The TB Blog from Teacher's Discovery

One Less Fish in the Sea

2010-02-16T06:53:00.002-05:00

Please join the rest of us here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in Paczki-gorged Auburn Hills, MI in wishing Alicia congratulations for getting engaged over the weekend.

The groom-to-be popped the question on the occasion of the couple's one-year anniversary, then revealed a pre-arranged party featuring family and friends.

Alicia started at Teacher's Discovery doing some-such-thing with videos for the Tech Team (the details are now lost to the abyss of memory), and has since moved into the Merchandise Manager position for Social Science. She's also developed piles of products, and appears (she would say) way too often in our catalogs.

No date has been set quite yet as they work out the logistics for assembling the largest group of Italians put together since the call for extras went out during shooting for "The Godfather."

Congratulations, Alicia! He's a lucky guy.

Oh, Canada!

2010-02-15T07:15:00.005-05:00

We've got Canada on the brain lately here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in overcast Auburn Hills, MI.

Some of us absolutely love the Olympics, and wish we were in Vancouver. (As a side note, how's a chubby fellow supposed to try to earn a medal when even the curlers are in perfect shape? I mean, curlers? Why, on earth, would they need cardio? I guess my only shot at gold is archery, after all.)

We're also thinking Canada because Teacher's Discovery just launched Teacher's Discovery: Canada, featuring an entire line of classroom supplies for the Canadian teacher with a French class.

That means Canadian-English spellings, and a real push to make products that are Canadian, not just American stuff with a different dollar.

So, welcome to the family, Canada.

And sorry about women's moguls. There's always hockey! (Unless Sidney Crosby is too hurt, of course.)

Spanish Textbook Gets Rave Review!

2010-02-12T07:56:00.004-05:00

Greetings from Teachers Brunch HQ in winter wonderland Auburn Hills, MI, site of today's first-ever (that we know of, anyway) Ketchup Festival. Later today, all of us will be trudging down to the Foreign Language building and partaking of a potluck featuring items made with or made for that most delightful of condiments, ketchup.

Before we party with the high fructose corn syrup and tomato paste, though, we want to offer big congratulations to Lauren in the Spanish Department. The book she edited, Capitan Espanol's Exploratory Spanish, just got a great review in Language Magazine.

The review mentions how the book "will definitely keep kids' attention beyond perfunctory glances" and how "once opened, (the books) are practically histerico."

There's plenty more good stuff in the review which appears in the February 2010 issue.

Now, where's the Canadian Ketchup Cake that Pat promised us?

Awesome Parody Video

2010-02-11T12:49:00.003-05:00

Now, we don't want to give too many free props to the competition, but this video from Sooma Publishing is so good, so entertaining, so spot-on, we just have to share it.

So here it is:

Ben Franklin rules.

Remembering a Principal

2010-02-11T09:55:00.004-05:00

This blog entry will be a bit different, because though the TB Blog voice is usually representative of the gestalt of Teacher's Discovery, this entry is decidedly personal.

Today the Teacher's Brunch blog pauses to thank Mr. Carkenord, long-time L'Anse Creuse Public Schools principal, who passed away this week after struggling with cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

My principal at Tenniswood Elementary School, Mr. Carkenord was maybe the friendliest guy on the planet, often not too much taller than the students he looked after. He was the kind of guy who remembered students' names long after the students moved on.

When I saw him at school events as I progressed through middle school, then high school, he always said hello, and remembered my younger sister's name, too.

He was invited to my high school graduation party, and when he appeared, I felt honored. I remember my parents calling him "Joe," and I said "That's not Joe. That's my principal."

Mr. Carkenord was at the beginning of a career in education that has led me from tutoring, to teaching, to creating tools and typing this blog for teachers across the world.

Two years ago, when my kids attended preschool at Joseph M. Carkenord Elementary School, I got to tell them about the kind, dedicated man whose name is on the side of the building, and he touched another generation of learners.

We should all be so lucky to leave such a legacy.

Thanks, Mr. Carkenord.

Welcome New and Returning Readers

2010-02-09T08:43:00.002-05:00

Hello from Teacher's Brunch HQ in no-snow-yet-but-it's-on-the-way Auburn Hills, MI.

We can see from our reports from Google Analytics that our little blog here is experiencing a spike in readership recently.

We'd like to welcome all new and returning readers, and invite everyone to leave a note, say hello, give some feedback, compliment, or complain.

As always, we welcome suggestions, and we thank you for letting us be part of you and your students' lives.

Now, where's those snow shovels?

Subjectivities and Popular Music

2010-02-08T10:03:00.006-05:00

Somebody around here is doing coursework in the Composition and Rhetoric PhD program at Wayne State University, working towards a dissertation project focusing on how subjectivities and identities are formed through the act of writing in the classroom.

On his way to the gym, because getting PhD's involves way too much late night Taco Bell, the radio played two songs.

What two songs?

"Fifteen" by Grammy award-winning artist Taylor Swift, and "According To You" by Michael Jackson guitarist mono-named Orianthi.

What is interesting about these two songs, juxtaposed as they were, is how both of them consider the formation of identity of young women in the face of external pressures. Consider the following lyrics:

According to you
I'm boring
I'm moody
and you cant take me any place
According to you
I suck at telling jokes cause I always give it away
I'm the girl with the worst attention span
you're the boy who puts up with that

("According to You." performed by Orianthi. written by Steve Diamond and Andrew Frampton)

'Cause when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you
You're gonna believe them
When you're fifteen and your first kiss
Makes your head spin 'round
But in your life you'll do things greater than
Dating the boy on the football team
But I didn't know it at fifteen

("Fifteen." written and performed by Taylor Swift)

We think it's interesting that two songs with such similar sensibilities are on the charts at the same time, popular enough to play back-to-back on a Top 40 radio station.

There might be an application for your classroom. How do other people influence who we are? Does popular culture contain enough messages of self-empowerment? Are there any other songs with similar messages?

In case you're unfamiliar with the songs, we've embedded them below.

Somebody around here has homework to do!

The Day the Music Died

2010-02-03T11:25:00.004-05:00

Today marks the anniversary of the plane crash that killed musicians Richie Valens, Buddy Holly, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, commemorated by Don McLean's song "American Pie."

The lyrics of "American Pie" are a great example of an elegy, a poetic form your students might connect with.

Of course, another great example of songs written for a dead celebrity is Elton John's "Candle in the Wind" (both versions).

More recently, P. Diddy sampled The Police for his tribute to Notorious B.I.G.

Curse you, Phil!

2010-02-02T08:39:00.004-05:00

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, predicting six more weeks of winter.

Maybe we'd get better luck with Punxsutawney Bill?

Seems they have records of the groundhog's shadow-seeking. It might be an interesting research project to compare temperatures in the years where Phil sees his shadow to the years when he doesn't.

Maybe the groundhog is the Willard Scott of the animal kingdom? (Though, we suppose, Willard Scott is technically the Willard Scott of the animal kingdom . . . .)

Science Gone Horribly Wrong!

2010-02-01T13:43:00.004-05:00

We can certainly understand how the cold and the snow make you think weird things, but even we have limits.

The man mentioned in this article, left unnamed for his own good, apparently has no such limits.

We'll give you a second to read it.

In no particular order are our favorite snippets from the article:

The victim "had a reputation of doing crazy things at parties."

The victim had "been drinking prior to the accident."

The victim is a "62-year-old township man."

So what have we learned?

Someone's grandpa has some mad crazy Chemistry skills and not a whole lot of common sense. Oh, and he has a friend willing to "light a wick."

Happy Black History Month

2010-02-01T13:14:00.005-05:00

Full Moon Fever

2010-01-29T13:50:00.003-05:00

What a week it's been.

We here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in frosty Auburn Hills, MI paused to reflect a bit today.

We awoke to single-digit temperatures this morning, a thin layer of ice clinging to the glass front door.

The roads are that awful salt-caked gray color, dead looking clumps of snow mixed with highway detritus along the shoulder.

Many of our projects are in that painful part of the production process, where the challenges we face to push them over the edge into completion seem so insurmountable no amount of alliteration helps.

Even the blog seems bummed out this week.

So almost on cue, Yahoo! News posted this link.

Tonight, the moon with be full and bright, coming closer to the Earth than any other full moon for the rest of the year.

A light in the winter darkness.

Have a good weekend, and if you go out walking tonight, give the Wolf Moon a howl for us.

More In Memoriam: J. D. Salinger Dies at 91

2010-01-28T14:27:00.002-05:00

News sources are now reporting that author J. D. Salinger has died at his home.

Salinger, seen above on one of our mini-posters, was notoriously out-of-the-spotlight. The fame, and infamy, of his only novel reportedly haunted him.

We hope that Salinger and Mark Twain arguing over who would win in a fight: Holden or Huck?

Two Luminaries, Rest In Peace

2010-01-28T07:33:00.005-05:00

The flags at Teacher's Brunch HQ in snow swept Auburn Hills, MI fly at half staff today for two people who passed away within the last 24 hours.

Howard Zinn suffered a fatal heart attack yesterday at the age of 87.

An activist, historian, and author, Zinn is probably best-known for his book A People's History of the United States. Depending when and where you attended university, it's a good bet his book was on a reading list somewhere along your educational path.

We also mourn the loss today of Zelda Rubinstein, who died yesterday after a string of illnesses.

Rubinstein is best-known for her role in the "Poltergeist" movies. In addition to roles in other films, including a stint as a Munchkin, Rubinstein was, as EW.com puts it, and AIDS activist before being an AIDS activist was fashionable.

Below is a clip of Rubinstein making her first appearance as psychic avenger Tangina Barrons.

Putting Characters to Work--Classroom Activity Idea

2010-01-27T09:57:00.010-05:00

Hello from Teacher's Brunch HQ in frosty Auburn Hills, MI.

A few of use around here have been working on a Shakespeare project, and while we're not ready to share the whole thing yet, something came up yesterday we thought you might like.

