US Government Teachers Blog

Supreme Court Blog

2012-02-02T06:31:00.001-05:00

Lest we forget that there is more going on than just the Republican primaries, one of the best sources for news on the US Supreme Court is the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the US) blog. It has tons of updates on what is going on in the court, decisions. the petitions, amici briefs, super graphs and charts (such as the one above).

Hippo Campus for Standard and AP US Government

2012-02-01T16:44:00.001-05:00

When I put together assignments for my students I have now reached the point where a student needs online access (yes I stay after school every day and sometimes at lunch to accommodate the students with it at home) as I like to use my e-book and other ancillaries (many of which are on this blog). One nice thing is that I can give videos to students who need visuals to supplement the written word. One source is Hippo Campus which has both an AP US Government and a standard government course which includes chapter videos, objectives, readings, documents, key terms, writing questions, discussion questions, tests (and their answers).

Here is a sample of federalism for AP and for standard, for example.

Finances of the super PACs

2012-02-01T06:30:00.001-05:00

Here is a great link on the financials of each of the major Republican candidates' super PACs. It also has who are their largest donors.

Iowa (Shift) Happens

2012-01-31T22:27:00.000-05:00

This video reminds me of the Shift Happens ones. It has a little bit on Iowa's digital age (first 53 seconds), but it is still fine. You can skip the last part. I found it today and showed it to my class of teachers as I believe it shows why it is so urgent that we use as much technology as possible with our students. I then showed the video on this video (first 3 minutes) as it shows where we are going (and some lucky few schools already are in terms of customizing classes for their students.

FL Results and Delegate Count

2012-01-31T21:36:00.001-05:00

Here are the results from the FL primary broken up into the demographic results. Here are the results from the FL primary and here is the delegate count to date for the Republican party. Finally, here are the results from all the primaries. Now you pretty much know what I will be teaching for the first 15 minutes of my government class tomorrow!

Short Videos on Key Legislation

2012-01-31T12:07:00.000-05:00

Here are twelve short videos on key legislation put together by the Center on Congress from Indiana University. It includes such key items as civil rights, the Marshall Plan, Morrill Act, Social Security and the ADA.

Thanks for the Hits - All 20,000 This Month!

2012-01-31T12:00:00.003-05:00

When I began this blog (and its companion ones on US history and world history) in April 2008 I had no idea how many hits it would start getting (not to mention the opportunities it would bring me). Thanks to your interest we should hit 20,000 hits this month which is a new record. Indeed in the last several months we have been really increasing. Thanks also for the e-mails giving me information for the site and for posting your ideas on the comments (and for all the great thank you notes I receive).

If you want, you can sign up for an e-mail for each of the new posts (no more than one a day) by putting your e-mail address in the box above "submit" on the right side of the blog and pushing enter. Alternatively you can look for me on Twitter under "kenhalla" or under Google+, also under "kenhalla."

In case you were curious about the fourth name, I raise money for William and Mary's track/cross country teams and do an alumni blog for them called the Spiked Shoe Society.

Obama's Appointments

2012-01-30T12:43:00.000-05:00

Here are all the presidential appointments under Obama broken up by where they work. Here are some posts I have previously done on presidential donors and who got what ambassador position.

Microtargeting

2012-01-29T21:41:00.003-05:00

Even though microtargeting goes back to the 1990s, most give Karl Rove the credit for starting the practice at the national level, it is the practice of looking at our data and deciding what to sell politically to us. It used (and that is a very relative term) to be just what you buy at a store (ever wonder what Giant and Safeway does with your information from your discount card) and now has online groups like Google or Facebook tailoring what you see ad wise. Here is an article from today's NYTimes and here is a more definitive one from an Arizona publication on the 12th of Jan.

Sharing iGoogle Links

2012-01-29T17:56:00.001-05:00

I've written about the weblinks' aggregator page called igoogle (see how to video below). It is great as I can quickly see a number of blogs that I follow. If you have an igoogle page and want to see what I follow, then go to this link (I did take off the Tweetdeck, Google Docs, etc.). To allow others to do the same for your page, go to the "home" tab in the upper left side and then hit the "share this tab" on the drop down (see picture above). Then you can send an e-mail to whomever you want to share your page.
WARNING: If you do this, it will create a new homepage for you, but yours will still be intact. Both of them can be seen if you look on the left side of the igoogle page where each will have a "home" tab. If you then want to get rid of mine, you could right click on the "home" for mine and then "delete the tab." Or you could just look at the things you like from my account and add them to your page.

