Australian Psychology Teachers

They read us in OZ!  I was recently contacted by an Australian colleague, Penny Collins, a psychology instructor,  fellow blogger and organizer of psychology teachers in South Australia.  Thanks to Penny for reaching out and sharing her expertise.  Cheers!

Take a few minutes and check out their resources.  They have a different structure for their courses within their national system (Stage 1 and Stage 2 as well as year 10, year 11, etc.), and their resources are definitely worth checking out.

South Australian Psychology Teachers Site
https://sites.google.com/site/sacepsychology/

The SACE Resource Page has THSP as their number one source--thank you so much for the share Penny!
https://sites.google.com/site/sacepsychology/general-resources/ict-resources/blogs-and-websites

Another way to download YouTube videos
https://sites.google.com/site/sacepsychology/general-resources/ict-resources/help-youtube-is-blocked-at-my-school

Their 2012 Conference featuring information on adolescent mental health by Professor Tracy Wade
https://sites.google.com/site/sacepsychology/annual-conference/2012



posted by Chuck Schallhorn

Teaching Blogs-Some Favorites

Many of us are the only teachers of psychology in our schools.  That was one reason we created the Teaching High School Psychology Blog.  However, I suspect that most of us also teach other subjects in addition to Psychology.  I wanted to more directly point you to the other teaching blogs that are out there.

US History Teaching Blog
http://ushistoryeducatorblog.blogspot.com/

World History Teaching Blog
http://worldhistoryeducatorsblog.blogspot.com/

US Government Teaching Blog
http://usgovteducatorsblog.blogspot.com/

Teaching High School Sociology Blog
http://teachinghighschoolsociology.blogspot.com/

Free Technology for Teachers
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/


Teaching High School Psychology Blog (our very own)
http://teachinghighschoolpsychology.blogspot.com/

While I am biased toward these sites since they are written by high school teachers, I wonder if there are others our there.  What other blogs are you currently reading or utilizing?


Posted by Chuck Schallhorn

The First Day of 2010-2011 School Year

While I (Kent) am completely aware many of you following this blog have been back in school for some time, today was our first day of classes at Germantown High. In the infinite wisdom of our state (WI), students cannot legally start before September 1st.

That being the case, my summer hiatus from school has come to a rapid close as well as the break I've taken from this blog. I'm looking forward to another school year with my AP Psychology students and the opportunity to dialog with my psychology colleagues from around the world (approximately 20% of our visitors come from outside the US).

Last year at this time I introduced the Midnight Postings. My hope was to present some useful ideas for your classrooms and bring a sense of continuity to the hodgepodge of thoughts and ideas that normally is found in many blogs. As the THSP blog is a year and a half old with a strong base of followers, I would like to return to the free-flowing nature of postings.

The "Stranger Paper" is an assignment I present the first day of every year. Very early in the class period, usually right after I have introduced myself, I ask the students to find someone in the classroom that they don't know or don't know very well. At this point many students think we are doing the prep work for some type of "boundary breaking" activity where I will ask them to interview this stranger and then introduce them to the class. Imagine their surprise when I tell them for the next few days I want them to watch this person and eventually write a paper about their personality characteristics. I stress the paper should NOT be a simple listing of what the person wore and did but conclusions about their stranger based on those observations.

The students seems to find the paper interesting and a bit of a challenge. In time, we can discuss the limitations to naturalistic observation and the tentative nature of their conclusions. The paper creates a sense of excitement that separates AP Psychology from the other classes that spent the first day going over the syllabus and classroom rules.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the Stranger Paper.

THSP Blog One Year Celebration

Today (02/10/10) marks the one year anniversary of the Teaching High School Psychology Blog. In the course of one year we have had over 380 postings and are currently receiving an around 10,000 hits a month. Thanks to everyone who has helped make the THSP Blog such a success.

In honor of our birthday, many of the textbook publishers have generously donated prize packages. Over the course of the next week and a half, we will have a number of contests and drawings to distribute those prizes to lucky psychology teachers.

On February 12th we will randomly pick winners from the list of Followers of the THSP Blog and from those who receive THSP Blog postings via Feedburner.

To become a Follower of the THSP Blog, simply go to the blog page at http://teachinghighschoolpsychology.blogspot.com/ , then cursor down the left side column to the followers section. Click on the "sign up" link and follow the directions.

To receive the THSP Blog postings via Feedburner, go to the THSP Blog, then cursor down the left side column to the section entitled "Get Email Updates of the Teaching High School Psychology Blog" section. Enter your email address and click subscribe. You will then be sent a verification via email. Follow the directions in that email and you will start receiving a daily email update of the blog's postings and become eligible for the drawing.

We at the THSP Blog hope everyone has found our posting useful and pertinent to their teaching. Please feel to contact any of the blog's moderators if you have questions, comments, or suggestions. We are always looking for ways to improve.

The Teaching HS Psych Store

Recently, we began a business relationship with Amazon.com.  By that, I mean that they have opportunities for people like us (bloggers, organizations, website owners, etc.) to create accounts through which viewers can make their purchases from Amazon, but by using the links directed through our site, we can earn Amazon credits to be able to create more giveaways to our readers. 

So far we have a few hundred items on our site divided into a few categories.  Rather than adding items at will by keyword, we've decided to add only the items that we or people whose judgment we trust to be added to the site.  So everything in the store has been hand-picked.  There are certainly more items to add.  If you have recommendations, please email Chuck.

Our store can be found here:
http://astore.amazon.com/highschoolpsychology-20

THSP Blog Mile Markers

We here at the Teaching High School Psychology (THSP) Blog are rapidly approaching a number of milestones in the next few weeks. Since our humble beginnings nine months ago, the blog has continued to grow and expand in a number of measurable areas.

In the coming weeks we will reach:

• our 300th blog posting,
• our 200th person receiving the THSP Blog via email using the Feedburner program,
• having 50 people listed as followers of the blog and
  
• having an average of 10,000 hits per month.
  

Thanks to all of you for making the THSP Blog such a success. Thanks for visiting, sending suggestions and spreading the word to other psychology teachers. We, the moderators, could not have done it without your help.