findingDulcinea

A relaunch of SweetSearch - and versions for News and History too!

Since 2009, SweetSearch has been the best place for students - and anyone else - to begin research.

It leverages Google to search only a fully vetted "whitelist" of websites. The original index was created by 50+ librarians, educators and researchers who collectively invested over 100,000 hours in finding the best resources.

We've worked hard to keep the index authoritative and appropriate.  This summer, we reviewed every link in the index, and found new, worthy websites we had missed.

 

Add a fresh, mobile friendly look and we say confidently that SweetSearch is the best research engine for students to begin their search. Some educators have asked us about the Google Ads at the top; we are working on options to remove them. For now, tell students to ignore the clearly labeled, first few links at the top and then dive into the spectacular results below. 

Once we made SweetSearch better than ever, we decided to make more of it! 

• SweetSearch History, in beta, searches a whitelist of 2,000+ primary source & other authoritative history websites. It includes "modern" sources, such as newspapers and magazines, but weights websites of museums, universities and official government sources higher.  We are adding design elements and "field testing" it - and we would love your feedback on whether there are websites we should add, delete, or re-weight. 
• With all the talk of "fake news," we also created SweetSearch News. It searches 1,600+ websites of credible newspapers, magazines and other current events media. It more heavily weights niche, regional and ex-US resources than most news search engines. There is an option to see only ex-US resource
• For the first time, we also offer image search, in all three search engines.

All of our search engines include quality websites for younger students; to find them, use "students" or "kids" as a keyword.

Email Mark[dot]Moran[at]DulcineaMedia.com with any comments.

Thank you for your support!

Mark, CEO, Dulcinea Media

 

 

Can one course stem the root cause of bullying, substance abuse and self-harm? Can it also foster a culture that creates empowered, empathetic, collaborative, passionate agents of change, who know they matter?

I was proud to co-author, with Angela Maiers, an online course on Choose2Matter. It's the most important work I've ever done.

Become a SweetSearch Ambassador!

• We launched findingDulcinea in 2007 with a mission of helping people find authoritative and comprehensive information online.
• In 2009, we introduced SweetSearch, a Search Engine for Students, which leverages the power of Google to search only our whitelist of credible resources. 
• Today, we announce that findingDulcinea will be fully relaunched in May under a new name: SweetSearch2Day. Here is a draft preview of the new website.
• Best of all, we are including a heavy dose of one new ingredient: YOU!

We invite all librarians and other educators from around the globe to become a SweetSearch Ambassador. In this role, you will contribute guides that spotlight the very best online resources about a topic. 

Unlike other efforts to harness librarians and educators to create a pool of vetted resources, this one will:

1. Benefit from editorial oversight that ensures consistent, high quality;
2. Be accompanied by a brief narrative so the user knows in advance what they'll find there.
3. Rank highly in SweetSearch, the best place for students to start their research, and will, in time, rank high in Google;
4. Be very actively promoted.

Initially, we are seeking 25 educators to ensure a smooth "on boarding" process. We will then grow this number once the initial group is working smoothly.

What We Ask of You:

• Commit to submitting at least three posts in the first year.
• Each post should emphasize authoritative resources that provide a comprehensive, balanced view of a topic.
• You will also write a short introduction to the topic and a description of what the user will find via each link. 
• The posts could be from any of the categories on the website; an example of each is linked to each category, albeit one written in the narrative-heavy style that we are moving away from (also note the examples are somewhat dated and thus contain broken links):
  • 2Day in History
  • 2Day's Biography
  • Netcetera (a catchall for any other educational post) 
  • Web Guides (a comprehensive look at a topic) (here is a very thorough one on a narrow topic and a much shorter one)
  • Research Skills (a look at narrow slices of effective online research skills)
  • Changing the World (advice or resources on taking effective action to solve social problems)
• As see in the example, the number of links appropriate for each post depends upon how broad the topic is; for 2Day in History or Biography, it may be 7; for a broad Web Guide, it may be 35. 
• Write about what you love! Our website promises links to the best resources about a topic, and the more knowledgable and passionate you are, the more likely it is that you will know about the very best resources.
• For example, if you are a proud Alaskan, you could contribute a post with resources about Alaska’s history, or one about its natural resources, or its geography and topography. If you are passionate about ballet, you could write a post about the history of ballet; another post about how to become a ballet dancer; and also some biographies of notable people in ballet history.
• Generally, the narrower the topic, the better. For example, we'd appreciate a broad guide to U.S. History, but a guide to the most authoritative resources focused narrowly on The Battle of Antietam or "Child Soldiers in the American Revolution" would be invaluable to educators and students. Similarly, a guide to "Chemistry" will be useful but a guide to "The Structure of the Atom" could be priceless, as it will offer more specific, and difficult to find, resources.
• If you find that the topic was covered on findingDulcinea, you are invited to copy and paste it into a new post in order to update, refresh and put your own touch on it before submitting it. When updating old findingDulcinea articles, we typically retain the narrative portion.
• We welcome you to repurpose content you have published elsewhere, as long as you have the legal right to do so.
• We'll provide guidance on how to select resources, as well as personalized training, but we imagine you are well-versed already in the concepts we'll discuss.
• We believe that with any large group of contributors to a project such as this, editorial oversight is essential to ensure consistent quality. Thus, we expect to request edits to many of the guides, but we do not foresee taking a "heavy handed" approach. 

What We Offer You:

• Fulfillment from knowing you have contributed to a priceless resource that will enhance digital literacy for a generation of students, and help counter what many are calling the "post-truth" era.
• Your biography will appear on everything you contribute, and it will  link to your social media accounts, your blog, your school website, etc.
• Free access to our upcoming online course about teaching online research skills, to our upcoming premium newsletters, and to any other digital product that we create and own full rights to.
• Lots of bookmarks and other swag.
• Option to participate in a series of new, exciting projects we expect to launch in the next year.
• Other consideration that we haven't conjured up yet.

If you have any questions, write to Mark [dot] Moran [at] DulcineaMedia [dotcom]

If you're ready to sign up, complete this Google form and we'll be in touch!

Thank you!!

Mark E. Moran

CEO, SweetSearch, Inc.

 

Lynbrook Matters

I had the honor of speaking to the Lynbrook school community tonight. Thank you to everyone who attended.

Below you will find the resources I shared.

Contact me at MarkEMoran [at] Gmail [dot] com

 

Click here to access my presentation on "Mattering IS the Agenda"

Videos shared (note: some of these ended up as "outtakes")

• Scenes from Schools Where Mattering IS the Agenda
• “Johanna Channeling Aretha”
• “Daily Affirmation”
• “Girl Moves Austin Police to Tears” 
• Excerpt from Mattering IS the Agenda
• Aimee Mullins: The Opportunity of Adversity
• Lion Lights
• IKEA: The Other Letter
• Boy With Cerebral Palsy Finishes Triatholon

Related articles:

• Secure Students Hearts or You Don’t Have a Shot at Their Brains
• Rebel Brown: "What Would You Do If You Knew You Were Limitless?"
• Driven to Succeed: How We're Depriving Students of a Sense of Purpose
• The Work of Peter Gray
• Eric Greitens: Resilience
• Humans of NY Story With Vidal & Mrs. Lopez
• Grace Anna Sings
• People Know They Matter When...
• A Few Words From You Can Save A Life
• Chocolate Bar Book
• Mallory Fundora - Project YESU
• Buddy Bench
• Always Go to the Funeral

“Mattering IS the Agenda” is our toolkit to transform school culture, It can be used for a low-cost, high impact professional development day, as well as in the classroom.