Beyond the Hole in the Wall

2012-01-29T10:49:00.001-05:00

Oddly enough I have found that kids are exactly LESS inclined to move off task than if they were a digitized class than a traditional paper and pen one. To that end I just finished Beyond the Hole in the Wall (only $2.99) which looks at kids in very impoverished areas and how much they were able to intuitively learn using laptops. Here are his quantitative papers and here is his blog. Yes, it is a long way from just giving a kid a computer to learning our mandated content, but I believe we are in the early stages of an educational revolution where teachers are moving more to facilitators and students will be doing more work at the higher end of Bloom's and then (and this is the one that is still in the very early stages) have a way to reprocess information they did not learn well as they move ahead (Knewton is one company working on this).

More Campaign Ads

2012-01-29T06:58:00.000-05:00

One day soon I hope that ETS puts their tests online (yes I know that would mean lots of computers for readers to use or worse still since I love going to the AP readings, having to grade at home), which is all to say these cartoons, since they are talking ones, will not be on an AP test, but nonetheless they are good for your students to analyze.

Track the Money Race

2012-01-29T06:52:00.000-05:00

This site from the WashPost allows you to follow the campaign dollar of each candidate (not the super PACs) and where the money came from. You can even put the candidates side by side and add as many as you want.

So Who Is A Lobbyist?

2012-01-27T06:44:00.000-05:00

Newt has correctly stated that he is not a lobbyist (at least as the law states it), but then Mitt Romney is correct in stating that he has been lobbying (see above video). It pulls no punches stating that many of Obama's bundlers are also Newt like lobbyists even though he (Obama) contends he takes no money from lobbyists. Here is a nice editorial from the NYTimes which defines what a lobbyist is legally

The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 has three tests: 1) Do you make more than $3,000 over three months from lobbying? 2) Have you had more than one lobbying contact? 3) Have you spent more than 20 percent of your time lobbying for a single client over three months?

The article suggests changes that can be made so that more will correctly (like Newt) be labeled a lobbyist.

CNN Student News

2012-01-27T04:54:00.000-05:00

Every week day CNN has a Student News which gives highlights over yesterday's news in just a few minutes. You can also have your students take a daily quiz.

Winning our Future New Ad

2012-01-26T20:25:00.001-05:00

Winning Our Future (Gingrich's super PAC) has a new movie coming and above is the trailer.

Online Project Rubrics

2012-01-26T19:49:00.001-05:00

I have written on some rubrics, but here is another one from Effective Online Teaching and Training. There are a variety of categories including blogs, wikis, e-portfolio, Twitter, online discussion and more. I found the item from a Google+ post from Eric Sheninger.

Who's On First?

2012-01-26T14:59:00.001-05:00

This is a little fun for teachers who have been around a while like me.

Still Room in my Social Studies Tech Class

2012-01-26T05:05:00.002-05:00

I am teaching a technology integration course (p. 42) for 7-12th social studies grade teachers (despite the heading above) teachers for Fairfax County, VA teachers. It will start January 31st (so sign up soon) and run for 10 Tuesdays from 4:30 to 7:30. It filled up very quickly in the fall, so please sign up early. To sign up go to MyPLT, then put "social studies" in the search box and look for the title "Enhancing the Use of Technology in the Social Studies Classroom."

Political Cartoons

2012-01-26T04:48:00.001-05:00

While you can certainly find political cartoons in your daily e-paper's editorial page, here is an aggregator page with lots of color and black and white ones. It even has a calendar so you can look at a particular day. The AP exam occasionally has a cartoon in its free response section, but it is a good idea for any government class to consider editorial bias and cartoons are a great way to do so.

VIrtual Stickies on a Wall

2012-01-25T20:36:00.002-05:00

Just the other day I was at an in-service where the presenter suggested one technique where students could write one question on a wall and others could answer it. Then he said that during a test students could look at the wall for a minute or so. Obviously the point was that kids who are less reticent to ask a question would feel more inclined to do so. Well, while Wallwisher has been around for a few years, it allows students to put stickies on a wall and others can edit (i.e. answer it). So in the case of my kids who often take e-tests, this would be one way to get a lifeline.

