BP1_Google Reader

Google Reader, yet again another Google-related item that amazes me, and makes my life a little bit better!
The following are my choices for my Google Reader, and how they will benefit me as a Social Studies teacher.

Screen shot of my Google Reader

CNN: As a Social Studies teacher, I must be involved in the news, even if I don't want to learn about the latest shooting/crisis that day. History is being created, and students may want more information on it. If you haven't noticed, history often repeats itself, even if it does not mean to. When I have my own classroom, I plan on teaching parallel history, which is where you show how history has repeated itself (for example, how the current recession is similar to the Great Depression). There might be some debate about this, but I feel it is my job to civically engage students as well: why is it important to vote? Why is it important to pay attention to the news? Students will probably not ask their math teacher or english teacher about the war in the Middle East; they will wait until Social Studies to find out more information.

NJ.com: For the same reasons as CNN, except "local" news. Not only do we need to pay attention to what's happening globally and nationally, but also regionally and locally. Any and all news sources. This is also important to me since NJ's governor has been "attacking" (I'm putting that nicely) the teachers' union, and whatever he decides will certainly affect me as a new teacher.

History.com: The History Channel does a great job of their "This Day in History" series. As I stated, it's important to understand how history sometimes repeats itself. Like how yesterday, August 2nd, Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, leading to our involvement in the Middle East, which obviously still continues to this day. Or how on July 31st, 1975, Jimmy Hoffa disappeared (but perhaps that's only interesting to me since Giants Stadium just got rebuilt and supposedly he's buried underneath it!).

U.S. Department of Education: As teachers, no matter what we teach we all need to be aware of what's happening nationally. This includes policy and budget information, as passed on from Washington (like NCLB). It will be very interesting to see if President Obama makes any big changes.

National Council for Social Studies: This site is great. All teachers should be up to date with news in their field. The NCSS provides information on the Census, teaching resources and ideas, summer workshops, etc. Pulling in the news again to relate it to our classroom.