      Click here to access “Liberating Genius in the Classroom,” our free e-book for launching Genius Hour and passion-based learning.

  Follow Angela Maiers on Twitter.

                Follow Mark Moran on Twitter.

                Follow Choose2Matter on Twitter.        

   Visit “Books” to learn about Angela's books Classroom Habitudes & Passion Driven Classroom.

    Visit Choose2Matter.org  

     LIKE the Choose2Matter Facebook page.

 

A Celebration of a Yearning to Love

Today is an anniversary of 9/11. It's not the first, or the fifth, or the tenth. It doesn't matter.

I don't need it to be the tenth or 25th or 50th to celebrate it.

Yes, celebrate it.

Each year, on September 11, I celebrate:

• The love shown by thousands of rescue workers and ordinary citizens, in NYC, Washington, D.C. and on Flight 93, when they knowingly put their lives at grave risk so that others may live;

• The love expressed by victims who lived for a desperate hour after their fate was sealed, and used the last minutes of their lives to call loved ones; as Rabbi Irwin Kula eloquently wrote, "in the face of terror and the dearness of the vanishing moment, [they] showed no anger or any desire for revenge but simply and heroically witnessed a yearning to love and the faith that love ultimately swallows up death."

• The love expressed by victims’ family members, many of whom spent weeks desperately touring hospitals throughout the NYC metro area, hoping that their loved ones had miraculously been spared;

• The love that I witnessed when I emerged from my office building in midtown Manhattan in early afternoon, and indeed throughout America and much of the rest of the world, for months afterward;

• The heroic response to the call of duty from tens of thousands of men and women across this land who have now served more than a decade fighting a war on terrorism that, for all its flaws, has prevented another major terrorist attack on US soil that most of us thought inevitable after 9/11.

Many of us vowed that day that our outlook would be forever changed - that we'd hold our loved ones closer and longer, that we'd be more patient and compassionate with strangers, and less driven and harried, than we were on 9/10.

Each September 11 is an opportunity

to remember those vows.

Today, I will think about the manner in which so many people responded to the certain end of their lives by calling their loved ones. 

I will also recall how the heroes of 9/11 and the ensuing years saved us, in the words of my wise aunt Eileen,

“from having that day be remembered as one of being simply victims, totally demoralized....and turned the story into one of great pride in our values as a country and in the bravery and devotion to duty that our people can show.”

And I will beam with great pride about our values as a country, and in the bravery and devotion to duty that our people can show.

I will recall all of those ordinary people who perished that day while lovingly doing remarkable things, so that others may live.

I will remember the incredible sense of hope I got from one of the most impactful commercials I have ever seen, at a time when many believed that New York City would never recover.

I will recall my law school classmate John Moran, a chief in FDNY whose last known words, as he entered Ground Zero, were "I am going to make a difference today."

I will pay homage to  Timothy Stackpole, who had suffered horrifying injuries in a fire years before, and battled with the fire department medical staff simply for the right to return to work, only to then give his life on 9/11. 

I will raise a glass to for Pat Brown. At an apartment fire long before 9/11, Brown and his crew were on the roof of a burning building, with a man desperately hanging out a window. A rope rescue was in order, but there was nothing on the roof to anchor the rope to. So they anchored the rope to one of the crew members, and as Brown straddled the building ledge to supervise and buttress the rope, a firefighter was lowered to the window. Brown knew that when the desperate man was pulled from the window and his weight doubled the burden, all of the men involved might very well plunge to the ground. But he did it anyway, and the man’s life was saved. On 9/11, Pat Brown led his crew into the WTC, and was last heard from on the 35th floor. 

I will remember Moira Smith, a police officer who stormed into one of the towers to find the revolving doors were preventing people from fleeing quickly enough. She shot out a giant plate glass window, allowing the lobby to empty and, with the lobby cleared, ran upstairs to guide thousands of frightened people out of the building.

I will honor Stephen Siller, who was on his way to play golf, but hearing the news, picked up his fire gear and headed to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to enter lower Manhattan. With his truck hopelessly blocked by traffic, he ran through the mile-long tunnel on foot in full gear, and perished.

I will think of the Langone family. Peter Langone was a fireman about whom was said he "had only one speed, and that was fast forward." Thomas Langone was an officer in the police Emergency Services Unit. He collected 42 medals in 18 years and went to Oklahoma City in 1995 to help recovery efforts after the bombing there. Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma said at his funeral that Officer Langone and his colleagues "brought with them honor, courage, humor and occasionally a funny accent." 

I will sing, more than once, the words of Bruce Springsteen, from "Into the Fire":

May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May your love give us love

May your love give us love

I will pay heed to the words of my friend Robert Sullivan, who wrote that we "truly honor [those who were lost] when our first thoughts of them bring smiles and not tears....Miracles never really leave if we never forget. And we will never forget. God bless them all." 

Let's celebrate. Let's never forget.

Let's make a difference today.

May God bless us all.

Mark Moran

Insider's Guide to the 2016 Belmont Stakes

 

We've attended the Belmont Stakes 28 times, including 13 times when a Triple Crown was on the line.

From that perspective, we offer this Insider's Guide to the 2016 Belmont Stakes.

Time, Date, Location

• The Belmont Stakes is a 1 1/2-mile race run by three-year old thoroughbred horses. It is held at Belmont Park, in Elmont, New York.  

• This year, the date of the Belmont Stakes is Saturday, June 11.
• The date is always five weeks after the first Saturday in May, which is the date on which the Kentucky Derby is run. The Preakness is run two weeks later, and the Belmont three weeks after that.

• Post time for the Belmont Stakes is often at about 6:30 p.m. Eastern time., though it may be as late as 6:48 pm.

• The official Web site of the Belmont Stakes includes a bevy of information about the race and events in the week leading up to the race, while the Belmont Park website includes information. See also the Security Policies, and note that outside alcohol is not allowed on Belmont Stakes Day.

Admission, Parking and Seating

• General Admission tickets, at $19.75 for the grandstand and $56.50 (in each case, including Ticketmaster fees) for the Clubhouse, may not be available at the gate on race day. Purchase them through the NYRA Website/Ticketmaster.
• You do not need a ticket for a seat to attend the races at Belmont Park. There is plenty of room for you to walk around and take in the sights.

• Parking gates open 8:15 am. Admission gates open 8:30 am. First race is at 11:35 am.

• Parking costs $35-$135 per car. The best spots are the ones nearest the exit gates! Park in the yellow field near the exit.

• Belmont Park's 35,000 reserved seats are sold out. There is a secondary market on StubHub and eBay.
  

• Before you buy, review this Buying Guide to Belmont Stakes tickets. Asking prices often decrease as the race approaches.

• If you arrive very early - probably by 7 am to wait on line for the gates to open - you may be able to snag a bench on the track apron, from which you should get a decent view of the race.

• As far as being able to see the race without a seat ticket, you can arrive early and grab a bench on the apron, so you can stand on the bench to see above the crowd. Otherwise, you will want to secure a spot at the rail several hours before the Belmont Stakes and hold it. The best rail spot is not near the finish line; it is near the top of the stretch. From there, you can see the far turn, where the race is often won or lost, and the whole of the stretch. The infield video screen will let you see the finish. Another viewing perspective is on the second or third floor, standing behind the seats, ideally to the right of an aisle so you can look through the break in the seats.

