Region 4 High Schools

Prepare for the Regents by looking at old exams here:
http://www.nysedregents.org/testing/hsregents.html

Prepare for the Regents by taking old Regents exams here:

http://regentsprep.org/Regents/global/global.cfm

Thirteen/WNET New York invites educators to a
                 FREE TEACHER WORKSHOP
                 introducing the new landmark PBS series:

                THE SUPREME COURT
Premiering on PBS January 31st and February 7th, 2007, THE SUPREME COURT
is an unprecedented documentary that explores how nine judges appointed
for life make monumental decisions that govern our everyday lives, from
the contents of the nation's daily newspapers to what we can do in the
privacy of our own homes. With immense power and considerable mystery,
the "court of final appeal" has helped author the history of the United
States.
To encourage use of the series in social studies classrooms, Thirteen
has developed a substantial companion Web site at
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/. Designed to support the teaching
and learning of the Supreme Court's impact on American history, the Web
site ties video material from the series to social studies and civics
education. The site includes standards-based lesson plans, downloadable
video clips, interactive history games and other classroom resources.

                If you are a high school social studies teacher or other
educator interested in this new multimedia classroom resource, please
join us to:

*       View video clips from THE SUPREME COURT broadcast series;
*       Get a guided tour of THE SUPREME COURT Web site;
*       Engage in a multimedia lesson plan demonstration;
*       Receive free THE SUPREME COURT print and DVD resources for use in the classroom;
*       Enjoy refreshments and dinner, win door prizes, and more!

                The workshop will be held:
                Tuesday, February 6, 2007
                4:00pm - 8:00pm
                Thirteen/WNET Studios
                450 West 33rd Street, New York, NY 10001
(Between 9th and 10th Avenue -Entrance on 33rd Street)

                This workshop is FREE, but space is limited. 
                REGISTER NOW!
                Send an email to Suzanne Guthrie at guthrie@thirteen.org
                Be sure to include your name
                and the name of your school.

                Major corporate funding has been provided for THE
SUPREME COURT by New York Life Insurance Company. Additional funding has
been provided by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation..

The Greater Metropolitan NY Social Studies Conference will be on Sat, February 10. This year's theme is The Triumph and Tragedy of Eras. See more information at:
http://edusolution.com/socialstudies/atss/exhinitinfo.htm

Welcome to the Region 4 Blog workshop. Our agenda for today is to:

• Share our blog experience and learn what a Blog is
  
• Learn how to use a Blog
• Learn about the features of the Region 4 Blog
• Set up your own Blog
• Personalize your Settings
• Learn how to use RSS Feeds and Bloglines
• Learn about social bookmarking on De.licio.us
• Practice with your own Blogs
• Bring your Blog back to your school and share what you learned

My plan is to get you right into Blogs by having you read this post and comment on it. I want you to click on the Bold blue title of this blog. Clicking on the title of a Post will link you to the Post's dedicated page. This will make it easier for you to read other comments and add your own comments in one place. Do that now and then continue reading the Post.

Blogs depend on people like you to read and respond. When blogs are used effectively in teaching and learning, comments include a synthesis of relevant information from multiple sources. The Blog author can then read what you have to say, maybe look at links you have suggested and then, possibly, reconsider what they originally posted. A Blog author would not go back and revise the original post, but certainly could continue the discussion. As you can see, Blogs are essentially about thinking,  reading AND writing and they are never quite finished.

Now that you have a basic introduction to Blogs, I'd like you to think about what you read here and what people shared a few moments ago. Based on what you have heard so far, add your voice to the discussion. To what extent should teachers and schools make use of Blogs in teaching and learning? Why?

You may want to visit http://www.weblogg-ed.com/why-weblogs to see what others say about using  blogs in the classroom.

When you are ready to add a comment, scroll down and add your comment in the text box and click submit. Your comment must be approved before it will be displayed. I will show you how I can quickly and easily approve comments.

In our training discussion, the issue came up of whether or not it is worth it for the teacher to put themselves at risk by using the Blog. If a student posts something inappropriate and the teacher misses it and approves the comment, he or she may be open to disciplinary action. Does the use of a blog have enough educational value that it is worth this risk? How can we protect ourelves from getting into trouble because of what the students comment? What do you think?

