NEA’s decision to provide sponsorship for the Gateway has clearly addressed a need in the community and an unprecedented commitment to fostering 21st century skills in education. And, because they have kept the Gateway free for everyone’s use NEA is making a statement that what is important is student achievement, creating an atmosphere in which our children can attain a globally competitive education and where everyone has an opportunity to participate. That is a very 21st century attitude!

We at the Gateway are thrilled that we are here to help, have many, many things to offer and an efficient and comprehensive manner to find even the most specific query regarding 21st century education contained in our collection.

What’s New?

New information about 21st century learning resources is being added every week to the Gateway. Don’t miss out on these great new additions.

NEA has partnered with the GEM Exchange, Gateway to Educational Materials, and JES & Co to support Gateway to 21st Century Skills, a website that combines state-of the art search technologies and a complete database of state academic standards for core subjects. The Gateway is your link to the resources you need to make learning meaningful and fun for your students.

Here are just a few more recent examples of new items that you can find on the Gateway for you and your students.

Cultural "I Am" Project: Research, Organize, and Present
The Cultural "I Am" Speech is a cross-curricular program that incorporates English, technology, and social sciences. Students select 3 historical individuals and investigate them through research. Students will then write a biography of one of their selected individuals, and write and present a speech in the manner of their chosen person.

“Sense” of Place
In order to understand the essential question of “How has the landscape in the community changed over time?” students use concrete details and sensory language for reflecting on thoughts and feelings about a local place. Students free-write, discuss, peer-edit, and revise an essay in order to interpret historic photographs with words, particularly by illuminating the senses

Finding the Forest Through the Trees
In order to understand the essential question of “How do forests return after a disturbance?” students compare and contrast multiple photos of an area and learn about forest succession. Students observe photographs, learn about forest succession, predict the age difference of two photographs, and paint ceramic tiles.

Inventions Using Simple Machines Project
Students will have completed a unit on the six simple machines (lever, inclined plane, pulley, wedge, screw, and wheel and axle) before beginning this project. Students will choose to investigate an invention composed of one or more simple machines that has already been invented, or they will choose to build a device composed of one or more simple machines. The invention must be safe to operate and it should be one that can be demonstrated at school. It should be one that students use themselves in everyday life. It should not be complicated.

Where the Water Falls
Students use a model to demonstrate the movement of water and pollutants in a water-shed, then visit a park to observe firsthand the effects of vegetation on soil erosion and how rain finds its way to the sea.

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm. . .
In this lesson students have to put their critical thinking skills to the test by debating a real life hot topic that matters to them. Students will be collaborating with students from another classroom, city, state or country. Utilizing their research and presentation skills, students must effectively communicate their point of view to peers. Learning the rules of debate has never been so much fun!

A Car for College?
In this lesson, students will create a budget and project savings for 2 years. They will project using their savings to purchase a car for graduation.

New York with $1200
You and three of your classmates have been awarded an exciting trip to NEW YORK CITY! You will each be given $1200 to cover all your expenses during your three day stay. You must use only your $1200 prize to cover all expenses (transportation costs, hotel accommodations, food, gratuities (tips), souvenirs, and entertainment). Please budget your money carefully – decide which purchases are most important and budget these first. Don’t forget to have fun!!

Langston Hughes
Come and enjoy Langston Hughes' poetry and lyrics via the Internet. No books needed!

Quickly learn to search the huge collection of free learning resource

View our video! Our brief, seven minute, instructional video is now available on the home page of the Gateway. It’s never been easier to boost your professional skills, add more fun and individualized instruction to your repertoire of competencies. Join our cadre of 21st century educators today.

Make your search for resources from the Gateway or great benefit from your NEA membership easier and faster. Simply visit: http://www.thegateway.org and download the National Education Association Toolbar from the link in the middle of the page. The toolbar is ready for you! It easy and it’s FREE!

Did You Know?
Wednesday and Thursday were the busiest days for the Gateway in the month of December. In fact, the Gateway is such a valuable and powerful tool that in December 81.7% added the Gateway to their browser Favorites or Bookmarks! In the last month alone, over 57% of visits came from people who have already bookmarked the Gateway to 21st Century Skills.

Gateway to 21st Century Skills Statistics for December 2008
Lots and lots of educators are finding and utilizing the Gateway as in each month since we became sponsored by the NEA, we have experienced double digit percentage increases over the previous year’s figures. The Gateway Community keeps getting bigger and we keep breaking records! December 2008 traffic to the Gateway hit approximately 24,965 visits. In the month of December 2008, adjusted measures of traffic showed visitors viewed 92,774 pages and created 760,605 hits.

