Advance
excellent teaching
with Annenberg
Learner.
In the Spotlight
for February
Curriculum Focus:
Psychology/Neuroscience -
Emotions and Learning
Current
Events
Einstein
Award Recipient
President
Obama and the Congress Tackle
Big Issues
Connecting Learning with
Special Days
International Year of Water
Cooperation
Black
History Month
National
Engineers Week (17-23)
More
Historic Days
Notable February
Birthdays
Harriet Jacobs (February 11,
1813)
Thomas A. Edison (February 11,
1847)
Frederick Douglass
(February 14, 1818)
John
Steinbeck (February 27, 1902)
More February Birthdays
Annenberg Learner
Announcements
Monthly Update Questions
Blog
Grand Relaunching
Learner.org Now iPad
Compatible
Annenberg Foundation
Update
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Curriculum
Focus: Psychology/Neuroscience
- Emotions and Learning
Emotions can drive or block
the motivation to complete tasks
in school, work, and everyday
life. By engaging students’
emotional responses rather than
dismissing them, teachers can
make lessons meaningful and help
their students learn more
effectively.
 Making
a subject relevant is a key
factor in motivating students to
learn. Neuroscience &
the Classroom, unit 2, “The Unity
of Emotion, Thinking, and
Learning,” looks at the
role emotions play in helping
humans survive, acquire
knowledge, and think
rationally. In section 4,
Making
the Case, Professor
Abigail Baird explains that
adolescents engage in risky
behaviors by overthinking
dangerous scenarios. Her
findings help teachers
understand their students and
respond appropriately to their
perplexing behaviors.
Section 5, Emotional
Thinking, looks at how to
engage students’ social emotions
in guiding them through math
lessons.
 Tap
into emotional intelligence and
create emotionally safe learning
environments for your students
with ideas from The Learning
Classroom: Theory Into
Practice, session 5, “Feelings
Count - Emotions and Learning.”
A fifth-grade and an
eighth-grade classroom are
featured.
Psychologists consider
environmental, physical,
political, and psychological
factors in Discovering
Psychology, program 12, “Motivation
and Emotion.” What
motivates people to perform good
or bad deeds?
Next month’s update for March
will focus on the Arts. |
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Current
Events
Einstein
Prize to Annenberg Advisor
Congratulations
to Dr.
Irwin Shapiro of
Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics, recipient
of the 2013 Einstein Prize
from the American Physical
Society "for his
contributions to
experimental solar system
tests of relativistic
theories of gravity, and in
particular for proposing and
measuring the Shapiro time
delay effect."
 Dr.
Shapiro used his expertise
in science and science
education as an advisor for
the series, Essential
Science for Teachers: Life
Science for K-6
teachers. Study “big
ideas” about life
science and perform Bottle
Biology, hands-on
activities to explore plant
growth. You can also
hear Dr. Shapiro talk about
the making of A
Private Universe,
the film that underscores
how student misconceptions
can block new learning.
President Obama and the
Congress Tackle Big Issues
As President Obama
transitions to his second
term, he and the new
Congress continue to tackle
difficult and long-running
issues. Help your students
engage in rational, civil
debates about some of these
issues including the U.S.
budget, immigration, and gun
control.
Balancing the U.S. Budget
 The
moratorium on the debt
ceiling puts the issue on
ice, for the moment. But the
questions remain: Who should
be taxed at what rate? What
programs should be cut (or
added)? Learn how taxes and
the government deficit are
connected in Economics
USA: 21st Century Edition,
unit 18, “Fiscal
Policy.” Unit
24, “Federal
Deficits,” looks at
how deficits can be harmful
and helpful to the overall
economy.
Challenge your students to
balance the U.S. budget by
making tough choices with
the Control
the U.S. Debt interactive.
Lead classroom activities
that will help your students
understand how the Federal
Reserve adjusts the money
supply and how, in turn, the
money supply affects
interest rates in The
Economics Classroom,
workshop 7, “Monetary
and Fiscal Policy.”
Gun Control
 Witness
a fascinating debate between
politicians, judges, and
philosophers about the
second amendment in program
9, “School Prayer, Gun
Control, and the Right to
Assemble,” in The
Constitution: That
Delicate Balance.
Students learn about the
power of the Constitution in
Democracy in America,
program 2, “The
Constitution: Fixed or
Flexible?” by studying the
writings of Alexis de
Tocqueville, Thomas
Jefferson’s draft of the
Declaration of Independence,
and the U.S. Constitution
and its amendments. How
immutable is our second
amendment, “The Right to
Bear Arms?"
