Yes kiddies, I said Disney.

In 1946, Walt Disney produced an animated film called “The Story of Menstruation“. At the time, Disney was hurting for cash because World War II killed the European market, which cut off a significant source of Disney’s revenues. At home “Fantasia” was a major commercial failure, draining more money from the company treasury. Disney was in desperate need of new funds, so he began to take for-hire assignments.

During this time, Disney opted to take a commission from the International Cello-Cotton Company for an educational film designed to be shown in health education classes. What resulted was “The Story of Menstruation,” a 10-minute animated film covering an area where Disney’s films never went before. Indeed, “The Story of Menstruation” is the first film which uses the word “vagina” (both in the narration and in an on-screen demonstration).
Read the rest of this entry »

I came across one of the Schoolhouse Rock videos and was going to post it for old time’s sake, then I figured that everyone would have a different favorite, so I better post them all. That was also before I remembered how many of them there are!

Anyway, I wasted half the day gathering as many as I could find, so here they are - at least for as long as they last on YouTube. (I sure hope everyone is on a broadband connection!)
Read the rest of this entry »

MIT’s OpenCourseWare project aims to offer the complete course material for every class online, free of charge.

President Susan Hockfield offers this explanation:

“OpenCourseWare expresses in an immediate and far-reaching way MIT’s goal of advancing education around the world. Through MIT OCW, educators and students everywhere can benefit from the academic activities of our faculty and join a global learning community in which knowledge and ideas are shared openly and freely for the benefit of all.”

Read the rest of this entry »

This is an AWESOME story of a mother not just talking - but actually doing everything she can to ensure that her child turned out right.

Chou Sa-Ngoun was desperate.

Her teenage son was skipping school for weeks at a time, using drugs, getting arrested, staying out all night, hanging out with the wrong kids.

Nothing she did seemed to make any difference. Grounding didn’t work. Neither did yelling, crying, taking away privileges, counseling, switching schools, probation or stints in juvenile hall.
Read the rest of this entry »

Donors Choose is a site which brings together teachers in need of classroom tools and supplies with donors willing to help fulfill those needs.

According to the site:

Donors Choose is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund.
Read the rest of this entry »