For "Macbeth," we decided it would be fun to work-up a fake resume for the tragic would-be King. It got us to thinking that making resumes for all the characters, or any character for that matter, is a neat way to have students consider the people that inhabit the literature they're reading a little more deeply.

So "Objective" ends up being less about a job, maybe, and more about that character's motivation.

Other common resume headings could be added or changed as specifically needed.

Of course, a little lesson about resume writing is never a bad thing, either.

Below is our simple ditty for Macbeth. Let us know if you give it a try.

(seems like it's a Scottish kind of week)

Preparing for Black History Month?

2010-01-26T14:25:00.003-05:00

The Teacher's Discovery English and Social Studies divisions are interested in making your planning for Black History Month a little easier.

This DVD, "Martin Luther King: I Have a Dream," is a great piece for reviewing one of the most important speeches in American History. King's speech is also a great example of a truly remarkable rhetorician at work.

You'll find a sample of the video, and a free quiz to accompany it, at the link above.

Speaking of Martin Luther King, Jr., this great Talking Poster would be a fine addition to your classroom decor. Press the button on the poster for an audio clip of his famous speech.

And speaking of classroom decor (we are apparently all about the segues today), this poster set will let the words of African American poets resonate with your students every time the pass by. Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and others speak across generations, right into your students' hearts.

If you're interested in covering the Harlem Renaissance from all the angles, our set of three Harlem Renaissance PowerPoint presentations lead your students through the literary, musical, and artistic movements withing the Harlem Renaissance. The images and sounds in these presentations make them something really special.

If these pieces aren't quite what you're looking for, head over to the Teacher's Discovery website and give it a search.

As always, feel free to give us a call or drop us an email at teachersbrunch @ teachersdiscovery. com.

Pass the Haggis! It's Robert Burns Day!

2010-01-25T11:30:00.004-05:00

January 25th is Scottish poet Robert Burns' birthday.

Poetry lovers around the world can mark the occasion by carving up another of Scotland's gifts to the world, the haggis.

If that picture doesn't make your mouth water, maybe this will: the last (translated) stanza of Burns' poem "Address to a Haggis":

You Pow'rs, that make mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill of fare,
Old Scotland wants no watery ware
That slops in bowls:
But, if You wish her grateful prayer,
Give her a Haggis!

Perhaps to honor Burns, teachers around the world should have students write their own "Address to a [ ]" poems, featuring students' favorite cafeteria foods.

We'd love to hear any "Address to Chicken Strips" or "Address to Mexican Pizza" ditties that roll across your desk.

Potpourri of Poe

2010-01-21T08:54:00.003-05:00

We have two bits of Poe news to pass-on today.

The first is some good news, passed-on to us by Sandy in the Teacher's Discovery English division.

A "new" watercolor showing Edgar (we can call him that because we're buddies) far brighter than the usual image we get of the famous writer is going on auction.

It's reassuring to know that Edgar didn't spend all his time pining after his lost Lenore.

In more ominous news, the Poe Toaster, who for so long has left roses and booze at Poe's gravesite to honor the writer's birthday, was MIA this year. Speculation abounds as to what may have happened.

We here at Teacher's Brunch HQ hope the Toaster is alive and well, and if his or her mission is officially over, express our thanks for giving us something to talk about every January 19th.

Political Cartoons Confront Haiti

2010-01-19T07:21:00.003-05:00

The interesting thing about these recent political cartoons is the similar subtext.

It's Catalog Season

2010-01-18T09:41:00.005-05:00

Hello again, from Teacher's Brunch HQ in freezing fog-stricken Auburn Hills, MI.

(As Mike, our tech guy said, if smoke and foggy makes smoggy, do freezing and foggy equal froggy?)

Teachers across the country will soon find in their mailboxes our Spring Teacher's Discovery catalogs.

We've seen them, and they look great--full of ideas and awesome stuff to make teachers' days a little easier.

If you don't think you're going to get a catalog from us, and want to make sure you get one, head over to this link for English, Social Studies, and Science teachers, and over here for our Foreign Language friends.

When it does arrive in your mailbox, let us know what you think.

Miep Gies, Anne Frank Helper, Passes-Away

2010-01-13T14:28:00.004-05:00

The world learned this week that the 100-year-old Miep Gies died Monday after falling late last year.

Far from a household name here in the states, Gies is remembered for hiding Anne Frank and others in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.

The story of the Secret Annex reminds us that heroes can come in all shapes and sizes, and often the bravest do their good works far away from the spotlight.

Toothpick Bridge Winner Announced

2010-01-11T12:28:00.004-05:00

Super duper congratulations to Mrs. Wycoff’s fifth grade science class from A.L. Price Elementary School in Beaumont, Texas! They were selected as the winners of the First Teacher's Discovery Toothpick Bridge Building Contest.

The students' entry was chosen from more than 500 entries by high school, middle school, and elementary students.

For their efforts, Mrs. Wycoff's class can now select $500 worth of science supplies from Teacher's Discovery.

The contest was advertised in our catalog--$15 got the teacher and students an unlimited supply of toothpicks and glue. Run out mid-contest? We sent out more, free of charge.

Nick, our Science Division guru, says that because of the impressive interest in the contest, he's running it again in our Spring catalog, due to hit teacher's mailboxes everywhere in the next month or so.

If you would like to request a catalog, just to be sure you can be in the running for the next contest, drop us a line here.

Now, we're not sure if we're authorized to say anything until the catalog hits the street, but since we're the only ones with the blog password, we'll say this:

The next contest's prize is fully $1,000 in supplies.

That's a lot of toothpicks.

Good luck to future entrants, and congrats again to Mrs. Wycoff and her kids.

New Nixon Photos

2010-01-11T07:21:00.002-05:00

Here's a neat tidbit about the National Archives releasing some documents from the Nixon presidency.

In particular, the photographs from Oliver Atkins should be interesting.

Because the snow is making us silly. . . .

2010-01-08T11:15:00.002-05:00

We would buy it.

Twice.

Best Things to Use as a Sled

2010-01-08T08:56:00.003-05:00

The snow has arrived and is stacked outside the window of Teacher's Brunch, HQ in Auburn Hills, MI. The wind-blown Mt. Trashmore is rising majestically behind the McDonald's across the street.

It got us thinking about sledding.

But of course, since we're always looking at new ways of doing things, we got to wondering. . . .

What are the best things to use for sledding that aren't sleds?

We vote for scoop shovels.

Spell Well. . . but you already knew that

2010-01-05T07:46:00.003-05:00

So here's a convoluted way to toot our own horns. . . .

Ron Siliman's Blog (a very interesting spot on the net about all things poetic and more, even when you disagree with Mr. Siliman) posted a link to this comic blog, The Oatmeal.

If you look carefully, you'll see that the posters we featured in this post pretty much have your students covered.

It's dangerous to be so cutting edge, but we don't mind buying the Band-Aids.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T20:06:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year, or for those of you who, like someone around here, have spent the last two days climbing and sliding down a windblown sled hill, Chappy New Year.

Good luck with those resolutions.

Science Division's Globe is World-Famous

2009-12-18T19:53:00.004-05:00

Massive congratulations to our Science Division for landing on columnist Dave Barry's 2009 Holiday Gift Guide.

They also got featured in today's Detroit News. (Ahem, hello! Someone deserves a byline for that great photograph. It was difficult to get all of them to smile at the same time.)

Of course, the general demand for a Sperm Globe is fairly predicatable, so the influx of surprise orders caught with our pants down. Sadly, the globes are out of stock.

Without getting too detailed about the manufacturing process, we can say is that a new batch of globes will be ready to ship out in February.

Congrats to Nick, Gayann, and Sam--our Sceince Division. What will they think of next?

Name That Band Classroom Activity

2009-12-11T07:52:00.006-05:00

With the snow beginning to fly, the complaints that the office is too cold, and the end of college semester papers due for some of us here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in frigid Auburn Hills, MI, we thought we'd offer up a fun yet slyly smart classroom activity.

The premise is simple. Your kids love music. Take advantage of that by inventing their very own musical act.

To do that, they must develop:

The band's name
The band's genre
The title of the album
Ten song titles that wouldn't bother Wal-Mart
The liner notes
The album art

On the surface, this sort of seems like a cutesy art project, but you can encourage consideration of the following:

How album art is a form of persuasion
Expectations associated with genre
Artistic freedom versus the chance for commercial success
The role of media in popular art

By way of some example, this link lists, according to the writers, the best band names out there. Some of them aren't exactly school-friendly, but you could leave them off.

One of our favorite bands around here (at least among the enlightened few) is the new musical collective Works Progress Administration.

In keeping with their name, their album art mimics WPA-era art. See for yourself:

If you run this activity, let us know how it goes.

Happy Birthday to Our Blog

2009-12-08T13:29:00.004-05:00

Today marks the one year anniversary of the Teacher's Brunch blog.

A year ago we started writing as a way of transitioning from having a website with a shopping cart to an entity more fully encompassed by our parent company, Teacher's Discovery.

Today, we are even more closely tied with TD, so much so that the Teacher's Brunch logo will be fading from new products. In effect, Teacher's Brunch was a petulant child gone away for college, only to discover that hometown life is where it's at.

As we've evolved, we moved from making only technology products to making anything--posters, books, odds and ends, and more technology products.

In the next year, we'll be debuting an expanded line of T.V. Game Show electronic games, online versions of classic texts, and [ + + redacted + + ]. So as you can imagine, we're pretty excited.

Our blog has developed into more than a product pimping extension of our catalog (though it still is that). We now see it as an outreach program. A way to try to stimulate discussion or debate, even if it's just in the minds of our readers. We hope you appreciate what we write.

Thanks for being with us. We hope you'll stay for another year.

Buy an old typewriter for a big pile of money

2009-12-03T08:55:00.002-05:00

Regular readers of our blog remember us mentioning Cormac McCarthy here (saw "The Road." Was underwhelmed, though it's a perfectly ok film.).

Well, we just saw, via one of our fave blogs Pop Candy, that the typewriter used to write the book is going on the auction block.

