3. Locate Standards.  In the Education Dept. Office here.
Social Studies
http://www.ncss.org/standards/stitle.html
History
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/nchs/standards.html
Geography (sort of)
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/education/standards.html
Civics/Government
http://www.civiced.org/stds.html
Economics
http://www.economicsamerica.org/standards/index.html
Psychology – High School, but is my area anyway.
http://www.apa.org/ed/natlstandards.html
Anthropology
This is a general site listing other sites.  Maybe slightly redundant, but could be useful.
http://www.education-world.com/standards/national/soc_sci/index.shtml

This really, really, cool index of everything!!!
http://www.indiana.edu/~ssdc/stand.htm
 

Massachusetts
http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html

4. Local Standards- Massachusetts.
It looks like it is arranged the same way as the text describes.  It has the themes which are the same throughout, as well as the scope and sequence.

     I’m thinking that this year, either Martin Buser or Jerry Riley is going to win the Iditarod.  Martin Buser won last in 1997.  I think he is going to be ready for a comeback.  Jerry Riley just retired, so he has had time to devote to the dogs.  It has been a while since his victory in 1976, but I think that he could do it if he wanted to.
      Running the Iditarod is totally about caring for the dogs.  Dogs that are not well cared for will not run well.  There are all sorts of health and safety checks to make sure that the dogs are treated properly, and that they are capable of running without injury.  Often, the dogs are better treated than the mushers themselves.  There is a series of tests that the dogs have to go through before the races.  They are given microchip identifications.  There are rules as to how much food they need to send ahead to the rest points for them.  They have to be given a snack about every half an hour along the trail.  They eat meat, and vitamins sometimes.  They have to wear booties on their feet in certain types of snow, to protect their paws.  Some types of snow can be very sharp.

More to come.

        The history of the Iditarod is very interesting.  It could be used as a platform to look at disease epidemics, and how they effected different areas.  (This links to the medieval period when history was changed by the plague.)  It could also relate to the general move west, and how gold boom towns would develop and flourish, and then fade away when the gold was gone, leaving ghost towns that still exist in some places.  It could also be a model to look at how local traditions formed in the area.  After seeing what the Iditarod commemorates, students could research how a local event became custom.  (Like a parade, or other event, will vary by school.)
        The Iditarod covers a varied geography.  Besides mapping out the area, students could use it to study weather.  Wind patterns are affected by the land, and they could use the wind dangers in a lesson.  Or, it could be related to other long journeys that cover varied terrain, and what kind of supplies that someone making another type of journey would have to bring to get to their destination.  We did this in my 8th grade class, planning what we would bring on the Oregon trail.  We had to limit our weight, so we had to choose wisely what we would bring on the trail, but we also had to be able to survive.
        The Iditarod is a grueling race.  It takes a lot of mental strength.  This has an effect on the person, which will probably last a long time.  This could be linked to coming of age experiences around the world in which a young person has to go through a tough experience, and how it changes them.  It could also be used to help students look at themselves, what difficult things have happened in their lives that have made them stronger?
        The Iditarod comes from an old method of transporting goods on tough terrain.  This method has become somewhat obsolete (not completely yet) with the advance of new transportation techniques.  Maybe this could look at how transportation systems affect the economic character of an area through trade opportunities.  It could also connect to government, and how as transportation improves, it is possible to govern large areas more easily.  This could be linked to why some empires didn’t last, because they were too hard to govern (British, Greek, Roman, etc.).
Sociology
Anthropology

 Thematic Units look in depth at a topic with a limited scope.  Looking at things more deeply gives students the information they need to carry out higher levels of thinking about these topics.  The scope of a thematic unit needs to be limited, or it will be too hard to carry out.

While this site was designed for adult education, the basic steps involved seem to be the same.
http://www.cait.org/ciaesc/training/ged2002/prep/themat.html

 One of the things that I always liked best in my social studies classes growing up was when we could learn about history and people from stories.  Sometimes the stories were real, but often they weren’t.  I have trouble finding a lesson from social studies in this reading.  I see it more as a lesson in life.  The deer has run out of options.  She has no choice but to take a risk to try to save her life.  But it is a huge risk that could be just as fatal.  Yet she does it out of desperation.  Then there is the man, who is the refuge, but could also be the hunter.  He has a choice, ha can give his refuge, or he could kill the doe for meat, or he could scare her off and leave her literally to the wolves.  But he lets her stay, because he sees the life in her, recognizes her right to exist, and her willingness to trust him and his fire.  He doesn’t take advantage of her helplessness.  This is how we should offer shelter in everyday life, not taking advantage of those we can help.

 My first thought was of something natural that might glow.  There are organic things that are phosphorescent, but by the description, it seems to be too bright to be that.  In a science class, students would examine the phenomenon in a systematic manner, possibly using the scientific method to propose possibilities as to what was causing the glow, and then to test those ideas.  In my case, I had to look in the book to find out that it was a type of algae after all.

