Armistice/Rememberance Day & Berlin Wall

1914 by WILFRED OWEN

War broke: and now the Winter of the world
With perishing great darkness closes in.
The foul tornado, centred at Berlin,
Is over all the width of Europe whirled,
Rending the sails of progress. Rent or furled
Are all Art's ensigns. Verse wails. Now begin
Famines of thought and feeling. Love's wine's thin.
The grain of human Autumn rots, down-hurled.

For after Spring had bloomed in early Greece,
And Summer blazed her glory out with Rome,
An Autumn softly fell, a harvest home,
A slow grand age, and rich with all increase.
But now, for us, wild Winter, and the need
Of sowings for new Spring, and blood for seed.

This heartbreaking poem and other reflections on World War I are found on The First World War Poetry Digital Archive. The Archive includes not only poetry but other fascinating and moving artifacts of "the great war" including photos, audio/video clips and educational timelines.  See an overview of this resource on YouTube. 

Voices of the Armistice are podcasts revealing the actual experiences of British soldiers during the war.

Guide to World War I Primary Source Materials details resources from the Library of Congress

In Europe days and months are reversed so the notation 9/11 has a different meaning, especially in Germany.  November 9th is the day the Berlin Wall came down, and this year marks its 20 year anniversary.  Check out information about this momentous event at Freedom Without Walls from the German Embassy and photos and video from visitBerlin. 

A school library with no books? 21st Century Skills and Some New Tools for Research and Environmental Action

What are the skills and dispositions we need to teach our students to prepare them for the 21st Century?  Route 21 is a collaboration among educational professionals policymakers and industry.

What happens when a school library replaces every book with Kindels?  Read this article from USA Today and find out what the students think.  (Thank you KB for this link)

Medpedia is a new medical resource using the Wikipedia model BUT with oversight from medical professionals. 

What is a vook?  Vooks combine text and video and can be downloaded onto a computer or smartphone.  I can see if for cooking but romance???

The Library of Congress Teacher's Page has links to great collections of primary sources and great tools for analyzing them.  There are also opportunities for professional development.  Check out their page on veteran's stories.  

Another new source for primary sources is Footnote.  They have partnered with the National Archives to offer high quality digital copies of important historic documents.  They also have a genealogy section using historic census information.  Unfortunately there is a fee to do any deep searching using the census data.  

Here's a website that encourages students to look at the environmental consequences of their purchases.  Be Different. Live Different. Buy Different