If you've got a cool fifteen or twenty grand laying about, you can own the typewriter McCarthy bought in a pawn shop.

Take a look here, and save your pennies up!

But a kid is supposed to be a kid!

2009-12-02T08:11:00.003-05:00

Everyone here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in still-mild! Auburn Hills, MI hopes you've recovered from gorging on turkey and stuffing. Christmas music is in the air (some radio stations started just after Halloween, but we refused to listen) and the tree is lit in the lunchroom.

To get you in the holiday spirit, we offer this link, http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=340713 , detailing an altercation at a local kid-centric pizzeria. Sometimes, you have to just shake your head.

It reminded someone around here of a past trip to a similar restaurant/arcade. A young male employee, about 6'1" and maybe 110 lbs, was making his way to the Sky Tubes with a wet dry vacuum. Seems one of the young patrons had, shall we say, lost his pizza. When asked how much he was getting paid to scale the Sky Tubes to suck up the offending puddle, the employee replied with defeat, "Minimum wage."

He was quickly reminded that's why he needs to study and get to college.

Movie Maniacs

2009-11-23T09:59:00.008-05:00

We didn't go see the blockbuster, record-setting movie over the weekend because we prefer our vampires to be blood-thirsty monsters as opposed to emo-chic teenagers who can't quite open their eyes all the way.

But a few of us around Teacher's Brunch HQ in foggy-morning Auburn Hills, MI are pretty geeked for this coming weekend's opening of "The Road."

Any other literature-based films we should keep an eye out for?

More Words!

2009-11-18T09:17:00.003-05:00

The New Oxford Dictionary has announced its Word of the Year, hot on the heels of our post from yesterday.

Their Word is "unfriend."

An article about it can be found here.

Nominate a Word of the Year

2009-11-17T07:55:00.004-05:00

The American Dialect Society is accepting nominations for the 2009 Word of the Year, and the 2000-2009 Word of the Decade.

As the site says:

The best "word of the year" candidates will be:

—new or newly popular in 2009
—widely or prominently used in 2009
—indicative or reflective of the popular discourse

Last year's Word of the Year was "bailout." The 2007 Word was "subprime."

In keeping with the economic theme, and since the website says phrases are allowed, we vote for "Jobless Recovery." We like how it's both hopeful, and dreadfully pessimistic. When you read it you can feel good, but not accuse politicians of sugar-coating the truth. It's a win-win!

If you'd like to have your students enter their choices, you can send an email from their website here.

Feel free to post your choices in the comments section. We'd love to hear what your kids think should win.

Thank you, veterans

2009-11-11T08:51:00.002-05:00

On behalf of the entire Teacher's Discovery family, happy Veteran's Day.

Twain!

2009-11-04T08:47:00.004-05:00

Teacher's Discovery is highlighting our Mark Twain items this month in honor of his birthday.

Who doesn't love Mark Twain? Really.

Click the image above to check them out.

A ghoulishly good time

2009-11-02T07:49:00.015-05:00

One of the many perks to working around here (along with the fun of making great classroom tools) is the annual Halloween party. Last year, members of the Teacher's Brunch staff actually did all the planning. They were happy this year to let Lauren and Katie from the Foreign Language building throw the shindig, and this year's party planners did a fabulously awesome job.

Among the festivities were a pumpkin carving contest and a costume contest. As you might expect, we have some immensely creative and talented people around here.

See for yourself:

Caryn in FL made this wonderful piece. We're not exactly sure how many pumpkins are in this thing.

Get the joke?

Ginger in Foreign Language made her pumpkin look like one of our popular bobble head turtles.

Dave from Exploration Company made this pumpkin he called "Shish Ka Boo."

And here's the winning pumpkin, from Katie. That's real meat, people.

Karen came dressed to impress deep-fried fanatics everywhere.

Barb's wacky buffet retained the food fancy.

When he's not fixing web and computer problems, Vadim fights crime as one of the X-Men.

Devilish designer Michelle helps Nick search for coins and turtles to stomp.

And finally. here's the Tech Team decked out as the Channel 4 six o'clock news team from "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy." We won first place, which, since there were five of us, means we each get four bucks to spend at our local Target.

We didn't do it for the money. We did it for the glory.

Here's hoping your students aren't too wired on jujubees and goobers. And is it just me, or are Bit o' Honeys way too little honey and way too much bit?

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-30T12:42:00.003-04:00

Happy Halloween from your friends at Teacher's Brunch, Teacher's Discovery, the Exploration Company, and that Italian food warehouse next door.

Check back Monday for pictures of the festivities, including the Tech Team's first place rendition of a certain television anchorman and news crew.

Thanks for the laughs, Soupy

2009-10-23T08:20:00.005-04:00

While it's true that Teacher's Discovery is a national (even international) company, regular readers of our blog know that we are proud of our Michigan and Metro-Detroit roots.

So those of us here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in cold and rainy Auburn Hills, MI join with everyone in mourning the passing of a TV icon we in Detroit like to consider one of our own, Soupy Sales.

No, Soupy didn't start in Detroit, and he wasn't even from Detroit, but he was here as he approached the cusp of his success. He always maintained a generous attachment to our fair state, and the people of Michigan reciprocated.

Maybe today in his honor, instead of eating a pie, we should all throw one. That would be good for the waistline, and the funny bone.

Happy Birthday to Ryan

2009-10-21T09:46:00.002-04:00

Today, we at Teacher's Brunch HQ in warm but soggy Auburn Hills, MI will raise a slice of pizza and celebrate Ryan's birthday.

Ryan is now head wholesale honcho, but in his time as a Project Manager he got his name on loads of products, including the best-selling teacher favorite Literary Terms and Devices Challenge game.

He also likes motorcycles. And he's getting old.

So we offer this image, combining both themes, as a Teacher's Brunch blog birthday card:

New "Shakespeare at the Movies" Poster

2009-10-21T08:59:00.008-04:00

The Bard returns to your classroom walls in this Teacher's Discovery exclusive poster, "Shakespeare at the Movies."

You'll see that the poster features a lot of well-known Shakespearean adaptations, along with some films with surprising bard roots.

We're particularly pleased that the poster gives props to "Forbidden Planet." Your kids will love it, too!

(Blogger's note: the last image isn't on the poster, but it made you smile.)

Pathos, Ethos, Logos (and Robots)

2009-10-20T08:03:00.004-04:00

Someone last night was standing in front of a group of college writing students, delivering the finer points of appeals to reasoning, when it dawned on him that one of the funniest bits ever done by the good folks at "Saturday Night Live" has all three--pathos, ethos, and logos.

In abundance.

So here it is, nice and easy, for writing teachers assigning argument essays across the globe. (Sorry for the lead-in advertisement, though.)

A great example of persuasive argumentation. (And just look at the Old Glory logo!)

Plus, it has robots. And there's something about the "Certainly I'm too old" lady that makes us want to pinch her jowls.

RSS Feed

2009-10-14T10:40:00.003-04:00

We're trying a new techy thing on our blog.

We think we hooked up an RSS feed, to let folks stay on top of all the latest and greatest updates from Teacher's Brunch HQ in winter-already? Auburn Hills, MI.

Feedback is appreciated as always.

Our students and "dirty books"

2009-10-14T09:58:00.003-04:00

While a lot of the blogging and posting at Entertainment Weekly's website focuses on the latest exploits of John and Kate or summarizing the goings-on in Melrose 90210, sometimes it does stumble on something worthwhile.

Tina Jordan's post, you can find it here, discusses teenagers and pre-teenagers reading books that may approach or even throw themselves over the comfort line, as far as some adults might see it.

Where do you stand on that? Another one of EW's obsessions, the Twilight books, seems to fit in the discussion, too. But so do loads of other books that have fallen into the canon.

Another great response for Electronic Poetry Starter

2009-10-07T13:18:00.003-04:00

We got another really great review for our Electronic Poetry Starter.

We have four electronic starters in all, and you can find them here.

They're so cool, and your students will enjoy using them to write so much, you might even forget heart-breaking baseball playoff losses.

Still . . .

2009-10-06T21:47:00.002-04:00

Well, our Tigers just lost.

We're still glad we're from where we're from.

Congrats, Twins.

Fall is for football!

2009-10-06T13:11:00.003-04:00

U.S. History teachers, your students are thinking football right now, anyway.

Play into their interests, and make use of that technology you got this year (or whenever!), with one of our U.S. History football games.

With eight topics to choose from, they make a great review any time!

Check out what we've got here!

Author Series PowerPoint Presentations

2009-10-06T09:50:00.007-04:00

Right about this time in your school year, you're probably trying to keep students' minds on your lessons instead of Homecoming, having happily fallen into the daily grind of school and wondering if a rookie pitcher can help avoid the worst baseball team implosion ever. (Well, maybe not that last part.)

Allow us to make your job a little easier, Mr. or Ms. Literature Teacher.

The presentations we made for some of the most-read authors are ready-to-go out of the box and show students that writers are people, too--sometimes tragically flawed, sometimes surprising normal.

Each disk includes two reproducible activities, so you'll know your students know what's what in the world of letters.

Have a look here for an easy way to troll through the presentations available, and to download some samples.

You wish you were from Michigan

2009-10-01T08:21:00.003-04:00

Followers of this blog remember this post we made a while back.

We just wanted to let you know that our Tigers are cautiously optimistic, our Red Wings are so awesome they've gone international, and there are football teams with worse records than our Lions.

It's also Michigan/Michigan State week, though nobody here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in ready-for-some-pumpkins Auburn Hills, MI attended either school. (Central/Western weekend IS a big deal in our office, though, and we hear Oakland University has read the rules to football.)

All this excitement, plus a crisp Autumn breeze and the promise of warm apple cider sipped to the earthy fragrance of burning leaves.

You wish you were from Michigan.

In the throes of Banned Books Week

2009-09-29T09:06:00.003-04:00

We thought we'd remind everyone about the ALA's Banned Books Week (going on now at a library near you) by directing you to three articles we found thought-provoking.

From the left: here

From the right: right

And as close to the middle as we could find: centrist!

