president – iLearn Technology

Watch the Debates: help your students explore this debate and the history of debates

October 19, 2016Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment4200 views

What it is: Tonight is the final debate before the presidential election in the United States. While I can’t say that I’m going to miss the absurdity that has been this debate, Watch the Debates is a pretty wonderful site! In addition to the ability to watch tonight’s debate live, students can also explore past presidential debates. Students can filter the debates by the year, or a specific issue.

How to integrate Watch the Debates in your classroom: Watch the Debates provides an excellent way for students to explore the evolution of a specific issue in the United States by watching debates from as far back as 1960. Students can do this for civil rights, the economy, gun control, heath care, immigration, national security, social security, and terrorism.

As it turns out, Watch the Debates is a fantastic site for Anastasis students right now as they are working through an inquiry about ideas that cause change in society. This site could act as a provocation and place to explore how United States politics has changed over time and how our ideas about society have changed over time. Students can also explore the posture of candidates over time (fashion, the way they speak to each other, etc.). This could be a good launching point that leads to discussions about what else is going on historically that impacts these changes. The social constructs in place, the historical moments of pivot, the technological advances, the impact of religion, the scientific discoveries, our perspective as a country, and the political climate in general. Watch the Debates can be a beginning point for discovery and depth of transdisciplinary understanding.

Hat Tip to @michellek107 for passing this on to @teamanastasis today! Thank you!

President Obama’s 2010 Back to School Speech

September 14, 2010September 14, 2010Kelly Tenkely1 Comment3475 views

President Obama is giving his 2010 Back to School Speech today at 1PM ET. This is an opportunity for the President to speak to students about the importance of education and encourage them as they start back to school. Last year the President petitioned students to remember that “Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.”

The speech will be offered with live streaming from CNN and WhiteHouse.gov. I am also offering live streaming below:

JOIN THE LIVE CHAT

VISIT WHITEHOUSE.GOV

Branches of Power

July 19, 2010Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2830 views

What it is: Looking for another super awesome learning game for your classroom? Filament Games does it again with Branches of Power. In it, students can play all three branches of government, all working cooperatively toward the goal of building new laws. As President, students will choose issues they think are important and rally people around them. As Legislator, they will create bills around the values of the constituents. As Justice, they will uphold the law or take out legislation that is unconstitutional. The only way to navigate the game successfully is to cooperatively construct laws around the issues of the country. (Our government probably has something to learn about the cooperatively part.) Students will find issues that the citizens care about. By using the three branches of government, they can grow the issues into laws which appear as towers. They win if they build all ten issues into towers before time runs out. Students get the opportunity to play as all three branches, they have to stay on top of it, if they don’t, the branch may start making decisions on its own!

How to integrate Branches of Power into the classroom: Branches of Power is a fantastic interactive game that puts students right in the thick of the government. I love that the game doesn’t ask students to choose a branch of government to play, but expects them to learn, and play, all three roles. There is nothing like experience to teach students about the different roles, struggles, and methodologies of each branch of government. Branches of Power is an excellent game for the computer lab environment where each student has access to a computer and can play individually. After play, discuss what worked well and what didn’t. Were students able to complete all 10 towers? Who got the furthest and what was the strategy that took them to that point? If you don’t have access to a computer lab, the game can be navigated as a class using a projector-connected computer or an interactive whiteboard. Discuss strategy during game play and give each student a chance to take part in the game. This is an outstanding way to learn about the branches of government, what better way to learn than by doing?

Tips: Below the game play screen, check out the Teacher Tools tab. There are some great teacher files including a Powerpoint presentation that reinforces game concepts and a teacher’s guide to using the game in class.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Branches of Power in your classroom.

2009 Presidential Inauguration Lap book

January 20, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1998 views

What it is: Curriclick is a site that I have mentioned before that provides free and low cost curriculum for download and use in your classroom. Today they released a 2009 Presidential Inauguration Lap book for download. After the speech today it would be great to download and use some of the reading and activities in your classroom.