NBC in partnership with THINKQUEST NYC is sponsoring a Digital Media
competition for students( 8-12). Please forward to your  staffs and
educators who would be willing to coach a team of students to victory.
Prizes for students, educators and schools PLUS visibility for students
interested in the Digital Media Industry.

The attached flyer is for your convenience  or go to www.tqnyc.org and
click on NBC Universal Digital Media Competition

I noticed on Ms. Weidner's blog that there was a category for archiving blogs. How do we archive materials from the blog?

You can find all of the links we shared at training at my del.icio.us account. Click here.

How do you envision blogs being used in your subject area? How can blogs help students learn and teachers teach? How can you use blogs in your classroom?

WIDE ANGLE: Window into Global History
 is an outreach initiative produced by New York City PBS Station Thirteen/WNET to support the teaching and learning of Regents Global History and Geography in high school classrooms across New York State. The project Web site ties video material from the award-winning WIDE ANGLE documentary series to the Regents and Advanced Placement curriculums in Global and World History. The site comprises ten media-rich lesson plans, developed by New York State Global and AP History teachers, with embedded video; and a Video Bank of over 40 downloadable video clips, organized by teaching theme and associated with guiding questions for students.

About the series:
WIDE ANGLE was created in 2001 as a response to the lack of in-depth international news coverage in the United States. Five years later, WIDE ANGLE is the only program exclusively dedicated to international current affairs documentaries. In its first four seasons, WIDE ANGLE traveled to 44 countries to explore the forces that are shaping the world today, presenting global stories on a human scale and offering Americans uncommon and invaluable insight into today's interconnected world. "WIDE ANGLE is just good television. The series tells stories, portrays people, and reveals places that are too often overlooked or neglected."
- Walter Cronkite

The workshop will be held:
Thursday, November 9, 2006
4:00pm - 8:00pm
Thirteen/WNET Studios
450 West 33rd Street, New York, NY 10001

If you are a Middle or High School Social Studies teacher or other educator interested in new multimedia resources for the Social Studies classroom, then join us to:
* View video clips from the WIDE ANGLE broadcast series;
* Get a guided tour of the WIDE ANGLE: Window into Global
History Web site;
* Engage in a multimedia lesson plan demonstration using
the new resource;
* Receive free WIDE ANGLE print and DVD resources for use
in the classroom;
* Enjoy refreshments and dinner, win door prizes, and
more!

This workshop is FREE, but space is limited.  REGISTER NOW!
Send an email to Ashlinn Quinn at QuinnA@thirteen.org.
Be sure to include your name and the name of your school.

_______________________________________________
Subscribe or Unsubscribe to Thirteen-ITV-VOD here

Hello everyone. It's been great to see that many of you have commented on the welcome post. Please continue to do so. Remember that to post a comment for everyone to see, you should click on the post title and then scroll down to the bottom of the page to get to the section where you can enter your comments.

Some of you have e-mailed me privately with blog-related problems or questions. Of course I will get back to you, but remember that blogs are a forum for sharing. Don't be shy about posting your questions out there for all of us. I am not the sage here. Many of us have valuable experiences and we can help eachother. If I don't know how to help you, maybe someone else does.

I set up my del.icio.us account. You can access my bookmarks at http://del.icio.us/rsthompson where you will find many of the sites that Will Richardson shared with us at the retreat, as well as some of my other favorites.

Welcome to the Region 4 Blog for High School Teachers. My name is Rachel Thompson and I am a Technology Integration Staff Developer.

 

A blog is an online communication and collaboration tool, similar to a website. It allows viewers to post comments, which you monitor prior to publishing. Your blog allows you to discuss ideas, ask questions, share best practices, exchange knowledge, share resources and discuss student work. Using this medium, we hope to build a community of high school teachers, dedicated to using technology to enhance collaborative teaching and learning.

 

The purpose of this blog is to create an area where we can share our experiences and ideas about teaching and learning with blogs. Some of us are more experienced than others and I hope that those of you who are doing this in your classrooms can share your experiences, both good and bad, positive and negative, with newbies so we can learn from each other.

 

Please take a moment to share with us. What is your name? Where and what grade/subject do you teach? What experience do you have with blogs? What ideas do you have about integrating technology like blogs into your curriculum? If you already use blogs, wiki's and/or podcasts in your classrooms, what do you do? Where can we go to see your own blogs or websites?

 

Please post any questions or other comments that you have or would like to open up for discussion.