Take a hike!

2009-09-24T12:43:00.005-04:00

We are enjoying a wonderful day here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in sun-splashed Auburn Hills, MI. The new volleyball net is on the grass, the hamburgers were fresh off the grill (Thanks, Nina!), and the Bee Gees are falsetto-ing their way through "Night Fever" on the boom box resting on the window ledge.

We found this post within the blogs of Edutopia that might inspire you to take advantage of whatever nice weather you might have left before the pumpkins are on the stoop. (Thanks for the link, Nancy!)

A great literature connection might be the wonderful Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard.

People who LOVE literature

2009-09-23T13:24:00.003-04:00

While trolling the depths of the interwebs for something of interest, we found this site, dedicated to literary tattoos, that might appeal to all you Bohemian teachers out there.

This one was a favorite, because that Atticus Finch knew what was what.

Be Dangerous: Read a book for Banned Books Week

2009-09-21T14:17:00.004-04:00

Just a reminder, intrepid readers, from your always-happy-to-stir-things-up friends at Teacher's Brunch HQ in rainy days Auburn Hills, MI: September 26 - October 3 marks the American Library Association's annual observance of Banned Books Week.

Feel free to post your thoughts on BBW--how you celebrate, if you celebrate, and what you think we can do to highlight those great literary works that appear on the fringes. Maybe you have a banned book horror story you'd like to share, so we can commiserate.

Teacher's Discovery, in addition to selling a lot of the books that pop up on these banned lists from time to time, has a few banned book-specific items you might find helpful as you fight the good fight.

Pitch the Rock! Rocks and Minerals Baseball Takes the Field

2009-09-14T10:33:00.003-04:00

Hello, everyone, from Teacher's Brunch HQ in suddenly-summer Auburn Hills, MI. We've all got sports fever around here now that our Teacher's Discovery Fantasy Football league is up and running (thanks, Adrian Peterson), and our hometown Detroit Tigers are in the pennant race.

Coincidentally, we've just released Rocks and Minerals Baseball, the latest installment in our series of games made for interactive whiteboards. Science teachers across the country will find the game in the catalog they should be receiving within the next day or two.

Give the game a try-out.

You can download a sample here for PC users, and Justin Long-ophiles can get their Mac fix here.

And to put you in the mood to root for your team. . . .

September 11

2009-09-11T07:10:00.003-04:00

Today we pause to remember the men and women eight years ago who--faced with fire, smoke, and broken glass--helped strangers in darkened corridors go down the stairs, so they themselves could go up.

We also pause to remember the men and women eight years ago on a plane in Pennsylvania airspace who made the decision to not allow themselves to be used as a weapon, and those in the wreckage of the Pentagon completing a myriad of duties until hate fell from the sky.

And we salute the teachers who eight years ago struggled to explain to their students the images of falling towers and pierced buildings, and the teachers who today work to ensure our students are never faced by similar images again.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears! Our new forensics game is sure to be a hit

2009-09-04T07:31:00.005-04:00

Gribbly bits of bone and blood are sure to please budding forensic scientists in your class.

Students answer questions covering biology, evidence gathering, psychology, and physics as they make their way around the crime scene.

Not for the faint of heart, but perfectly fine for high school students who are ready to learn about the practical, real-world applications of science.

Find out more about it here.

"I Can Be Anything": "Reading Rainbow" calls it quits

2009-08-31T08:08:00.003-04:00

Venerable children's show "Reading Rainbow" has ceased production after 26 years, making it the third-longest running children's show in PBS history.

Below is the "RR"'s iconic theme song.

Sing along.

You know you can.

You know you want to.

Math is hard, but not this hard!

2009-08-28T08:53:00.003-04:00

Thought we'd throw in a little levity today because the weather report for Auburn Hills, MI--home of Teacher's Brunch HQ--is reading 69 degrees with rain. Sometimes, you have to laugh or you'll cry.

So, good luck to all the teachers (and especially the professors at Ohio State, who apparently have deeper struggles than we ever imagined).

Reaching Into the Old Mail Bag

2009-08-26T07:50:00.012-04:00

Yesterday we received the following email from English teacher Ben Smith regarding one of our most popular posters:

Hi there --

I recently ordered and received a poster featuring World Literature authors in a periodic table design.

I was very taken aback to find that of all the authors you could have included on this design, you chose to include Adolf Hitler among them.

I mean, that was a shocking discovery. I'm trying to imagine the conversation that could have led to his inclusion -- "sure, he was a genocidal maniac responsible for the murder of thousands, but he did write Mein Kampf..."

It's offensive not only on a human level, but even if there were an objective way to look at it, how could Hitler's body of written work merit this?

I've already decided how I'm dealing with it -- perhaps making it a teachable moment. I'm going to cut that square out, put a small reflective surface or mirror behind it, and tell them that that's a space where they can imagine themselves joining the rest of the world's authors.

It's not possible to preview every detail of the poster on your online site, but even still, I assumed I was safe from Hitler.

Is Ted Kaczynski on your poster of famous mathematicians?

This was our reply:

Of course, there is no way I can argue with you about Hitler's madness. Words can't fully explain his actions and the destruction he caused. He actually appears on another poster of ours, the Periodic Table of Dictators, Despots, and the Despised. I think you'll agree that he certainly belongs there.

Hilter's inclusion on our literature poster was not without deep discussion around here. It is true that he only wrote one piece of any real note. We decided early on in our creation of these types of posters that "one trick ponies" could be included. Otherwise, we'd lose worthy authors like Harper Lee and others whose body of work is limited.

We also decided to expand our thinking of "literature." That's why we include musicians and other writers whose work may not be considered "literary," but remains noteworthy (Stan Lee, a personal hero of mine, appears on our American prose poster, for example).

We accepted in listing authors that we'd include some whose work is banned/disapproved/ill-considered by a potential host of people. J.K. Rowling, who appears on the World Lit poster, has had her work removed from school libraries, and Oscar Wilde also appears on that poster, just to name two.

None of that explanation diminishes Hitler's atrocities, obviously, but that was part of the point of his inclusion. If the over-arching message of our posters is about the far-reaching power of the written word, unfortunately, if we are being academically honest with ourselves and our students, we felt that must also include acknowledgment of the potential for words to be used for pure, unspeakable evil.

I am sorry that his appearance disappointed you, but I assure you that his inclusion was not arbitrary, or merely for shock value. Thanks for being a customer of ours. I hope you'll remain a customer of ours.

That provoked the following reply:

Thanks for your quick response. As a seller of educational materials, I am certain that your decisions regarding content come from careful conversations with a number of people.

It's precisely this fact, however, that concerns me.

As a songwriter, I was first interested in the poster because of its inclusion of writers like Leonard Cohen and Elvis Costello. Like you, I appreciate this expanded idea of literature.

But with this expanded definition and a vast library of literary forms and authors to choose from, it is even more perplexing to me to include Adolf Hitler.

Perhaps you would consider me a bit too sensitive, but I bristle a bit at the comparison of Hitler as a "one trick pony" like a Harper Lee or "ill-considered" like a J.K. Rowling.

I'm not above appreciating the juxtaposition of two unlikely personalities. I think there could be great hilarity in a one act play with Oscar Wilde and Adolf Hitler.

And I suppose, there is some relief in knowing that Hitler is sandwiched between Joseph Hayford and Ahmad Kasravi on your poster. Still, I would argue that despite your assertion about your intentions not be shocking or arbitrary, Hitler and his funny mustache come off as both. (It might be an easy fix to switch it to Charlie Chaplin; he was a better writer anyway.)

I'm academically honest enough to realize that words have the potential to be used equally for good and evil, even the same words--take the Bible, for instance--but if the goal was to provide a wide ranging scope of world literature--for its potential for good and evil and in between, Hitler's inclusion is a bit of an outlier here and as a result, in my opinion, calls attention to itself in a...weird way--for lack of a better word.

Certainly Mao Tse Tung, who is probably responsible for the death of millions as well, was more of a poet and philosopher than Hitler ever was.

In any case, thanks for your response. Like I wrote before, this will become a teachable moment however it plays out.

And our reply to the reply. . . :

Your points are well-taken. In particular, I take some satisfaction over the inclusion of Leonard Cohen into the conversation because a) he has recently become a favorite of mine (I have no real excuse for having discovered him so late) and b) Hitler would really, really hate being on the same poster with Cohen. That makes me smile.

Hitler is a difficult figure for us at TD because we're always struggling to present the "complete" Hitler. If we avoid some aspects of his biography--for example his writing, his failed artistic endeavors--we risk not giving students a complete picture of an important historical figure. However, if we go too far to "humanize" him, we risk trivializing or trying to blandly explain away a monster. It's a line we try to walk, to obviously varying levels of success.

With your permission, I would like to excerpt some of our email conversation into a blog post. We get a hundred or so visitors a day, though very little interaction, and I am hoping it might spark some debate.

Or blog is here: www.teachersbrunch.com , and as fate would have it, I recently wrote about the latest Quentin Tarantino film.

I appreciate your passion, even if we are on opposite sides of this argument. Your students must really benefit from the energy you put into your teaching.

And one final response before we put it here in all its bloggy goodness:

That would be okay -- I'd appreciate knowing how/what you are excerpting/editing before it's reprinted. (I'd be happier if you just posted our correspondence as it was -- to avoid being misrepresented.)

Not that you would do that intentionally, of course. But I try to pick my words carefully --

I don't think you need to struggle with Hitler any more than you would struggle with Leonard Cohen. There is no worry of not presenting the "complete" Hitler --

There are few men from the 20th century as well documented as Hitler. There was a good article in Slate earlier this year about folks' curious obsession with his sex life and his one testicle. I believe there is a disturbing romanticizing of his life. He's either demon monster or failed artist--lot of armchair psychologist stuff.

Personally, I'm tired of it. If history teachers want to duke it out, go for it. But, I see no compelling reason for his infiltration into literature.

We thought we'd open up the floor to everyone.

Both sides have a pretty strong argument, though obviously we're a little biased.

