Best of History Lesson Plans

Some classic superhero Bollywood dance numbers. via Boing Boing.

If you are a history teacher looking to make the most of free web resources in the classic, have a look at this list of lesson plans and activities from Best of History Web Sites. This is a very good list pointing to resources from the BBC, Smithsonian, Discovery, C-Span and many individual teachers.

Flight Level 350

Dear all, I welcome myself back after a long stint away. I have no excuse.

So today I present another all-time favourite of mine, Flight Level 350. Although not strictly a 'learning site', this vast database of aviation videos contains the full spectrum of aviation videos - from superb crosswind landings by Jumbo's to a cockpit view of an MD-11 landing in Stockholm. There really is every aviation video imaginable on this site. The learning side of this site comes with many of the videos, providing you with interesting facts of the aircraft, performance, spec, etc. The Forums are also a popular place to share opinions, ask technical questions and review the videos.

Enjoy

Great Map Collection from the Boston Public Library

Map lovers should check out the webpage for the Norman B. Levanthal Map Center at the Boston Public Library. The library has imaged many highlights from their 200,000+ collection of maps and atlases from all times and places. Start with the virtual tours for an overview. Teachers should also see the Educational Resources for teaching ideas (such as the Darfur exercises).

On the topic of maps, we looked at the wonderful Strange Maps blogs a few months ago. If you haven't been in a while, give it another look. It's still going with many fun curiousities, such as the mysterious East German island near Cuba.

Grammar Girl at Quick & Dirty

Lots of good writers still make grammar errors. So why not spend 6 minutes trying to correct them? There are plenty of good grammar sites on the web, but Grammar Girl has won me over with the quick episodes and useful info. Not to mention her sharp wit and lovely voice. If you're looking for a place to start, try i.e. versus e.g. or the comma splice (where she correct Scott Sigler - lots of geek cred). Here's the iTunes link.

P.S. Ms. Grammar Girl, I know I make many mistakes on this blog but I promise to do better.

The Mutopia Project

Looking for open sheet music? Check out the Mutopia Project. More than 800 works by classical composers such as Bach, Chopin and Mozart are available and organized by instrument and style. The music can be downloaded in A4 or letter-sized paper and midi files are also available.

SuTree

Back from a long trip and a longer case of the flu. Here's "Heartbeats" from The Knife.

We've looked a couple sites trying to find educationally relevant online video clips in a world full of bad home videos and softcore porn. Two of the better eduvideo sites, Videojug and Expert Village produce their own professional videos. SuTree takes a different approach - letting users round-up the quality materials already out there.

So far SuTree has more than 5000 lessons on topics ranging from finance to health to everyday advice. The videos come from user upload sites such as YouTube and Google Video as well as professional sites such as the BBC, CNN and the two sites mentioned above. Thanks to Avi (again) for the site suggestion.