940.5318 The Diary of Anne Frank: A Classic Retold

On April 11, 2010, Holocaust Remembrance Day, PBS and Masterpiece Theater will present a new version of the classic coming-of-age story The Diary of Anne Frank.

Click on the picture for access to a video preview.

The Great Books Foundation, a partner with WGBH, has created and gathered together all kinds of support materials to use in conjunction with this new production and the Holocaust in general.

One of the most interesting things is a VoiceThread where students, teachers, and others can go in and comment on the production and project. Voice Thread has given free access to this sample, but there is a registration involved to make comments.

Ciick HERE to go to VoiceThread.

Here is another brief preview through YouTube .

In researching this new production, I also came across the only know movie of Anne Frank herself. It is a brief few seconds of her in an upper window watching her neighbor's wedding departure. There is no sound!

And of course , with the recent death of Miep Gies (at age 100), the last survivor of the real-life members of the history-making event, there has been renewed interest in the story and will likely spill over to the new production. Here is a portion of an interview where she talks about the diary and giving it to Anne's father.

In our district, the book and the time period have always studied and discussed on several levels so we have some long-time resources that also will probably come to the forefront again with this new production. Check our "cool new"catalog for other resources.

The message remains timeless.

352.7 Census: Where's the Interesting Stuff?

I did my duty over the break. I filled out my census form.

Yep...it took me less than 10 minutes for me to fill out the 10 questions...mostly because it is just me these days.

I was asked my name, age, date of birth, race and whether I lived in an owned or rented property and how many people resided with me.

What I miss are all the interesting questions found in previous census records. Being a family historian who has poured over old census records looking for facts about my family members, I was often drawn away from my primary task looking at interesting things I found on the old sheets and interpreting the spellings and handwriting of the day! I loved it...but then I am weird that way.

One of my favorite finds was on a family sheet of mine. For many census years, folks were asked their occupations. That was always very interesting and I would eat up lots of time reading what folks did for a living. Children were often listed as "at home" or "at school." The wives were usually "keeping house" as one would expect. Imagine my delight when I read that my Irish immigrant great-great-grandmother Annie's occupation was "kept tent!" It turns out that in 1880, she and her teamster husband and four daughters (soon to be six girls!) lived in a canvas tent with wood floor near the horse barns at Ft. Concho, Texas. WOW!

I later found out that they were able to move into an abandoned officer's house because Francis, the teamster, was retired from active duty and the fort was losing population as it was beginning the process of being shut down. I have seen a replica of the house...and yes, it was an improvement over the tent, but still was a tight fit for a family of eight!

Another interesting tidbit...Francis' job as a teamster...was to move the soldiers buried in the fort cemetery to the military cemetery in San Antonio...a part of shutting the fort down. No that was not found in the census forms, but there is so much that is.

If you have never looked at an old census form, the 1880 census is available on the internet for free at several locations including ancestry.com

I bet you a dollar you will find some interesting stuff!

I am really sorry that 72 years from now when the 2010 census becomes public record, the information will be so sterile and clinical and even missing the handwriting and ink spots of the day. I can't wait to see the 1940s records (and the gems they may contain) when they become public in 2012!

Here is a video about the 2010 Census and how to fill it out.

Images:

Census form census.gov

1880 form screen shot from personal collection

004.09 Did You Know 4.0: Stats about Our Current World

Ok, it is time to be reminded that what we have been doing in the 2.o world is NOT being done in isloation...we are playing and learning and testing and learning and practicing and learning the very things that more and more of the world is doing every day as a part of its normal, everyday world.

Is it a perfect world? No. Is it a totally safe way to do the business of everyday life? No. But neither is the other world!

It will take you a little more than 3 minutes to catch up with the latest and be reminded that it is ok to move forward and think differently, communicate differently, react differently, and most importantly in our little education corner of the world, learn differently!

Enjoy the current update of the wildly popular Shift Happens.

P.S. I'm intrigued by the method used in creating the text strips and some of the graphics. Pretty cool and worth the time as well!