State of the Union address as an eye exam chart

2012-01-25T19:49:00.003-05:00

Hat tip to Daniel Pink on this exhibit by R. Luke Dubois at the Smithsonian Museum.

"In a series of prints called “Hindsight is always 20/20,” he’s taken the words of each speech, noted their frequency, and rendered them as a Snellen eye exam chart – with a President’s most-used words in large type near the top and his less-used words in progressively smaller type toward the bottom.

It’s a mashup – one part word cloud, another part optometry. And it works. You get a good sense of how much the times dictate the words. It also offers a sly commentary on each President’s – wait for it – vision."

The White House and Twitter

2012-01-25T12:36:00.002-05:00

This is an interesting article on how the White House has been using Twitter to help shape policy. Also if you haven't seen the Mention Machine on the post, take a look. It tracks twitter mentions and mainstream media mentions for the candidates.

Wordle and the State of the Union

2012-01-25T05:02:00.001-05:00

Here is the 2012 State of the Union in Wordle, 2011, 2010 and while we are at it, Mitch Daniels' response. Thanks to Patti Winch for the heads up on these. If you want different perspectives, here is the view of the more liberal Washington Post and here it is from Fox News.

State of the Union

2012-01-25T04:49:00.001-05:00

If you want to skip to any part of the State of the Union and see the video and read the transcript go here (bottom picture). Otherwise a synopsis is on the video on top.

Behind the Scenes for this Year's State of the Union

2012-01-24T22:06:00.001-05:00

I found this great piece from a post of Cynthia Yildrim on Google+.

A Student's Constitutional Convention on Prezi

2012-01-24T20:18:00.001-05:00

Creating the Constitution on Prezi

I am starting up a new class of integrating technology into the classroom (there is still some room if you are a FCPS teacher "Enhancing the Use of Technology in the Social Studies Classroom") and one of the things they will be learning is how to make a Prezi. Above is a student's work which I found on one of my visitor's webpage - thanks Billy Shulhman.

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

2012-01-24T19:48:00.003-05:00

I still well remember the Air Florida crash in the Potomac River my senior year of high school (I had to walk home in the snow because the late buses were cancelled). Ronald Reagan thought he was such a hero that he highlighted his jumping in the Potomac to rescue plane victims to illustrate a point he was making in his State of the Union speech. Every president has used the technique since then and here you can see who has been chosen each time along with their picture.

FL Republican Debate

2012-01-24T05:21:00.001-05:00

On top is the entire debate and on the bottom are some exchanges between Gingrich and Romney.

E-books and A Little Self Promotion

2012-01-23T20:14:00.000-05:00

Today the DC metro affiliate of NBC news came to my classroom (and one other) to talk about digital textbooks which you can guess that I have been pushing for years up until this year when our entire county (27 high schools) went digital from 6-12th grades. If you want to be an advocate I should say that it started with my getting a few teachers and 1/3 to 1/2 of their students on board, then an entire grade pilot and that led to 18 middle and high schools doing it with a great deal of help from our curriculum great teachers, curriculum specialists and other administrators.

Every State of the Union in our History

2012-01-22T21:41:00.001-05:00

Of course Thomas Jefferson, a notoriously poor public speaker choose not to do the State of the Union in person and it was not until Woodrow Wilson that we had our addresses done in Congress again. Here is everyone from Washington through Obama.

State of the Union Bingo

2012-01-22T21:38:00.000-05:00

The State of the Union is Tuesday night and I always ask my students to watch. One way to do so is to have them play "State of the Union Bingo" (here and here) which lets them focus on key parts of the SOTU speech.

Polling Exercise

2012-01-22T15:13:00.001-05:00

Here is a simulation (no code necessary to see it) from my e-book for AP US Government on polling. It gives some history of polls and then asks the students to answer questions. After my students fine it they will have to find a poll in the last two weeks and tell me if it was a good one and why.

Economics Exercise

2012-01-22T12:45:00.003-05:00

Next week I am going to show this to my government students and ask them how it impacts our government. From my end items I will be looking for will be trade treaties (who makes them, approves them), diplomats, economics (Keynesian and trickle down economics), tariffs, the Internet age and its impact on the US economy, minimum wage and on and one.

Demographic Variables and Voting

2012-01-22T09:24:00.002-05:00

As soon as my students finish going over their midterm exams we are moving onto campaigns. One of the pages I will use is this one as it shows independent variables for voting such as age, income, ideology, education, issues, etc. It also shows how these groups voted in South Carolina.

