Parkway Schools

Connecting a Face to Your Curriculum
This week's tip is a list of 3 unique websites that highlight projects, issues, and dreams from real people around the world. If you're looking for a way to bring a face to the curriculum you cover in your classroom, you might consider visiting one or all of these. With the social nature of the web, connecting others couldn't be more easy to do. The three sites below do an impressive job of collecting support for individuals, teams and causes around the world. If you haven't checked these out before, they are well worth a look. Simply search for a city, state, or country and read the personal stories that appear.

• Kiva.org - Created with "a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty", Kiva enables individuals to connect with entrepreneurs from around the developing world. Kiva community members can sponsor interest-free loans to any number of projects.
• Change.org - This website is a place where anyone can start a petition, send it out, and gather support for their cause. Social media is changing the decisions of companies and government agencies around the world. Change.org is a small window into how that's happening.
• Kickstarter.com - A new home for "starving artists" and entrepreneurs in the developed world is Kickstarter.com. Countless documentaries, albums, inventions, and other creative works are supported here, through the power of online networking.

The web offers a unique chance to bring the stories of individuals into our classrooms, and the sites above might just have a story that will hook your students into that next unit.