• If you want to see the horses in the paddock, you must arrive early, possibly before the previous race. You will not be able to go from the paddock to the rail and get a good view of the race.

• You may be able to find seats inside the track, or in the backyard park. Racetrack tradition dictates that when you place a personal item, such as a blanket, on a seat or table, you reserve it for the day.

• You can also put down your own chair or blanket in the backyard, and then try to gain a spot at the rail for the big race.

• The Long Island Railroad runs trains right to Belmont Park from Manhattan's Penn Station, Brooklyn's Atlantic Avenue Terminal, and Jamaica Station. For information on fares, ticket-buying, handicap accessibility and travel tips, visit the LIRR's Belmont Stakes page. If you do take the train, buy a roundtrip ticket in New York, so that you don't have to wait on a long ticket line after the races.

Betting at the Track

• You can bet on any race at any time. For instance, you can bet on the Belmont Stakes, which is usually Race 11, even before the first race is run. Betting lines get longer as the day progresses, so if you know your selections ahead of time, try to bet many races at once.

• Self-betting terminal lines are shorter than at the manned betting windows. You purchase a betting voucher and insert it into the machine. Select the race you want to bet, the dollar amount, the type of bet, and then the numbers of the horses.

• Visit these machines early in the day, when there are no lines and plenty of people willing to show you the ropes. Then, when things heat up later in the day, you'll be an old pro.

Belmont Stakes Parties in NYC

For fans watching the race in NYC, the best Belmont Stakes parties in NYC, as well as after-parties, will be held at the following places, which are all terrific pubs with excellent food, drink, service and prices. Click the name for more info:

• Mustang Harry's (352 7th Ave. near 30th St.)

• Tir na nOg (33rd & 8th OR 315 W. 39th St.)

• Brickyard Gastropub (52nd & 9th)

• In Queens, go to Courtyard Ale House at 40-18 Queens Boulevard.

• In Brooklyn, go to Kent Ale House in North Williamsburg.

Where to Bet the Belmont Stakes Online

If you search "How to Bet the Belmont Stakes Online" or any variation of it, most of the top results lead you to illegal, shady or at least questionable betting sites. 

Here is a list of legitimate online betting services and links to their Websites.

NYRA Rewards is operated by The New York Racing Association, which operates New York’s three major thoroughbred racing tracks; it offers free, instant accounts to residents of New York and Connecticut.

TwinSpires is managed by Churchill Downs Incorporated and offers wagering to residents in most U.S. states.

XpressBet offers wagering online to residents in 32 states. 

TVG.com offers wagering to residents of 30 states.

Belmont Stakes Television and Radio Coverage

The Belmont Stakes will be broadcast nationally on NBC. The program will likely start at 4 pm, with earlier coverage on NBC Sports' cable channel.

Radio coverage of The Belmont Stakes will be provided by HRRN and SiriusXM.

HRRN will also provide free online streaming for the Belmont Stakes, and live streaming should also be available on the website for NBC Sports.

Hotels for the Belmont Stakes

Fans who want to be close to the track stay in hotels in Nassau County, or near JFK Airport.  For Nassau hotels, the nearby villages of Garden City, Westbury, Roslyn, Rockville Centre, Carle Place, Uniondale or Farmingdale offer the best possibilities.

 Many fans choose to stay in New York City. Read our complete guide to NYC.

The Triple Crown

• Since 1978, 11 horses have won the first two legs but fallen short in the “Test of a Champion.” FindingDulcinea reviewed the 34-Year Drought, linking to articles and race videos of all 17 horses who have won two legs of the Triple Crown since 1978 (including 11 who came to NY with a chance for the Triple Crown). We wrote a complementary article opining that the Triple Crown has always been hard to win.

• Click here for an article that celebrates Secretariat's extraordinary triumph in the Belmont Stakes to capture the Triple Crown on June 9, 1973.

• Click here for findingDulcinea's Web Guide to Horse Racing

History and Traditions of the Belmont Stakes

• The Belmont Stakes is held on the first Saturday that falls on or after June 5.   The Kentucky Derby is held on the first Saturday in May; the Preakness Stakes is held two weeks later, and the Belmont is held three weeks after the Preakness.

• The race has been run since 1867, except for a two-year hiatus in 1911-12. Originally held at Jerome Park and Morris Park in the Bronx, it moved to Belmont Park when that facility was built in 1905 and—except for a move to Aqueduct during a renovation period from 1964–67—has been run at Belmont Park ever since.

• The official Web site of The Belmont Stakes includes a list of all winners and other historical information. 

• Sports Illustrated writes about Woodford "Woody" Cefis Stephens, a colorful trainer who will forever be associated with the Belmont Stakes. He won the race five times in a row, from 1982 to 1986, a feat many racing writers consider as unbeatable as DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. 

News About the Belmont Stakes

• Equidaily is the single best source of online information about horse racing. It aggregates links to informative, interesting and provocative horse racing stories and opinion from global newspapers and blogs.

• Join the Thoroughbred Racing of New York group on Facebook to share with and learn from some of the most knowledgable and passionate horse racing fans anywhere.

• The Daily Racing Form offers news and information about the race, and data for making selections. It offers news, analysis and transcripts of chats with racing experts. 

• Horse Racing Nation and Brooklyn Backstretch are outstanding resources created by passionate fans.

Books About the Belmont Stakes - perfect timing for Father's Day!

• "To the Swift: Classic Triple Crown Horses and Their Race for Glory," is a collection of writing on the Triple Crown from famous authors and sportswriters.

• "Finished Lines: A Collection of Memorable Writings on Throughbred Racing," is an anthology that “captures the essence of the sport that is both exhilarating and breathtaking, frustrating, and cruel.”

• "Belmont Park: A Century of Champions" features portraits of 70 Belmont Stakes champions by Richard Stone Reeves, with accompanying essays.

There is not and never was a SweetSearch Virus

Last summer, a string of highly suspicious "virus protection" websites began to publish very similar posts about how to get rid of the "SweetSearch Virus," alleging that it was malware that included browser hijackers and other evils.

The truth is that, for 8 years, SweetSearch has been used safely by hundreds of thousands of teachers and students each month.

We have found no evidence whatsoever that SweetSearch actually has any problems with hijackers or viruses.

We have not heard from a single user who actually had a problem with his computer after using SweetSearch.

If there were any legitimate problems, you'd surely  seeing them mentioned on Twitter by educators, not only by shady virus protection companies offering to sell you the "cure" for the problem they invented.

Here is what educators Tweet about SweetSearch on Twitter.

Here is what educators and journalists write about SweetSearch and findingDulcinea in the press.

We are quite certain these blog posts are part of a widespread fraud to induce users to buy unnecessary "virus protection" software; we have seen similar campaigns alleging that other legitimate products cause a virus.

How can you evaluate the credibility of our assertions against those of the so-called virus protection websites?

Try to find information on who publishes those websites. It is very unlikely they will actually publish the names of the company's officers or employees, or even  a phone number or email address at which you can contact them. If they were legitimate, why are they hiding their contact information?

On the other hand, SweetSearch is completely transparent about who our officers are and where we are located.

