Complete Index
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Happy Birthday, Hetty Green, the "Witch of Wall Street" - November 21, 2009 06:00 AM
Hetty Green was a successful American businesswoman who was as renowned for her Wall Street savvy and fantastic wealth as she was for her ruthless frugality and scroogelike behavior. -
Happy Birthday, Edwin Hubble, Influential Astronomer - November 20, 2009 06:00 AM
“Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.” The namesake for NASA’s most important telescope, Edwin Hubble has been called a modern-day Galileo. He identified multiple galaxies and helped to define the way in which the universe expands, providing evidence for the Big Bang theory. -
Happy Birthday, Nadine Gordimer, 1991 Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature - November 20, 2009 05:00 AM
Writer Nadine Gordimer has devoted her life to fighting for the rights and health of the less fortunate and oppressed. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991 for showing “the true power of words,” having written 14 novels and 11 collections of short stories. -
Happy Birthday, Jack Welch, Former CEO of General Electric - November 19, 2009 06:00 AM
Jack Welch was CEO of General Electric for 20 years, beginning his tenure in the midst of 1981’s tough economic conditions and leading the company to enormous growth. An author, husband and father of four, Welch, along with his wife, Suzy, is a leadership guru whose viewpoint is routinely requested by companies and business students. -
Author Profile: Laurie Halse Anderson - November 18, 2009 09:00 AM
For many, the teenage years are wrought with strife and situations preferably forgotten. But Laurie Halse Anderson relishes the depth of the teenage experience. She is unafraid of judgment, writing books that tackle the most difficult subjects honestly and compassionately. In doing so, she and her readers experience personal growth. -
Happy Birthday, W.S. Gilbert, Operetta Librettist for "The Pirates of Penzance" - November 18, 2009 06:00 AM
William Schwenck Gilbert, one half of the successful Gilbert and Sullivan duo, had a knack for satire and an eye for staging, producing comic operettas beloved to this day, including “The Pirates of Penzance” and “The Mikado.” Gilbert coped with a difficult childhood with disagreeable parents and surmounted a period of indecision before launching himself into a renowned career writing for theater. -
Happy Birthday, Martin Scorsese, Director of “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull” - November 17, 2009 06:00 AM
“It’s easy to think of Scorsese as a kind of poet of the underworld,” the American Film Institute reflected when they granted him a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. Raised on the streets of New York, director Martin Scorsese has shone a visionary light on the darkest of scenes and characters. -
Happy Birthday, Shigeru Miyamoto, Father of Modern Video Games - November 16, 2009 06:00 AM
Beginning with the seminal arcade game Donkey Kong nearly three decades ago, Nintendo’s chief game developer and the father of modern video games, Shigeru Miyamoto, has combined his love of art and adventure to create a fantasy universe and wear the mantle of modern-day Walt Disney. -
Happy Birthday, Ed Asner, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show’s” Lou Grant - November 15, 2009 06:00 AM
Actor and political activist Ed Asner has earned critical acclaim both on Broadway and in Hollywood. He is best known for his Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning role as Lou Grant, the newsroom boss on the 1970s TV series “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” -
Happy Birthday, Claude Monet, Leader of the Impressionist School of Painting - November 14, 2009 06:00 AM
French painter Claude Monet was the central figure of the Impressionist movement in the late 19th century, producing colorful, vibrant studies of natural and architectural landscapes. -
Happy Birthday, Robert Louis Stevenson, Author of 'Treasure Island' - November 13, 2009 06:00 AM
Although weak in health himself, Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson will always be associated with vigorous adventure, thanks to such thrilling tales as “Kidnapped” and "Treasure Island.” He also achieved international fame for his chilling (and subsequently oft-imitated) Victorian horror story, “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” -
Educators That Rock!: Danah Boyd - November 13, 2009 05:00 AM
Last week, findingEducation caught up with Dr. danah boyd at the American Association of School Librarians National Conference in Charlotte, N.C. boyd is an internationally recognized social media expert researcher for Microsoft Research New England, a fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and an ethnographer, blogger and contributing author to the book “Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Kids Living and Learning with New Media.”
boyd explains on her blog that “there are a lot of reasons … some personal and some political” as to why she decided to omit the capital letters in her name. A keynote speaker at the conference, she drew from her research on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook to explain how kids use these tools to communicate and to “create digital bodies” to express themselves.