In case the embedded video is blocked in district, here is the link. You should be able to see it through teacher sign-on of your computer.

629.45 Moon Landing Plus One

My hometown's hip, hip hooray!


Check out the headlines from newspapers around the world.
Newseum has other things celebrating the 40-yr old event.
One online exhibit is about the video camera and the problem-solving
that went into the design and creation of the device.

629.45 Apollo 11: 40 Years and Counting

I know exactly where I was, who I was with , and what I was doing on this date at about this time 40 years ago today. I was watching a scientific miracle, the culminating activity of years of hard work, and the dreams of countless others come to fruition.

Man...two men in fact, walked on the moon...and I, for one, was spellbound! I was 17 years old and on the brink of my own adventure---senior year in high school, but I had planned for this event as if I were in the module on top of the rocket.

You see, not only was I child of the 60s, a product of the Cold War and post-Sputnik jitters, I lived around the space program. My summer neighbors were teachers of the astronauts and friends with people who knew the chimps who had been taught the rudimentary tasks to be performed in space. We got visit some retired chimps in their New Mexico compound. School field trips were routinely made to rocket launches in the desert outside my hometown. My family wandered around the deserts and mountains of the same general area encountering signs indicating Government Property-Keep Out Signs because all kinds of things were going on and being tested.

It was an exciting time. My mom and I decided we needed a color TV so we rented one for the special night. We could not imagine this special occasion occurring in our house in mere black and white. Of course, neither of us knew that the actual event itself would be broadcast IN black and white, and grainy at best! And we watched every minute...and held our breathe along with all the guys in Mission Control until we too heard: "Houston, the Eagle has landed!"

If you ever doubted the reasons for it beyond the sheer need of man to explore where he has never been then take a look at these lists of the benefits from the needs of the space program.

It goes WAY beyond Tang, Corningware, and velcro.

http://www.spacecoalition.com/products.cfm

NASA Spinoffs

Medical Benefits

It was a team effort, a team success. If you want to see how a team works, watch the mission control room. Watch the teams that suit the astronauts up and lock them in the capsule. Everyone had a job to do and everyone had to rely on everyone to do his job. It was something!

Do I hope we go back? Do I hope we go to Mars? You bet....I just hope I'm around to see some of it. My daughter has selected Coringware for her newlywed home. Do I hope SOME day to get to tell some cute little munchkins all about when it was first made and how...you bet! Do I want to hear them laugh about renting the color TV? Absolutely! And will I hold my breath until the adventure ends...count on it!

P.S. My father finally stopped pacing that night and went down to Sears the next day and bought a little 20 in. COLOR TV on a rickty aluminum stand...it was to be our rocketship to the future. We had to be up with the times! Who knew a microwave oven was just around the corner!

92 Walter Cronkite: The Voice of My History

The voice of history as I remember it was stilled today. Walter Cronkite was a part of significant events in my personal timeline of history.

That day in Dallas...

(I was home for lunch and was watching when the announcement came.)

That summer night in July...

(My family stayed up way into the night, waiting, waiting, waiting...my father pacing like I had never seen him do)

At school for almost any history lesson I had...

(His TV programs were adapted for school viewing and were major classroom resources during my 1960s public education.)

In his own words:

"And that the way it [was]."

306.093 Happy Birthday Happy Meals!

Another pop culture icon, the McDonald's Happy Meal is 30 years old today. Probably one of the best market gimmicks to come down the pike. And we swallowed it hook, lime and sinker, didn't we!

My older daughter is just young enough to say she has never know the world without Happy Meals...and believe me, my two girls had their share of them and all the cute little prizes. I think I finally got rid of (or passed on) the last of them during my last move.

The report I saw this morning said over 200 billion Happy Meals have been served. The most popular toys were the Beany Babies (100 million of those) and in their honor, the company is issuing a new set to commemorate the anniversary. I do have to say that was also one of the saddest things I have ever seen. When a new Beany Baby was coming out, people would line up in the drive-thru, order multiple meals to receive the toys, and as they drove out, dump bags and bags and bags of uneaten food! I HOPE that scene is not repeated.

