FakeBook – The next step in Facebook templates

Facebook was once the small, sheltered territory of a couple of techie college students and some high school kids who found ways to sneak past the filter. At the time, it was all about Friendster and MySpace. And now? Parents, middle school kids, corporations, advertisers are all over Facebook. Even teachers are using it. A [...]

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Aggregating, filtering and connecting is so old-fashioned

It was some time ago that I wrote about The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson. I was impressed with Johnson’s account of Joseph Priestly, a British minister, scientist and political thinker who was also a friend and contemporary of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. And I had buried much of that stuff deep in [...]

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Google Earth and Rumsey Historical Maps

Google Earth is a no-brainer for geography and history teachers but it’s also a handy-dandy tool for teachers of all grades and content. But one of its strengths can also be a weakness. There’s just so much stuff. With hundreds of layers with thousands of maps, images, 3D buildings, live traffic data, news, earthquakes and [...]

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Change is hard

Change is hard. And especially in education, being an early adopter can also be a scary thing. But eventually, if the idea is a good one, everyone is doing it.

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Lincoln’s pockets

Donated to the Library of Congress in 1937 and labeled “Do Not Open,” the box sat in the office of the Librarian of Congress for almost 40 years. Finally, in 1975, Librarian Daniel Boorstein untied the string and pulled off the brown wrapping paper. Inside? Twelve items – including several pairs of glasses, newspaper clippings, [...]

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