Highlighting Education Resources

This week we’re very excited to announce that we’re unveiling a new and improved Gateway. While more information on the new features and capabilities of the site will be featured in the future, Peggy and I decided to welcome new Gateway users this week by discussing our respective columns, and what you can expect to find here. So my column this week deviates from its usual format in that I won’t be offering profiles of resources per se; that format will resume next week.

As the Gateway's resident librarian, my column discusses a new topic of interest to educators each week, and highlights educational resources that address that topic in creative or noteworthy ways. My colleague Peggy further discusses those resources and others in her companion column, and offers additional instructional ideas for incorporating such resources and topics into the classroom. Each day throughout the week, I also present additional resources on the week’s topic on our Facebook and Twitter pages, on which users can offer additional comments and prompt discussion. It's a great way for teachers, parents who homeschool, and other education professionals to provide feedback and discuss subjects and issues that pop up in the classroom. We hope you'll check those pages regularly, and contribute to the discussion!

Each week, I look for Gateway resources that address a current topic of interest, respond to users' requests, or simply pique my interest as a neat subject that has maybe been overlooked or offers innovative ideas for the classroom. I especially like highlighting resources that can be used across the curriculum, or resources that make creative use of technology. I'm especially excited by resources that address material in perhaps unexpected ways that will not only engage students, but also hopefully spark some new instructional ideas for teachers. For example, one Gateway lesson has students use math and evidence from text sections of Harry Potter to figure out the size of the character Hagrid, incorporating a nice math dimension to what could be a straightforward language arts unit. Likewise, this lesson on tessellations introduces students to math concepts used in art as they create "beasties" inspired by medieval bestiaries. Sometimes education by stealth methods is the most fun, right?

It's no secret that students are extremely tech-savvy, and in our columns, Peggy and I frequently feature ideas and resources that address 21st century skills. There are increasing numbers of educators who are incorporating technology into the curriculum in new and novel ways, whether it's using iPods for teaching students with dyslexia, Twitter for teaching summarization and foreign language skills, or Skype to illustrate digital storytelling concepts and exchange cultural and language information with students in different countries. This high school lesson on communicable diseases, for example, has students use embedded QR codes for additional information and activities.

In short, the goal of my column is to introduce users each week to the wealth of resources available through the Gateway, to tempt educators to explore subjects in new ways, and to integrate topics into existing lessons in a way that they haven't before. So, welcome to the new Gateway – we're so glad that you've joined us.