Six Ways Students Can Learn Directly From Others

This is part of a lesson for the Choose2Matter Course, an online professional development course, with student materials, that will be available June 1. It is based on the life's work of Angela Maiers and our collaboration of the past four years.

Many scholars of the past burrowed into library stacks, read the printed literature on a topic, consulted with a mentor, and emerged with their research.

Today, the Smartest Person in the Room, is the Room.

The scholar of today is more collaborative. While there are many instances of scholarly collaboration throughout history, none rise to the level of what’s possible today, where dozens or scores or hunreds of people from around the world can connect simultaneously and in real-time.

Professor Clay Shirky says that most people “over estimate the value of access to information and underestimate the value of access to each other.”

Related reading: "Why Learning Through Social Networks is the Future."

Students: Master Connecters

While this may be true of most adults, students already understand the power and value of connecting to others, and they are exceedingly comfortable doing it digitally.

I recently participated in a videoconference with a high school class. The acoustics made it difficult for students to ask questions, and the session began awkwardly. I glanced at my iPhone and saw that students were Tweeting to me a long skein of brilliant questions.

Students dominate popular Q&A sites such as Yahoo! Answers, Answers.com and Quizlet. However, these sites are not authoritative, rarely provide links to references, and should not be cited as a source for a student paper.

Fortunately, students can explore dozens of free avenues online to connect with experts in almost any field of study or area of interest. All they need is for adults to open the door and point them in the right direction.

What Could Go Wrong?

• When students interact with adults online, there is the possiblity of inappropriate interaction. 

• On the other hand, the role of adults is to teach students to navigate online safely, and these sites provide excellent learning opportunities not found anywhere else.

• All of these resources are moderated to some degree, so when using them, students should be mindful, not afraid. 

• Just as when a teens venture into the big city for the first time without adult supervision,  they need to be aware of their surroundings and take precautions. 

• Always have an open line of communication with your students concerning their online research.

Adv: Why SweetSearch is Best Search Engine for Students

Six Ways Students Can Learn Directly From Others 

Ask a Librarian

Many local, county, state and college libraries offer a virtual "Ask a Librarian" that users can ask for reference help. By way of example, CBS News calls the New York Public Library’s service “the Human Google.” Here is a list of local Ask a Librarian services from around the world.

Quora

Quora is a Question and Answer site. Unlike other Q&A sites, most users register with their real name and provide their credentials, and most answers are useful. We created this Choose2Matter page on Quora. When a user asks a question about changing the world, we'll find experts to answer it.

Nepris

Nepris enables classrooms to connect with industry experts, predominantly in the STEM fields. Experts can speak to the entire class, or to groups or individual students to provide feedback on their work Videos of archived presentations are also available. Students can also present their work to a panel of industry experts, virtually. Nepris offers a free version and two levels of premium service.

Twitter

Twitter can be an excellent resource to find that handful of people who can provide insight. Students need to learn to use "hashtags" to target their tweets to people likely to have knowledge about the subject of their question. When Maggie Moran, a teacher-in-training, wanted to find an expert to discuss tutoring a student with interrupted formal education (SIFE), she turned to Twitter, using the #SIFE hashtag. She wrote, "Within minutes of my tweet, I received five replies with suggestions on books to read, methods to try, and educators to follow who were experts in the area."

Video Conferencing

Services such as Skype and Zoom make it easy for anyone with an Internet connection to video conference, free, with anyone else with an Internet connection. Skype in the Classroom offers premium tools free to educators, including a service to connect with authors, experts, and others.

This article discusses how teachers all across the globe are using video conferencing to connect their students with eyewitnesses to history, government leaders, authors, and other inspiring adults.

Stack Exchange

Stack Exchange offers 100 million monthly users asking and answering questions about 161 topics. It is focused on technology but not exclusively, and many communities should be helpful to students.

Reddit 

Reddit is an online community dividend into thousands of "subreddits," such as Reddit.com/r/history.

While some of these represent the seamy part of the Internet, many are well moderated and provide extraordinary learning opportunities for students. These range from opportunities to ask questions of scholars in various subject areas to assistance with proofreading and advice on developing good study habits.

A sampling of sub-Reddits that are very useful for students:

• Ask Historians

• Ask Social Science

• Scholar

• Ask Science

• Ask Anthropology

• Ask Politics

• Sociology

• Explain Like I'm Five

• Academia

• Homework Help

• Get Studying

• Proofreading Help

• Ask Literary Studies

• Ask GIS

• Ask Philosophy

• Insightful Questions

My Presentation at Fall CUE October 25, 2013

 TEACHING TEN STEPS TO BETTER WEB RESEARCH

The presentation on "Teaching Ten Steps to Better Web Research" is a PowerPoint that I have uploaded to our account on SlideShare.

Where the footnoted material is available online, it may be accessed by clicking on the highlighted text below.

Shu-Hsien L. Chen. “Searching the Online Catalog and the World Wide Web.” Journal of Educational Media & Library Sciences, 41 1 (September 2003) 29-43

A Study of Students' Online Search Behavior, Mark E. Moran and Shannon A. Firth, April 30, 2010.

Eszter Hargittai etal, “Trust Online: Young Adults’ Evaluation of Web Content,” International Journal of Communications 4 (2010), 468-494, 1932-8036/20100468

On “Empowering Parents and Protecting Children in an Evolving Media Landscape.” Berkman Center for Internet & Society. February 24, 2010.

UCL. “Information behavior of the researcher of the future”: 11 January 2008.

Steve Kolowich, Searching for Better Research Habits, Inside Higher Ed, September 29, 2010

Media Post: Google Research Focuses on Search Failures, September 21, 2010

Geoffrey Nunberg, “Teaching Students to Swim in the Online Sea,” The New York Times, February 13,2005.

 

Dulcinea Media

Ten Steps to Better Web Research

SweetSearch                              

Yolink                       

Primary Sources?                      

Original Source?

Can’t Cite Wikipedia            

Who Wrote It?                                               

Why Did They Write It?                                               

When Did They Write It?

 

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Do not hesitate to contact our CEO at Mark [dot] Moran [at] DulcineaMedia [dot] com with any questions.

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DULCINEA MEDIA'S PRODUCTS

Dulcinea Media provides free tools and content that help educators teach students how to use the Web effectively.  These are discussed comprehensively in these two blog posts:

9 Ways We Help Educators Teach Students How to Use the Web

How We Help Social Studies Teachers Integrate the Web into the Syllabus

The second post repeats a fair bit of the first, but adds specific insight into our content for social studies teachers.

These two posts above themselves link to just about everything else I'd want you to read about our company, but for your convenience, I repeat some of the most important and relevant links below:

Why SweetSearch is the Best Search Engine for Students

            Click here for widgets for SweetSearch and our other products.

Transforming Web Research for Students

Magical Bammy Moments - When Do We Start Celebrating?

Last Saturday night, I had the honor of attending the 2nd Annual Bammy Awards in Washington D.C.  The night had many extraordinary highlights:

• Though some criticize the process, anyone can nominate anyone, and indeed the efforts of more than 350 more educators were recognized with a nomination and celebrated on the nomination pages.

• The founders of the first EdCamp were recognized because their dream of creating free professional development by teachers, for teachers, has now been realized at more than 300 EdCamps.