What is certain, however, is that there are some lucky students out there who have a passionate, informed, creative (a reflective piece in the cut-out box is a splendid idea) literature teacher.

Feel free to comment in the comments section, or drop a line to teachersbrunch at teachersdiscovery dot com.

Oh, No! We got our U.S. History products all wrong!

2009-08-24T11:12:00.004-04:00

Well, not exactly.

Some of us from Teacher's Brunch HQ in Rainy-and-60-degrees-all-weekend Auburn Hills, MI saw the latest Quentin Tarantino film, "Inglorious Bastereds," over the weekend.

While professional movie critics have largely been split about the film's success or failure, we amateur film critics thought the movie was pretty good.

In particular, the performance from Christoph Waltz as suave, smart Standartenführer Hans Landa was impressive, and he rightly won an award at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Though the film is decidedly not safe for school, we wondered at the time how many U.S. History students are going to see the film and write essays about the war's end that are just plain WAY wrong.

We also thought to another recent WWII film, "Valkyrie." That movie probably is OK for most high school classrooms, conforms to reality more than a bit more closely, and is available here.

Tom Cruise is even not too crazy in it.

Young Adult Book Cover Activity

2009-08-20T07:47:00.005-04:00

Hello to everyone from Teacher's Brunch HQ in We're-Going-Back-To-School-Too Auburn Hills, MI. (of the four people in our immediate office, three of us hit the college books again in a couple of weeks and the other just finished a fitness trainer certificate program.)

We found this great blog post about creating your own fake YA book cover taking advantage of some of the cliches of the genre.

Essentially, you use a random name generator to create your Author persona, a random word generator to create your title, and Flicker to find an image that you crop (badly, if you stick to the cliches).

In addition to a great use of technology, we think this activity could be extended in the classroom to have students write a 250-word synopsis of their "books."

A nice way to highlight what students did NOT read over the summer, but might have!

Our book cover is below.

It's the heart-warming story of a father coming to terms with his newborn son's birth defect, as well as his own feelings of abandonment from a childhood spent without his own long-haul trucker father.

A best-seller, for sure.

Some fava beans and a nice chianti

2009-08-10T14:24:00.002-04:00

With all of the conversation about the proposed health care bills, we here at Teacher's Brunch, HQ in still-freaked-out-by-swine-flu Auburn Hills, MI thought it might be beneficial to remember one of the very earliest social program suggestions, "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathon Swift.

Here is the full text.

Swift makes some valid points, though we worry that playgrounds might be mistaken for farmer's markets.

R.I.P., John Hughes

2009-08-07T07:56:00.003-04:00

Word is out that director, screenwriter, and Michigan-native John Hughes passed away yesterday while on a visit to New York City.

For many teachers, we imagine his films helped to define and shape their own school experiences. Certainly, many of his films touched those of us here at Teacher's Brunch HQ.

Who didn't want to be Ferris Bueller? Smart, popular, nice, with devoted friends and family and a pretty-fancy-for-its-time computer? Ferris was an Id tempered with boyish innocence and good humor, bucking the system without breaking the system. You might not trust him with your car, but you would trust him with your life.

As kids we rooted for him. As teachers we admonish him, while silently rooting for him.

In a world full of regrets, Ferris said "The question isn't 'what are we going to do,' the question is 'what aren't we going to do?'"

A rather nice legacy to leave behind.

You Got Jokes?

2009-08-06T09:26:00.001-04:00

Ryan found this site that should brighten your day:

http://www.teacher-appreciation-kit.com/humor-2014.html

With football season approaching, we thought this one is a particularly good one:

A football coach was asked his secret of evaluating raw recruits. "Well," he said, "I take 'em out in the woods and make 'em run. The ones that go around the trees, I make into running backs. The ones that run into the trees, I turn into linemen."

Play Ball! Two New Science Games

2009-08-04T14:31:00.005-04:00

These two new gems just arrived to spice up Science classrooms everywhere.

The first baseball game covers micro-organisms and bacteria. Sure, it's a gribbly topic, but that's what makes it all the more fun!

Tornadoes, hurricanes, snowstorms, floods, earthquakes, tsunami, and a host of other insurance adjuster nightmares take center stage in our second new game, Natural Disasters Baseball.

Of course, both of these games are perfect for your new interactive whiteboard, but they work great on a regular wall, or a computer lab.

Let us know what you think of them by emailing us at teachersbrunch at teachersdiscovery dot com.

Your Friends at Teacher's Brunch--On the Cutting Edge of Educational Theory

2009-08-03T14:23:00.003-04:00

In this month's issue of the English Journal, you'll find a piece called "Turn It On and Turn It Up: Incorporating Music Videos in the ELA Classroom" by Luke Rodesiler.

It's a fine article, one we here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in apparently prescient Auburn Hills, MI firmly endorse.

We endorse it so much, we even went back in time to create a blog post about the exact same thing. You'll find it here.

(We tried to post some of the videos Rodesiler mentions, but the videos are technologically blocked. They are, however, pretty widely available for viewing in your classroom.)

If It's At ESPN.com, It Must Be A Sport, Right?

2009-07-27T12:01:00.001-04:00

Take a look here: clicky click

Another New Poster: Periodic Table of Loved and Admired

2009-07-24T09:32:00.002-04:00

Our Periodic Table of Loved and Admired is the perfect to companion to our Teacher-Favorite Periodic Table of Dictators, Despots, and the Despised.

We hear pretty often from teachers who use our periodic tables to inspire discussion and writing assignments.

This new one will definitely be a nice addition to the line.

We bundled the two posters in a sort of "Best and Worst" packaged deal, that English teachers can find here, and social studies teachers can find here.

Take a look and let us know how you use them in your classroom.

R.I.P. Les Lye

2009-07-23T14:15:00.003-04:00

Those of us from a certain generation here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in soggy Auburn Hills, MI are mourning the passing of a defining actor from our youth (if we had cable tv, of course).

We might not have known his name, but Les Lye, who passed away Tuesday, portrayed nearly every adult male on the Nickelodeon sketch show "You Can't Do That On Television."

At its best, "YCDTOTV" was about a lot of different teenage anxieties--divorce, dating pressures, drug use, and school issues. Les Lye, in his role as the everyday antagonist against the teenage heroes, represented bosses, teachers, parents, and just about every other authority figure you might imagine.

As kids growing up watching Lye's work, we imagined going up against him, and that vented our youthful frustration we experienced in real life.

Something about Lye's characters, though, always made us feel safe in an odd way. Like as bad as our parents were that day, or our teachers, or our bosses, they were NEVER as bad as the guys on "YCDTOTV." And Lye infused each character he played with a back story that we didn't really understand at the time, but appreciate as we look back. Without getting too arty about a show that included loads of flatulence jokes and green slime, Lye exuded pathos.

That said, Lye's characters were just good fun (when we were kids). So, a nod of the cap to him and his work. Let's hope he doesn't have to eat at Barth's in the sky.

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Cow has landed."

2009-07-23T10:08:00.008-04:00

The title of this post is a not so subtle nod to the anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, but is also serving to announce the distribution of our Fall Social Studies catalogs.

Teachers who purchase items from Teacher's Discovery with their home addresses will be receiving our comprehensive Social Studies catalog featuring the cow on the cover.

Everyone else will have a catalog waiting for them at school.

If you'd like a catalog before that, give us at call at 1-800-543-4180. Tell them the blog sent ya!

Even More Great English Class Posters! Shakespeare Quote Posters This Time!

2009-07-22T12:45:00.004-04:00

We have a bumper crop of English posters this week.

Inspired by a Shakespeare class at Wayne State University, we created these seemingly simple posters that feature quotes from every single Shakespeare play we can find. That includes acknowledgment of the so-called "lost" plays.

The posters are split into Tragedies, Comedies, and Histories, using the Oxford arrangement.

Of course, all of the most-famous quotes are included, along with fun bits and baubles from well-known and unknown Shakespeare plays.

The titles of the plays are color-coded to the colors of the quotes, so your students will know where each quote can be found.

Of course, we have a little fun, too, so we invented three Shakespeare plays, and included fake quoted from them. See if you and your students can find them!

You can get the Tragedies poster, the Histories poster, the Comedies poster, or get all three Shakespeare Quotes posters as a complete set.

Foreign Language is Twittering!

2009-07-20T13:25:00.004-04:00

We were a little harsh on the Twitter device recently, but to promote the Spanish/French/German folks of Teacher's Discovery, we'll kindly ignore it.

So here goes. . . .

Hey, everyone, from Teacher's Brunch HQ in sitting-in-sun-but-watching-storm-clouds Auburn Hills, MI.

Just a little note for Spanish, French, and German teachers.

Our brothers and sisters in the Teacher's Discovery Foreign Language division recently started posting to Twitter.

They promised us that if we help them get 100 followers, we'd all get cookies.

We love cookies.

So give them a look see, if you care to. They're working on some really great projects for FL teachers, from high tech downloadable and streaming stuff, to great good old-fashioned craft kits. They'll also be tweeting about new projects in the other divisions, too, so Science, Social Studies, and English teachers don't need to feel left out.

You can find their Twitter feed here.

Some New Literary Term Posters

2009-07-20T09:54:00.004-04:00

We're pretty excited about a new batch of posters we're carrying. As you can see from the sample, they're really evocative and get attention when displayed on a wall.

You can order the poster in the sample here.

To find the rest of them, search our English site for the following SKUs: P1901E, P1902E, P1903E, P1904E, P1905E, or P1915E for a complete set with a nice bit of savings.

Who Listens To These Guys?

2009-07-17T10:41:00.002-04:00

All of us here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in cool-for-the-season Auburn Hills, MI are getting ready to go to an art exposition this morning, so before we take off, we thought we'd just post a nice, innocent, political post.

Specifically, we were wondering if all the reels and reels of audio and video generated by the talking head culture of politics might have some value in the classroom.

We've highlighted Ed Shultz and Rush Limbaugh (appropriately on the left and right of our post-opening image, respectively), but there are loads of similar folks on the airwaves.