The Gateway to 21st Century Skills receives thousands of visits a month from dedicated educators all over the world. The community is developing into a diverse and interesting group with tremendous talent to share! Come and join us as we pioneer the way to the vision of a 21st century education. Become a member and network with other educators. Use the information from the Gateway learning resources in other Web 2.0 friendly applications, your portfolio, store it on your calendar for easy planning or share it with your student, parents and administrator. The Gateway is here to help you easily meet your needs and make your teaching day easier!

Spread the word, invite a friend and help your fellow educators to participate in this special community that NEA has provided for its members.

If your NEA state affiliate website doesn’t link to the Gateway to 21st Century Skills as a resource on your state website, they are surely missing the 21st Century boat. Tell them you need resources and a link to the Gateway! In terms of a teaching tool, it is one of the greatest benefits that NEA has ever made available to its members.

Are Your Members Using the Gateway?
Welcome Iowa and Georgia! Both of these new states and Connecticut Retired Education Association, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Wyoming, Wyoming Student Education Association, Hawaii, Maryland, Colorado, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Washington, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, South Dakota and Tennessee and have all created versions of the Gateway that displays the state affiliate logos.

And now, not only will your affiliate members be greeted with a view of your logo but anyone who declares that they hail from your branded state will also see that affiliate’s logo. This will underscore your local commitment to provide the members of the profession with the tools and resources they need to succeed in driving improvements to student achievement.

We want to hear from you. What would you like to see added to the Gateway? What improvements would you like to see? Send your suggestions, thoughts and observations on how we can make the Gateway to 21st Century Skills a more valuable tool for you, your students and your fellow teachers. Contact Bruce Walker at brucew@jesandco.org.

Who’s Joining the Gateway?

From students and pre-service teachers to experienced educators in all parts of educational enterprise, everyone finds value in the Gateway collection of learning resources. What a tremendously diverse and interesting group of people find their way to the Gateway! The community is growing in size and harnessing the awesome power that comes from a huge set of life skills. To show you what we at the Gateway have noticed we did some research on the diversity of members in the biographies written by new members applying for Gateway membership.

Here are some excerpts from the biographies of recent Gateway applications for membership. Members show their support for the Gateway by joining and it is Free! Membership allows you to make notes and comment about the resources you find on the Gateway. You can share those observations with your peers or make comments that are only for your use. It’s like your own personal Gateway to over 50,000 quality learning resources.

C. H. - OH
I am a graduate of the Ohio State University. I have a Master's of Education in Family & Consumer Sciences education. I currently teach 6, 7, & 8th grades at New Philadelphia's Welty Middle in Southeast Ohio.

S.M. – MI
I am a computer instructor at Thompson Community Center. This is an alternative educational program for at-risk students in a high school setting. I've been teaching in the computer field for over 13 years. I have a vocational certificate from the State of Michigan. I'm always looking for ways to improve learning and instruction via technology.

T.W. – IN
Director, High School Journalism Institute; lecturer Indiana University School of Journalism; former high school English and journalism teacher.

J.R. – Spain
I've been teaching English at high schools in Catalonia, Spain for the last 24 years. I've written some articles and a book " Enjoy the music", Heinemann, 1997, about using songs to learn English. I 've also collaborated with some editorials to develop some text books for Secondary education in Spain. From time to time I give some lectures as a teacher trainer.

C.G. – AZ
I recently left Corporate America to enter the teaching field and currently hold a Master's Degree in Special Education Cross Category. I am going on my 2nd year of teaching in a self-contained classroom for MIMR/MOMR students and currently have a class of 10 students 3-5th grade.

M.L. – VA
I started teaching middle school math on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. After four years I moved to Worcester County, Maryland and taught middle school math and Algebra I for another five years before finally moving back to my hometown to take a state job in correctional education. I now teach a variety of subjects to a variety of age groups and ability levels. My current position has been the most rewarding for me personally but also the most stressful.

R.K. – WA
20+ years as teacher and drama specialist. Teach elementary school (have taught all grade levels) and University (Theatre, Education, and Humanities). Drum Major award from the Martin Luther King Commission for service to the community. Outstanding Teacher award from community. Teacher Feature award from KSL and community. Presenter locally and nationally; Drama in the classroom and Drama as a teaching tool.

T.H. – NH
I am a veteran teacher of over thirty years. I am currently the Program Director and teacher at Bryant Academy, a middle school for LD and OHI students. We also accept students who have no disability but wish to have an alternative approach to education. Students are encouraged to work independently receiving guidance and 1:1 instruction when needed. Independent, self-thinkers, creative workers are what we work at developing. We have been fortunate to be successful.

A.W. – KY
I am a second year EBD teacher in Shelby County, Kentucky. I work with middle school aged students in a 6-8 setting. I have my bachelors degree in sociology from the University of Kentucky and was alternatively certified in special education P-12 at Georgetown College earning my masters degree. I am recently married to the man of my dreams after dating for five years. God has blessed me with an intelligent, talented, creative and caring son who turns 15 in January. We live in Paris, KY.