The company also launched a Happy Meals website last year. If you don't have munchkins in your house and don't know about it, it probably is worth looking at, if, for no other reason than a nostalgic look back. Come on, if you are less than 40, you know you had your fair share, and if you are not, you have had kids who did!

McDonald's Happy Meal 30th Birthday - ABC News

Shared via AddThis

629.45 The Adventure Begins: we Choose the Moon

Five...four...three...two...one...

We had lift off this time 40 years ago!

The first manned mission to the moon is being celebrated this week.

A new website We Choose the Moon with enhanced video will be "launched" today.

The entire audio record from launch to splash down of the event is also available.

Apollo 40 Years Interactive Landing

Quote this morning from one of the astronauts: "You hold more technology ability in the palm of your hand than we had on the mission"

Image fron NASA

659.102 100 Best Ads: Little Bits of Cultural History

Comments from bloggers can take you to the most interesting blog posts/sites.

The latest one lead me to the The Top 100 Advertising Campaigns, not necessarily a new site, but new to me. I had fun going down the list and remembering all those little mini-movies and stories that entertained us between breaks in the stories we were watching on TV. Most of these

became household icons because A. we had no remotes and B. we had only 3 TV stations to watch for a really long time.

Granted there are a handful from as far back as the 1920s included, but the vast majority made the list because of the time they spent on the airwaves, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s...up to and including the infamous 1984 Macintosh computer commercial!

As is my usual plan, I went thru the list thinking about a visual to include...one of the campaigns that was a personal favorite of mine. Most of the symbols, etc. were found on sites that had rights reserved so I decided on Smokey, the fun icon of my childhood who taught me a lot about how to be careful in the forests of my summertime home.

Once I started reading, I found out the campaign is the longest PSA (public service announcement), Smokey has a very comprehensive interactive website with all kinds of safety info and history of the real Smokey and the ad campaign itself!

By the way, Smokey doesn't remind you that only you can prevent forest fires. Starting in 2001, it was changed to wildfires...doesn't have quite the same ring...messes with the cadence of my brain, but nevertheless, is still an important thing to remember. AND even an icon as important as Smokey does have to undergo a makeover every once and awhile so "GetYour Smokey on!"

Ok, ok, I digress...back to the list of ads. There are so many on it that were fun: Where's the Beef...inspirational: Keep America Beautiful's Crying Indian...and even some that go straight to the heart: Hallmark anything! Come on, you know you tear up sometimes!

Now it's your turn. What's a favorite for you? What memory didn't make the list and should have?

P.S. Not sure what criteria was used in making selections and the information attached to the list doesn't always talk in the "lovely memories" tone of this post. Each to his/her own. That's what great about the 2.0 world!

Visuals from SmokeyBear.com

909.08 Iconic Photos: Another Collection Worthy of Your Time

Spent some time this weekend catching up with the thoughts of some of my favorite bloggers and David Warlick at 2 Cents pointed me to this photo collection found at WebDesigner Depot.

It is another group of 100 historically significant portraits/photographic portraits of individuals who have impacted our world for many reasons over the last several hundred years. Yes, most of them are from the last 100 years or so, simply because of their photographic format, but there are classic portraits of much older, and no less significant, historical characters.

I am not here to debate the whys and wherefores of some people being included and others being left out of the collection. Just look at it for who is there and the shear beauty of many of the visuals themselves. As for uses in the classroom and library-related projects...please, there are SO many!

Now, the nagging question is, can these be used for educational purposes? I think you will agree with me that many of them are available from other copyright friendly locations (some are in the LC collection and some are found in the recently uploaded Life/Google collection) so I am assuming this one is as well.

What is the significance of the 4 photos I have chosen to included here, you ask?

Anne Frank -- I have been haunted by her eyes ever since I read the book at about the age of 12 (and many times since then). I have NEVER been able to put myself in any situation, real or imaginary that I assume she encountered. I C-A-N-N-O-T imagine, pretend, or even dream...

Migrant Mother -- this picture simply represents what the Dust Bowl/Depression looks like to me....and after becoming a mother almost 30 years ago, I have learned to "see" other things in her face as well.