All About Congress

2012-01-21T13:47:00.001-05:00

While I am promoting the NYTimes, here is its page on Congress. It has the major bills being discussed recently, today or more in the past, nominations, votes, who is leaving and more.

Election Calendar, Results and Delegates

2012-01-21T11:27:00.002-05:00

Here is a primary/caucus schedule along with the results and the number of delegates to the Republican national convention. This site shows the results as well as an explanation of how the delegates are selected after the presidential voting.

Real Clear Politics

2012-01-19T19:23:00.001-05:00

Real Clear Politics is an aggregator of political stories if you are looking to augment your daily e-paper. The site also has lots of polls.

DEBT LIMIT - A GUIDE TO AMERICAN FEDERAL DEBT MADE EASY

2012-01-17T17:34:00.000-05:00

Stephen Colbert's PAC Parody Explains Campaign Finance To America

2012-01-16T12:53:00.001-05:00

WeVideo Online Editor

2012-01-16T10:51:00.003-05:00

Ever since Jaycut was bought by Blackberry, I have been looking for a cloud based editor where one can edit videos in the cloud. Finally I have found it with WeVideo. Wevideo gives you two options (see video above) to either edit it in your own youtube account or to use their editor. If you want to collaborate (think student projects) then you can have others collaborate in real time from other locations and computers. There is a limit to the space, but students could make one video and put it on youtube and then have plenty of space for others. Cloud based video editors (or any tool) have the advantage over MovieMaker as it can be done on any computer and not lost. Thanks to Freetech4teachers for the heads up.

The US Debt Crisis Explained

2012-01-12T18:34:00.000-05:00

Gerrymandering Explained

2012-01-11T18:31:00.001-05:00

How the Electoral College Works

2012-01-11T18:30:00.001-05:00

All About US Primaries/Caucuses

2012-01-11T18:27:00.001-05:00

When I dreamed up having a social studies blog four years ago getting people to e-mail me links and ideas is exactly what I wanted so it is great that the last three posts are exactly just that being modeled. One of the teachers in my tech integration course last fall, Emily Gregory, send me this site (above) which does a great job at looking at how primaries in the US work.

What To Look For in South Carolina

2012-01-11T14:16:00.001-05:00

Ideological Changes in the US Senate + S Court

2012-01-11T14:10:00.000-05:00

Here is another link from Zak McNamara that shows the ideological shift since the beginning of our US Senate. You can look at sections of the country or just your state or the country as a whole. Here is a similar chart for the US Supreme Court based on the presidents who appointed the members.

Recess Appointments

2012-01-11T14:04:00.000-05:00

This is a great graph showing recess appointments from FDR to the present. By far and away the winner of doing it is Ronald Reagan. Thanks to Zak McNamara who works with me in our online campus for the heads up on it.

Who Is Your Candidate?

2012-01-11T12:42:00.004-05:00

One of my students found this quiz that will help your students decide who is the best presidential candidate for them.

Whipple Report on All Politics in VA

2012-01-10T12:43:00.001-05:00

This is only for those of you who teach government in VA. For the past decade+ Tom Whipple of former state senator Mary Margaret Whipple (D-Ar) has put together clippings from newspapers around the state. While Whipple was a devoted Democrat the service, found here, is entirely non-partisan and is read by elected officials, lobbyists, teachers and professors across the state. In the last year it has been taken over by The VA Public Access Project. At any rate if you want to following what is happening in VA politics, esp. right now while the legislature is in session, I'd go to this website daily or, as I do, sign up for the daily e-mail.

List of super PACs

2012-01-09T16:59:00.001-05:00

Above is the most recent (and biting) advertisement by Gingrich's super PAC. Here are all of the super PACs. I have written about the definition of super PACs, but they are a direct result of Citizens United v. F.E.C. and essentially are the follow-up to 527s allowing their individuals and corporations to give unlimited donations to one. The key is that there cannot be any collaboration between the candidate and the super PACs - even though they seem to mostly be run by former staffers of the presidential candidate. My question will be will the super PAC people be given key jobs in the next presidential administration, be it Obama, Romney or someone else. The ad above (here is an article detailing it) is possible because of a $5 million donation to his super PAC by one individual and is a huge help to his South Carolina campaign.

What Does the First Lady Do?