Thinking of their use in the classroom, it might be neat to compare coverage of a major political event--studying time given, or language used perhaps. Maybe an analysis of the types of callers who make it through would be an interesting way to look at this type of media. How about "Time Talking" compared to "Time Advertising?"

So we'll open up the comments if you'd like to describe how you already use the megaphoners out there in your classroom. Or maybe we're off base, and all that hot air just makes your school's air conditioning work too hard?

Listening is Writing and Writing is Listening

2009-07-15T13:33:00.006-04:00

An essay in the June 2009 issue of College Composition and Communication caught our attention here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in always-jamming-to-music Auburn Hills, MI.

The piece, "Aurality and Multimodal Composing" by OSU (we won't hold that against her) distinguished professor Cynthia L. Selfe, discusses reading and writing vs. listening and speaking (or singing or music-making, etc.).

A lot of what we do tries to include textual elements alongside aural elements, so we thought followers of this blog might be interested in the essay, too.

There's a copy of the article here: linky link.

The really neat part of the link is the example essays she's posted. Give them a listen.

With the prevalence of inexpensive sound recording and editing gear out there now, maybe this is something that will become more and more common in the average middle and high school classroom.

Two New Posters for English Classrooms

2009-07-07T10:48:00.003-04:00

Stephanie, who is getting married this weekend, managed to stop thinking about dress alterations, family-style dinners, and chair covers long enough to put the finishing touches on these two posters for English teachers.

Not only is it impressive that she kept her wits about her given the upcoming nuptials, these were her first poster projects, and they are awesome!

The piece above is our 100 Misspelled Words poster. Put this on the wall and your students will always get those tough-to-master words correct.

The second poster is for Commonly Misused Words. Is it correct to use affect, or effect? Are your students' allusions all too often illusions?

Place both of these posters on the wall at the beginning of the year, and let them serve as gentle reminders right through to standardized tests.

And a big Teacher's Brunch "congratulations" to Stephanie and her fiance, special education teacher Brandon.

[insert "pitter-patter of little feet" joke here]

A Dark and Stormy Blog Post

2009-07-06T08:03:00.004-04:00

"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

--Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830)

San Jose State University announced the winners of its annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.

To the uninitiated out there, Bulwer-Lytton is a generally well-respected writer, but he also dropped the bombshell opening sentence posted above that Snoopy stole for years.

So, SJSU hosts a contest each year to match--nay, surpass!--Bulwer-Lytton in writing so much while saying so little.

While the winner is certainly worthy, we here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in firework-hungover Auburn Hills, MI, prefer the runner-up because, well, it has a monkey.

We also got to thinking what a fun activity this would be for creative writing classes, or any classes, really. The trick is to make it a "good, real" sentence, while still qualifying for the contest.

We also also got to thinking about the basics of the contest, exhorting overwrought, cliche-ridden writing by writers who don't know when to quit while

Promethean Loves Us, Too!

2009-06-29T14:46:00.007-04:00

Hot on the heels of last week's announcement that we were recognized by SMART, we can now announce that interactive whiteboard company Promethean has also officially labeled us the bee's knees.

We've made a link on each of the subject websites so you can find individual products.

Here's Social Studies: here.

And English: here.

Of course, Science: here.

And finally, Foreign Language: ici, aquí, and hier.

Twitter Goes All Lit-Like!

2009-06-29T14:08:00.003-04:00

Most of us around here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in "rooting-for-neighbors-Lake-Orion-the-whole-time" Auburn Hills, MI are a little puzzled by Twitter, the social networking site that allows users to post short messages , called "tweets," updating friends, family, and perfect strangers to daily goings-ons in 140-character doses.

Really. Do we need to know what you had on your bagel this morning?

And while Twitter's usefulness to the savvy techies in Iran recently cannot be understated, the utility to the average user strikes us as a little, well, obsessive. Going for a walk? Great. Gotta tell the world? Not so much.

But this neat story about Twitter being used for literature caught our eye.

Maybe we've been a little too hard on the old Twit-machine? Feel free to comment and tell us how Twitter has a place in your classroom. This blog might get the old Tweety-Thinker working: here.

(Oh, and while we're at it. That's what you get, Bob Corker. We feel your pain, Spring Hill.)

This Just In: We're Officially SMART Board Ready!

2009-06-22T10:12:00.014-04:00

From the beginning, we've known that our games and PowerPoint presentations work great on interactive whiteboards of all makes and models (including ours!).

Now, SMART has officially recognized a big batch of our products to be what they call "SMART Ready."

That means that SMART has reviewed our product and determined it to be a great fit with SMART Board interactive whiteboards.

To us around here, it's sort of like a perfect stranger coming up to you at the park saying "Your kid is great and would fit in perfectly with my family." (OK, maybe not quite as creepy, but you get the idea.)

Below is the list of SMART Ready products that we have so far. It makes for a rather dull blog post, but when you realize we have over 200 items that were awarded the SMART Ready tag, it seems worth the scrolling.

If you'd like to learn more about any of the titles listed below, click on the correct division at www.teachersdiscovery.com and search for the title.

We've made a link on each of the subject websites to make tracking things down a little easier.

Here's Social Studies: here.

And English: here.

Of course, Science: here.

And finally, Foreign Language: ici, aquí, and hier.

As always, we're here at teachersbrunch at teachersdiscovery dot com if you'd like to fire off an email with your question.