• The founders of #EdChat, TomWhitby, Shelly Terrell and Steve Anderson, were honored because their creation has become a Twitter phenomenon, giving birth to more than 300 spin-off educational hashtags, each representing dozens or hundreds or thousands of educators who get together regularly to discuss their individual splice of the education profession. While the founders of #Edcamp and #Edchat are admired and valued in the connected educator community, their efforts often are not appreciated in their own districts, and the Bammys is a chance to thank them for their contributions to the profession.

• The six heroic teachers who gave their lives defending their students at Sandy Hook elementary school were remembered and honored with a special award that was accepted by one of their fellow teachers.

• Mallory Fundora, a 13yo who has raised money to support orphans in Uganda, was given the first Bammy for Student Initiatve (which I had the honor of co-presenting).

This was all in keeping with the theme that the Bammys are a celebration of all that is right in American education. Much of it matched the expectations I had after reading all the glowing reviews by educators of the first Bammy Awards, and the concept behind the Bammys, in this post by my colleague Angela Maiers.

So, are the educators who attended writing positive posts about all of the above?

No. None of these highlights are getting any mention at all.

You see, Lisa Murphy, a highly respected early childhood educator - yes, she is a teacher, not a professional comedian -  bravely stood front and center and tried to make us laugh. In doing so, she proved the old adage, "dying is easy, comedy is hard." It was full of "inside humor" that might have been appreciated by most of the live audience, but for the fact that the event was shown on Live Stream to a large audience of friends, family and students who likely weren't "in on the joke." Errol St. Clair Smith, the Executive Producer of the Bammys, has expressly apologized for this miscasting.

The producers also had to make hard decisions about which award categories would not be presented live. The decision to exclude three teacher awards from the live awards show understandably upset the nominees in these categories. Several of them have ably expressed their disappointment online. I'm certain the producers of the Bammys will not repeat this mistake.

The ceremony was not perfect, nor did anyone expect that it would be. This was only the second time it was held, and it operates on a tight budget - tickets to the ceremony are free - and with no full-time staff.

Further, no awards show gets it right, for everyone, every time. Do you remember fondly any host of the Oscars in the past 20 years not named Billy Crystal?

While constructive criticism of the shortcomings of the evening will serve to make the next Bammy Awards better, I don't understand why the magic moments of this night have disappeared from the conversation, lost in the relentless focus on what went wrong.

The only positives that I've seen were about getting together with other people who are equally passionate about educating kids. It sounds like next year they can skip the ceremony and just have a tailgate party.

It's unfortunate that a few, correctable shortcomings are receiving so much attention. Because I helped create a new category this year, I had the opportunity to get a glimpse of the inner-workings of the Bammys. It is a true labor of love by dozens of passionate educators who pour their hearts into it, mostly on a volunteer basis. Yet each of them is feeling bruised tonight because  they dared to create a ceremony that recognizes what is right in the U.S. education system and came up a little short.

In the meantime, as U.S. educators trash the Bammys, I've seen Tweets from educators in Australia, the U.K. and Canada wondering why they don't have a Bammys there.

The Bammys is a chance to celebrate all that is right in the education system.

In many respects, the second edition of the Bammys did so very well.

So when can we start celebrating?

 

9 Videos To Inspire Teachers at the Start of the School Year

The first few weeks of school are bittersweet; they mark the end of summer and yet a return to what teachers love to do: make a profound impact in the lives of students.

Here are our favorite 9 videos to inspire teachers at the start of a school year:

1. The first is from 2008, but is well worth replaying no matter how many times you've watched it. Dalton Sherman, then a fifth grader, addressed 20,000 educators in Dallas, TX. He told them, using a rhetorical style as convincing as you'll ever hear:

"here’s the deal: I can do anything, be anything, create anything, dream anything, become anything, because you believe in me, and it rubs off on me. In some cases, you're all we've got."

The video of Dalton's speech has been viewed nearly 1 million times.

 

 

2. One of our favorite themes is that we need to expect more of students. We OWE it to students to expect more of them. While we've written about this many times, the message is even more powerful when it comes from a student herself. 

 

3. Moving beyond the "limitations" theme, this group of young students tell you to "expect great things."

 

 

4. OK, enough of telling you things, it's time to show you. Here is a beautiful, oft-watched video of a 6 year-old autistic girl playing the piano and singing "Firework" with Katy Perry. While few human beings can watch this performance without welling up or actually bursting into tears, the most powerful message is delivered by the girl's father, at the 2:48 mark. WRITE DOWN THESE WORDS and practice them with each and every child you have the blessed opportunity to influence.

  

 

5. We're not done showing you that kids can greatly exceed our expectations. In this video, Richard Turere explains how, as a young boy in Kenya with few resources, he devised an invention that prevented lions from killing his family's livestock, using a car battery, a directional signal from a motorcycle and some broken flashlights. The invention is now used througout Kenya. Share this with your students!

If they find it hard to follow along, click here to see a version with subtitles.

 

 

6.  Last spring, Rita Pierson delivered a Ted Talk titled "Every Kid Needs a Champion." She proclaims that what students need most is teachers who, like those discussed above, are willing to be a champion for them, to love them and insist that they be the best they can be. Tragically, Rita died a few months later. This video, and the thousands of kids and teachers she influenced, are her legacy.

It was a tour de force that should be mandatory viewing in every school of education in the world. Our partner Angela Maiers wrote this post about Rita's talk on Huffington Post.

 

 

7. Last spring, Jeff Bliss, a high school student in Duncanville, TX, attracted global attention when he stormed out of his classroom, exploding in frustration at an environment that Lisa Nielsen characterized as one where the teacher's job is "to create a sterile environment, distribute packets, read instructions, keep kids quiet, and collect their papers at the proper time." Bliss' antics, railing against the heartless nature of this teaching, were captured on an iPhone and published on YouTube.

 

8. At a conference in Iowa, Angela Maiers asked a group of students to explain to the audience what they wanted, what they needed, from their teachers in order to thrive. Their answers might surprise you.

 

 

9.  In June 2011, Angela Maiers delivered this talk at TedXDesMoines titled "You Matter." Two years and 105,000 views later, it has given birth to the global movement "Choose2Matter," on which Dulcinea Media has partnered with Angela. Follow our Facebook page to keep track of a wave of exciting announcements and developments coming in the next few months. For now, sit back and enjoy the talk that gave birth to it all.

(Note: the video freezes at times, but the audio continues uninterrupted. This is not your computer freezing, it is the video itself).

 

 For more about Angela Maiers, visit her website or read her books on Classroom Habitudes and The Passion-Driven Classroom. Also read her five favorite posts about teacher appreciation.

For more about Dulcinea Media, publisher of this post, read:

Why SweetSearch is the Best Search Engine for Students

Our curated collection of the best social studies resources on the web

Ten Steps to Better Web Research

Introducing MashPlant

In a world full of new web platforms for education, I was excited to find a new one at ICE 2013 that stands out. MashPlant Studio is a free platform that allows teachers to create safe spaces for students that add a new layer of creativity, collaboration, and engagement to any curriculum.

Teachers create one or more studios - small, private social networks - and invite their students to join via assignments on the teacher's blog. Teachers maintain a degree of control to keep order if necessary.

Students can upload their work in one of many document or multimedia formats, critique and collaborate using familiar social media tools, celebrate their achievements and growth together. The site will soon include dozens of tutorials that teach students the fine points of creating professional-grade videos.