In her online biography, boyd describes herself as a bored and rebellious student that went to “smart kids camp” in the summer but had trouble fitting in until she went online. “The Internet opened the door of possibilities to me. I found other smart kids year round ... Strangers taught me so much about the world and about myself,” she wrote.
“Unstructured environments are critical to social learning,” boyd said in her talk. Educators must “work with the grain, not against it.” She told findingEducation, “It's not about getting kids to be passionate about the things that librarians and teachers are passionate about, but using what kids are passionate about as gateways to learning.” -
Children’s Book Authors: H.A. Rey and Margret Rey, Creators of "Curious George" - November 12, 2009 08:00 AM
For countless kids, Curious George is a beloved character, and the minds behind the inquisitive monkey are similarly endearing. H.A. and Margret Rey, the well-traveled creators of Curious George, are as creative as they are fascinating. The couple endured the Nazi invasion, and moved around the world before settling down in the United States. -
Happy Birthday, Bahá'u'lláh, Founder of the Bahá’í Religion - November 12, 2009 06:00 AM
Iranian spiritual leader Bahá'u'lláh founded the Bahá’í religion in 1863. Today, it has five million followers from around the world. -
Children’s Book Authors: The Colorful World of Eric Carle - November 11, 2009 08:00 AM
Eric Carle was born in New York, but his immigrant parents moved the family back to their native Germany in 1935. Despite (or perhaps because of) the oppressive Nazi education system he encountered, Carle lost himself in art. He developed a fascination with color that lends his children’s books a uniquely vibrant spirit. -
Happy Birthday, Abigail Adams, First Lady - November 11, 2009 06:00 AM
First Lady Abigail Adams became the first presidential wife to live in the White House when she joined her husband, John Adams, in Washington in 1800. -
Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators: The Pinkney Family - November 10, 2009 08:00 AM
Children’s books are a family business for the Pinkney family. Jerry and Gloria Jean, the two eldest Pinkneys, along with their son Brian and his wife Andrea Davis, are all well-known creators of children’s literature. Each author's biography reveals unique personality traits that come across in their books. -
Happy Birthday, Neil Gaiman, Writer of "Coraline" and “The Sandman” - November 10, 2009 06:00 AM
Neil Gaiman transformed a writing career penning rock and roll biographies into a multinational success story. In less than three decades writing comics, graphic novels and various works of speculative fiction, he has earned legions of loyal fans, produced Hollywood blockbusters adapted from his work and been named one of the 10 best authors living today. -
Educators That Rock!: Torrey Maldonado - November 09, 2009 12:00 PM
Torrey Maldonado is an author, a sixth-grade social studies teacher at Middle School 88 in Brooklyn, N.Y., and a trained specialist in conflict resolution. Maldonado, who describes himself as a Black Puerto Rican, says he was inspired to become a teacher by his mother, who gave him homework she created herself, and by a few good teachers in Red Hook."I had a lot of teachers who encouraged students to become factoid regurgitators, and then I had a lot of teachers who encouraged us to learn the stories in history and see the humanity behind the facts and behind the dates," he told findingEducation.
