Unwrap All Your Favorite Subjects

Here are some new and interesting Websites and Webhibits (exhibits on the Web) to UNWRAP at the end the year.  I've got all our favorite subjects COVERED starting with an excerpt from a poem about winter found using The Poetry Tool  Enjoy!

  

February

by Margaret Atwood 

Winter. Time to eat fat

and watch hockey. In the pewter mornings, the cat,

a black fur sausage with yellow

Houdini eyes, jumps up on the bed and tries 

to get onto my head. It’s his

way of telling whether or not I’m dead.

If I’m not, he wants to be scratched; if I am

He’ll think of something......

Science & World History: The Royal Society in London celebrates 350 years of scholarship by opening up its digital archives.  Showcasing many of its spectacular collections is this nifty exhibit called Trailblazing Three and a half centuries of Royal Society Publishing. Explore the time line and view such wonders as Ben Franklin's kite experiment (including his letter confirming his result) and other scientific wonders put into perspective with historic content included as well.  Also check out Science Sees Further, articles about important current topics in science. 

Art & Medicine:  This online exhibition from the National Library of Medicine features very cool Turn the Pages Technology to showcase exquisite antique books.  The Historiae Animalium (Studies on Animals) is amazing. 

Journalism & World Languages: Newseum Today's Front Pages offers the front pages of over 800 papers from 81 countries.  What a great way for students to get a first-hand account of life in another city/country.  The entire Newseum website is a treasure trove of information including its spectacular  Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery.  I highly recommend visiting this amazing place with your family if you are ever in D.C.  It's just steps away from the Mall.

Government: If the founding fathers had Twitter what would the Bill of Rights look like? To commemorate Bill of Rights Day December 15th the National Archives had a Twitter contest asking people to Tweet each section.  Here are the winners of If the Founding Fathers Had Twitter. 

English: Figment.com is a new website where writers can share their writing.  Dead Caulfieds is a website dedicated to J.D. Salinger and the basis for a new book on the author published this month, J.D. Salinger, A Life. Use the Poetry Tool hosted by the Poetry Foundation to find poems using popuar search categories: occasion, title, first line, etc. 

Math/Statistics:  Ever wonder how much time a day the average American spends on leisure activities, household chores, their jobs?  Check out the American Time Use Survey for some great facts to know and tell at the dinner table.  (Sadly women still spend more time in their day than men on housework--51% as opposed to 20%.  Perhaps some of us can use this fact to get out of the clean-up detail during break--even the score at the end of the year...)

Biography: Using mapping software the website Muckety: Exploring the Paths of Power and Influence creates graphic relationships between people, not only in the news but also in fiction (many Harry Potter characters are profiled).  Users can also make their own accounts and create Muckety Maps of their own. 

Performing Arts/Music:  The Petrucci Music Library has an extensive list of free public domain sheet music. Fourteen Actors Acting showcases great actors from this year's movies, including our own James Franco, acting out "classic screen types". 

Sports:  Most people don't look to the lofty pages of the  NY Times for their sports news, but I encourage  sports fans to take a look at their multimedia offerings and blogs such as Off the Dribble  and Slap Shot .  Check out this multimedia piece Rushing the Quarterback Taylor Style. 


Business/Economics:  The Special Issues Index has links to a wide variety of articles that provide data for a large collection of industries.  Most articles are freely available online. Also check out the recent US Economy at a Glance (probably not a very jolly prospect these days and thus best viewed with a hearty eggnog in hand).  UNdata "a world of information" crunches data across a variety of issues for every member country.

Finally, Dessert:  Some favorite recipe websites when cooking with friends and family: Epicurius , Allrecipes.com Culinary.net.

Creativity & Collaboration

Paly has a new block schedule this year leading to more collaboration time for both students and staff.  Research points to the important link between collaboration and the creative process.  Explore these links and discover works from a wide variety of writers, artists and musicians.  

The "myth of the lone genius" is examined in the article Two is the Magic Number: a new science of creativity by Joshua Wolf Shenk.  Also included is a video presentation on this subject. 

