Never assume. Many in the US forget that women’s equality is a fairly recent occurence and that many women overseas are still treated as property. My heart was broken as a new friend described observing a young girl being stoned by her family because her bathing suit top accidenally fell off. (This was in the Middle East.) Many don’t realize or consider such things as happening in the world. I love and appreciate the men in my life but also that my father always told me that I could do anything in this world and to never say “I can’t do this because I’m a girl.” Please talk about this topic in August, it is important.

Take this lesson plan from the New York Times about astronaut Sally Ride and use it. She was such an inspiration to many women - teaching us to not limit our minds to earth but to go past what we think we can do. I hope that teachers will discuss this amazing person with students, particularly as we struggle to have enough people going into STEM fields to sustain the growth of information technology and other science and technology fields. To meet the shortfall, we need to augment the numbers of people going into STEM fields with more women and minorities. Discussing Sally Ride’s work as an astronaut gives us a role model.

Sesame Street has taken more than 1000 videos and resources (all for elementary school) and aligned them with Common Core standards on the sharemylesson website. This is a great account for elementary teachers to follow on the site.

Calling all math teachers - take a few minutes to evaluate your math textbook and get a $10 gift card for Amazon and start your summer reading early.

I really like the idea of aggregating feedback from teachers in a way that protect’s a teacher’s identity. It is time to crowdsource teacher feedback and I think it would need to be a neutral third party.This provides a benefit to teachers, educators, and even to publishers. 

(Eventually, it sure would be nice to teachersource feedback on standardized tests - most teachers don’t mind accountability but it is being accountable for the right things.)

http://bit.ly/KcfLbu

 (Full disclosure: I really like what this company Classroom Window is doing and how they want to aggregate teacher opinions into something that can make a difference and am in negotiations to have a (very small) stake in this company. As always I follow the blogger’s code of ethics and my own and let you know if there is any other influence that you should be aware of. Also, however, note that I never work with anyone that I wouldn’t recommend whether I was officially “working” with them or not.)

Fun lesson plan that uses geography, and the environment. This would be a great way to to work on your Geography. 

Here are some free Common Core state standards aligned lesson plans for careers for grades K-8. You can’t get the materials by mail any more but you can download them.

Excellent indexed selection of history resources and lesson plans. This sit is particularly deep in UK and European history. If you’re talking about the Renaissance, any of the World Wars, Medieval times or monarchs, you’ll want to dig into the resources here.

Create your own jeopardy game using this free PowerPoint. (Great for any time you have to teach anything as a fun review.)