Maldonado's first book, "Secret Saturdays," will publish in April 2010. Learn more about "Secret Saturdays" at TorreyMaldonado.com. -
Children’s Book Authors: Chris Van Allsburg, From Sculptor to Author - November 09, 2009 08:00 AM
Chris Van Allsburg is author and illustrator of famous books like “The Polar Express,” “Jumanji” and “The Garden of Abdul Gasazi.” Taking inspiration from children's sense of wonder, Van Allsburg begins a book by asking himself “what if” and “what then.” The resulting characters, images and storylines are beloved by millions of readers. -
Happy Birthday, Hedy Lamarr, Actress and Inventor - November 09, 2009 06:00 AM
Hedy Lamarr was a woman perpetually ahead of her time. She shocked the world with one of the first filmed nude scenes in 1933, and a decade later, invented a method of frequency transmission used today to provide secure communications for wireless and cell phone networks. -
Children’s Book Authors: Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith - November 08, 2009 08:00 AM
Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, the author and illustrator team known for books like "The Stinky Cheese Man," are a children's book force to be reckoned with. The wise-cracking, fun-loving Scieszka did not start out as a writer, but his long road to being published seems to have made his perspective deeper and his imagination all the more intriguing. -
Happy Birthday, Milton Bradley, Father of the Modern Board Game - November 08, 2009 06:00 AM
Milton Bradley is a household name for his creation of such board game classics as The Game of Life, but he was more than just an inventor. His fascination with the process of learning, coupled with his skill at printing, made him a pioneer in the field of early childhood education as well. -
Educators That Rock!: Blake Harrison - November 08, 2009 05:00 AM
This week findingEducation caught up with Blake Harrison, a.k.a. Emcee Escher, rapper, educator and creative director of Flocabulary, to hear how he and Alex Rappaport, cofounder and executive producer, are bringing their energy and passion for hip-hop to the classroom.
By weaving words into rhymes with infectious beats, Harrison and Rappaport knew they could engage students and ultimately teach them something. Their first CD, released in 2004, put vocabulary words in context, helping prepare students for the SATs. Since then, they’ve developed programs for teaching world and U.S. history, math, science and even Shakespeare. They’ve taken their music on tour, held teaching workshops and created a current events series called The Week in Rap, now being broadcast on Channel One, a national TV news network for teens. -
Educators That Rock!: Josie Carbone - November 07, 2009 05:00 AM
Josie Carbone, the founding principal of Girls Prep Bronx, an all-girls charter school for pre-K through first-grade students in the Bronx, New York, got involved in teaching while volunteering to teach Spanish at a local elementary school during high school. After graduating from college in 1997, she worked with Teach For America in New York. Carbone taught for six more years before becoming involved with the New York charter school movement in 2003. -
Happy Birthday, Marie Curie, Discoverer of Radium - November 07, 2009 12:00 AM
The first woman in France to receive a doctorate degree, scientist Marie Curie is remembered for her discoveries in radioactivity and radioactive elements. Her work won her two Nobel prizes in physics and chemistry, but unfortunately also led to her death. -
Happy Birthday, John Philip Sousa, “The March King” - November 06, 2009 06:00 AM
John Philip Sousa is the American composer behind such marching band classics as “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and “Semper Fidelis.” -
Educators That Rock!: Joyce Valenza - November 06, 2009 05:00 AM
A few weeks ago, findingEducation spoke with Joyce Valenza, an information specialist and author who manages the Springfield Township High School Library in Erdenheim, Pa. Valenza is also a blogger for School Library Journal, a former tech columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer and a lecturer on education issues and technology.
Valenza sets the bar exceedingly high for librarians. Inspired by the benchmarks set by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), she recently published "14 Ways K-12 Libraries Can Teach Social Media" (Tech & Learning, 21 Sept. 2009) and her own Manifesto for 21st Century School Librarians, which calls for librarians to acquire the necessary skills to guide learners in new and emerging information and communications landscapes.
“If you call yourself an information professional, you have to be a professional in the information landscape of your time,” says Valenza. -
Educators That Rock!: David Lee King - November 05, 2009 11:42 AM
In Topeka, Kan., the library is the second favorite place for teens to hang out. “We’re sort of kicked out at the mall,” they tell David Lee King, the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library’s digital branch and services manager. As a result, the building, particularly the new media area and gaming room, are a little noisier than your average library. But King, a former DJ and assistant recording engineer, and now an author, blogger and librarian thought leader, takes pride in all the bustle. “Not too many people can say, ‘Yeah, teenagers think that the library’s cool.'"
On Oct. 28, King is launching the Library 101 Project with fellow information specialist Michael Porter. The project will include a music video, educator essays and 101 resources.
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Happy Birthday, Eugene Debs, Labor Leader - November 05, 2009 06:00 AM
Eugene V. Debs spearheaded labor movements, led the American Socialist Party and is remembered today for being an agitator who never shied from passionately expressing his opinions—even when it led to his arrest.
November, 2009
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