2012-01-09T09:38:00.001-05:00

My school is all a abuzz since Michelle Obama is coming to my school on Friday to preview an episode of iCarly (my own children would love to see that part!). For a government teacher it marks a perfect example to talk about the role of the first lady as well as Michelle Obama's role in her husband's re-election. This site has a great several page write-up of the first lady's role (and in general "How Stuff Works" has a lot of helpful videos). Obama does not get paid for her job, but she does have a paid staff which is housed in the east wing of the White House and, of course, a website.

Iowa Results

2012-01-04T06:31:00.001-05:00

This NYTimes page has the Iowa caucus results in both 2012 and 2008 (Romney was almost identical in percentage and numbers both times), how the delegates are selected to their state and national convention and a map where you can see each individual county and the results. Here is how much each vote cost the individual candidates.

Google Politics and Elections

2012-01-03T20:58:00.001-05:00

Google has a politics and elections page out which has a news feed, a Google + item, youtube channel and best of all the daily schedule of those running for president.

Do You Want To Take My Technology Integration Course?

2012-01-03T17:00:00.000-05:00

I am teaching a technology integration course (p. 42) for social studies teachers for Fairfax County, VA teachers. It will start January 31st and run for 10 Tuesdays from 4:30 to 7:30. It filled up very quickly in the fall, so please sign up early. To sign up go to MyPLT, then put "social studies" in the search box and look for the title "Enhancing the Use of Technology in the Social Studies Classroom."

Iowa Is A Poor Predictor

2012-01-02T19:35:00.000-05:00

As this video explains, especially for Republicans who wins the Iowa Caucus is a poor indicator of who will win the party's nomination (and yes Dems are voting tomorrow too). 538.com now has a statistical tie between Romney, Paul and Santorum.

The Iowa Caucus Explained

2012-01-02T15:31:00.002-05:00

In case your students ask you tomorrow, here is a nice explanation of how the Iowa caucus works.

New Perry Ad

2011-12-29T19:01:00.000-05:00

Based on the polls, not many people care, but here is the latest Perry advertisement nonetheless. Remember, though, that Gingrich, while he has fallen in Iowa and New Hampshire is still ahead in South Carolina and Florida.

Google Apps for Education Learning Center

2011-12-28T07:45:00.002-05:00

In October my county became a Google Apps for Education (GAE) county which means, among other things, that my students are now completely virtual. But for those who have are still making the adjustment to GAE, here is a site that might make your transition smoother.

New Site on Political Ads

2011-12-25T16:23:00.004-05:00

This site is one more example of how the WashPost is finally trying to get into the digital age. The site includes all the latest political advertisements by both the candidates and the super PACs. Additionally it will tell you the cumulative and weekly advertisement spending for each candidate as well as where the ads are being shown. Obviously right now you will see most of the spending in Iowa and New Hampshire. According to the NYTimes, there have been 10,600 negative ads and 6000 positive ones in Iowa so far this year costing $3.3 and $1.3 million respectively.

Where Do I Vote?

2011-12-24T23:35:00.001-05:00

Well if your students don't know where to vote (assuming they are voting in a primary this spring or in their home location next fall), here is a precinct locator for all 50 states.

Absentee Voter Guide For All 50 States

2011-12-24T23:22:00.001-05:00

As I said below I am going to have my students get their phones out and mark in their calendars a reminder to vote this fall (my father is a political refugee from the Czech Republic so I feel pretty strongly on this). Here is how your students (no matter your state) can register and then vote absentee this fall.

My students are voting this spring - are yours?

2011-12-24T14:30:00.001-05:00

My government students will be voting on March 6th even though most of them are not yet 18. Any person who will be 18 on this fall's election day is allowed to vote in a primary and caucus in their state. Obama is the only Democrat on the ballot, but Romney and Paul have already qualified (even though Perry and Gingrich haven't). During my Ph.D. years I read several quantitative papers on what increases the likelihood of voting. One of the independent variables is whether or not there is pre-registration (which is why I brought the registration ballots to class so my students would not forget that part). A second one is being married, income and interesting enough just the practice of voting. So on March 6th my students will begin that practice. Even if they have lost their precinct card I will show them how to get the location online. Next I will have them put our county's voting link in their phone so they will get a reminder to get their absentee ballot next fall and then by election day, I am hoping they will already have two votes under their belts. Of all my assignments this year, it will be the most important.

