According to this recent article in Newsweek, there's dwindling evidence that creative thinking is being cultivated in our schools.  Part of the problem occurs from the age-old thinking that creativity is limited to the domain of the arts.   Creativity is not soley represented by artistic expression, but taking ideas and generating new ideas with them.  This can be learned in any discipline.

Which areas of our

 … more »


Related Links:

posted July 14, 2010 | comments

Each spring, Watertown High School students gear up for Advanced Placement exams that mark the culmination of a year-long journey through rigorous intellectual terrain in a variety of subjects.  As a result, many students  earn college credit and advanced placement, stand out in the college admissions process, and learn alongside skilled, dedicated, and inspiring teachers. 

The instructional program contains AP courses in Calculus, Statistics, Biology, Chemistry, U.S.

 … more »

posted May 1, 2010

Some of you have asked in the past about the difference between blogs, roundtables, and other Web 2.0 tools designed for dialogue and learning.  Linked in the video pane is a presentation by Christopher Long of Penn State University highlighting the educational benefit of weblogs, or blogs for short, as an instructional strategy.  Take a look.  Access to non-filtered content is neccesary.

posted April 8, 2010

As one of 48 states committed to the Common Core State Standards project, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is encouraging educators, professional organizations, and community members to review the first public draft of the Common Core State Standards for English/language arts and mathematics.

Once they are finalized, Wisconsin will review the standards with the likely intent to adopt.  Subsequent efforts will then take place to

 … more »

posted March 15, 2010 | comments
Many of you had a chance to participate in the March 1st session with Marcia Tate who shared instructional ideas that stimulate the brain and, thus, learning.  Listed in the file below is a recap of the 20 strategies shared by Dr. Tate that take advantage of how the brain learns best.

posted March 3, 2010 | comments

There are literally thousands out there, but these are some that WUSD teachers have shared over time. 

General Resources:

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives
Federal Resources for Educational Excellence
Common Errors in English
180 Technology Tips
How Stuff Works
Annenberg Media
Smithsonian Institution

LiveScience
Open Library
Library of Congress

Mathway (step by step solutions to problems)
Create a Graph
Technology in Education Resource Center
Gapminder (statistical representations)
Footnote (historical documents)

Language Translation Resources:

Babelfish

Music-Related Resources:Musical Acoustics Training:

UNSW Acoustics

Online Simulations, Games and Labs:

 … more »

posted February 4, 2010

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

This Message Center is organized and operated by David Vitale