10 seconds: the makings of half a class

As one of my default start pages, yahoo.co.uk, has failed to turn up any interesting stories for class lately, I've made ananova.com's "Quirkies" section one of my "starts". (I'm using Firefox, not Internet Explorer, and open six pages by default, every time I log on).

What am I looking for when I spend 10 seconds a day scanning pages like that? A headline that makes me curious, that makes me want to read. I figure that if that's the case, then I can write the headline up on the board, and my students will then want to read the story in class.

Among the items this morning: Teen turns down £8.5m, about how a "Cheltenham teenager has reportedly turned down £8.5million to sell his website".

It gives the name of the kids (news) website, Sharpenews, and I guessed that must be sharpenews.com. 89m "hits" in 18 months...? It must be a brilliant site!

Whether or not I actually occupy class time visiting the site, I think I've got the makings of my kids' class for this afternoon...