Afghan girl -- I remember when she came out on the cover of the National Geographic magazine back in the mid-80s. I remember holding onto that copy for a long time and returning to look at it many times...not knowing that the true significance of the photo was not her green eyes (which really was the focus of the story), but the fact that she represented so much in a region of the world that captured our attention so completely a few years later. I followed the story also when the photographer/reporter went back to find her and see what fate had dealt her. I can't help it...as trite as it sounds...she is hauntingly beautiful on many levels.

And the final photo--Buzz Aldrin on the moon reflecting back a smaller image of his partner (and photographer) Neil Armstrong...a pinpoint of time frozen in my mind...the Apollo 11 moon shot is a HUGE marker on my personal timeline....I can close my eyes and remember vividly historical details of those few scary, and yet, exciting days...both inside and outside my own house!

Ok, enough nostalgia for now...go hunt up some of your own.

027.8 Library of Congress: Going Where the Users Are!

Library of Congress videos on YouTube...potential overdose for this  history & trivia dabbler! But how cool of them to take all their great stuff and put it out for all to see and use! Going where the users are instead of sitting back and waiting for them to come to them.* Aren't libraries just getting so smart these days! ;-) 

Look at the two samples I pulled up in the first five minutes I was in the new collection.

[I have requested conversions of these from Zamzar so they can be seen in district. When I get them and have a few moments to upload them...I'll add them. Even more reason for this important resource to be available at school...ALL schools!]

Enjoy!

*I intend to still  get there some day to the "real thing" and be able to stare up into that beautiful dome!

973.0992 Presidents: Playful Presentations

Gave myself permission to spend some time playing so in doing so I made a stop by YouTube and look what I found. 

I did take time to convert these two videos using the Zamzar site so that it would be available in district (and other places where YouTube is blocked.) This time it was successful although the uploading sure did seem to take a long time. Guess I just need to remember patience is a virtue and all good things come to those who wait!

Anyway...this first  video morphs the presidents from Washington to Obama. I found myself concentrating on the eyes as the changes were made. Take a look...I think you will find it interesting on some level.

This second video is a rap of the presidential list, again from Washington to Obama. Catchy little tune goes with it!

I know neither of these items is heavy-duty in the learning and education department...not brain surgery or nuclear science...but they are fun...and similar types of activities could be created by students and a lot of learning value could be had.

For now, I'm just asking you to enjoy!

P.S. Visited the Educational Rap site. Would be worth some time. It also has its own channel on YouTube as well. Who knew there would be a rap about photosynthesis!

The morphed video was originally uploaded by polvideo.

688.7 Happy Birthday Barbie!

No picture of the original Barbie here...out of respect for the copyright notice on the web site stating that it is copyrighted material!

But that doesn't lessen the fact that I choose to celebrate the 50th "birthday" of an American icon. Yes, there are plenty of reasons to say otherwise...I have heard them all over the last 50 years.

I was seven, but I had to WAIT a WHOLE year until I was eight before she got to come live at my house. My birthday was only a few short weeks after hers so she was just one...and she was just a few months short of 50 when I laid her to rest...but that's a sad part of this story and this is day for happy stories!

I loved her. I didn't think she would ever be mine. My parents weren't much into "the latest and greatest" and turned deaf ears to such things as "EVERYBODY has one!"-type statements. At the time, she was hard to find and again, my parents not being super shoppers, well, it looked hopeless.

Now you have to understand...I was not a girly-girl. Anybody who knows me, can figure that pretty fast. I did lots of other things besides play dolls. I really don't remember the particular fascination with Barbie...even my mom didn't recall.

I DO remember the day however...only I didn't know at the time. All five of us were in the car driving from place to place and ended up at a drugstore ACROSS town one evening. My parents told my brothers and me to stay in the car...you could do that back in the 1950s. About 10 minutes later, they came out with a store sack...we didn't ask...we knew it would do no good. My parents were great parents...they just weren't free with information that they thought you didn't need to know!