The interface is intuitive and fun to use; MashPlant says its beta testers were sharing work and uploading media even when it wasn't assigned, a sign of passionate attachment that we don't see enough of in students any more.

"When we built Studio, we had no idea how many different ways teachers would find to use it," said MashPlant CEO Jason Brett. That inspired MashPlant to create the Teachers Lounge, where every educator with a Studio can share his curriculum ideas and explore new ways to use Studio in the classroom.

"We think this is a product that can revolutionize the classroom and take today's curriculum to the next level and we can't wait to get it into more teachers' hands," said Brett. MashPlant Studio is completely free for teachers to use. The product is paid for by what Brett calls "mission aligned advertising" - curated ads highlighting brands and organizations that offer a positive influence. A truly neat adaptions is that ads cannot be clicked on during the school day!

Create your own free account at http://www.mashplantstudio.com and see what the buzz is all about.

A Three-Word History Test that Most American Students, and Adults, Would Likely Fail

Discuss, using examples.

Mark E. Moran

Founder & CEO

Dulcinea Media

Read how our free resources help prepare students for exams that require critical thinking.

Buy the LineTime App for iPad/iPhone, which offers a zoomable timeline of modern history, enabling students, teachers and fans of history to see contemporaneous events across all cultures, as well as to explore topics throughout many centuries.

Learn 11 Things You May Not Know About Abraham Lincoln, an article that links to the very best primary and secondary sources about Lincoln available online.

People who did remarkable things and whom we owe a great deal

Every September 11 (and indeed nearly every other day of the year), I spend much of the time period from 8:46 am (first crash) till 10:29 am (fall of second tower), thinking about the remarkable manner in which so many people responded to the challenge of their lives 11 years ago.

I think particularly about the 443 men and women who, as first responders, rushed to the World Trade Center and gave their lives. That’s about 14 seconds per person. 

Fourteen seconds for Pat Brown. At an apartment fire a decade before 9/11, Brown and his crew were on the roof of a burning building, with two men desperately hanging out a window. A rope rescue was in order, but there was nothing on the roof to anchor the man holding the rope. So the rest of his crew strained to hold him in place, another firefighter was lowered to the window. Brown knew that when the desperate men were pulled, one at a time, from the window and their weight doubled the burden, all of the men involved might very well plunge to the ground; a similar catastrophe had happened to one of Brown's close friends years earlier. Did Brown stand back and hope for the best? No, he lay down on the ledge of the building, letting out the rope and guiding his men inch-by-inch through the delicate operation unti both victims were saved. On 9/11, Pat Brown led his crew into the WTC, and was last heard from on the 35th floor. His final recorded words: "Apparently it's above the 75th floor. I don't know if they got there yet. Okay, Three Truck and we are still heading up. Okay? Thank you."

Fourteen seconds for my friend, John Moran, who had been injured during the devastating 2001 Father’s Day fire that killed three firemen. On 9/11, John ended his shift and was getting in his car to go home, but instead literally fought his way to the WTC and shouted as he ran in, “I’m going to make a difference here today.” 

Fourteen seconds for Timothy Stackpole, who had suffered horrifying injuries in a fire years before, and battled with the fire department medical staff simply for the right to return to work, only to then give his life on 9/11. 

Fourteen seconds for Moira Smith, a police officer who stormed into one of the towers to find the revolving doors were preventing people from fleeing quickly enough. So she shot out a giant plate glass window, allowing the lobby to empty and, with the lobby cleared, ran upstairs to guide thousands of frightened people out of the building. 

Fourteen seconds for Stephen Siller, who was on his way to play golf, but hearing the news, picked up his fire gear and headed to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to enter lower Manhattan. With his truck hopelessly blocked by traffic, he ran through the mile-long tunnel on foot in full gear, and perished. 

And 28 seconds for the Langone family. Peter Langone was a fireman about whom was said he "had only one speed, and that was fast forward." Thomas Langone was an officer in the police Emergency Services Unit. He collected 42 medals in 18 years and went to Oklahoma City in 1995 to help recovery efforts after the bombing there. Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma said at his funeral that Officer Langone and his colleagues "brought with them honor, courage, humor and occasionally a funny accent." Mayor Giuliani, speaking at the joint funeral, told the four children of the Langone brothers that "We owe you a great deal….it will be paid back."

For 103 minutes, I think about every one of those 443 ordinary people who did remarkable things and whom we owe a great deal.

Why Is the Triple Crown So Hard to Win Now? Because It Always Has Been

As American Pharoah prepares for his chance to become just the 12th horse in history, and first in 37 years, to win horse racing's Triple Crown, experts are lining up to explain why it has become so hard to win.

Most observers assert that today’s thoroughbreds are bred for precocious speed, and not suited for either the 1 ½ mile distance of the Belmont Stakes or three tough races in five weeks.

We have analyzed 19 horses who won two legs of the Triple Crown since Affirmed last won it in 1978. (note: the article links to replays of, and contemporary commentary about, most of the relevant races).

We concluded that only four of these 19 horses failed to win the Triple Crown because they could not negotiate the distance of the Belmont Stakes or the grind of three tough races in five weeks. The remaining 15 horses lost their shot at immortality for the same reasons that have been preventing great horses from winning the Triple Crown for the past century.

Of these 19, 12 came to New York with a shot at the Triple Crown, after wins in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. Another 7 horses in this span won the Belmont Stakes and another leg of the Triple Crown, but lost the Derby or the Preakness.

Of the 12 to falter in the Belmont Stakes, only four were clearly impacted by the distance of the Belmont and/or the Triple Crown grind: War Emblem, Funny Cide, Big Brown and California Chrome. Northern Dancer met a similar fate in 1964, as did Majestic Prince in 1969.

Seven of the remaining 8 to lose at Belmont ran very well there and suffered fairly narrow losses, arguably as a result of questionable race riding tactics. When a Triple Crown is on the line, the pressure forces a jockey to pursue pacesetters earlier than he or she might in an ordinary race. These cases show that the biggest strain of a Triple Crown chase may be the one placed on the humans associated with the horse.

In hindsight, the masterful ride of young Steve Cauthen aboard Affirmed becomes all the more impressive, and the pressure on American Pharoah's jockey Victor Espinoza, increases (although this is his third try at a Triple Crown).

A look at the 7 horses who endured questionable riding tactics:

• In 1978, the trainer of Spectacular Bid, Buddy Delp told people it would take an "Act of God" for the horse to lose, and flippantly predicted that he would win by 32 lengths. He was chasing the legend of Secretariat. Spectacular Bid entered the backstretch second behind 80-1 shot Gallant Best, and jockey Ronnie Franklin sent Spectacular Bid surging to the lead. Coastal engaged him in the stretch, and Bid had nothing left.

• In 1981, Pleasant Colony's jockey failed to press the slow pace of longshot Summing, reserving his energy for the seemingly more talented closers behind him. Pleasant Colony could not run down the pacesetters, and finished third.

• In 1989, Sunday Silence won the Derby and Preakness over Easy Goer.  In the Belmont, Le Voyageur, a regally bred foreign horse (by Seattle Slew out of Davona Dale, herself a Filly Triple Crown winner), set a strong pace. With a Triple Crown on the line, Sunday Silence’s jockey Pat Valenzuela was forced to attack this unknown front runner entering the far turn; Easy Goer’s Pat Day was able to lay in wait and made a single explosive run entering the stretch and pulled away to an easy victory.