Behind the Scenes w. Romney

2011-12-23T10:56:00.002-05:00

New Perry Ad

2011-12-23T09:17:00.002-05:00

The candidates will soon take a two day break, but there are still new ads coming out. Here is the newest one from Rick Perry.

Share Your Computer Screen or Take Over Someone Else's

2011-12-23T08:58:00.001-05:00

Sometimes my students need help with something technical we are doing. Well now I can take over their screen or they can see mine. Well now I can easily take over their computer screen. From the same makers of Screencastomatic (which I've blogged about before), you can now use Quick Screen Share to let someone else see what you are doing or even to take over their computer screen. As with Screencastomatic you do not need to set up an account and only need to let a small java file run to be able to do it. A big thanks to Notanotherhistoryteacher for this heads up.

Lots of New Politics

2011-12-22T09:43:00.000-05:00

One of the items we study is the DCCC whose new webpage you can see above which reminds me of the famous Newsweek cover when Gingrich lost the government shutdown debate. The group is trying to capitalize financially on the House's refusal to approve the tax extension. Here is a new ad from the DNC attacking Romney. While we are at it, here is an endorsement by the Concord Monitor supporting Huntsman who has been campaigning overtime in NH. Here also is an advertisement with Anita Perry. Finally for this smorgasbord, here is Newt's schedule for the last few days. I like to show these kinds of things to my students so they can see how hard it is to be president. Yesterday, for example, he was in three states.

A Little Fun

2011-12-21T11:37:00.001-05:00

I am one of those teachers who actually teach all the way up to winter break, but I do allow kids to bring in "learning food" so that we can relax a bit, but still learn. Being a techie we spent a few minutes with "tech fun" as well. For example if you go to Google, type in "let it snow" and after your screen has fogged up, use the cursor to write as if it were a fogged up window. Other fun can come from writing "do a barrel roll" in a Google search engine or even seeing what you get when you write "where is Chuck Norris" in the search engine. Have fun and know that I will continue putting up updates over the winter break.

Prezi's New Feature

2011-12-19T14:01:00.000-05:00

Perhaps capitalizing on the growing popularity of the +1 button on Google, Prezi has made it easier (and it was fairly easy to begin with) to create a Prezi as they too have a "+" button to add in the new features in your presentations. Here is what I have posted in the past on Prezi.

Redistricting Interactives

2011-12-19T10:38:00.001-05:00

I've written about this WashPost site which lets you see the impact of redistricting and here is a similar one from the NY Times. The latter one lets you see the changes from 1920 to the present.

Apportionment

2011-12-19T10:34:00.001-05:00

For some reason my students seem to confuse reapportionment with redistricting. I just received this video from a colleague across my county, Rebecca Small, which should help my students in the future.

Gerrymandering

2011-12-19T10:21:00.001-05:00

This is a short on gerrymandering (they called it "gerry rigged"). The media always say that gerrymandering is what keeps politicians in office and political scientists claim it is the "incumbency factor."

Day to Day Polling on 538

2011-12-16T17:58:00.000-05:00

As the short video above explains, Nate Silver of 538.com will now be updating his electoral forecasts each morning on this site. Right now they have Newt with a 38% chance of winning the Iowa Caucus with 22% of the vote. Paul follows with 20.3 and Romney with 20.2% of the vote.

Polls - Gallup & RealClearPolitics

2011-12-16T13:04:00.001-05:00

The Gallup poll organization has a page with all their latest presidential polls. Above is the one released today showing Gingrich losing some steam. Another good polls page is RealClearPolitics which shows a similar trend in Iowa for Gingrich. Here is their election page.

Romney vs Gingrich vs. Paul (new ads)

2011-12-15T22:14:00.001-05:00

Budget Game

2011-12-15T22:10:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow my AP Gov students will have to look at the budget and balance it. They will be using this interactive game that I found at the NYTimes last year. Yes, they will be expected to do what Congress and the president can't accomplish!

How to Download Everything At Once In Google Docs

2011-12-14T18:02:00.001-05:00

This year my county has introduced Google Apps, but due to our interpretation of COPPA, we are not letting our students (and since they can not be separated out, our teachers & administrators) share with someone outside of our domain. If you have the same issue where you teach, it might be a concern for students who are graduating or leaving your school system. Well a bunch of engineers at Google have a site explaining how to download any of their products in batch download. Here is how you can do it for Google Docs. Then, of course, you could tell your students (or fellow teacher) to turn around and re-upload it in a free Google Docs, so they take it with them to their next school.

