A Founder's Day Search Lesson - A Classic from my Archives

Tomorrow I am spending the day helping at one of our local Founder's Day events. Our Founder's Day is in celebration of Hannibal Hamlin. Hamlin was one of Abraham Lincoln's Vice Presidents. The picture in this blog post is of his house. If you have followed my blog for a long time and or participated in one of my past workshops, you've probably seen this picture before. I use the picture as part of search challenge activity for students. 

The challenge that I've created based on this picture is as follows:

• This house was owned by one of Abraham Lincoln's Vice Presidents. 
• Your tasks are to identify:
• Which Vice President owned the house.
• Does the sun set on the front of back of house?
• Who owns the house today.
• The famous "movie car"  that is housed at the house today.

If you can answer all of these questions, send me an email and let me know. If you need help answering the questions, email me for some hints. And if you would like to use this challenge in your own classroom this fall, please feel free to do so. Just give me credit for the photograph. 

On July 27th I'm hosting a webinar all about teaching search strategies to students. You can learn more and register here. 

A Short Lesson About Concussions

Yesterday morning I had the Tour de France playing in the background while working in my office. I looked up from my laptop when I heard the commentators mention Greg LeMond followed by highlights of the 1986 stage to Alpe d'Huez. One of the things that struck me from those highlights was the lack of helmets. I remember riding my bike as a kid without a helmet, but today I won't go ten feet on my bike without one. One of the reasons for that change is what we know about brain injuries today that we didn't know in the 1980's. So much so that today professional and amateur sports leagues have concussion protocols. 

TED-Ed offers a good lesson about what happens to your brain when you get a concussion. The six minute video explains what a concussion is, the short-term and long-term effects of concussions, and myths about concussions. 

Applications for Education
What Happens When You Have a Concussion? could be a great video lesson to have middle school and high school athletes complete before their fall sports seasons begin. The video could help improve students' awareness of the symptoms and effects of concussions.