Listen to this NPR tribute to John Lennon aired on his 70th birthday and featuring tapes of his last interview in Rolling Stone Magazine.  All We are Saying: Three Weeks with John Lennon. 

The subject of creativity is explored in a very creative fashion by Steven Johnson author of Where Good Ideas Come From.  Here's his Ted Talk on the subject. 

Thirty Years of Photography at the NYPL presents vintage photographs in a dynamic online exhibition. Don't miss the snappy video introducing the show. 

The European Library is a creative collaboration among 35 national libraries.    Visit the European Library Exhibitions Page for a look into the past using primary source books and manuscripts.

Reading, Technology, & Wikipedia for credit?

From the Colonial Horn Book to today's iPad, this Interactive Time line from the NY Times traces the path of educational technology.  It's helpful to keep in mind that books have never required charging devices.

And speaking of those pesky charging devices, what kind of reading is best for electronic readers?  Check out this great summary from the NY Times A Textbook Solution.  

If you love history and movies, you simply have to check out  YouTube Time Machine .This searching tool is a fantastic way to filter YouTube videos by production date to view authentic primary source video.  Check out videos from 1903. 

Google's Digital Literacy Tour offers zippy tips for evaluating information online and digital citizenship 

Wikipedia for credit?  The Wikimedia Foundation is collaborating with a few college professors to improve its content.

Perspective: a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something

It's always good to put things in perspective when a new school year begins.  Perhaps these resources will help

This nifty website http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/ allows users to compare the USA to other countries.  Did you know that Canadians spend 45% less on health care than we do? 

What is the mindset of the college class of 2014?  Beloit College publishes a list of facts that includes such gems as:  Few in the class know how to write in cursive and The first home computer they probably touched was an Apple II or Mac II; they are now in a museum.

How informed is the world?  According to the 2010 IFLA World Report almost 100% of public libraries in the US have free Internet access as compared to 20% in Russia. 

Every day is a holiday...somewhere.  Find out about holidays around the world by country and religion by checking out Earth's Calendar. 

Reading All Summer Long

 Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience:  this is the ideal life.  --Mark Twain

So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install, A lovely bookshelf on the wall.-- Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Interested in clicking rather than turning pages?  Read "The iPad, the Kindle, and the future of the book business" by Ken Auletta from the New Yorker, April 26, 20102.  


Nonfiction reading rules at the NY Times The Learning Network: Teaching With the New York Times and their innovative Summer Reading Challenge.  The site has a lot of offer educators when planning lessons about current events.

The Paly Library READ page has links to many reading lists as does the Palo Alto City Library Teen Page  , Santa Clara County Library and San Mateo County.  Don't forget the Paly Library reading blog Read@paly for book reviews and blurbs. 

Other good lists include recommendations from:

• Horn Book (An esteemed children's book review magazine)
• IndiBound Bookstores List (Books Inc. and Kepler's) Mention Paly at Kepler's and they will give the library a percentage of your purchase and Books Inc. gives student/educator discounts!
• UC Berkeley
• National Public Radio 
• NY Times

Personally I'll be digging into a variety of young adult books starting with Looks by Madeleine George (trying to stay away from vampires this summer) and "adult" books starting with Innocent by Scott Turow.    If you have any great suggestions please post them there.

In Honor of Memorial Day...

 Bivouac of the Dead

The muffled drum's sad roll has beat
The soldier's last tattoo;
No more on Life's parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few.

Read about this famous poem that graces many military cemeteries and learn about the poet Theodore O'Hara from Dept. of Veterans Affairs 

A couple stunning new books about war: War by Sebastian Junger is the author's account of his time with an infantry platoon serving in Afghanistan in 2007/08, and THE MUST READ BOOK THIS YEAR is Matterhorn by Vietnam Veteran Karl Marlantes, a riveting portrayal of a group of soldiers doing battles with the enemy,  the jungle, and themselves during the Vietnam War. (I could only read a chapter at a time it was so intense.)  Read the review of Matterhorn by Sebastian Junger.  