US Department of State Education Webpage

2011-12-14T15:10:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I had a chairs' meeting for my county at the US Dept of State (there are many advantages to living in the DC metro area). They now have an educational website you can use with your students which explains what diplomats do, what is the role of embassies, what is a consulate and much more. There are plenty of interactives and more to come.

Demographics on the US Congress

2011-12-14T10:58:00.001-05:00

One of the teachers in my department just asked if I knew the demographics of the US Congress. So, I searched and this is what I found. It has race, religion, gender, marital status and age.

Calling Long Distance Parents

2011-12-14T05:32:00.001-05:00

Increasingly my students' parents have long distance numbers that I need to call to reach them. While my school will provide me with a long distance calling card, it is much quicker to just go into my gmail and call from there. As you can see in the picture above, you need to download a small file and then simply hit the "call" button and a dial pad appears. Then you dial in the number and call from your computer. Google just announced that they are allowing free calls (they keep extending it) through 2012.

Youtube Blocked At Your School? Here's A Solution

2011-12-13T19:35:00.002-05:00

Thankfully my principal has finally agreed to unblock youtube at my school, but if that is not the case for you, then you should watch the video above. Youtube has tagged (so far) about 200,000 videos that they deem educational which you can see here. Additionally there are no other videos to see afterwards. Youtube allows you to see short video clips that back help the students visualize what you have just been teaching.

Nate Silver's 538

2011-12-13T05:47:00.002-05:00

Three years ago baseball statistician Nate Silver took his numbers to the presidential election trying to figure out who was going to be the next president and taking the leap of being the first person to accurately figure out the electoral college. In the process he very quickly became widely respected and wasn't far off in the prediction. He has done so well that the NYTimes has bought his blog and he has a book on the way. If you want to see the role of statistics in politics (which is, by the way, what political scientists do), it is a great and very helpful teaching tool. His blog is called 538.com.

If Not Romney or Gingrich, then Who?

2011-12-13T05:43:00.001-05:00

The Republican party has made it pretty clear that it doesn't really want Romney (even if he is most likely to win the nomination). But one of my favorite blogs, 538.com, makes an argument (yes, it is a real stretch) that Huntsman can win. At any rate, above is one of his television ads.

Comprehensive Magruder's Ancillaries Page

2011-12-09T22:22:00.001-05:00

Something like 90% of US students use Magruder's American Government for non AP classes. Here is their rather extensive free ancillaries including quizzes for each chapter "progress monitoring online")

Give Google Docs a Try

2011-12-09T21:25:00.001-05:00

Have you been reading this blog a while and wondered why I talk so much about the virtues of Google Docs. Well without even getting a free account, you can go here and see of the great tools that come with Google Documents, Presentations (PowerPoints), Spreadsheets and Drawings. The great thing is that you can do most of what you pay for with Windows and you can do it on any smart phone, tablet or laptop and collaborate with up to 100 people anywhere, instantly for FREE.

Pollster.com

2011-12-09T20:46:00.001-05:00

A great source for polls is Pollster.com. Above is the most recent presidential one. Run your cursor over the poll to see the names and to see the entire poll run it from side to side.

New Perry Ad

2011-12-09T20:43:00.001-05:00

Not that he is doing well in the polls, but this ad is getting a lot of negative buzz and already has over three million hits.

US Government Games

2011-12-09T11:09:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we had a remediation sharing meeting at my school with the other 26 high schools in my county. One of the items that came up was US Government Games which allows one to test oneself on the executive branch, checks and balance, the branches of government and the Obama administration.

LBJ Interactive Daily Diary

2011-12-08T17:38:00.003-05:00

The Lyndon Johnson Library has created a great interactive feature of the president's daily diary. They have isolated 6 key events in LBJ's presidency and added audio, video and other primary documents to the daily diary. A great resource!

NYTimes Election App

2011-12-08T11:22:00.001-05:00

You can now get an election app for your ipad from the NYTimes which will give you News, opinion, polls and live election night results.

New Ads from Perry and Paul

2011-12-06T05:09:00.001-05:00

My students love watching the campaign ads and they give us the chance to go over how much people can give to candidates ($2500, unless there is a caucus/primary and then $5K to the winner) or to a PAC ($5K) or to a super PAC (unlimited). Here is an ad that will soon be on tv from the super PAC Making Us Great Again which supports Perry and here is one on Perry's fatih. Above is Ron Paul's latest Iowa advertisement.

