Archives: September, 2007

Beginning on October 20th, the NC Museum of History in Raleigh will present the exhibition, Mysteries of the Lost Colony and A New World: England’s First View of America from the British Museum. Visitors will see items from the 16th-century as well as Algonquin Indian artifacts. They can also walk through an Indian village exhibit which uses set pieces from the famous “Lost Colony” drama.

A New World: England’s First View of America features more than 70 watercolor drawings by artist, John White, a traveler on several voyages to the New World in the 1580s and Virginia Dare’s grandfather. These drawings are the “only surviving visual English record of America at the time of European contact.”

The exhibition runs through January 13, 2008. For more information, visit the North Carolina Museum of History website or call (919) 807-7900.

Applications are now being accepted for the North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s 2007–2008 Mini-Grant Program. All proposals must be submitted electronically using the Biotechnology Center’s online submission process. Proposals must be received by noon on January 23, 2008.

The Biotechnology Education Mini-Grant Program offers awards of up to $6,000 to assist in the development and implementation of activities, programs, and courses for biotechnology education and training at the K–12 level. Any North Carolina non-profit institution may apply.

For detailed information or to apply for a Biotechnology Education Mini-Grant, please visit the North Carolina Biotechnology Center website.

To Americans, autumn means harvest, colorful leaves, and crispness to the air. To the Chinese, the 15th of the 8th lunar month (Chicken Month) means it is time for the Chinese Moon Festival. Also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is a time when families get together, sing moon poems, and celebrate the harvest by eating moon cakes. It is also a night of romance for couples who will watch the moon rise and eat moon cakes and drink wine.

There are some legendary moon stories to tell during this time. The story of Chang Er describes her as floating to the moon and it is said that you can see her dancing on the moon at this special time of the year. Read more stories about Wu Kang, the Jade Rabbit, and the moon cake at http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/midfallstory.htm. Additional books on the Chinese Moon Festival can be found on the Family Culture website.

Moon cakes can be purchased at Chinese bakeries or markets. They symbolize longevity and good heath. The centers of the cakes may have dried fruit, coconut, pineapple, melon, red bean paste or lotus seed paste. You may also want to try to bake your own.

In our continuing quest for ways to “work smarter, not harder,” we bring you another key to the treasure chest of primary source materials in American Memory.

This latest installment of the North Carolina Educator’s Guide to the Library of Congress American Memory project is among the most useful because it includes ready-to-use resources. The hardest thing about using American Memory is searching across lots of different collections to find what you need; the collection is huge. Even if the treasure you seek is there, it is easy to get frustrated because it takes so long to collect the gems you find into an activity or thematic presentation.

Don’t give up! Check out the American Memory: North Carolina Educator’s Guide Learning Page: Activities and Features to find ready to use activities and subject specific features. You’ll be using what you find in class tomorrow.

National Estuaries Day takes place the last Saturday in September. Celebrate by taking a free, interactive field trip over the Internet hosted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Estuarine Research Reserves in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Estuary Programs.

“NOAA in the Carolinas” will be broadcast September 26–27, 2007 from the ACE Basin Reserve at Forth Johnson near Charleston, South Carolina. The program will cover hurricanes, watersheds, horse shoe crabs, the history of Fort Johnson, and much more.

Participation in these live, interactive Webcasts is free. Learn more and register at EstuaryLIVE.

Three new lesson plans use oral history excerpts from the Southern Oral History Program to explore the civil rights movement in North Carolina.

In Brown vs. Board of Education, students will listen to three oral histories, two from prominent Southern politicians, George Wallace and Jesse Helms. The third offers a contrasting opinion from the viewpoint of an African American woman from Charlotte whose children went to integrated schools.

Students will trace the life of Rebecca Clark in Race in her Lifetime. Clark, an African American woman, who was born in rural Orange County just before the Depression, witnessed the changes in civil rights over the years. Students will gain empathy for the challenge African Americans faced in the South, even in what is considered a “liberal” or “progressive” town like Chapel Hill. They will also learn about the election of Chapel Hill’s first black mayor, Howard Lee, and the importance of African American participation in the political process.

Students will discuss well-known civil rights protests in the context of personal risk in Civil Rights Protests and Dilemmas. They will also listen to two oral histories where individuals tell a story about a protest, or personal risk, they took in order to promote equality for African Americans.

Teach smarter, not harder. Instructify is a blog from LEARN NC where teachers can stock their toolboxes with practical, time-saving classroom ideas and cutting edge methods of instruction. It’s where to find useful, free technology to utilize in the classroom. And it’s a fun place to spend your planning period.

Instructify is also a verb. To Instructify means to find new ways to present the same old content. Or MacGyvering anything from software to Post-it notes into something you can teach with. It also works great as a command. As in, “Don’t just teach, Instructify!”

Whether you’re looking for a graphing calculator without having to drop a hundred bucks, or you want a faster, more accurate way for your English students to cite their sources on research papers, or if you’ve got some bright ideas you’d like to share with the rest of the class, Instructify is the place for you.

If you’d like more information, you may as well go to www.instructify.com already and see for yourself.

Whether you prefer to earn your CEUs at one o’clock in the morning, from a wireless coffee shop — in Trujillo, Peru, or simply from your planning period, LEARN NC’s professional development courses support you whenever and wherever you need new skills and knowledge. Unlike traditional models, our online professional development offers educators the opportunity to learn at their own pace, when they have the most energy, and through forums that kindle reflection and collaboration.

Enroll in a course that addresses your content area and fits your schedule. All LEARN NC courses follow a researched model for quality professional development and online learning. Our instructors’ advanced coursework and research expertise set them apart form other teacher-trainers.

LEARN NC has developed more than a dozen new courses that focus on two critical areas of need in North Carolina: improving teaching in core areas and closing the achievement gap for minority students. Topics include United States history, social justice, and global issues, as well as subjects where student achievement has been a particular challenge, like inquiry-based science and mathematics. For detailed descriptions of course offerings, visit our online courses page.

Courses are currently operated on a cost-recovery basis. LEARN NC works directly with schools to offer local professional development in an online setting that supports the professional learning community (PLC) model. Schools and school systems may also purchase blocks of seats in online courses for educators.

LEARN NC continues to provide North Carolina school systems the Train-the-Trainer program to develop local capacity for offering a select list of online professional development courses.

For additional information, contact Ross White.