A RAISIN IN THE SUN NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
A SEPARATE PEACE NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
ADV OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
ANIMAL FARM NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
BEOWULF NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
THE CRUCIBLE NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
FAHRENHEIT 451 NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
FRANKENSTEIN NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
THE GIVER NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
JULIUS CAESAR NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
LORD OF THE FLIES NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
THE ODYSSEY NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
OF MICE AND MEN NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
THE OUTSIDERS NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
THE SCARLET LETTER NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
NIGHT NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
MACBETH NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
ROMEO AND JULIET NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
THE GREAT GATSBY NOVEL GUIDE CHALLENGE GAME
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE POWERPOINT ON CD
THE ENGLISH ROMANTICS POWERPOINT ON CD
19TH & 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN POETS POWERPOINT CD
AFRICAN AMERICAN AUTHORS POWERPOINT ON CD
CHARLES DICKENS POWERPOINT ON CD
ERNEST HEMINGWAY POWERPOINT ON CD
MARK TWAIN POWERPOINT ON CD
JOHN STEINBECK POWERPOINT ON CD
EDGAR ALLAN POE POWERPOINT ON CD
GEORGE ORWELL POWERPOINT ON CD
S.E. HINTON POWERPOINT ON CD
HARPER LEE POWERPOINT ON CD
HARLEM RENAISSANCE AUTHORS POWERPOINT ON CD
ETYMOLOGY CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
RHYME TIME GAME ON CD
SAT WORD CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
KEY WORDS FOR COLLEGE BOUND CHALLENGE
LITERARY TERMS & DEVICES CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
ELECTRONIC JOURNALISM STARTER
ELECTRONIC ESSAY STARTER ON CD
ELECTRONIC POETRY STARTER
SHORT STORY DEVICES POWERPOINT ON CD
ELEMENTS OF A NOVEL POWERPOINT ON CD
19TH & 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN POETS POWERPOINT ON CD
SHAKESPEARE CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
MYTHOLOGY CHALLENGE
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD BASEBALL GAME ON CD
OF MICE AND MEN BASEBALL GAME ON CD
ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN BASEBALL GAME ON CD
ROMEO & JULIET BASEBALL GAME ON CD
THE OUTSIDERS BASEBALL GAME ON CD
IDIOMS BASEBALL GAME ON CD
GRAMMAR BASEBALL GAME ON CD
ELEMENTS OF SHORT STORIES & NOVELS BASEBALL ON CD
POETRY BASEBALL GAME ON CD
FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT PPT ON CD
AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES POWERPOINT ON CD
THE WILD WEST POWERPOINT ON CD
THE FIRST AMERICANS POWERPOINT ON CD
EARLY EXPLORERS AND EARLY COLONIES POWERPOINT CD
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES POWERPOINT ON CD
WESTWARD HO! POWERPOINT ON CD
THE PROGRESSIVE ERA POWERPOINT ON CD
THE RECONSTRUCTION ERA POWERPOINT ON CD
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION POWERPOINT ON CD
THE ROARING TWENTIES POWERPOINT ON CD
THE GOLDEN AGE OF IMMIGRATION POWERPOINT ON CD
1930'S & THE GREAT DEPRESSION POWERPOINT ON CD
1950S AMERICANA POWERPOINT ON CD
THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT POWERPOINT ON CD
KENNEDY,JOHNSON,& THE 1960s POWERPOINT ON CD
NIXON & THE 1970s POWERPOINT ON CD
THE REAGAN REVOLUTION & THE 1980s POWERPOINT ON CD
HARLEM RENAISSANCE AUTHORS POWERPOINT ON CD
HARLEM RENAISSANCE ARTISTS POWERPOINT ON CD
HARLEM RENAISSANCE MUSICIANS POWERPOINT ON CD
WHY WAR AMERICAN REVOLUTION POWERPOINT ON CD
WHY WAR CIVIL WAR POWERPOINT ON CD
WHY WAR WORLD WAR I POWERPOINT ON CD
WHY WAR WORLD WAR II POWERPOINT ON CD
WHY WAR? THE COLD WAR POWERPOINT ON CD
WHY WAR? KOREAN WAR POWERPOINT ON CD
WHY WAR? SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR POWERPOINT
WHY WAR? FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR POWERPOINT ON CD
WHY WAR? MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR POWERPOINT ON CD
WHY WAR? THE WAR OF 1812 POWERPOINT ON CD
WHY WAR? THE VIETNAM WAR POWERPOINT ON CD
EARLY EXPLORERS & COLONIES CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR CHALLENGE
1930'S & THE GREAT DEPRESSION CHALLENGE ON CD
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
THE PROGRESSIVE ERA CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
THE RECONSTRUCTION ERA CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
THE WAR OF 1812 CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
VIETNAM WAR CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
ROARING TWENTIES CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
THE PATH OF WORLD WAR I GAME ON CD
THE PATH OF WORLD WAR II GAME ON CD
AMERICAN HISTORY FOOTBALL REVOLUTION GAME ON CD
AMERICAN HISTORY FOOTBALL 1800-1900 GAME ON CD
FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT FOOTBALL GAME
IMMIGRATION FOOTBALL GAME
WILD WEST FOOTBALL GAME
AMERICAN HISTORY FOOTBALL 1900-1950 GAME ON CD
AMERICAN HISTORY FOOTBALL '50S AND '60S GAME ON CD
COLD WAR FOOTBALL GAME ON CD
KOREAN WAR FOOTBALL GAME
WESTWARD HO! BASEBALL GAME ON CD
THE CIVIL WAR BASEBALL GAME ON CD
NIXON & THE 1970S BASEBALL GAME ON CD
REAGAN & THE 80S BASEBALL GAME ON CD
THE ANCIENT GREEKS POWERPOINT ON CD
PEOPLE OF THE NILE: EGYPT POWERPOINT ON CD
ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS: MAYA, INCA&AZTEC CHALLENGE
EGYPT: PEOPLE OF THE NILE CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
GOVERNMENT CHALLENGE GAME
WORLD RELIGIONS POWERPOINT ON CD
WORLD RELIGIONS CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
REVOLUTIONS BASEBALL GAME ON CD
REVOLUTIONS! (1750-1917) POWERPOINT ON CD
ANCIENT GREEKS BASEBALL GAME ON CD
THE ANCIENT ROMANS BASEBALL GAME ON CD
GEOGRAPHY FOOTBALL GAME ON CD
GEOGRAPHY CHALLENGE TERMS DIGITAL FLASHCARDS
FORENSICS CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
ACIDS, BASES & SALTS CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
FORCES AND MOTION CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
BODY SYSTEMS CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
CELL DIVISION CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
LIGHT, OPTICS & SOUND WAVES CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
SIMPLE MACHINES CHALLENGE GAMES ON CD
GENETICS-DNA,RNA CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
WEATHER CHALLENGE GAME ON CD
THE CELL: ELECTRONIC BOARD GAME ON CD
THE KINGDOMS: ELECTRONIC BOARD GAME ON CD
ECOLOGY: ELECTRONIC BOARD GAME ON CD
MATTER BASEBALL GAME ON CD
BIOLOGY FOOTBALL GAME ON CD
DISSECTIBLES RESPIRATORY SYSTEM CD-ROM
DISECTIBLES BRAIN CD-ROM
DISSECTIBLES HEART CD-ROM
DISSECTIBLES DIGESTIVE SYSTEM CD-ROM
DISSECTIBLES EAR CD-ROM
DISSECTIBLES EYE CD-ROM
SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: HOUSEHOLD NOUNS
SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: PROFESSIONS
SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: SEASONS & WEATHER
SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE:TRANSPORATION
SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE:VEGETABLES
SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE:ANIMALS
SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE:BODY PARTS
SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE:CLASSROOM NOUNS
SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE:CLOTHING
SPANISH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE:FRUITS
SPANISH CONCENTRATION ANIMALS GAME ON CD
SPANISH CONCENTRATION BODY PARTS GAME ON CD
SPANISH CONCENTRATION CLASSROOM NOUNS GAME ON CD
SPANISH CONCENTRATION CLOTHING GAME ON CD
SPANISH CONCENTRATION FRUITS GAME ON CD
SPANISH CONCENTRATION PROFESSIONS GAME ON CD
SPANISH CONCENTRATION TRANSPORTATION GAME ON CD
SPANISH CONCENTRATION VEGETABLES GAME ON CD
SPANISH CONCENTRATION HOUSEHOLD NOUNS GAME ON CD
SPANISH CONCENTRATION SEASONS & WEATHER GAME ON CD
SPANISH FLUENCY DICTIONARY
ANIMALS DIGITAL FLASHCARDS IN SPANISH PPT
BODY PARTS DIGITAL FLASHCARDS SPANISH PPT
FRUITS & VEGETABLES DIGITAL FLASHCARDS SPANISH PPT
FOODS DIGITAL FLASHCARDS IN SPANISH PPT
CLOTHES& ACCESSORIES DIGITAL FLASHCARDS IN SPANISH PPT
TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH ALPHABET & NUMBERS PC ONLY
TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH VERBS PC ONLY
TV GAME SHOWS FOR SPANISH ARTICLES & NOUNS PC ONLY
TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH ADJECTIVES PC VERSION
TV GAME SHOWS IN SPANISH FOR VOCABULARY PC VERSION
TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH CULTURE PC VERSION
TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH ALPHABET & NUMBERS MAC ONLY
TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH VERBS MAC ONLY
TV GAME SHOW FOR SPANISH ARTICLES & NOUNS MAC ONLY
TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH ADJECTIVES MAC VERSION
TV GAME SHOWS IN SPANISH FOR VOCABULARY MAC ONLY
TV GAME SHOWS SPANISH CULTURE MAC VERSION
GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: ANIMALS
GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: BODY PARTS
GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: CLASSROOM NOUNS
GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: CLOTHING
GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: FRUITS
GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: HOUSEHOLD NOUNS
GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: PROFESSIONS
GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: SEASONS & WEATHER
GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: TRANSPORTATION
GERMAN DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: VEGETABLES
GERMAN CONCENTRATION ANIMALS GAME ON CD
GERMAN CONCENTRATION BODY PARTS GAME ON CD
GERMAN CONCENTRATION CLASSROOM NOUNS GAME ON CD
GERMAN CONCENTRATION CLOTHING GAME ON CD
GERMAN CONCENTRATION FRUITS GAME ON CD
GERMAN CONCENTRATION PROFESSIONS GAME ON CD
GERMAN CONCENTRATION TRANSPORTATION GAME ON CD
GERMAN CONCENTRATION VEGETABLES GAME ON CD
GERMAN CONCENTRATION HOUSEHOLD NOUNS GAME ON CD
GERMAN CONCENTRATION SEASONS & WEATHER GAME ON CD
FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: ANIMALS
FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: BODY PARTS
FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: CLASSROOM NOUNS
FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: CLOTHING
FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: FRUITS
FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: HOUSEHOLD NOUNS
FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: PROFESSIONS
FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: SEASONS & WEATHER
FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: TRANSPORTATION
FRENCH DIGITAL FLASHCARD CHALLENGE: VEGETABLES
FRENCH CONCENTRATION ANIMALS GAME ON CD
FRENCH CONCENTRATION BODY PARTS GAME ON CD
FRENCH CONCENTRATION CLASSROOM NOUNS GAME ON CD
FRENCH CONCENTRATION CLOTHING GAME ON CD
FRENCH CONCENTRATION FRUITS GAME ON CD
FRENCH CONCENTRATION PROFESSIONS GAME ON CD
FRENCH CONCENTRATION TRANSPORTATION GAME ON CD
FRENCH CONCENTRATION VEGETABLES GAME ON CD
FRENCH CONCENTRATION HOUSEHOLD NOUNS GAME ON CD
FRENCH CONCENTRATION SEASONS & WEATHER GAME ON CD
DIEGO RIVERA POWERPOINT
MASTERPIECES OF ART CONCENTRATION GAME
ART HISTORY IMPRESSIONISTS CHALLENGE GAME
PABLO PICASSO INTERACTIVE ART SHOW VIRTUAL MUSEUM

This also marks the first time we've used a table in our blog. HTML is fun!

How does your garden grow?

2009-06-16T12:41:00.005-04:00

Just wanted to take a moment away from catalog work to share some pictures of the Teacher's Discovery vegetable garden.

It's really sprouted recently, thanks, no doubt, to the rainy weather we've been having in two-days-in-a-row-of-nice-weather Auburn Hills, MI.

There it is, in all its glorious splendor.

Nothing beats the taste of home (or office) grown tomatoes.

Peppers, too.

Here's hoping your garden is overgrown with scrumptiousness.

Print Isn't Dead

2009-06-09T11:49:00.002-04:00

This article explains American author Dave Eggers's opinion that, despite what we hear reported and fear, the printed word is still very much alive.

Eggers is involved in some pretty great stuff, not the least of which is the screenplay for this Fall's "Where the Wild Things Are" movie.

Roll on, books!

Happy Summer!

2009-06-05T09:23:00.003-04:00

Schools across the country are gearing up for summer break, and we just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone happy vacation. Let's hope teachers and students across America return safely to their classrooms in a few months.

We know that teachers never really completely stop working. Many of you will be laying out new lesson plans, reading up on theory, maybe taking a class or two of your own. And that doesn't even take into account year-round schools or summer school teachers. So maybe "Summer Vacation" should be relabeled something else entirely.

We here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in still chilly (what the heck is up with that?) in the morning Auburn Hills, MI will be plugging away at some great new stuff, not to mention finishing up the catalogs that will be waiting for you when you get back to school.

Over the summer, we'll still be updating the blog and letting you know what's new in the pipeline, along with our other posts that meet our flights of fancy.

So check back in if you can, but if you go on break and can't, don't worry.

We'll be here when you get back.

Correct Common English Errors With Our Newest Game

2009-06-01T10:09:00.003-04:00

Stephanie has just put the finishing touches on this game that is sure to be a hit with teachers and students.

Using your interactive whiteboard, review 100 of the most frequently misspelled and misused words in the English language.

Of course, this game works just as well in a computer lab, or on your stand-alone classroom computer, as a great review for standardized tests.

Make sure you allot a lot of time for this, because it's going to be worth its weight in gold! (I think we got all of them ~~write~~ right!)

Here are the links to the sample games, so you can try it before you ~~bye~~ buy it.

Here for PC users.

Here for Mac users.

Spelling Bee

2009-05-29T12:36:00.002-04:00

Mega congrats to Kavya Shivashankar who yesterday won the Scripps National Spelling Bee, though those of us here in spellcheck-grateful Auburn Hills, MI were pulling for Michigan's own Sidharth Chand.