• In 1997, Silver Charm won the Derby in a thrilling three-way duel with Free House and Captain Bodgit, and the Preakness by a nose over Captain Bodgit. With Captain Bodgit sidelined, Silver Charm focused on outdueling Free House into the stretch of the Belmont, only to yield the lead in the final fifty yards to Touch Gold, who had the luxury of waiting till the final yards to strike.

• In 1998, Kent Desormeaux prematurely sent Real Quiet to a commanding lead into the upper stretch, but was nipped at the wire by a fast-closing Victory Gallop.

• In 1999, Charismatic was forced to confront the talented filly, Silver Bullet Day, through challenging fractions. He led with a furlong to go but was caught by longshot Lemon Drop Kid. An alternative view is that Charismatic's loss is more fairly attributable to an injury suffered in the race - a fate shared by Tim Tam in 1958, and Carry Back in 1961.

• In 2004, undefeated Smarty Jones faced a phalanx of talented challengers. After a sensible first half mile, Smarty Jones took on Purge, the frontrunner who had a legitimate shot. Right as Smarty Jones passed Purge, he was engaged by Eddington, and then Rock Hard Ten.  He ran a grueling three-quarter mile segment of the race more than a second faster than Secretariat had. Unlike Secretariat, Smarty Jones staggered in the final 70 yards and was collared by Birdstone, the only horse in the race who sat out the furious fray on the backstretch.

In 1987, Alysheba lost not to the 12 furlongs, but to New York's then-strict anti-drug rules for horses. Alysheba required the diuretic drug Lasix to perform at his best, and it was banned in New York at the time. The hot, muggy Belmont day ensured that Alysheba would not run his best, and Bet Twice won the race by nearly 15 lengths. This was the first of three losses in a row for Alysheba - all without Lasix.

Of the seven horses who won two legs of the Triple Crown, including the Belmont, since 1978:

• Risen Star, Point Given and Afleet Alex were by far the best of their crop, but suffered tough trips in the Kentucky Derby, then went on to resounding victories in the Preakness and Belmont. Empire Maker and Lookin at Lucky are two others who may have won two legs after tough trips in the Derby, but elected to skip one of the legs with no Triple Crown possibility (something that Gallant Man also did in 1957). While surely tough trips in the Derby as more commonplace now that the race has a full field of 20 nearly every year, a rough Derby journey also cost the great Native Dancer a shot a Triple Crown glory in 1953, as well as Little Current in 1974. Each went on to resounding wins in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

• Thunder Gulch, Hansel and Swale simply came up empty in the Derby or the Preakness, a fate that felled Damascus in the 1967 Kentucky Derby.

• Tabasco Cat arguably lost the 1994 Kentucky Derby due to track conditions - the same fate that cost Riva Ridge the Preakness in 1972.

In 2001, Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit, wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times,

“In 1973, the racing world was haunted by a mood similar to that felt today. A quarter century had passed since the coming of the last Triple Crown winner, Citation. Fans wondered if they would ever see another horse sweep the series. Then, on June 9, a red colossus named Secretariat roared down the Belmont homestretch on an awesome 31-length lead, winning the Triple Crown in world-record time…. Those who worry that we may never see this again should be patient. True greatness is extremely rare; the next Triple Crown winner will be worth the wait.”

Will we see true greatness on June 6? I think we will.

Are you attending this year's Belmont Stakes? Read our Insider's Guide to Attending the Belmont Stakes.

Want to relive Secretariat's 1973 triumph? Read our "On This Day" article about it.

Five things that are absolutely true

Here are five things that are absolutely true, according to researchers at Harvard University, the U.S. federal government, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation:

When 6th graders at Lynbrook North Middle School type questions into Google, it greatly increases the likelihood that their thumbs will become permanently numb, and they will never be able to text again.

For the NY Giants, the penalty for winning the Super Bowl in 2012 is that they have to kick off from their own end zone on all kickoffs next year, while the other team gets to kick-off from the 50-yard line. This is to make games more fair. 

When students at Lynbrook North go up the down stair case, they become disoriented and forget the combination to their locker.

When you eat a bagel and drink gatorade at the same time, they mix together in your stomach and expand slowly over time until the bagel grows 100 times in size and blocks all absorption of other food, forever.

The most important time for a middle school student to study his or her hardest is in the three weeks after Memorial Day.

 

 

 

Insider's Guide to the Belmont Stakes

 

The Belmont Stakes will be run at Belmont Park on June 7. With California Chrome trying to become the first horse in 36 years to sweep horse racing's Triple Crown, the race will attract enormous attention from people all over the world.

We have updated this guide through May 21, 2014 and posted it at a new link, here.

Best resources for teaching about the sinking of the Titanic

 

 

 

Overview:

findingDulcinea's On This Day, and sources to which it links, provides:

• an overview of the sinking and an investigation into the causes of it;
• links to a transcript of US Senate Hearings about it;
• an examination of myth surrounding the Titanic; and
• coverage of the 1985 discovery of the Titanic on the ocean floor (note: the link to Ocean Woods is broken; use this link instead)

Save Yourself? Sinking Ship Escape Etiquette

BBC News: Titanic 100

 

Video:

British Pathe has curted this collection of its newsreels from the era of the Titanic, including some of the only actual video footage of the Titanic, of survivors reaching New York on the Carpathia, and a documentary about the Titanic era, when man believed he could do anything.

Titanic (the Oscar winning film), available from Amazon.com

National Geographic Channel: Titanic: How it Really Sank (45 minutes)

National Geographic: Secrets of the Titanic (53 minutes)

PBS: Saving the Titanic (56 minutes) is "told from the point of view of the engineers below deck as they struggle to maintain power and keep the ship afloat to save as many lives as possible."

A&E Channel: Titanic: Death of a Dream, Part 1 (95 mins) and Titanic: The Legend Lives On (95 mins)

 

Teaching Ideas and Lesson Plans:

The New York Times Learning blog offers teaching ideas based on  the newspaper's extensive coverage of the sinking, the aftermath and its legacy over the past 100 years.

The A&E Channel offers classroom materials, in four parts, intended to supplement its films, but they stand-alone as a valuable classroom study guide.   Part 1;  Part 2;  Part 3; and Part 4

Ocean Explorer, from NOAA.gov, offers lesson plans and resources on the expedition that returned to the Titanic in 2005.

Library of Congress lesson on examining primary sources relating to the response to the sinking.

BBC: Ticket to Launch, Teacher Resources.

Scholastic's Lesson Plan for Grades 3-5

*******************

The LineTime App for iOS offers users the ability to view the course of modern history on a timeline, and to drill down into each century, decade or year.  It literally changes the way students look at history, enabling them to view historical events in full context, in a way that textbooks never could.  

Dulcinea Media will soon release Teaching Web Research Skills, a multimedia e-book that teaches educators how to teach Web research skills, with companion books for older and younger students. Click here to learn more.

9 Things You Don't Know About Easter

For many Christians around the world, Holy Week began yesterday Palm Sunday, which commemorates the arrival of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. Holy Week continues through Holy Thursday, observing the event of the Last Supper; Good Friday, marking the crucifixion of Christ; and Easter Sunday, celebrating his resurrection.
 
