The catastophic affects of a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans are difficult to appreciate – especially for school-aged students. I was talking with my kids about it all this week as we watched the news on the TV – and thought about what I might do if I was teaching in a regular classroom again. It got me thinking about the rich media environments that we have available to us, and the resources that are available so immediately on the internet.

Here are some resources I found without too much trouble that illustrate innovative use of the technology to provide insights that could be used as the focus of discussion and inquiry in a classroom setting.

The first is a series of diary entries from a local Professor who lived through the disaster, made available through eSchoolNews:

The second is a growing series of images from the area made available through Google Earth

For the audio learners there are some Podcasts available, such as Science Friday which provides a scientific overview from a weather perspective, or a podcast radio show called WhatsItAllAbout in which the DJ interviews residents of Baton Rouge and New Orleans for first-hand insights of what happened during the hurricane.

Or for some video images check out a CNN clip on Ryanne’s Video Blog

Another site that has been set up by eSchool News as a resource for teachers regarding Hurricane Katrina has a section titled Web sites for helping teachers explain Hurricane Katrina to student which is worth a look.(You’ll need to scroll down the page to find this section)</em)