Making Civics Real,
workshop 7, “Controversial
Public Policy Issues,”
shows strategies that help
students build on their own
opinions and experiences to
develop a deeper
understanding of key public
policy issues. Students in
JoEllen Ambrose’s 12th-grade
Law class study the role of
government in protecting
citizens while allowing them
to enjoy their civil
liberties. Find the
full lesson
plan.
Immigration
 In
the series The
Constitution: That
Delicate Balance,
program 11, “Immigration
Reform,” hear the U.S.
Court of Appeals judge Arlin
Adams, other academics, and
government officials discuss
the rights of legal and
illegal immigrants.
Students look at migration
trends from six Latin
American countries and
discuss why people migrate
to the U.S. in Social
Studies in Action, grades
9-12, “Migration
from Latin America.”
Take a literary approach to
the topic of immigration.
Teacher Maria Ruiz-Blanco
and her students discuss the
novel My Name is Maria
Isabel as part of a
year-long conversation on
immigration. Watch them
share their experiences and
insights in Teaching
Reading 3-5, classroom
program 10, “Fostering
Book Discussions.”
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Connecting
Learning with Special Days
International
Year of Water Cooperation
The United
Nations General Assembly has
declared 2013 as the
U.N. International Year of
Water Cooperation. Its
objective is “to raise
awareness, both on the
potential for increased
cooperation, and on the
challenges facing water
management in light of the
increase in demand for water
access, allocation and
services.” Annenberg
Learner resources help you
look at the issue of
competition over water from
a ground level.
 Two
series address the tricky
question of fresh water
allocation. Program 26, “Regions
and Economies, Part 1
Oregon: A Fight for Water”
of The Power of Place
addresses the environmental
costs of diverting the
Columbia River for
agricultural use. The
battle over the use of water
from the Truckee River Basin
pits government, farmers,
and other community groups
on the California-Nevada
border against one another.
See Human Geography:
People, Places, and Change,
program 7, “Water
Is
for Fighting Over.”
Examine the stress on global
water sources in The
Habitable Planet, unit
8, “Water
Resources.”
Scientists determine how
much water humans actually
use in section 5, World
Demand for Water.
Follow the U.S. and the
United Nations’ attempts to
regulate water use and
improve water conditions in
section 10, Major
Laws and Treaties.
Can a price be put on clean
water? Economics U$A:
21st Century Edition,
unit 8, “Pollution
and the Environment,”
asks you to consider the
economic costs of balancing
“optimum” levels of
pollution, including in
water, with environmental
and human health
risks.
Black History Month 2013
This year,
the theme
for Black History Month is
“At the Crossroads of
Freedom and Equality: The
Emancipation Proclamation
and the March on
Washington.” This
theme looks at two eras of
African-American history:
The emancipation of slaves
under Abraham Lincoln and
demands for black civil
rights under John F.
Kennedy. While these
presidents were in the
national spotlight,
individuals and leaders
pressured them to act on
behalf of African Americans.
Let’s get to know some of
these voices better:
 Former
slave William Carney joined
the first African-American
regiment of the Union Army
in 1863. Hear his story
(beginning at 15:30 mins.
into the video) and those of
other African-American men
eager to enlist in America’s
History in the Making,
unit 9, “A
Nation Divided.”
Activists and writers James
Baldwin, Malcolm X, and
Martin Luther King, Jr. were
the forces behind turning
John F. Kennedy’s attention
from the Cold War to civil
rights in America. See A
Biography of America,
program 24, “The
Sixties.”
Writer Langston Hughes
believed that art should be
accessible to all.
Biographer Arnold Rampersad
wrote of Hughes, “His art
was firmly rooted in race
pride and race feeling, even
as he cherished his freedom
as an artist…” See Teaching
Multicultural Literature,
workshop
6, “Historical and
Cultural Context - Langston
Hughes and Christopher
Moore.” Stanlee Brimberg’s
7th graders learn about the
experiences
of African slaves in early
New York, examine texts by
Hughes, and create postage
stamps to commemorate the
African Burial Ground
Memorial.
More resources for Black
History Month:
American
Passages, unit 7, “Slavery
and Freedom”
Primary Sources,
workshop 4, “Concerning
Emancipation: Who Freed
the Slaves?’
A Biography of America,
program 9, “Slavery,”
unit 10, “The
Coming of the Civil War,”
and program 11, “The
Civil War,” transcript
section The Emancipation
Proclamation
America’s History in the
Making, unit 14, “Industrializing
America,” part 3,
Hands on History (black
inventors)
National Engineers Week
(February 17-23)
Engineering is the “E” in
STEM curriculum and can
prepare students to work in
a broad range of fields,
from design and construction
of massive buildings to
manipulation of microscopic
molecules and biological
processes. During National
Engineers Week, help your
students appreciate the work
all engineers do and inspire
some budding engineers in
your own classes with
resources on learner.org.