About 3 days later, I turned 8. My party consisted of a group of 7 friends, my mom and me attending a ballet performance in our Sunday finest! It was grand and even more special because we got to stop afterwards and have ice cream sodas. That's when she was presented to me...in front of my friends...with her golden blode ponytail and back & white striped swimsuit. That began some of the greatest times I ever remember. The last time I actually remember playing with her was in the summer I was 13 with my summer friend. We would spend hours making up adventures and changing her clothes to fit the adventure!

You see, back then (at least in my circle) you had ONE doll and you shopped for clothes and accessories. We poured over the catalogs, saved our babysitting money, and put our choices on Christmas and birthday lists. And we NEVER messed with her hair!

When Barbie turned 25, I was back into the Barbie business but as the mother of two girls eventually! You bought all kinds of theme-Barbies that came with special outfits and accessories. My girls didn't have many extra outfits; they had big storage boxes of Barbies...all with messed up hair!

Things changed, but things stayed and continue to stay the same. Barbie is fun. Barbie is magic. Barbie is memories!

Happy 50th Birthday Barbie!

More stuff about Barbie and the celebration

http://barbiestyle.barbie.com/history.html

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/6300277.html Barbie trivia quiz

http://barbie.everythinggirl.com/

973.932 A Sign of the Times: What a Difference a Day Makes

I clicked a bookmarked site this evening (that I had just used yesterday) to do some fact checking and presidential trivial surfing and look what I got! The furniture movers who changed out two households in a matter of hours were not the only ones busy making change happen today!

Not to worry...all the stuff you are used to finding at http://www.whitehouse.gov/ is still there. It's just been virtually moved around a bit. The search box allows you relocate your information!

973.092 Presidential Facts: Trivial Fun for an Important Historical Day

With these simple, few words

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

a major cornerstone of the process we in this country hold dear took place for the 44th time today as the 43th man to do so took the oath of office and became President of the United States.

Despite all the campaigning, the talking, the debating, the wheeling and dealing, the compromising, the organizing, the planning, it really comes down to those few words that brings about the transition...the change...in the power of our government.

It is amazing in its simplicity.

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

Now for the traditional first facts portion of my thoughts.

It was reported recently that Barack Obama official photograph is the first to be taken with a digital camera...no film to fade or get scratchy, disintegrate, or fall apart!

President John Quincy Adams was the earliest person who served as president to be photographed by the Bishop & Gray Gallery although his picture was not taken until 1843, some 14 years after his 1825-1829 term ended.

There seems to be some controversy over who was the first sitting president to be photographed, but general consensus gives the honor to James K. Polk, the 11th President who served from 1845-1849. The reason for the confusion is that Matthew Brady and his team of photographers and other photographers of the time were busy taking pictures of lots of famous people and dates were not always carefully noted. Some important photos include only ranges of years as the time marker!


The missing piece of my historical puzzle is which president is the first to be photographed in color? The best guess I could determine in the small amount of time I allowed myself to research this trivia is that there exists a piece of colored film of President William Henry Taft made in 1912 that was put through a process to created a colored single frame or "picture" of the 27th president.

Why does this photographic history pf presidents interest me? I take digital pictures...love the ease of them, but worry like a old person of the 20th century that I have nothing to "hold on to" for 99% of the pictures I have taken for about the last 5-6 years except for a computer file "somewhere" on some computer, old or new, while at least 2 dozen years of personal history taken on film are neatly filed away in boxes..to become faded, scratchy, disintegrated relics of times gone by!

O, yeah, and a simple little picture that I personally own that was created by the Brady team that contains the likenesses of 6 participants of the Civil War...among them, a gruff-looking, old codger with whom I share a family tie (and unfortunately, a familiar look)...and one of his staff members who later became the 23rd President of the United States, Benjamin Harrison!

Will I share this photograph? You bet...just as soon as I find the digital copy I carefully put away...somewhere!



P.S. This post also contains my favorite piece of presidential trivia no matter who is president. I love to ask "how many people have served as president?" and have them give me the number of presidents we have had. Why do these 2 numbers not match? The same person served as both the 22nd and 24th Presidents. Now it's your turn to figure out who! :-)

"Artwork" of the oath created using Wordle.
Photographs from Library of Congress files.

