World Water Day: March 22

The General Assembly of the United Nations made March 22 World Water Day in 1992 (IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, About World Water Day, 2005.02.10), and the World Water Day theme for 2009 is transboundary water (IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, World Water Day, 2009.02.25). To find out more about how important water is to people around the world, please check out either or both of these sites:

• http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/
• http://www.worldwaterday.org/

Water drop graphic (above) courtesy of
William Vann's EduPic Graphical Resource for Educators.

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Dreadfully Slow Blog-Loading Syndrome

In case you experience dreadfully slow blog-loading syndrome: DreSloBloLoSyn, for short (try saying that three times quickly;-); there are things you can do other than buy a new computer, or find an ISP that offers greater bandwidth. This Blogger Help page explains several steps you can take:

• How can I make my blog load faster?

With all the bells and whistles that some of you have added to your blogs this year (me, too!), that help page may be a timely read.

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Additional Course Link: Sentence Structure Cmap

Wordle image created 2009.01.30

While listening to a Green Room interview about graphic organizers (Episode 54, 2008.12.01), and following up on a related Learning Times discussion thread, I discovered an online resource that may interest those of you who have expressed concerns about your own grammatical accuracy. It's a concept map created with a powerful yet free computer application called IHMC CmapTools.

Tammy Moore, a registered Learning Times community member, listed the Sentence Structure Cmap, an example of students' work which I've already added to the Course Links in the sidbar, as "middle school level - English/Grammar/Sentence Structure" (Using Graphic Organizers?, 2008.12.04 [registration required]). If you're interested either in the grammar it represents, or in visual, hypertextual representation possible with CmapTools, please check it out.

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Images created by the Wordle.net web application are licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
http://wordle.net/faq

Free Ebook Downloads from WOWIO?

On the final, several of you expressed plans or resolutions to keep reading extensively. So thanks to Mr. T. for pointing out this e-book site just in time to share it with you all before spring recess. He suggests, "the children's section has a number of books that would be suitable for extensive reading" (personal correspondence, 2009.01.22), which I hope you'll keep doing on your own during the recess.

I note that the WOWIO page for children offers useful catalog views by subject, target age group, and publisher, and lists the top 10 books in the sidebar (left). The main part of the page highlights recent releases, staff favorites, and a featured book for the (day/week/month[?]). If you're looking for easy and interesting books to read before classes begin again next April, this seems like a place to start:

• WOWIO: Children | Free Ebook Downloads

Be forewarned, however, that the page title (above) may be misleading. Access to the books appears to be free only if you read them online. Titles that I've perused with links for downloads all bear a price, for example $4.99 (USD, I gather) for:

Fandel, Jennifer. (2005). Pablo Picasso. Mankato, Minnesota:
The Creative Company. [51 pp., ISBN: 1-58341-331-6]

(APA formatted reference
and publisher location
courtesy of pab)

To buy downloads, or to access a library of your own on WOWIO, you need to register as a user. The hook for new users suggests that some downloads may be sponsered (free of charge), and that users get bookmarking privileges for online readings (Create a WOWIO Account).

Online book pages are capped and shod with Ads by Google. Thus, at a readable font display size on a 23-inch widescreen monitor (resolution: 1344 x 840), viewing entire pages requires scrolling down each time you change pages - not a particularly user-friendly layout. Whether "other members-only features" promised on the account creation page (or downloads that you purchase) allow ad-free, minimal-scrolling viewing is anyone's guess. If you do sign up and find out, please let us know in a comment on this post.

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Writing IV, §1c: Reflecting Pool (11:00-12:00)

Members of Writing IV, section 1c (only):

After reading and following the instructions for the Writing IV Exam: Instructions for §§ 1a and 1c (a separate post, 2009.01.21, 09:00 JST), please post your final essay in a comment on this post before the end of the examination period (11:00-12:00).

Thank you for your cooperation.

PS: This post replicates a previous post for section 1a; only the section designation and times in the title are different.

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