For engineering events in
your area check out these activities.
 See
how a fourth-grade teacher
engages her students to
think about forces acting on
one another in “Force
Against Force” from
the workshop series Science
in Focus: Force and Motion.
Putting on the lab coat of a
genetic engineer, you can
see how drug design exploits
the structure of a protein
that causes a disease. Work
through the case study from
Rediscovering Biology,
“Designing
Cancer Drugs.”
An engineering lesson would
not be complete without a
ride on a rollercoaster...
after you design it.
Will your coaster be
thrilling or dangerous? Try
it out using our wildly
popular interactive: Amusement
Park Physics.
Celebrate the birthday of an
American inventor/engineer
on Feb. 11, Thomas A.
Edison. See the
birthday section for related
resources.
More Historic Days
For resources on Ferris
Wheel Day (February 14),
Presidents’ Day (February
18), the anniversary of the
Montgomery Boycott Arrests
(February 22), and Iwo Jima
Day (February 23), see the February
2012 update.
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Notable
February Birthdays
 Harriet
Jacobs, abolitionist and
author (February 11, 1813)
Harriet Jacobs, featured in American
Passages, unit 7, “Slavery
and Freedom,” led a
tumultuous life, being forced
at one point to hide in an
attic for seven years. She
wrote Incidents in the
Life of a Slave Girl, a
personal narrative that
appealed to readers’ emotions
to promote social change. See
her story
at 12:35 in the
video.
Use the American Passages
resource above and Jacobs’s
narrative as part of a social
history approach to
understanding literature in Artifacts
& Fiction, workshop
3.
Hold thought-provoking
classroom discussions to help
all students feel included
using ideas from workshop 2, “Encouraging
Discussion,” of Making
Meaning in Literature.
“Letters From a Slave Girl:
The Story of Harriet Jacobs”
by Mary E. Lyon is a featured
text.
Thomas A. Edison,
inventor (February 11, 1847)
In 1878,
Thomas Edison patented the
phonograph and in 1879 he
developed the first
practical light bulb. He
went on to patent more than
1300 inventions. See a
timeline of technological
innovations of a post-Civil
War United States in A
Biography of America,
program 14, “Industrial
Supremacy.”
Thomas Edison projected the
first motion picture on a
public screen on April 23,
1896. Cinema soon joined
radio in effecting the
spread of mass culture. American
Passages, unit 13,
“Southern Renaissance,” Mass
Culture Invasion: The
Rise of Motion Pictures
examines the relationship
between mass culture values
and values of the South.
Frederick
Douglass, civil rights
activist, writer, social
critic (February 14, 1818)
 Frederick
Douglass, born into slavery,
resisted slave life and worked
his way to freedom with the
help of future wife Anna
Murray, a freed black woman.
He became an influential
figure in government and
advocated for emancipation of
slaves and for all human
rights. View his biography in
American Passages, unit
7, “Slavery
and Freedom.”
Frederick Douglass is also
included in the social history
lesson, along with Harriet
Jacobs, in Artifacts &
Fiction, workshop
3.
Primary Sources,
workshop 4, “Concerning
Emancipation,” asks,
“Who Freed the Slaves?” While
the common answer among school
children is Abraham Lincoln,
this workshop recognizes the
important contributions of
abolitionists like Frederick
Douglass.
John Steinbeck, author
(February 27, 1902)
 Compare
differing images of migrant
workers as they are portrayed
by authors John Steinbeck,
Helena Maria Viramontes, and
Carlos Bulosan in the video
for American Passages,
unit 12, “Migrant
Struggle.” Steinbeck,
a Nobel Prize winner, wrote
prolifically about the
outsiders and underprivileged
in early 1900s United States.
For resources related to the
following birthdays, click on
the February
2012 update.
Langston Hughes - poet, writer
(February 1, 1902)
Gertrude Stein - poet and
essayist (February 3, 1874)
Charles Dickens - writer,
social critic (February 7,
1812)
Charles Darwin - naturalist
(February 12, 1809)
Galileo Galilei - physicist,
mathematician, astronomer,
philosopher
(February 15, 1564)
Susan B. Anthony - civil
rights activist, suffragist
(February 15, 1820)
Nicolaus Copernicus -
astronomer (February 19, 1473)
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Annenberg
Foundation Update
“No Strangers” Exhibit
at the Annenberg Space for
Photography Runs through
February 24
See
"No
Strangers: Ancient wisdom in
a modern world," curated
by Wade Davis, at the
Annenberg Space for
Photography in Los Angeles
through February 24, 2013.
This photo exhibit is about
world cultures and indigenous
people and a good fit for
social studies, photography,
and art instruction.
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