IB TOK Tutor always tweets out supporting resources for all essay prompts. I’ve collected them for the May, 2013 essays (and will continue to add more) over at my Theory Of Knowledge Class Blog. Your students might find them helpful….
I’ve previously posted about Votetocracy, which shared concerned I have about the site. I continue to have those same concerns, but they did just publish a series of somewhat useful infographics on how the U.S. Congress works. If I was still teaching U.S. History (as I’ve mentioned, I’m doing Geography this year), I’d show them to students and challenge them to come up with something better. But it’s a whole lot easier to have examples than if you’re starting from scratch….
With Constitution Day coming up on Monday in the United States, I can’t think of anything that would prepare a teacher better than to read Bill Bigelow’s piece, It’s Constitution Day! Time to Teach Obedience or History? Here are the last two paragraphs: Asking students to think critically about the Constitution is not a demand for them to come to any particular conclusion about the Constitution and those who drafted it. Rather, treating the Constitution as a product of social conflict and written by partisans in that conflict implicitly gives students permission to become thinkers. No longer intimidated by the document’s holy status, they can analyze and draw their own conclusions. And part of the analysis that our students need to do today is to ask of any social policy: Who benefits? Educators can introduce race and class as key categories of inquiry — an exploration that is essential if young people are to think clearly about everything from climate change to health care. Today, we need young people who can look at the world from multiple perspectives — especially from the perspectives of those who may not be well served by our society’s arrangements of wealth and power. On this Constitution Day, let’s encourage schools to teach outside the textbook as part of a broader curriculum of critical thinking. I’m adding this to The Best Sites For Learning About The Constitution Of The United States.
Here are the newest additions to The Best Resources On The Chicago Teachers’ Strike: This video came via Mike Klonsky: 
Here are the lyrics: We miss the sound of the bell.
Our schools aren’t something to sell.
We got a story to tell.
The Board is in our way. Our complaints we could list.
Teachers have just one wish:
To get back to our kids.
The Board is in our way. Our line was holdin’.
Red shirts, all a glowin’
Union pride, we were showin’
Where’s our contract going, baby? CHORUS:
Hey, We’ve been striking,
And this is crazy.
When there’s a contract,
call us maybe.
x2 We’ve been striking for so long
We want to stop that.
We want to stop that.
We want to stop, stop that. We’ve missed teaching for long.
We want to go back.
We want to go back.
We want to go, go back. (Repeat from chorus) Teachers appear to be the winner is from The Chicago Sun Times. Mayor’s reputation tarnished in teachers union dust-up is from The Chicago Tribune.
USA Today has just unveiled its new “beta” website (they plan on making it their permanent home soon, I think), and it looks good. I especially like the fact that they show a headline with an image underneath, and if you put the cursor on the image the first paragraph shows-up. I think it will make the site especially accessible to ELL’s. I’m adding it to The Best Visually Engaging News Sites.
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