The last class before the vacation, here are some fun things to do.

The US government:

1. Time for fun – play this game:  Road to the Capitol
2. And run for president!

Black America:

1. Watch this movie “The Great Debaters”,  about the conditions for African Americans in 1935 
2. In groups of 3 look at this presentation and do some research about the slides. Find some info here! Then present it for the rest of the class.

President Obama’s acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway 10.12.09

Watch the of the speech here:

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The whole speech Nobel Peace prize speech. (doc Nobel Peace prize speech)

Tasks for the class:

Read the text and underline all places that mention:

1. War and conflicts
2. Former Nobel winners
3. Why he won the prize and concerns
4. All the words you do not understand
5. Where he quotes others
6. Where he speaks to the American people
7. Mentioning great people changing history

Answer these question:

1. What was the Marshall Plan?
2. Why is Obama humbled by this award?
3. Who was  Woodrow Wilson and why was he awarded the Nobel peace prize?
4. Who are some of the previous winners that he mentions?
5. According to Obama, what is a just reason for war?
6. What are Obama’s 3 ways to avoid war and keep the peace?
7. What “old architecture” is buckling?
8. What does Obama mean by a “gradual evolution of human institutions”? Where is this quote from?
9. Why can’t Obama be guided by the example of King and Gandhi alone?

Read at least 3 reviews about the speech. Quote what in your opinion are the best arguments in favor of the speech. Specifically say something about how newspapers in the US write about the speech in contrast to Norwegian newspapers. And how about  Europe?

Today we had a visitor in our class. It was Lee Ann Potter a Roving Scholar of American Studies in Norway during the 2009-2010 school year. The workshop she did was about the constitution. You can find more material on her web-site. She also shared this fun youtube video with us! Maybe it will help you remember The The Preamble of the United States Constitution, Sept 17 1787. “We the People…!”

So I’m on a mission. How to engage the students in both the learning and the assessment. Passion-Based learning and helping students self asses their learning are both phrases I meet. Passion starts with the teacher/professor or does it? Building up network learning communities in real time? Is it possible to be able to teach with passion and be loyal to the curriculum. I think it begins with stepping out of what Will today referred to as the “Comfort Zone of Content.” It begins, it seems to me, when the teacher becomes a learner and replaces the static curriculum documents with inquiry, conversation, knowledge-building, and personal networks. Taken from Konrad Glogowski’s blog about passion-based learning. How about the students? The teachers are looking for student engagement in every class they take. Is it possible? It certainly helps that we have one subject only each day at my school. Then the passion will only have to be found once that day. I’m on a mission and I will not quite until I find the answer. Please leave a comment if you have one to spare! Or look at this university of Sydney Lecturer Julianne Bartels gives some ideas on how to engage students in lectures.

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• Who Are Their Learning Heroes — and Why? (angelamaiers.com)

BBC Memoryshare [bbc.co.uk] is a living archive of memories from 1900 to the present day. Users are invited to contribute, share and browse memories of all their memorable days and life experiences, and see them in the context of recent and historical events. Memories can include text, photos and videos.

Teaching methods:

Find a period that you find interesting and find a memory shared from that period. Write about it on your blog and link to it. Answer these questions:

1. Why did you choose that year
2. What were you hoping to learn about that period?
3. What did you learn
4. 2 *(two stars) and a comment to at least two of your fellow students’ blogs

Time for an update on places to visit when teaching with technology. Thanks to “Free technology for teachers website” Here are a few of my favorite things!

1. Issuu you publish. I was just looking for a place where my students could make a newspaper or a journal, magazine. Great fun
2. Yudu does much of the same, try and compare.
3. Google translator is also great fun when you get to know people from different places in the world and you want to impress them! Not always the best language but still!
4. To make a thesis for your essay.
5. TypePad is an easy way for students to make blogs. They have launched a new free blogging service
6. In this short TED Talk, atmospheric chemist Rachel Pike gives the audience a sense of how much scientific research goes into producing a climate change headline such as those found in popular newspapers and magazines.
7. Tips for the net:

A school in Norway invites the President.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.

The Nobel Committee will hand over 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.4 million) to President Obama on December 10 in Oslo for winning the historic award. The White House has confirmed to CBS News that President Obama will give all of the roughly $1.4 million that comes with the Nobel Peace Prize to charity.  No word yet on which charity or charities will be the beneficiaries.

Students at Sandvika high school in Oslo Norway have started a project called “a letter to president Obama, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009″. The school uses Web 2.0 to collaborate in this project. In this document written in EtherPad,  they invite the President to visit the school and to hear what the students have to say about choosing a worthy charity for the award money. The  U.S. Embassy writes in a e-mail to the school:

Thank you for inviting President Obama to visit Sandvika VGS. At this point, we are very unsure of the President’s schedule so we cannot make any commitments on his behalf. In all honesty, it will probably take some time before we can suggest any additions to the President’s schedule for Oslo.

It is, however, an interesting opportunity, so I will be happy to include it on a list of possible activities for the Obamas while they are here. The White House will choose what they are able to do, based on the rather tight schedule that faces them.

Read the letter here!

How do we teach using web 2.0 and social media. Is it possible to find new ideas collaborating with other teachers in you PLN? What works well? How do we help the students build their own personal learning networks? Who are the most successful teachers in this area? I am looking for ideas and thoughts on the issue. Please leave a comment!