My Best Things List

This post is not so much a tip as it is a list of things that have been inspiring the work I want to do with students.  I feel like such a list is useful, because all of the ideas for lessons and projects that I have spring from the incredible work of other people.  In the interest of giving credit where credit is due, and connecting the school community to my own sources, here are some of my favorite things to watch, listen to, and use:

Diigo
Diigo is a tool for social bookmarking.  That means you can use it to save things on the web, share them to your friends or community, and retrieve them later easily.  By participating in groups, it's also a great way to keep informed about topics you're interested in.  I'm hoping to use it later in the year when we start research projects.  Here's a link to my Diigo page, where you can browse my public bookmarks and see what I've been reading.

Radiolab
Radiolab is hands down one of the best radio programs produced today.  They explore big ideas about science, philosophy, and the human experience in an absorbing, almost musical way.  As the creators put it, "Radiolab believes your ears are a portal to another world."From a media studies perspective, Radiolab is a great model for how to conduct interviews, compose a story, and edit an audio piece.

Planet Money
I started listening to Planet Money in early 2009, when I had finally realized that our economy was falling apart and I didn't understand why at all.  They report on ground-level stories that illustrate larger economic concepts in an easy to comprehend way.  From our vantage point in the Great Recession, Planet Money seems like essential listening for every citizen.

Radio Rookies
The episodes of Radio Rookies come from a WNYC (that's New York public radio) initiative that provides teenagers with the tools and training to create stories about themselves, their communities, and their world.  They hold workshops all around the city, and broadcast some of the incredibly powerful pieces that come out them to the world.  To get a feel for them, I highly recommend Facebook Drama.

Hackasaurus
I literally just discovered this site while looking for the Radio Rookies link, but after poking around for 20 minutes I've decided it might be the best tool ever invented for learning HTML and CSS.  Those are the two languages that define the content and style of every website you've ever seen.  Just their X-Ray specs will blow your mind.

Axe Cop
This one's a bit silly, but I love the idea: a 29 year old cartoonist draws the stories that his 5 year old brother tells about his toy cop action figure.  They're crazy, disjointed, and hilarious; a wonderful tribute to the power of imagination we all once had.