TeacherJay's EduBlog » Reviews

Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction

teacherjay — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:12:32 +0000

Ralph Tyler presented a model of curriculum design in 1949 that is still the foundation of many designs used today. [...]

The Trouble With Boys

teacherjay — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 00:53:14 +0000

The latest book by Peg Tyre, The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Sons, Their Problems at School, and What Parents and Educators Must Do takes a long-deserved look at the way that male students are falling further and further behind their female counterparts. For the last few decades there has been a [...]

World War II Remembered

teacherjay — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:17:39 +0000

Although I am not a big fan of studying history by only learning about wars, like the Vietnam site I posted previously, World War II Remembered, a project of Unified School District 230 in Spring Hill, Kansas, focuses on the effects of the war by preserving the oral histories of veterans. The site offers more [...]

Vietnam: 30 Years Beyond War

teacherjay — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:15:37 +0000

Vietnam: 30 Years Beyond War is a beautifully arranged site by the San Jose Mercury News contains photo-journals of post-war Vietnam and could become a valuable tool for teachers of history, social studies and even politics to make real for their students what it means to rebuild nations and some of the lingering effects of a war that has long since ended. [...]

Getting a Word Ahead

teacherjay — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 03:58:55 +0000

Not too long ago, a regular commenter on this blog, Faiza Khan, let me know about her startup company, WordAhead.com – a collection of short videos that can help a person to learn some new words and even participate in creating the content. Always interested in expanding my very own veritably voluminous vocabulary I decided [...]

Learning with Free Rice

teacherjay — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 05:54:37 +0000

FreeRice is a great way to get some practice building up your vocabulary while simultaneously helping to provide free food for hungry people. Every question you answer correctly translates to 10 grains of rice that will be sent to people who need it. [...]

On Becoming a Leader (in Education)

teacherjay — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:49:27 +0000

Warren Bennis’ 1989 book, On Becoming a Leader, was revised and expanded for a 2003 edition (the links provided are now for the 2009 edition). In this classic, Bennis outlines some of the key characteristics that are common to leaders in all fields. He draws these conclusions from many interviews and biographies of past and present leaders, [...]

Shame of the Nation

teacherjay — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:07:16 +0000

Jonathan Kozol’s 2005 book, The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America , looks at the issue of racial integration in the nation’s schools. Over 50 years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” and forcing the integration of America’s schools, we have [...]

Landmark Supreme Court Cases

teacherjay — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:53:29 +0000

While browsing for reference materials to support essays I am writing, I stumbled upon an excellent site that is a project of The Street Law & The Supreme Court Historical Society, Landmark Supreme Court Cases is designed to help teachers review the issues and decisions made in 17 of the most influential cases in the [...]

History Lessons

teacherjay — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:06:24 +0000

It is fascinating to read about events such as the American Revolution in a French textbook ... 1) History becomes compartmentalized into an abstract string of facts that is not relevant to the world in which we live today. 2) It fosters a seperationist attitude in American students which will become increasingly damaging as the world grows more and more globally connected ... So what should be done about this? [...]