Podcast #159 - Online Resources for Teaching the 2008 Election

Hello. A week from tonight we will elect a new president and many teachers across the nation are implementing online resources to explain the process to their students. I recently wrote an article which was published in School Library Journal magazine (September 2008 issue) describing a variety of resources. The article is available in print or you can view the entire article online here.

In today's podcast I discuss the resources listed below. If you use an additional online resource to teach the election please share it by adding a comment to this blog post.

Budget Hero

CNN Student News

Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonist Index

eLECTIONS Online Game

The Living Room Candidate

Select A Candidate

270 To Win

Direct link to Podcast #159 - Online Resources for Teaching the 2008 Election - MP3 Audio File

Podcast #75 - American Idol - Guilty Pleasure or Alarming Cultural Trend?

Hello. Yes, I'm an American Idol viewer. I'm not one of those crazy fans with posts on message boards, voting 30 times each week, checking out the blog rings of my favorite singer but I do watch. I also talk about it at lunch and record it if I'm away from the house at the time. Even my 3 year old likes to watch it and guess who will "go home" that week. But what does it mean when in last year's final there were over 65 million votes casts - roughly half the number cast in the 2004 presidential election? Is watching and talking about American Idol just a guilty pleasure that has captured our attention or do we as a nation spend way too much time talking and following American Idol, Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton, etc?

If you have a comment or question about this podcast or the Speaking of History podcast in general please feel free to leave a comment to this blog post or e-mail me at speakingofhistory@gmail.com

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Direct link to Podcast #75 - American Idol - Guilty Pleasure or Alarming Cultural Trend? - MP3 Format - 7:30 Minutes