Readers of George Orwell’s Animal Farm should remember Squealer, the pig whose “journalism” manipulated the entire animal society into unquestioningly supporting the dictatorial pig Napoleon. If they studied Animal Farm in the classroom, the depressing odds are they learned it as a good, all-American attack on socialism. The most simple-minded of our teachers make a [...]

Just a quick share of some resources I made optional for the “In Google We Trust” students I mentioned last time.  Transparency is all, so enjoy, quibble, supplement, whatever: Optional Media Literacy Readings: 1. Think Peer Reviewed journals are no better than blogs? “How Stuff Works” gives a good overview that will (I hope) make [...]

…the USA is so free? More from Save the Internet dot com (and watch the comments for the corporate lobbyists’ responses – they’re apparently paid to find posts like this, hit reply, and leave a tossed salad of obfuscations, red herrings, and straw men. Logic and debate teachers, help yourself to this real-world example. I’d [...]

I’m in Korea, and so out of the loop about much of American culture. Maybe you’ve already heard about the Yes Men, but they’re new to me – and they’ve blown me away. If you’re a regular reader, you may know that I’m a huge fan of satire, especially that of Jonathan Swift and Voltaire. [...]

An interesting issue: A student posts a reflective entry including YouTube video on a class history blog. The video creator is an anti-Semitic apologist for Germany in WW II. The student wrote two remarks that offended him. First, Today, there are still some racists believing in anti-Semitism just like Hitler. We cannot say they are [...]

Pageflakes – your free student and teacher start page I am a complete idiot for not reading Will Richardson religiously. Pageflakes for students and teachers is powerful stuff. – post by cburell Weblogg-ed » Using Pageflakes as Student Portal A gem from Will Richardson on classroom use of Pageflakes. I see a migration coming. – [...]

[Update: Ouch, that title bit me when I revisited this post after moving more boxes into my new apartment. I want to make it so clear (and try to below) that, as I've said before, I admire Karl immensely. Not only is he brilliant, he's also one of the few giants in this field who [...]

Unknown News | Lies from the Bush-Cheney administration Partisan? Yes. But also supported by documentary evidence. Could be a resource for Animal Farm, etc. Squealer doesn’t only symbolize Stalinist distorters of the truth, after all.–Clay Political News, Blogs, Humor featuring Republicans, Democrats, Independents and More For social studies and contemporary issues teachers looking for a [...]

Sick of students embedding full-length videos on their blogs and calling that “active learning”? Scenemaker is one answer to upping the bar for “video commentaries.” Here’s an example from the middle of a YouTube clip I love about the joys of bachelorhood: And here’s another about its follies: I wonder how easy it is to [...]

One (obvious) thing I will say for Technorati—it’s a great way to connect us to fellow travelers. It introduced me to “Ms. Sigman” just now, because she linked to this blog. Predictably, since the ideas here were noteworthy to her there, my visit to her blog revealed ideas there noteworthy to me as well. Ms. [...]