Volume 2, No. 6
25 October, 2002
[To view this newsletter on line:
http://www.emck.net/eline/02_10_25.htm.]
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 The
Help Desk wants
to hear from you! Do you have an
on-line resource you can share? Have you constructed a website for
instructional use? Send it
to us - we'll include it, and give you credit!
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Who are the Web educational resource suppliers, and
why are they doing it? In previous editions, The
Help Desk discussed the world of commercial sites (August
8th), and ways in which such sites interact with visitors (July
5th). Those issues give some hints as to why private or commercial
entities go through the trouble of providing free  services. But the Internet
has a long history of voluntarism, where many people provide assistance just because
they think it might be useful or helpful to others! Who are they? Teachers
like you, district resource specialists, parents, retired professionals,
colleges of education, public foundations, and educational arms of museums
and galleries - to list a few.
This issue introduces another category - students! Take a look at Out2Teach,
our featured Professional Resources site, at the bottom of this
newsletter. It's the project of two high school students! (For your own
precocious students who are interested in developing something on line, there's High
School Start Ups, a website dedicated to student entrepreneurship and
website development.)
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| General
Resources |
 The
Learning Pagehttp://learning.loc.gov/learn/
A service of the Library of Congress, The Learning Page
has a collection of lesson plans listed by subject and title, with grade
level appropriateness. There are also information pages on a range of
subjects. Not surprisingly, the emphasis is strongly history and civics,
but there are also lessons aimed at poetry and literature, several of
which are appropriate for middle school. There are also middle
school level lessons on "Using primary sources" - introduction
to doing library research. Be sure to visit the American
Memory section, which provides American history resources in digital
form.
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| Content Area Resources |
| The Arts |
 The
Music Education Launch Site
http://www.talentz.com/
This odd collection of links and ideas is the
brainchild of music educator-trained web development specialist
Jeffrey S. Brenan. The site is a little clunky, but there are some
good ideas under the lesson
plan section for middle school (scroll down the page). [editor's
note: Website unavailable, 7/2/04] |
| Mathematics |
 Geometry
Online
http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/Geom/ There's
puzzles, games, problems, and other activities, plus a link to the NCTM
and Texas Essential Skills and Knowledge standards for geometry. Hosted by
Rice University, and developed/maintained by the Executive Director of its
Center for Excellence and Equity in
Education, Cynthia Lanius. |
| Reading
and Writing |
 Read
Write Think
http://www.readwritethink.org/
A new K-8 initiative from the International
Reading Association and the National
Council of Teachers of English, this site provides resources in
support of reading and language arts. The lessons are indexed by grade and
strand. Included with each lesson are a list of the supported standards,
complete activities list and ideas for assessment, and a list of web
resources in support of the lesson. The collection of lessons is not
extensive as of yet, but will grow.
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| Science |
 NEEDhttp://www.need.org/
A non-profit initiative with a board representing
several commercial energy interests (including BP), NEED is
"...dedicated to promoting a realistic understanding of the
scientific, economic and environmental impacts of energy, so that
students and teachers can make educated decisions." This is a
packaged initiative produced by educators and educational consultants,
and reflecting national and state (including Kentucky) science
curriculum standards. Its many Infobooks
are downloadable directly from the site in PDF format.
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| Social Studies |
 POTUS
on the Internet Public Libraryhttp://www.ipl.org/div/potus/
The Internet Public
Library is a resource initiative of the University of Michigan
School of Information. This little corner of it gives information on
all the Presidents of the United States, including a subject index
which points to the applicable presidential information page. |
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| Software Sources |
 PhotoJam
3
http://www.shockwave.com/sw/content/photojam PhotoJam
3 is free from Shockwave. In a very easy-to-use environment, it constructs
simple web-deliverable slide shows with transitions, and allows you to add
music and sound overlays. There are examples on their website - take a
peek! [editor's note: PhotoJam 4 is now out, 7/2/04] |
| Professional Resources |
 Out
2 Teachhttp://out2teach.com/
Out2Teach is unique - a web initiative of two tenth
grade students from New Hampshire! Regular participants in the
international email discussion forum EDTECH, Marshall Roch and Evan Russo
have been advising teachers and contributing ideas since middle school. This
web presence provides teacher interaction, collections of links, and
thoughtful student-written editorials on a variety of educational technology issues.
[editor's
note: most content unavailable 7/2/04]
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