Welfare Interactive Map
In a few weeks, I will be doing my unit on policy and this site will be very helpful in discussing TANF as it shows the US as a whole as well as every state and county and what percentage of people (whites, blacks, children (but no Hispanics) are on welfare.

Digital Storytelling
This is an amazing sheet as it gives you all of the items to make a digital story (ie video, slideshow, etc.) with your classes. It even tells you how you can resize photos, add music, etc. Of course, all of the items are free. I have used digital stories with my students and find they are often ahead of me and the ones who aren't, learn from those who are. I found this item from a tweet from Larry Ferlazzo.

Richest/Poorest Members of Congress
I'm sure this is worth much for teaching, but it is interesting. One of my US Senators, for example, is the fourth wealthiest in the Congress. I featured the site before as it has a lot to do with interest groups, money and Congress.

Edublog Awards
Each year these awards are given out to the best blog sites on the Internet. If you want to see the categories and think that this site has been helpful to you, you might want to nominate it by going here.

A Very Cheap Interactive Whiteboard
I found this on the FreeTech4Teachers site. If you watch the video above, you can see for about $30 how to create an interactive whiteboard using a "Wiimote." You can get more information on how to do this by going here.

Legislative Branch Board Game Project

View more documents from Lina Trullinger.

Legislative Assignment
Lina Trullinger is an occasional contributor to this blog and has posted a great assignment in Slideshare (see above) that makes the kids go over the basic structure of Congress. Here is the rubric to grade it.

12 Ways to Publish Online
Okay, this comes from FreeTech4Teachers and includes Google Docs, SlideShare, Empressor, Zoho, SlideRocket and more.

A $300 Million Earmark
When you talk about pork with your students, here is a great example detailing how Mary Landrieu (D-La) won $300 million for her state as a concession to vote to end the filibuster (another key term as is cloture which no newspaper seems to use). Here is a video of her explaining her vote.

AP Comparative
One of the most respected AP Comparative people in the country is Ken Wedding. If you want to see his blog site, go here.

Poorest Counties in America
This is a great graphic from the NY Times which I found from a tweet today from Larry Ferlazzo. It uses 2008 statistics to show the median income, poverty under 18, overall poverty of every county in the US. You could show it to your students and ask them how the federal government might impact these areas (hint: power of the elected officials, what committees they are one, small states getting a higher per capita federal funding, etc.)

Thirty Tips to Use Twitter
I've only been using twitter for the past week, but I am amazed at how 140 characters can enhance one's teaching. If you want to give it a try, I'd recommend going here for some quick help.

Quizzes on Google Docs
Perhaps I am getting too far afield with all the "Google stuff," but above is a video that tells you how you can create a quiz with all types of questions in Google Docs and then allow your students to take it.

Visual Health Care Plans from House and Senate
This is a great visual that shows the competing health care plans for cost, provisions and coverage.

100 Google Docs Tips
My students challenged me today to try to get through a class without mentioning the word "Google!" I am not sure I can do it! Here are 100 tips you might want to have as you learn to work through Google Docs. In a way they remind me of word in the earlier stages, however there have been so many times I have wished all of my documents were on there so I would not have to log onto my slow to start school laptop or when I am at another house and want to look at something. Google Docs is getting better and better and for collaboration it can't be beat. By the way, I found this using a Twitter feed.

Executive Branch/Bureaucracy
For those of you who care, here is my PowerPoint for our next unit on the executive branch and the bureaucracy. You will notice that I have a link to Bush because it is a great video showing the oval office and Obama has not yet made a similar one.