October 2015 – Awesome Stories

AwesomeStories Takes the NAEP Reading Drop Challenge

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Today, in answer to the continued lack of progress in student reading skills, AwesomeStories offers not only its Free Archive of 4,000 topical stories embedded with 100,000 primary sources, but also four online video tutorials by trial attorney and founder, Carole Bos. The tutorials are intended to transform reading into exploration:
“Investigating a Story with Evidence,”
“How to Find a Great Story,”
“Be a Super Sleuth” and
“Cite Right.”

Our goal is to work with teachers and students and to deliver tools and stories to prove that deep reading, investigating, researching can be more compelling than video games!

To make it yet easier to join AwesomeStories premium membership to access our apps that enable you to create and publish stories, papers and curriculum, we are announcing today:

Silver Individual membership now includes the AwesomeStoryMaker App and the fee is reduced to = $14/year.

Gold Classroom membership fee for teacher + up to 30 students is reduced to $39 for a full year. Additional students may be added at $1 per student.

Click here to sign up for premium membership!

New Member-Created AwesomeStory: Thaddeus Kosciuszko: Hero of the American Revolution

AwesomeStory Member Kay Teehan wrote a new story: Thaddeus Kosciuszko: Hero of the American Revolution, read about it here!

We are constantly rolling out new stories here at AS and Kay’s latest is a gem: a look into the life of Polish-born and eventual American Revolutionary War patriot Thaddeus Kosciuszko. Koscuiszko came to America brimming with enthusiasm to beat the Brits and quickly gained the trust of Franklin, Jefferson and Washington. Kosciuszko helped American troupes evade the British army many times and many ways before going on to lead military action in France and his native Poland. His character is as compelling an element of his story as was his military prowess; Kosciuszko vehemently opposed the decimation of the American Indian as well as the enslavement of Africans, while additionally advocating for equal rights for women. His will decreed for the release of his and Jefferson’s slaves and allotted money toward their education.

Kay Teehan is already a prolific contributor at Awesome Stories, please read more of her stories in our database. Her enthusiasm and volume of contribution is no surprise considering her years of teaching at many levels focusing on utilizing technology and online resources to maximize engagement with academic studies…she’s written three books on the subject!

Now you can write your own AwesomeStories!

Join as a member or as a free trial member and use AwesomeStoryMaker to create your own!

New Member-Created AwesomeStory: The Boy Who Became the Dalai Lama

child Dalai Lama — the Dalai Lama as a child

Item! Pope Francis isn’t the only Holiness worth knowing about. Who are we talking about? Tenzin Gyatso aka the Dalai Lama. That’s right, Awesome Teacher Leader and site author extraordinaire Kay Teehan delivers another useful piece of research.

Awesome stories comprises thousands of stories authored by found Carole Bos and we are increasingly expanding with contributions through user/member/leader-generated content. Check out how to become a Maker through our story building program.

Fun fact about the Dalai Lama: it is believed that the Dalai Lama is the same soul, reincarnated over and over again through living beings. The current holder of the position was envisioned by a monk who saw the house where the future Lama lived. The recently deceased Lama’s head repeatedly pointed in the direction (north west) where earthly body of the new Lama could be found, no matter how many times the monks tried to reposition the head to face forward. Find out more of his Holiness’s amazing story here.

Now you can write your own AwesomeStories!

Join as a member or as a free trial member and use AwesomeStoryMaker to create your own!