Missouri State Teachers Association

Universal Heritage: Timelines of the Universe, Life on Earth, and Humankind

     What a bargain!  This poster is available from www.timelineposter.com for only $14.95.  The website describes it more thoroughly than I can:

The new Universal Heritage poster is a valuable reference tool for anyone interested in science, history, and our place in the universe.  Summarizing 13.7 billion years in a series of timelines, it chronicles the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang to the 21st century.  Each consecutive timeline focuses on a shorter span of time, so you can directly compare the scale of human history to the far longer scales of evolutionary history.  An especially unique feature is that the poster shows how we are related to other living things, by zooming inward through successively smaller branches of the great family tree of life-starting with the major domains and kingdoms, then moving through vertebrates, mammals, primates, and finally, humans.  By showing how we fit into wider realms of nature and history, the poster offers a unique and enlightening perspective on our place in the universe.

     This resource may help science and social studies teachers develop an interdisciplinary unit. . .

Norman Rockwell Lesson Plan

     My mother-in-law was a huge fan of all things Norman Rockwell.  She died early in the morning of May 7th.  So in her memory, here is a set of lesson plans for all of you who share her admiration of the artist.

     Education World's website regularly posts a "Lesson Plan of the Day."

A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

If you are a fan of graphic organizers, this website will be your new best friend!  Arranged like the Periodic Table of Elements, this interactive site provides examples of an exhaustive list of visuals.  Teachers searching for one more way to present material to students should bookmark this today. . .

How about attending MIT

This report from CNN states that MIT will offer all of its courses to anyone, online, for free.  Although you can't get a degree from them, everyone will have the access to the same education that students pay thousands of dollars for.  What courses are you interested in?

Interdisciplinary, Thematic Units of Study

     As a middle school teacher, I was always looking for a great thematic unit to team teach.  If you are searching for ideas, check the Curriculum Design for Excellence, Inc. website.  Click on "Curriculum Units" then "Sample Units."  This excerpt is from the site's homepage:

Dr. T. Roger Taylor, in his 35 years as a classroom teacher, administrator, professor and internationally-known educational consultant, has authored/co-authored thousands of integrated, interdisciplinary thematic curriculum units. The units are written based on the AHA! (Analyzing Human Activities) Model, which is a differentiated curriculum model created by Dr. Taylor. This unique model includes specific application of the most recent brain research, multiple intelligences and constructivist hands-on project-centered learning in alignment with state defined benchmarks and standards.

Roger specializes in curriculum design of differentiated curriculum for the special needs learner as well as the highly gifted student.  Both populations, special needs learners and gifted students, are highly "at-risk."  With high stakes testing, the push has been to teach to the students that can attain the "proficient" level on standardized tests, ignoring the gifted (because they will "get it anyway") and the low achievers (they are not "worth" the extra effort numerically). Dr. Taylor's AHA! Model meets the needs of all the students in a very organized, easy to use manner.  Good-bye to textbook driven education, and hello to relevant, higher-order thinking skills!  Teachers who use Roger's model and teaching strategies are finding success in closing the achievement gap.