How to integrate 2009 Presidential Inauguration Lap book into the classroom: I don’t know about you but I found that many of my students still didn’t “get” president Obama’s Inauguration speech even after viewing it. Use this free lap book download to help your students understand the history behind the Inauguration speech. Watch the speech again as a class or read the transcript of the speech. Help your students understand this historic occasion with the help of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration Lap book. I wish that they had released this one sooner!

Tips: This is a 40+ page guide. Download the pdf version and only print out the pages you are going to use in your classroom. NOTE! I tried to access this site just a few min. ago and could not get to it, probably because of the flood of traffic. Try back later today if the links in this post don’t seem to be working.

Leave a comment and tell us how your students responded to the speech.

Inauguration Speech Generator

January 16, 2009Kelly Tenkely3 Comments3062 views

What it is: With President Obama’s Inauguration speech looming on the horizon, this site is worth a look. Inauguration Speech Generator is like a mad lib, fill in the blank that generates a speech for President Obama to say. 🙂 Students enter words in the blanks according to the part of speech that is requested and then read the speech they have written for our soon to be president.

How to integrate Inauguration Speech Generator into the classroom: This is a great lead in to teach students about the Inauguration of President Obama. It is also a fun way to practice those parts of speech! Students can fill in the blanks individually and share with a partner, or a speech can be generated as a whole class. This would be a fun thing to do right before the inauguration. Save the students version of the speech. They can compare and contrast their speech with the actual inauguration speech after viewing it.

Tips: The inauguration is supposed to be live on CNN, it would be fun to watch live but I suspect that Internet may be slow that day! Those of you with cable in the classroom take advantage!!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Inauguration Speech Generator in your classroom.

Fold a US Candidate

September 24, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2186 views

What it is: Fold a US Candidate is a fun site that has paper foldable puppets of the US candidates for the 2008 election. (I am very entertained by this right now!) Both presidential nominees are featured as well as their wives. There is also an election day count down on the site to let your students know how many days, hours, minutes, and seconds they have to wait before the big day. This is a fun site to get your students interested in the upcoming election.

How to integrate Fold a US Candidate into the classroom: Students of all ages are sure to get more involved and interested in the election after visiting this site and making their own president puppet. These would be fun to use as you are discussing the upcoming election in your classroom. While the site is chock full of facts about the candidates, the paper puppets would add to learning about the election and the different candidates. Split your students into groups and assign each a candidate to study. They can find out what the candidates believe about some key issues in the upcoming election. Then they can have a mock debate using the puppets and the research they have gained.

Tips: Print out and fold your US Candidate today! 🙂

Leave a comment and share how you are using Fold a US Candidate in your classroom.

The Common Craft Show

September 17, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3372 views

What it is: I love the Common Craft Show. If you aren’t familiar with it, it takes complex ideas and breaks them down into something that is simple and manageable in video format. The videos are short and sweet but you always finish with a more clear understanding of whatever it is that is being presented. Videos on the Common Craft Show range from “Electing a President in Plain English” to “Wikis in Plain English”. Most of the videos are related to technology that could be used in the classroom such as twitter, social networking, blogging, wikis, and RSS feeds. The videos all have a common, fun to watch format. As I said, I LOVE the Common Craft Show!

How to integrate The Common Craft Show into the classroom: The Common Craft Show is a great way to introduce a complex technology tool like a wiki or blog to students. The videos quickly break everything down into easily managed parts so that students (teachers too) can understand what the tool is and how it works. The new “Electing a President in Plain English” video is extremely timely and will help your students understand how a president gets elected. Use the Common Craft Show as an example for students to create their own explanation videos. Students can work in groups to explain a concept like “Multiplication in Plain English” that the rest of the class can watch.

Tips: These videos aren’t just for students. Just heard about a technology tool you don’t quite understand? Head over to The Common Craft Show and see if they have simplified it for you! 🙂

Leave a comment and share how you are using The Common Craft Show in your classroom.

Letter to the future president

August 5, 2008Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment2170 views

I learned about this petition last night on Twitter. If you don’t follow me yet I am at http://twitter.com/ktenkely

The Ed Tech Action Network has created a petition to the future president regarding educational technology. Obviously, this one is near and dear to my heart as I think that in the 21st century, an education void of technology, can’t really be called an education. Take 2 minutes to read the letter to the candidates and sign the petition.