To remember the brave men and women who have served our country check out this article from the Washington Post about The Best Lesser Known War Memorials

At War is the sobering and stunning blog from reporters with the NY Times

The History of Memorial Day from History.com

Bits of Knowledge: Food, Maps, Music, Science, War, and Literacy

Do this BEFORE lunch--Watch Jamie Oliver's passionate award-winning TED speech "Teach Every Kid About Food"

How do we see the world?  Before Google Maps there was ... Explore this concept with the fascinating new exhibit  Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda, & Art from the British Library and read this interesting article about the exhibition Ten of the Greatest: Maps That Changed the World. 

How about a little music?  Experiment with rhythm and sound with Wolfgram Tones

If science is of interest check out this review of Six Free Websites for Learning and Teaching Science including a great site from Scientific American.

 Discovering the Civil War is an absorbing new exhibit from the National Archives that takes our knowledge further about this violent conflict.  

We feel strongly about Information Literacy in the Library and we welcome this call to action! Information Literacy: A Neglected Core Competency

Who decides what students learn? What makes a good teacher? Fun facts to know and tell about the Internet and a handy photo resource.

During Black History Month our high school read Black Profiles in Courage by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and students learned about dynamic African-Americans who were never mentioned in their textbooks.  One student told me their lack of inclusion was because, "the winners write the books."  Who decides what our students learn?  The Common Core State Standards Initiative just published a draft of standards for Mathematics and English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Science and Science.  Check out this fascinating article from the NY Times Magazine about how history/social science curriculum is formulated in Texas--How Christian Were the Founders.

March is Women's History Month.  Link to Women's History Month a resource that is "writing women back into history."

What makes a great teacher?  Doug Lemov, a founder of Uncommon Schools is trying to find out.  Read about his process and efforts of other researchers in the article Build a Better Teacher.

What are "18 Interesting Firsts on the Internet"?  Read the Tech Reader's blog to find out.  (A warning to those of us over 29-- this might make you feel old.)

Pictures offer powerful messages and are very useful for presentations when they are in the public domain.  Check out the Flickr Commons for public domain image collections from public institutions such as the Library of Congress and many university and museum collections such as the Getty.  Limit image searches to public domain photos using Yahoo Advanced Image Search. 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nypl/3110117432/

Remembering 2000 Naught and Looking Forward to 2000 Teen

Is is just me or do people seem to be in a big hurry to leave 2000 Naught* behind them?  Take a moment to read  This Decade in Words from language columnist Mark Peters to find out why just about everyone is elbowing their way forward to 2000 Teen.    Or perhaps you are a visual person like me and find this graphic reflection Picturing the Past 10 Years by Phillip Neimeyer  more revealing. 

The end of the year always brings a bevy of "best of" lists.  Eudutopia, filmmaker George Lucas' website dedicated to "what works in public education" has a Year in Review featuring its best blog posts.  If you don't have time to read many blogs (except this one of course) you might want to cut to the best and check out The Edublog Awards best of 09 list featuring blogs on education and libraries.  If you'd like a smorgasbord of Top 10 lists check out Time Magazine's Top Ten Everything of 2009, but don't click on Top Ten New Species if you're squeamish. 

But enough about the last year and decade, what about the history of the world?  BBC Radio 4 is kicking off an ambitious project called A History of the World in 100 Objects by weaving together stories about 100 objects from the British Museum.  Each object will get 15 minutes of erudite fame in true BBC fashion starting on January 17th.  The whole enterprise will be captured on their A History of the World website.  It's worth a bookmark, and I'll be checking back in with the venerable BBC to see if any of my favorite objects will be put on display.  (I am a huge fan of the winged-lion and wish it were in front of my office to protect me from the "forces of chaos.")

And what about books?  I started the New Year reading Stumbling on Happiness by Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert. It's a book about looking forward, and I recommend it to anyone who is thinking-----Onward!

*According to my handy dictionary the archaic phrase bring to naught means "ruin; foil" and set at naught means"disregard; despise" so the 2000 Naught moniker fits in more ways than one IF you're feeling cranky about the past decade.