaries network to work with the conference planners to shape the technology infused education sessions. Even though you have to apply through the ASCD proposal site, entering your proposal on this matrix will ensure that your proposal is given due consideration.

We have already "seeded" the matrix with some topics, some of which we know should be covered in session proposal submissions, and we encourage you to feel free to enter session proposal information for any of the topics that you feel comfortable addressing. Or if you have suggestions for topics / presenters, let us know those as well.