Earth Hour

This past weekend was Earth Hour. Have a discussion with your advisees to find out if anyone participated, and if they did, how did they participate?

Earth Hour 2010 inspired an estimated one billion people, organizations, corporations and governments to come together and take a strong stance against climate change. Starting in New Zealand and following the sun around the globe, Earth Hour asked everyone to do something quite simple—turn off the lights at 8:30 p.m. local time. Just one hour for an individual, and 24 hours for the whole world.

In the U.S., where the effects of climate change are increasingly apparent, it felt good to vote for action with a light switch, dimming lights at home and watching iconic landmarks from the Las Vegas Strip to the Empire State Building go dark. Here, Earth Hour’s message hit home: We care about this country and want to turn off the lights on dirty air, dangerous dependence on foreign oil and costly climate change impacts; and make a switch to a cleaner, safer and more secure world.

You can visit the official website here.

Continue the discussion...if you didn't participate in Earth Hour this year, what can you start doing every day to help conserve energy? Why is this important to do as a global community?

Current Events: Flash Mobs in Philadelphia

We've all seen them...we've seen the most famous ones on youtube and even on the Oprah Winfrey Show! Flash mobs began as a large creative outlet organized by social media. In Philadelphia, police have begun arresting a group of teenagers for violent flash mob behaviors. Click here to read the article.

Here are some guiding discussion questions about flash mobs.

These are some videos showing creative uses of flash mobs:

Digital Citizenship: Proxy Servers

Did you know that most schools put on content filters and blocks not to annoy you, but to keep you safe at school? There are many students using proxy servers to get around school filters and blocks in order to access games, social networking sites, and possibly some inappropriate content.

Here is an interesting article about what kind of information the proxy servers you may be accessing can do with information about you.

Here are some discussion questions for you to think about:

Do you think it is ok for kids to use proxy servers at school?

Why do you think kids use proxy servers at school?

Is using a proxy server like breaking and entering?

Should a student be punished for using a proxy server?

Do you think using a proxy server violates school rules compared to any other school rules?

Do you think schools should unblock all content or just some content?

Current Events: CNN Student News & Flocabulary

Here is the student news quiz for the week from CNN Student News.

This week's Flocabulary Week in Rap! See if you can use the CNN Student News above to create your own current events rap!

Did you know?

This video is a great springboard to discuss media and globalization with your students.

Current Events: Oscars & The Week in Rap

Did you watch the Oscars? What movies did you see from the best picture list. Check out this official Oscar site to talk about all things Oscar 2010!

...and the winners are ______________!