973.932 The Next Step in History

A recent event caused the need for a new Dewey Classification number - 973.932.

It is a fine tuning of a much broader view found in 973.93 and will go into effect soon.

Can you determine how these numbers are related?
973.931
973.929
973.928
973.927

Care to make a guess in a comment? Bonus points for the exact date!

Our catalog won't help too much because of our "rule" for the benefit of our patrons, but our friends at Houston Public Library (any public library actually) can provide sources for your research!

If you want to take the easy way out and peek, you can go here for the answer to the first part. The other pieces should then fall into place just like a nice stack of dominoes

Who said cataloging can't be fun?!

551.552 IKE: Preparing & Practicing Patience

Spent all day finishing the preparations for the effects of Ike upon my daily routine AND my impending move. Hardest part for me is trying to anticipate what things might be like this time tomorrow.

Did four loads of washing...it might be awhile before electricity becomes available. Need clothes to wear...and don't need to have to think about washing at the same time I move!

Cleaned out the refrigerator of all potential future science experiments...again based on the idea of no electricity being available. AND filled up every available vessel with water to make blocks of ice for the little freezer. Will keep the cooked meats and little bit of milk another day or so. Or I can put it on my head and pretend I'm cold!

Then I planned moving projects that can be done without much light. Yes, I have lots of flashlights and plenty of batteries, but I live in an apt with only three "windows"...great for protection against the angry elements, but means when the lights are out, it is pretty much a cave in about three-quarters of the place! Got my boxes arranged, found tape and scissors and markers. Ready...set...

Checked on the new place...battened down the hatches...locked the door...said a little prayer...and came "home."

Communicated with all the family and friends...assured everyone I was off the roads and ready to hunker down. Remembered to undo the garage door so my car would not be held hostage...in case the power was out longer than the roads impassable.

I know the media is doing its job, but continuous coverage on ALL the local channels ALL day and night...2 days prior to Ike's arrival. Ok, I know, picky, picky, picky.

I also know that not one drop of rain yet and the storm surge is already higher than many Gulf coast veterans remember. And they just reported that the bayous up here in my area are already rising from same said surge. WHERE is all the rain gonna go when it comes??

Oh, oh, first flicker of the lights...

I am lucky. I have very little worry about. I live about 50 miles inland and around 50 ft above sea level. My first hurricane was Alicia. My worst experience was tropical storm Allison who came and stayed...forever! There have been some other near misses that interrupted life for awhile. But I have never lost my house, my livelihood or someone dear to me. I am lucky.

Gonna go now. Turn off the computer. Disconnect it in case things go whacko in the night.

See you on the other side...hopefully soon and all intact.

BE SAFE. Hang on!

Visual courtesy of ABC-Channel 13

973.932 Seven Years: 9-11 Thoughts

This day was spent preparing...preparing my final thoughts for a workshop I was giving in the afternoon...preparing another load of belongings for their new life in a new abode...preparing for the oncoming hurricane, a "seriously"serious threat according to all the news reports.

But my thoughts...at least some of them kept going back to that day...7 years ago. Gosh, seems so long ago one minute and then the next, hardly a blink.

Why did I wrap my mind around that day? I was not "personally" affected...no one in my personal circle was affected...and yet, in the list of markers in my life...it is right up there with that day in November over 40 yrs ago and a handful of personal dates on my life timeline.

I was reminded about the event a little earlier this week when Daughter #1 relayed her classroom experience when her young students ask her about it. These sweet children only know it as a "history" lesson and were awestruck when their teacher could remember it actually happening and described her point of view. She was worried she would go too far and asked her students to talk with their parents about details.

I was reminded over the last 24 hours because I got to spend time with Daughter #2 and all I could think about was how I wanted my girls with me on that day...one being across town and the other down the hiway at school...and me thinking they might as well be on the moon because they were not right THERE with me...so I knew for sure they were safe.

