Visuwords Graphical Dictionary

A strong vocabulary is so important for our students and the Visuwords site provides a fun way to find definitions but includes so much more. When you search for a word the screen is populated with the word and numerous other "bubbles" which provide the word's relationships to other words. Opposites, synonyms, words with similar meanings all pop into view. Hover your mouse over any word and the definition appears. You can drag the chart around to reposition it and explore complexly related words. Using the random word function is a fun way to discover new words and how they might relate to a word already in one's vocabulary. It is making these connections to existing knowledge that we all know helps cement knowledge. Check out the screen shots below or just surf on over to Visuwords.com and start exploring.

Digital JFK

As educators we know the importance of using primary sources when conducting research, and yet for our students it is often the first hits in a Google search that are the ones used for their work. The Internet continues to bring an increasing number of primary resources right to the desktops of anyone with a computer and web connection. Today saw the addition of yet another collection of primary sources to which our students can turn as they seek information.

NPR reported today on an announcement by the Kennedy Library and the National Archives that all of President John F. Kennedy's important speeches, papers, and recordings have been digitized and are now available online at www.jfklibrary.org. According to NPR there are "more than 200,000 pages of speeches and notes, hundreds of reels of audio tape, and more than 1,000 recorded phone conversations." From his days as President-Elect, to the inauguration, Cuban Missile Crisis, and his unfortunate early death at the hands of an assassin, documentation is available on all of it.

So far I've examined the drafts of his inaugural address, photos of his arrival in Dallas, TX on that fateful November day in 1963, and listened to several phone conversations and speeches. This would be a terrific resource for students as they study the world during the JFK presidency, as you seek to teach them about primary sources, or even to study the writing process of a gifted public speaker. The possibilities are tremendous and exciting!

Looking for more primary sources? Check out these sites:

Library of Congress American Memory
Documenting the American South
National Archives and Records Administration
Smithsonian Institution