Stuff

 

Teachers are notorious for using lots of stuff; 

to my mind, too much stuff. 

They use stuff for the sake of using stuff...

 or Novelty

Which reminds me that

George Carlin has something to say about stuff.

 It's a problem.

If you don't believe me, 

 Google "Teacher too much Stuff" or "Classroom Clutter"

Adding to the stuff on the walls and the stuff on the tables, desks, and shelves (some even add stuff on the floor) teachers and/or schools like to use a lot of stuff.

Consider the following tale of truth from Melissa Willets (2023), author

for Parent magazine and mother of four school age children.

My elementary school-age kids’ teachers use an app called ClassDojo that tracks class participation. Then there’s IXL for reinforcing math skills—but I need another app called Clever to access IXL, as well as a host of additional apps that tackle other subjects. I have to open another app altogether called Schoology to contact a teacher with questions about any of the aforementioned apps, however. Um, what?

It's an easy hamster wheel or treadmill or stationary bicycle

to stumble over and fall in/onto and become enmeshed with.

To avoid such encumberment, I ask myself the following questions.

My Curation Questions Does this tool promote or facilitate the top three tiers of learning? Does it accomplish three or more objectives more fluidly than what I currently have? Can it be used for multiple subjects? Is accuracy balanced and reliable? Is it easily accessible?

With the afore mentioned considerations in mind, 

here is a list of resources I consistently use.

U.S. and World History resources Crash Course History Khan Academy Ken Burns Documentaries Pew Research Allsides Study.com   Primary Sources such founding documents, inaugural addresses, letters, diaries, photos, maps, Federalists Papers, periodicals, political cartoons, and declassified government reports Traditionally, I use the following websites (but the first one, WH, was stripped of the rich, historic, useful content on 1/20/25) Whitehouse.gov, Senate.gov, supremecourt.gov, House.gov, Un.org MetMuseum.org Economics resources Jacob Clifford Econ Videos Crash Course Economics Great Moments in Unintended Consequences   Federal Reserve Government resources The government websites already mentioned (History and Econ) above Crash Course Government State, County, and City websites iCivics One Small Step Conversations Geography resources Seterra Geography Games Culture Grams National Geographic Can be useful, but require cross-checking and quality control, not always accurate: History.com and TedEd.com

PS: The only teaching stuff in my classroom is books, a whiteboard, 

and me.