Sid fell to "apodyterium," a Greek bath. Seems rather unfair, since nearby Mt. Clemens was known for its mineral baths, not places to hang your togas.

So we thought we'd post two of our favorite moments in Spelling Bee history. The first is from Rebecca Sealfon, 1997 winner and, we think, the foundation for the nation's renewed interest in the Bee. Here she wins. Isn't her enthusiasm great? (But, to step up for our Michigan man Sid, isn't euonym a bit of a softball compared to apodyterium?)

This clip speaks for itself.

Yet Another D & D Post

2009-05-27T08:22:00.004-04:00

Well, followers of this blog know someone around here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in rainy Auburn Hills, MI has a "Dungeons & Dragons" jonesing, so it makes sense that when we saw this article, Everything I Know I Learned From Dungeons & Dragons, it had to be posted here.

Hopefully, game clubs will spring up across American schools.

Memorial Day Thanks

2009-05-26T12:06:00.003-04:00

A belated Happy Memorial Day to everyone out there. We sincerely express thanks to the men and women we honored over the weekend, and the families of solders who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of their country.

Geographic Bee Winner

2009-05-21T10:02:00.003-04:00

This story details the recent victory of Eric Yang, 13, in the National Geographic Bee.

He won on a nail-biting triple-overtime sudden death question. Here it is:

Timis County shares its name with a tributary of the Danube and is located in the western part of which European country?

Eric got it right, making what he called "an educated guess."

So congratulations to Eric, and the folks who helped him get that education.

Teacher's Brunch and Teacher's Discovery have a nice little collection of geography games that might help your students be the next Bee winner.

Here is a link to them: right here, folks!

All Work and No Play . . . .

2009-05-20T13:50:00.010-04:00

We are all very busy at Teacher's Brunch and Teacher's Discovery proper in gorgeous, sunkissed Auburn Hills, MI. The new Social Studies and English catalogs are well under way, the latest Science catalog is still fairly new, and down the road the Foreign Language folks are putting their latest offerings together.

So, why not throw a party?

Yesterday the hundred-odd TD employees shared BBQ and volleyball to celebrate May 19th. Why May 19th? Well, Anne Boleyn was executed on May 19th. The Tariff of 1828 was signed into law on May 19th, and Marilyn Monroe sang to JFK on a May 19th.

The truth is, of course, we just picked a day and wikied May 19th to find out what we could celebrate. Then signs went up advertising a "Boiling Good Time" and "Scratchy Pants." (Check out that tariff link to catch that joke. That's what we in the biz would call a "deep cut.")

No worries, though. We are still developing some great stuff for you and your students. Just this week our office has seen some new essay type posters pass through, and Nina has a great baseball game that uses excerpts from authors you and your students know to review literary terms and devices. Our German and French culture games soon will be joined by a Spanish cultural trivia game. And there's more coming down the line.

But sometimes, ya gotta barbecue. It's been a long, cold winter, especially in Michigan.

Hurry, Summer!

We've posted some pictures from our little soiree. Hopefully you've gotten some similar weather lately, too!

That's Cleveland, our IT-guru, striking a pose in front of the Eng/Sci/SS building, and making a pretty good argument for becoming a Coca-Cola spokesmodel.

Ryan, newly placed in charge of Wholesale, directs traffic on the volleyball court.

When Ginger isn't lining up her killer serve, she works in shipping at the FL building.

FL buyer Doug stalks the court, while Chris prepares to put the ball in play.

Social Studies Merchandise Manager Alicia actually posed for this picture. Twice.

Project Manager Nina recently road her bike in the Zoo-De-Mac.

Statuesque Vadim prepares to crush a serve (into the net, we seem to recall).

Here's a nice group shot.

Well, all work and no play makes Jack dull, but without work, the lights go off, and that Empires PowerPoint presentation isn't going to edit itself.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave comments or send an email to teachersbrunch at teachersdiscovery dot com!

Interloper! Bird moves in at Foreign Language building

2009-05-11T13:47:00.009-04:00

It's a beautiful but breezy day here in springy Auburn Hills, MI, a great day to relax in the courtyard at the Teacher's Discovery Foreign Language courtyard, shielded from the gusty wind.

But. . . .

Seems mommy bird has decided to nest in the low crook of the courtyard tree. In this picture, you can see just how close to the ground she's nesting. We figure the relative safety of the courtyard emboldened her a bit.

So for now we're staying out. Mommy's name is Robin, and we'll keep you posted as the egg-watching progresses.

The following pictures, by the way, were taken safely from the other side of the glass. No need to disturb her, especially so close to Mother's Day!

Ryan Makes His Acting Debut!

2009-05-08T13:55:00.002-04:00

In the video below, you'll see TB's very own project manager Ryan make his small screen debut as Marifer Sanchez in this Capitán Españo video clip.

Doug from Foreign Language is the good captain himself.

Keep your eyes peeled, because those wacky FL folks are planning a whole series of Capitán Españo videos.

Words cannot describe it. In any language.

Pluto Takes Another Hit!

2009-05-07T09:00:00.006-04:00

After the attempt by some people to strip it of its planet status, it seems the icy chunk of space rock known as Pluto is facing another loss.

The lady who as a little girl named Pluto has passed away.

It's What's Inside That Counts: Anatomy Challenge Has Arrived!

2009-05-06T07:31:00.003-04:00

Our newest game from our Challenge series is for Science teachers everywhere: Anatomy Challenge.

Like all our Challenge games, we made this to work perfectly with your interactive whiteboard, but there's other ways to use the game, too. In a lab, projected on the wall, on your classroom computer-whatever machine you use, the game is always fun, and students are always learning!

Here's the link to a sample for PC users: right here!

Folks more inclined toward Macs can find a sample to download over here: linky link!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2009-05-05T07:28:00.002-04:00

May the Fourth Be With You!

2009-05-04T13:02:00.002-04:00

Today is (unofficially) Star Wars Day here at Teacher's Brunch HQ in Spring-sun-kissed Auburn Hills, MI.

Enjoy.

New Essay Prompt Book

2009-04-29T08:34:00.003-04:00

We're pretty excited about our new book "11 ESSAY TYPES AND 50 PHOTO PROMPTS."

It's the first real book to come from the Teacher's Brunch office, but more than that, the book is a great tool for teachers and students alike.

The book defines the eleven most-common forms of essays and provides an example for each type. Those samples are all based on the same picture, proving that any time of essay can be inspired by any picture prompt.

The book also contains an additional 50 images that students can use to inspire their writing.

There's nothing scarier than a blank page and a blinking cursor at the top of it. Hopefully our book helps your students fill those pages.

(By the way--any class with a writing component could use this book. There's no rule insisting the essays be written in English, Foreign Language teachers!)

Teacher's Discovery Earth Day Clean-Up

2009-04-23T14:20:00.003-04:00

Mother Nature decided for us yesterday that the good folks of Teacher's Discovery (the mothership to our Teacher's Brunch office) were going to postpone our annual Earth Day clean up until today, and she rewarded our patience with a beautiful mid-April Michigan day.

So at 11 am EST, we shut down the phones, turned off the computers, set aside the Shakespeare and replaced pens with shovels, keyboards with work gloves, and hit the great outdoors.

Here Rick tidies up at the front of our English, Social Studies, Science building. Teacher's Brunch is housed in the same building.

Ron, shown here cleaning up the back of the same building, works in receiving. He's also a crack shot, and just today brought in a turkey beard from a bird he took last week. Some homemade turkey chili would be nice. . . .

There's nothing around here that Kristin can't do. When she's not ripping weeds, she handles a lot of responsibilities for our English and Social Studies catalogs.

Gordon, Ginger, and Nick pull out the table down the road at the Foreign Language building, a three minute walk from Eng/SS/Sci. If the tables are out, that means Spring is in full effect.

When the fear of frost is completely gone, and sometimes in Michigan that feels like that doesn't happen until about July, this flower bed will be glorious in color. Last year it received recognition from the city of Auburn Hills.

Foreign Language catalog guru Steve attacked the flower beds the way he attacks an advertising spread.

Here's Skip, sauntering away from the garbage can after a Herculean effort to dispose of a monstrous chunk of concrete that he tore from the ground with his bare hands after helping an old lady cross the freeway in rush hour traffic. His picture is bigger than everyone else's because, well, he's the owner and signs our checks.

After the hard work of giving Mother Earth a face lift, Tom (shown here in the foreground) treated us to some of the finest sloppy joe's we've ever had. Tom is the friendly voice on the phone when you call about Teacher's Brunch or Teacher's Discovery Interactive products. If he seems to know about life as a teacher, it's because he's a retired teacher himself. The two ladies in the back arranging potato chips just so are Nina and Stephanie, two of the Project Managers on the TB team.

We hope everyone else had a good Earth Day, too. We'll finish this post with a shot of Mike, tech support ninja. His message is a good one.

Got a favorite Shakespeare quote? Share it here!

2009-04-23T10:21:00.004-04:00

We here at TB HQ in sunny (finally!) Auburn Hills, MI are elbows-deep in Shakespeare, and not just because Jason's 20-page paper for his class at Wayne State University is due next week, but because we're working on a poster set featuring favorite and surprising quotes from the Bard's tragedies, histories, and comedies.

So if you've got one that you love--or your students love--share it here, and we'll try to get it on the poster.

Because if a little Bardolatry is a good thing, then a lot of it is crazy good!

5/29/09 Update:

Just a little taste of what these will include, here's some, we think, interesting web pages that your students may some day stumble upon:

The Most Lamentable Life and Tragical Death of Bob
http://www.teachersdiscovery-english.com/ads/new/fakeShake/bob/bob1.html

The Second Part of Good King George (2 George)
http://www.teachersdiscovery-english.com/ads/new/fakeShake/george/george1.html

The Charming Twins of Dorchester
http://www.teachersdiscovery-english.com/ads/new/fakeShake/twins/twins1.html

Happy Earth Day

2009-04-22T07:48:00.002-04:00