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Friday, March 7, 2014

Annual 2014 edition of Awesome Web Links:

(Photos this week are a random collection from my archive - A good photo tells a story all by itself.)

1. In the morning before I leave home I scan the national and world news.   I turn first to the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com... Many American newspapers now use a limited number of news sources - but New York Times is often the most substantive, with 'real' investigative journalists writing. I often only scan the headlines - but when a major issue appears - this is where I learn more.

2.  I also read international sources to get their take on world events. BBC remains a benchmark in quality reporting.  They also have fascinating links to on line British radio, life style you name it... http://www.bbc.com/news/


3.  Since so much of our news affects the Middle East - where better to learn what they are thinking than Aljazeera News.  If you are not familiar with them the straight forward reporting that you find there may surprise you. Take a look: http://america.aljazeera.com/topics/topic/categories/international.html

4.  My encyclopedia of choice is Wikipedia... Want to know something about any topic?  Enter the key words in the search box and "pop" there it is... Their information is current and amazingly complete: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page


5.  My search engine of choice is  good old Google: https://www.google.com.  If I need information fast this is where I turn.  You have to be a bit discriminating about the array of articles that appear - Always check the source first and assess if they have an "ax to grind" on the topic!

6.  Do you ever find opinionated "hit pieces" appear from a "friend" on your computer?  The first thing I do is to cut and paste the piece into Snopes:  This is a free service that will give you a straight forward evaluation of the accuracy of the information.   Its also interesting to scan the range of topics that they make available: http://www.snopes.com


7.  The first site I send to my young teachers: CK-12: http://www.ck12.org/teacher/.  If you know any teachers - forward this site to them - it is a rich source of practical useful information for enriching classroom instruction in a variety of topics... If you are a teacher or not take a few minutes to explore some of the topics... especially note the short video clips that appear for many topics.

8.  Another teacher source that I likeis the "Tree of life" site from UC Berkeley ...  You will need to take a few minutes to explore the various links: This site is extensive and takes time to digest...http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/historyoflife.php


9.  ...Also from UC Berkeley: http://evolution.berkeley.edu

10.  When I am working at my computer - I often turn to Grooveshark for music - You must make a free account to get started, but then you can build and store your own collection of favorite music - You will be astonished with what you can find here... Only drawback is that you can not listen and scan the web at the same time, non download the music to your computer: http://grooveshark.com

11.  The most reliable substantive weather available if from the national weather service.  Just type in your postal area code and your own local weather appears.  http://www.noaa.gov

 

12.  Many Christians today, of a wide range of denominations, count themselves as "progressive" Christians.  If you would like to know more about this movement - visit "Progressive Christianity" to get the flavor of these churches http://progressivechristianity.org

13.  Many of use today are trying to eat healthier foods.  I find this site to be a good source of information and recipes: 100 healthiest foods http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php

 

14. Technology in the classroom is changing how we do business! You will find these informative if you are a non-teacher (and useful in many different applications), but dramatically useful if you are a teacher.  Check out these 5 sites: