What’s New?
Another record breaking month for the Gateway with almost 2.5 million hits, lots of new members that are preparing to enter the world of education and a brand new affiliate member!
Welcome Hawaii State Teachers Association! HSTA is another leader in bringing the benefits of the Gateway to educators in their great state.
We at the Gateway thank you and welcome all of our new members from Hawaii!
Future educators are joining the Gateway in droves. The word is out that the Gateway is a powerful tool for finding exemplary lesson plans, a digitized view of state academic standards and at great collaborative tool to share information about what works in education. Check our Who’s Joining the Gateway section for a small sample of the many new members in preparation for a career in education. And, for you that have joined, thanks for helping us spread the word. The Gateway gets better with every new member and the contributions they bring. Remember that as a member of the Gateway you can choose whether your comments on the learning resources you find here are for public view or if you want to keep them for your personal use only. Of course, we encourage you to share but you do have options. It is your Gateway to 21st Century Learning courtesy of your local NEA affiliate organizations!
NEA and your state affiliate recognize that great public schools are the result of motivated students, involved parents, and well-prepared, innovative educators. The Gateway is a great opportunity for educators to expand their professional repertoire, exchange ideas, and individualize instruction.
NEA has partnered with the GEM Exchange, Gateway to Educational Materials, and JES & Co to support Gateway to 21st Century Skills, a website that combines state-of the art search technologies and a complete database of state academic standards for core subjects. The Gateway is your link to the resources you need to make learning meaningful and fun for your students.
New information about 21st century learning resources is being added every week to the Gateway. Don’t miss out on these great new additions. Here are just a few more recent examples of new items that you can find on the Gateway for you and your students:
Human Impact on the Everglades EnvironmentIn this lesson, students research changes that the Army Corps have made in the Everglades, focus on the human impact on the environment, design graphic organizers, summary statements, develop a Florida map of the Everglades region, and give a presentation about what they learned.
I Need Room to Breathe
Students use a pH indicator in a structured inquiry lesson to learn how exercise affects carbon dioxide levels in exhaled air.
Go Far in a Car
Traveling in a car can take you near or far. Through this literature-based lesson, students learn about rhyming words, that different things move at different speeds, and vocabulary as they explore transportation.
Gone to the Dogs
The students learn how to decode words by breaking multi-syllable words into basic syllables and counting those syllables. The children then play a station activity game that builds vocabulary and practices decoding multi-syllable words.
Complaint Department
In this activity, students write business letters describing a problem with a purchased product, and offering a possible solution to the problem.
Good Snack, Smart Snack
After completing a unit of study on nutrition, students work as company managers to design and advertise healthy snacks to sell. A list of ingredients will be listed for each snack and an advertisement will be designed to promote their product.
Quickly learn to search the huge collection of free learning resource. (Click this link to view our video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYqho-SN-m4) Our brief, seven minute, instructional video is now available on the home page of the Gateway. It’s never been easier to boost your professional skills, add more fun and individualized instruction to your repertoire of competencies. Join our cadre of 21st century educators today.
Make your search for resources from the Gateway or great benefit from your NEA membership easier and faster. Simply visit: http://www.thegateway.org and download the National Education Association Toolbar from the link in the middle of the page. The toolbar is ready for you! It easy and it’s FREE!
Did You Know?
The Gateway to 21st Century Skills receives thousands of visits a month from dedicated educators all over the world. Monday and Tuesday were the busiest days for the Gateway in the month of October. In fact, the Gateway is such a valuable and powerful tool that over 50% of the visitors added the Gateway to their browser Favorites or Bookmarks! In the last month, over 46% of the traffic came from people who have already bookmarked the Gateway to 21st Century Skills. Spread the word and help your fellow educators to realize the tremendous value NEA has provided for its members.
Are Your Members Using the Gateway?
Hawaii is the newest member of our branded states. Maryland, Colorado, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Washington, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, South Dakota and Tennessee have also created versions of the Gateway that display the state affiliate logos.
And now, not only will your affiliate members be greeted with a view of your logo but anyone who declares that they hail from your branded state will also see that affiliate’s logo. This will underscore your local commitment to provide the members of the profession with the tools and resources they need to succeed in driving up student achievement.
We want to hear from you. What would you like to see added to the Gateway? What improvements would you like to see? Send your suggestions, thoughts and observations on how we can make the Gateway to 21st Century Skills a more valuable tool for you, your students and your fellow teachers. Contact Bruce Walker at brucew@jesandco.org.
Gateway to 21st Century Skills Statistics for October 2007 – Another record breaking month!
October 2007 set another new record for traffic to the Gateway with over 2.4 million hits. In the month of October 2007, adjusted measures of traffic showed that 57,520 visitors created 2,429,410 hits on the site and visited 279,052 pages.
Who’s Joining the Gateway?
We have recently noted a trend toward a greater number of applications for membership from those preparing for a career in education. To celebrate we have selected a few to share with you.
Here are some excerpts from the biographies of recent Gateway applications for membership. Members show their support for the Gateway by joining and it is Free! Membership allows you to make notes and comment about the resources you find on the Gateway. You can share those observations with your peers or make comments that are only for your use. It’s like your own personal Gateway to almost 50,000 quality learning resources.
C.C. – California I am currently a student teacher at San Jose State University. I will earn my teaching credential in Spring 2008.E.E. – Massachusetts
I am a Doctoral student at Boston University. I am studying education and my main interest is the nexuses between mind and brain, learning and ability to learn, resilience and motivation.C.R. – Nevada
I am a student at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas and am working on my Associates in Elementary Education.R.O. - Nebraska
I am currently a student teacher with an ELL endorsement. My experience so far has been GREAT! Hopefully I will have a teaching position after I graduate in December.R. – Nebraska
I am a student at the University of Kearney-Nebraska. I am currently seeking my undergrad in Elementary Education and Special Education. I plan to finish up in the spring of 08' and then student teach in the fall of 08'.D.Y. - Kentucky
I am a student in the Masters of Arts in Teaching at Eastern Kentucky University.