Gingrich Releases First Ad in Iowa

2011-12-05T05:14:00.001-05:00

Gingrich's lead is growing in Iowa and he is second in New Hampshire. Also, it appears that Cain will endorse him soon. Above is his first television advertisement.

Federal Regulations

2011-12-04T15:00:00.001-05:00

My fellow government teacher, Rich Hoppock, wanted to expand on what we do on regulations so found a lot of these links. First off here is the definiton of regulation regulation and here is the US government site where you can find all our regulations and where students can see and make comments on them. Here is article from the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation. It mentions the fact that the US government regulates noise on our television sets, so here is an article on Obama signing legislation into law in 2010 allowing this. But this site tells you that we still have not actually approved a regulation allowed by this law. For the opposite point of view here is an article from the liberal leaning WashPost article stating that businesses have no problems, generally with regulations. So our students will have to be able to define a regulation, tell who makes them, how they get enabled, what they think about them and what are the definitions of liberal and conservative. If you want a funny regulation, here is one we have read in my class in the past on the size of cheese holes (pgs. 8-10).

Pardons Reflect A Disturbing Trend

2011-12-03T23:48:00.003-05:00

The power to pardon is one of the ultimate Constitutional powers bestowed on the Executive. Here in an investigative piece of journalism co-published by the Washington Post and Pro Publica, it is disturbing to see that even with an office within the department of Justice dedicated to sifting through all of those applications and making objective recommendations directly to the President, certain characteristics tend to draw the eye of this office and ultimately the mercy of the President. This article uses data from 500 of the cases considered during the George W. Bush administration and it also places the investigation into historical context.

More on Predicting the 2012 Presidential Race

2011-11-30T18:13:00.001-05:00

Democrats Ruy Teixeira and John Halpin have gained some renown predicting presidential races (alas without always using multivariate regressions). My students are going to have to look at their just released report looking at page 2 (Table 1) which shows Obama unemployment and his approval in all states. Then I will want them to look at the changes in demographics in the swing states (in the subsequent pages) and using the 270towin.com page (post below) will have to predict who will win the 2012 presidential election. Obviously this assumes a political science model where rhetoric has less to do than does the economy.

Electoral College in Plain English

2011-11-30T17:58:00.001-05:00

We just did the electoral college and the video above is a great short explanation of it. Here is a site (270towin) you can use with it as it allows you to figure out the electoral votes that would happen if a state goes one way or another. I am going to have my students look at my post on the economy in swing states and see who they think is going to win.

Annotate Any Video on Youtube

2011-11-29T05:28:00.001-05:00

You can now go to EmbedPlus and put in a video url and it will allow you to put comments on it as well as start and end where ever you want in the video. This might be nice if you want your students to show they have watched a video they are using in a project or to enhance it with outside information they have found about the video. Above is the super PAC I posted about below, but with four additional comments. Here is a link to it and here is a video explaining how to use embedplus. I found out about how to do this from Notanotherhistoryteacher.

Who Should You Vote For in the Presidential Election?

2011-11-28T16:23:00.001-05:00

As we get closer to the presidential election, we will see more of these, but for now ElectNext asks you a bunch of questions and then selects the presidential candidate that is most like your views. It does require that you have an e-mail to do the questions. I found the site from a Tweet from "Techcocktail."

Consulting for Your Department, School and District

2011-11-27T11:03:00.001-05:00

Have led 15 district-wide, in-services for Fairfax County, VA (12th largest district in the US), as well as international conferences such as the Global Education Conference. Initiated, piloted and implemented e-books for Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) district. Teach a technology integration course which is applicable to all content areas. Advise school districts regarding converting to teaching entirely online, including network requirements, preferred interface (laptops v. tablets) for student use and best websites to enhance online learning. Featured in the Washington Post (here and here), in Education Week and cable television. Worked with e-book companies, created an online course, am a national board certified teacher and have a Ph.D. in my primary content area (full C.V). For consultation services for your department, school or district, e-mail me at kenhalla@gmail.com.

Republican Super PAC

2011-11-27T06:22:00.001-05:00

I've mentioned the new Democratic leaning super PAC (Priorities USA) below, well here is Karl Rove's super PAC, Crossroads GPS, which has a new ad out (above). Another Republican one is Americans for Prosperity.