Because many Christians today are eager to renew their knowledge of Easter, findingDulcinea offers this Web Guide to Easter, offering the best information online about the beliefs, practices and traditions surrounding Lent, Holy Week and Easter.
 
As a sample of all there is to learn, findingDulcinea lists the Top 9 Things You Didn't Know About Easter:
 
     1. Most Christians celebrate Easter on the first Sunday falling after the first full moon that follows the vernal equinox (the day on which day and night are approximately equal in length) which usually occurs on March 20. The ecumenical agreement for determining the date for Easter was reached at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD
 
     2. Orthodox Christian Churches celebrate Easter on a different day because they still follow the Julian calendar, while other Christian churches adopted the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century.
 
     3. The word Easter originates from Estre, a Teutonic Goddess of springtime. Pascha, the Orthodox term for Easter, comes from Pesach, the Hebrew word for Passover.
 
     4. The 40 days of Lent is symbolic of Jesus' sojourn in the wilderness of Judea, preparing for his public ministry while being tempted by Satan. There are actually 47 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, but the seven Sundays are traditionally considered days to feast in celebration of the resurrection of Christ.
 
     5. Eggs have long been associated with Easter. For a time, they were forbidden during Lent, and then presented at the Easter table, painted red to symbolize joy. Some Christians view eggs as symbolic of the tomb that Jesus left empty. But the concept of eggs as symbols of new life is probably rooted in pagan springtime traditions.
 
     6. Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate the Service of the Bridegroom at the beginning of Easter Week. It is a custom that recalls the parable of 10 virgins (Mt. 251-13). Five wise virgins stayed awake, keeping their candles lit, and waited for the bridegroom while the five foolish ones slept and missed their opportunity. The bridegroom is a symbol for Christ.
 
     7. A popular tradition in Mexico and other Latin cultures is to hold a passion play, or recreation of Good Friday. For Mexican men, it is an honor and a challenge to take part in the passion plays. Preparations last an entire year and the man chosen to play Jesus must carry a cross weighing 200 pounds.
 
     8. On the day after Easter, in Poland and in Polish-American neighborhoods in Buffalo, New York and in South Bend, Indiana, people engage in a public, all-day water fight. The day is known as Smigus Dyngus.
 
     9. During the Middle Ages, Christians across Europe would meet on hilltops to watch the sun rise on Easter morning. They rang bells, fired cannons and sang hymns. A similar tradition still exists in Austria.

90 Years of Pursuing Equal Rights

On March 22, 1972, the Senate approved the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which banned discrimination on the basis of sex. The amendment fell three states shy of ratification and was never ratified. Read our full article for the 90-year history of the proposed amendment. Andrew Lloyd Webber was born in London on March 22, 1948. Considered one of the most successful contemporary composers, he has consistently created works that garner international appeal and success. He has created scores for "The Phantom of the Opera," "Evita" and other highly successful productions, and earned several awards to commemorate his musical achievements. Read our full profile.   BBC Newsround features this amazing collection of wildlife photos that are about to go on display in the London Museum.   National Geographic's photo of the day is of the moon illuminating the North Face of K2.

 

Presentation at New Leaf in Learning

On Thursday, March 22, 2011, I will make a presentation titled "Overcoming Resistance to Teaching with Technology and Online Resources" at the 2012 New Leaf in Learning Conference.

 Here are links to the presentation and the sources and quotes contained in it.

I provide full contact info and information about Dulcinea Media as well.

Overcoming Resistance to Teaching with Technology and Online Resources

The printed description of this presentation:

This session will illustrate how library media specialists can become a persuasive, supportive and indispensable resource to classroom teachers who might be reluctant to embrace online resources and educational technology. Mark Moran of Dulcinea Media will discuss a wide array of content resources, discovery tools and education technologies, and how many teachers are using them successfully in class. Participants will also learn the root of the most common objections to the adoption of a new way of teaching, and how to overcome such objections by dispelling fear and doubt, providing ample support, and celebrating successes.

The guiding question: "What are the principles that should guide education companies and educators as they support classroom teachers in embracing online content, relevant technology and a student-centered teaching style?"

This presentation is a PowerPoint that is available on SlideShare by clicking here.

The links contained in it are repeated at the bottom of this post for your convenience.

DULCINEA MEDIA'S PRODUCTS

Dulcinea Media offers free products that help educators teach students how to use the web effectively. These products are discussed comprehensively in these blog posts:

Web Guide to Education

SweetSearch Page for Social Studies

SweetSearch Biographies

Why SweetSearch is the Best Search Engine for Students

findingEducation - How to Leverage the Wisdom of a Crowd of Educators

We've also partnered on the LineTime World History Timeline an app for iPad and iPhone that enables students to scroll through all of modern history and then zoom in on particular decades, years, months and events.

Here is a description of Teaching Web Research Skills, a research-based, multimedia tutorial that teaches effective web research skills to both educators and students; it will be available in early April 2012.

Here is a link to reviews of Dulcinea Media's products by leading educators, publications and journals.

CONTACT INFO

Do not hesitate to contact me at Mark [dot] Moran [at] DulcineaMedia [dot] com or call me at (917) 597-3815 with any questions.

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SOURCES IN PRESENTATION :

Dulcinea Media Intro (see links above)

The Problem

Dangerously Irrelevant - We Spend 80% of Classroom Time on Skills Needed in 10% of Jobs

Peter Pappas - Taxonomy of Reflection / @edteck

Khan Academy - the Golden Ratio

Henry Jenkins - TedxNYEd

Dirty Little Secrets of Search Skills of a Lost Generation

Overcoming Resistance

EdWeek - 10 Reasons Educators are Resisting Your Change Initiative

The Journal - Training Teachers of 21st Century Classrooms

The Atlantic - Empowering Students to Pursue Their Passions

Learning from Your Peers

School Library Journal - Things that Keep Us Up at Night

SSChat Ning

EdChat

TLChat

History Teacher's Attic and Ted Talks Demystified

The Primary Resource Librarian / @johnsonmaryj

Unquiet Librarian - Taking Embedded Librarianship to the Next Level

Primary Sources

Yale - the Avalon Project

Ohio State - eHistory

Library of Congress Primary Source Sets

American Rhetoric

Miller Center - American Presidents

Miller Center - Address from the Brandenburg Gate

Interview of the Day - Amelia Earhart

Living Room Candidate - Jackie Kennedy

Chronicling America

Letter from Harry Truman on the Process for Deciding to Drop the Atom Bomb

Historic Newspapers and Magazines and Newsreels

British Pathe

Rag Linen

Sports Illustrated Vault - A Case of Conscience

Museum Syndicate

The Mike Wallace Interview - Orval Faubus

BBC Interactive Timelines

YTTM

 LineTime World History Timeline

Primary Access Movie Maker

Digital Docs in a Box

ThingLink

Games, Simulations

History Animated (animations of historic battles)

 The Doolittle Raid

Games For Change Third World Farmer

Content-Specific Resources

 

Smithsonian Ocean Portal

National Genome Research Project - Education

BBC Science - Interactive Body

NSDL.org

Wolfram Alpha Educators Page

 Economics Search Engine

 

Ideas for Lesson Plans

Teachinghistory / @teachinghistory

History Matters

PBS Learning Media / @PBSLrnMedia 

EDSITEment! / @edsitement

DocsTeach

Teaching High School Psychology / @highschoolpsych