Happy New Year!

TeachersFirst is celebrating with academic fireworks. Be sure to read through the Update for all the NEW announcements. Launch your new year with a fresh look and loads of new ideas. We have been busy here at TeachersFirst, preparing the New Year’s buffet (without calories) for a healthy start in 2009.

Lincoln’s Legacy
2009 marks the 200th anniversary Abraham Lincoln’s birth. No matter what grade level or subjects you teach, TeachersFirst wants you and your students to have the best resources and lesson ideas at your fingertips in observance of this banner year. Our teacher-contributors have generated a set of creative Lincoln lesson ideas – complete with related web resources – so you can start the New Year off right or feature a Lincoln lesson at regular intervals as it fits into your curriculum. Why not add some as we approach the inauguration and again in time for February 12, Lincoln’s actual bicentennial? Don’t teach social studies? There are ideas for MANY subjects, so be sure to take a look.  If you want more Lincoln web resources, try a TeachersFirst keyword search for “ Lincoln” to see a full listing.

Martin Luther King Resources
January 19 is Martin Luther King Day, and TeachersFirst has resources to share this day with grades K-12. Take time now to plan the perfect way to share the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. with your students, no matter what grade or subjects you teach. Don’t miss TeachersFirst’s own ready-to-go lesson plans for elementary grades, They Had a Dream, Too, and Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King.

The Next Day, More History!
Just one day after we celebrate Martin Luther King, Barack Obama will become the 44th U.S. president. TeachersFirst has a new collection of reviewed presidential inauguration resources so you can introduce major concepts of government, current events, and history to students of all ages on this noteworthy occasion. This is a day you will want your students to remember, for sure.

Resolve to Learn Something New!
TeachersFirst invites you to join us for OK2Ask, a series of live, online “snack sessions” (available live and in archived format) for self-directed teacher professional development and exploration. These one hour sessions, scheduled at convenient times for you to attend from any computer will share great ideas you can use in your classroom, courtesy of TeachersFirst’s staff. You know our style, so you know these sessions will be useful and teacher-friendly. And bad weather does not matter. You “attend” on your computer, with live video and a text chat area for you to ask questions live. It’s Ok2Ask!

The first two OK2Ask sessions will be:

• Find It, Use It: Exploring the Resources of TeachersFirst to Plan Effective, Technology-Infused Lessons (Wed. Jan 21)
• A Safe Journey to the Edge: Intro to Web 2.0 Tools (Thur Jan 29)

Invite a friend to attend with you (and share a healthy snack).  All you need is a computer with a high speed connection (DSL, cable modem, or school network).  Professional development certificates will be available. We have correlated the OK2Ask content with ISTE’s NETS-T 2008 standards, as well.  Read the full details and preregister here. It’s FREE, and it’s OK2Ask!

This Week’s Question of the Week
Today's students (and adults) enjoy watching videos on sharing sites such as YouTube, TeacherTube, and SchoolTube. Many visit video sharing sites as their first source to find "How To" videos and information, including academic help. Do you think teachers and students should be watching and/or creating online videos to share academic content? What advantages and disadvantages do you see to such a tool? Share your thoughts by responding to this Question of the Week. Remember to check "anonymous," if you wish. See what other teachers have to say, as well. You can always see responses to past questions by clicking to see the Question archives.

Featured Sites
This week’s featured sites include resources and tools for many subjects:

• a Lincoln site with info on his wife and family
• an article about Lincoln and Obama
• a great primary grades interactive about Lincoln
• Civil War site podcasts
• the official Lincoln Bicentennial site
• Lincoln and more Lincoln!
• a terrific tool for “collecting” notes, images, and snippets
• and many other TERRIFIC  “recent additions” (click at the bottom of the page)

January is such a marvelous teaching time, assuming your school schedule is not too disrupted by weather. May your first week back be filled with the freshness and new opportunities of a January morning.

Your “teacher to go,”
Candace Hackett Shively
Director of K-12 Initiatives