Yes, this day was spent preparing...but with thoughts not too far away from remembering when.
May all Gulf Coast readers of this blog be safe...let's hope Ike blows through, but not with a vengeance. All readers take care...and hug any and all loved ones a little tighter the next few days.

Photo: American Memory collection.

9-11-2007

959.704 Vietnam Veterans Memorial: 25 Years Old

This is Veteran's Day...a time to honor all those who have served the country...and for the rest of us to reflect on what that service has meant to us. Included on several blogs, I came across:

“A veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The 'United States of America', for an amount of 'up to and including my
life.'” (Author unknown)

Veteran's Day books can be found at 394.26 in any library that uses Dewey.

This particular holiday is a tad more historical in that is the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I remember all of the controversy that surrounding the idea and plans of the Memorial, but also remember the immediate acceptance of the site as a very special place. Although I have never had opportunity to visit, I can not look at pictures of or read accounts of the meetings at the Wall without feeling the emotion of the place.

Here is one of the many stories surrounding this anniversary including video of a vist to the Memorial. In the audio background of the video, you can hear the reading of the 58,000+ names listed on the Wall...a part of this anniversary ceremony. It takes 60 hours or so to read all of the names. Did you know that in the 25 years of its presence, over 100, 000 objects have been left by visitors and have carefully been collected by Park Service personnel and are in storage for a future museum.

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To read more about it:

Always to Remember: The Story of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial by Brent Ashabranner
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam collected by the NY Memorial Commission

Their Names to Live also by Ashabranner

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial...several books by different authors with copyrights of 2000+
The Wall: Images and Offerings from the Vietnam Memorial
The War and the Wall: Service, Sacrifice and Honor

and the very sweet and moving The Wall by Eve Bunting

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There are several videos available at YouTube that will give you some information. You can find them by putting "Vietnam Veterans Memorial Washington, DC " in the search box. You'll have to watch at home! ...and kleenex close by for some.

428.007 Using Technology with ESL Students: It Can Be Fun

I worked with some teachers of ESL and LEP students after school today. I had been invited to show them how to use some of our online resources and some technology to aid in improving the students' English. We looked at things across the curriculum---lots for reading and things like vocabulary-building, but we also looked at several things helpful for social studies, science and math.

We took content samples from our subscription databases including Facts on File, Teaching Books, Tumblebooks, Discovery Education videostreaming and worked in PowerPoint. Not that we produced slideshows, but we looked at how users can use visuals...be they clipart, photos, maps, etc. and manipulate them for use in PPTs and other things. The participants also found out how easy it is to download and use pieces of videostreaming.

One of the things I also emphasize in this type of staff development is to look "outside the box"... think about how a historical photo can be used to teach word meanings or use a science video to explain a particular idiom. And my favorite part...using picture books to introduce a concept or ideas for end products the students can create themselves!


Another idea that came out was that by including lots of visuals and silly bits of video, a teacher will have captured the attention of his or her students so that even MORE learning can take place. Our kids are visual learners these days and it is a shame not use as much "stuff" as possible.

And yes, we had an oops moment...something to always expect when working with technology. You gotta learn to roll with the punches. What was our oops?...the screen shot I made would NOT paste to the PPT so we could manipulate it. That was a first for me! But that's ok..we still practiced with the crop tool and the grouping technique and turned our "pretend" screen shots into the weirdest new bird---a wingless chicken with a Sphinx head! Names anyone?

One other thing I did...I challenged the group to "play" 15 minutes a day...mess around in an online resource, play with PPT tools, READ blogs (yep---showed them the blogroll!), but do SOMETHING with technology or explore an online resource EVERY day. Sounds simple enough, but I know...even 15 minutes will be hard to squeeze out of the days of most of these people...their plates are very full...but it WILL be worth it...they will benefit...and more importantly, so will their students!

How did we end this action-packed day? Animoto of course!
Sample: http://animoto.com/play/a6df2b2069bf9260b24c6c822387db3a
(I can't get it to embed!!)

I hope some of the participants will share their classroom ideas here in the comments...

...and you know what else...these things will work with ALL students!