 I realize that I don’t have to say anything about this one, but I couldn’t help but notice how differently Gary Paulsen writes about his first start of the Iditarod.  In Winterdance, he has a much more detailed description.  I felt like the best parts of the story were missing from Woodsong.  But, I can understand that Winterdance would not be suitable for younger students because of its detail and language.  I recommend it to adults though.

I also want to highly recommend the books by Gary Paulsen which he is best known for, Brian’s stories: Hatchet, Brian’s Winter, The River, and Brian’s Return.  I loved Hatchet as a child, and have avidly read the others as they were written, and have found it to be an excellent series about survival.

Some cute sled dog cartoons, etc.

Other Sled dog races include:

Bemidji's 29th Paul Bunyan Sled Dog Race, Bemidji, Minnesota USA
March 9-10
http://www.paulbunyan.net/sleddograce/

Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Race, Fort Kent, Maine
March 2, 2002
http://can-am.sjv.net/
will occur based on 2 feet of snow?

Normally there would be races in PA, but most are cancelled due to lack of snow this year. http://www.delanet.com/~huskys/

Sled dog sites:
http://dmoz.org/Sports/Sled_Dog_Racing/

Race To The Sky! A Great Montana Tradition  February 08 - February 14, 2002
http://wintermt.com/other/racetothesky.htm

http://www.usgs.org/

        The most recent Volcano was Tyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  It erupted in January of 2002.
        Most volcanoes occur around the edges of the tectonic plates.  Around the pacific plate, there are many volcanoes, giving rise to the name “ring of fire.”  There have been volcanoes in the United States.  One of the most famous is Mt. St. Helen’s, in Washington State.  It erupted repeatedly in 1980, beginning on May 18th.  (My grandfather will tell you that it erupted the day after I was born because I was such a beautiful baby that the mountain was jealous.  Other days he will just say that it was my fault that the mountain erupted.)
        Other recent volcanoes include Mt. Etna in Sicily, Italy; KARANGETANG, Siau Island, Indonesia; and KILAUEA, Hawaii, USA.

        Volcanoes have affected the world throughout history.  It is believed that a volcano in the Middle Ages changed the course of history in Europe by its effects on the weather influencing the livelihood of certain groups.  Volcanoes can be linked to other events in history just by how the volcano influenced society and government.
         Economies can be destroyed by volcanoes, as happened in the Caribbean in the 1990’s.  An entire economy was destroyed when a volcano erupted.  Students could look at the economic effects of volcanic eruptions.  At the same time, it can effect the government of an affected area.
         Volcanoes change geography of an area.  They also affect climate in many ways.  Students can look at volcanoes and see what effects that have.  They can also be linked to lessons with using maps, and changing maps as volcanoes erupt.
 Some areas have been quickly buried by volcanoes.  Students can look at volcanoes like the one which covered Pompeii, and see what an Italian city was like in the past.
         Sociology and Anthropology could be related by the ways that people and groups respond to volcanoes.  In some areas of the world, cultures developed near volcanoes, and included them in their history and belief systems.  There are still societies living near volcanoes today, and students could loom at how life is different near these volcanoes than far from them.

Evaluation of a volcano website

     The first thing that struck me was that I don’t know how to use older methods of locating information very well at all.  I have grown up using computers to find things (my public library had a computer catalogue by the time I was 10), so I never really needed to use a card catalogue.  Even now, I rarely have needed to use printed indexes of periodicals and such, because the internet has most of the information that I have needed.
     The other thing that caught my attention was the fact that I am not very good at keeping up with current events.  I used to know more when I watched the news with my parents.  Now, I prefer not to turn the television on most of the time, so I end up not know what is going on.
     I understand that I need to posses skills to teach them, but how do I improve the skills that I’m not so good at?

 I went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum yesterday with a group from campus.  The museum I think is set up to really be age appropriate for school children.  Each descriptor has two parts.  The first is the large type, which has the best overview.  Then underneath there is small type, which is generally more in depth and complicated to read and understand.  The museum has been set up very tastefully.  While there are many images, the images that are inappropriate for a younger audience are displayed on screens that are behind a high wall.  In this way, only those who are taller can see them.  The museum really tries to communicate with people in different ways (different learning styles).  There are pictures, words, videos, sounds, and objects.  There even is an attempt to use lighting and temperature to create an ambiance that changes.  As you progress through the museum, things get darker, and then lighter as you learn about rescue.
 I spent three and half-hours in the museum, and I skipped over a lot of the information about rescue that I had learned about in a class this semester.  If I was going to bring a group of middle school students, I would probably go through ahead of time, and pick out which portions of the exhibit were most important for them to see, and gave a good overview of the museum.  I would tell them what they should focus on, and hold them accountable for it, by either making them take some notes, answer some specific questions, or write a journal entry after.  I also would not plan to be there for more than 2 hours, because they would lose interest perhaps if they were there too long.  I know that I started to wish that I could be there in three different trips, one for each floor, but unfortunately, that would be very difficult to do.