Reading blogs and other RSS feeds is a great way to pickup knowledge and some fantastic ideas being implemented in other classrooms, and I have been picking away lately. My favorite blog, to date, is the US History Teachers Blog which is updated by social studies teachers from around the country and molded by teacher Ken Halla. On Friday, March 23rd, there was a post by teacher Rebecca Lacquey that I loved, an interactive World War II map. Each time you click on the map you can see the expansion of the German army across Europe, and it's eventual retreat as well. As a history buff, and future social studies teacher, I love this map and applaud the time and effort Ms. Lacquey put into it, it shows!
Another blog I try to check in on every day is Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day, this guy really spends a LOT of time and effort scouring the web for some fabulous information. I have been following his blog, and not the news media, for any and all information on James Cameron's adventure down the Mariana Trench. Current events are a great way to get students hooked on reading for content, and reading news reports to spot bias and generalizations, and just to get them reading. Mr. Ferlazzo's coverage of this event has been superb, he has links to BBC pictures, National Geographic coverage, maps and previous attempts heading down the Mariana Trench and even some live footage when it becomes available. His blog is one stop shopping for current events that may not get much attention in regular news media, but ones that students may gain a lot of knowledge from.
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