http://www.socialstudies.org/resources
The National Council for the Social Studies website is a great resource for social studies teachers that has many different materials that teachers can use in their classroom from a broad range of topics. The resource section of their main website is a direct link full of many different teaching tools that teachers can implement immediately into a classroom environment.
As you scroll down the main page there are many topics that they have posted up that have links from many different topics such as teaching resources for the State of the Union Address. If you follow this link it gives you two different teaching options describing the lesson that it is giving you and also giving you the link that you can find these lessons.
On the right side of the main page there is a series of links that are very helpful. Some helpful links are “Teaching with Documents” and “Lessons”. This is a listing of things that you can use as an educator. The downfall of this website is that you have to pay money to use most of the resources available. Without membership there is a limited access level. If you can afford this or convince your school that this would be a valuable resource to invest in, this can be a great website to get many different teaching idea, primary documents, and lesson plans.
-Michael Fauerbach
Friday, April 30, 2010
thwt.org by David Janociak
http://thwt.org/
This website is an absolute treasure chest of resources for history teachers seeking to integrate technology into their classroom. The main strength of thwt.org is the toolbar on the left side of the home page which contains numerous links to different technologies and resources. For example, if a history teacher wants to play an educational game all they have to do is click “Activities” and they are presented with links to many different websites containing ready-made history games. The resources are seemingly limitless with links to webquests, wikis, PowerPoints, lesson plans, and many other tools to make a teacher’s classroom both stimulating and dynamic.
However, thwt.org is much more than just a website stuffed with resources for the classroom. The website’s second important function is that it also seeks to teach teachers about how to effectively use new technology in the classroom. For example, imagine that there is a teacher out in the world who is playing with the idea of using a wiki page in their classroom but really doesn’t know how. Rather than scrapping the idea, that teacher can check out the video tutorials on the website which explain how to set up a wiki and integrate it into the classroom. Therefore, thwt.org is an absolutely fantastic website. It offers teachers with a starting point to find different resources to bring into the classroom. It also guides teachers who don’t know how to use technology. Therefore, thwt.org is a site that strives to improve and revolutionize the way we teach history in a simple and helpful way.
C-Span Classroom by Amy Merrell
This website provides videos and primary source documents relating to many topics in social studies including economics, political parties, US history, and US constitution among many others. All of the videos provided show congressional leaders discussing the validity of certain amendments and laws and how they apply to society today. This can be very beneficial to students as they can see how historical events shape today's society. Although this is a British site, it offers many links relating to American history that can be used in class. It also will give the student's a different perspective on events because some of the people they hear discussing are members of the British Parliament.
This website also provides links to other websites that have been approved by C-Span to be beneficial to teachers on many of the same topics that they have already addressed. This allows teachers to have many resources in one place. You can go to this website and have many resources at your fingertips. There is also a lesson plans links and a blog that allows fellow teacher to give input and tips to each other. Basically, this website takes historical events and relates them to the events of today, and also gives many resources on American history that can be used in the classroom.
http://www.c-spanclassroom.org/
German Propaganda Archive
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/
It seemed that every year in History classes from 6th grade through senior year of high school, a lesson on World War II and the Nazis was included somehow. Everyone knows the textbook story, but the true feelings and moods lie within the primary documents. Letters from families, messages to front lines, and propaganda speeches all deeply explain the background and the movement that was the Nazi movement. I stumbled upon this archive two years ago in another European History class, and I kept it in my favorites for an occasion such as this. The German Propaganda Archive, with help from Calvin University, provides an easily accessible, organized and detailed database of hundreds of primary sources to utilize.
Many categories are listed, spanning from Pre-War material, visuals, anti-semitic attacks, and speeches by many influential leaders. Under the “Visuals” tab, you can access Nazi propaganda posters from the late 1930’s, German and American cartoons, pamphlets, art and many other visual sources. Easily downloadable or printed, primary sources provide an incredibly interactive tool for better engagement in the classroom.
Instead of struggling for ways to link World War II to feelings at home, you can pull presidential speeches, motivational “war bond” posters and read workers accounts of wartime. I actually used some propaganda posters of Nazi soldiers for a lesson in Urbana Middle School this year. I could imagine easily structuring an entire unit on WWII using this site alone for my sources and activities. At the bottom of the homepage, there are several links to outside pages and other guides to the history behind propaganda. Feelings and emotions are usually the hardest to convey so students can understand, but with first-hand accounts of soldiers and citizens attitudes become clearly conveyed. Overall, I would recommend this site to any US, European or World History teacher in secondary education. Simple and organized, the site allows these primary sources to reach learners effectively on a topic filled with emotional accounts and historical interest.
The Journal of American History
The Journal of American History
The Journal of American History is published four times each year by the Organization of American Historians at Indiana University. The website for the Journal boasts multiple resources for the historian and for the teacher. Full text versions of all the issues of the Journal from 1999 to the present are available through the website, and older issues are made available through a link to the JSTOR database. Under the "Web Projects" tab on the website are two resource that can be very helpful: "Teaching the JAH" and "Textbooks and Teaching".
"Textbooks and Teaching" is a feature published once every year by a different author. Full text versions as well as other supplemental material from the authors can be found on the website as well. THe resources provided include articles, syllabi, lesson plans, teaching strategies, and more. Similarly, "Teaching the JAH" offers a multitude of resources for teachers at many levels. Each installment of "Teaching the JAH", published twice each year and contributed by various authors, offers ways to "teach the article" to a classroom. It provides useful resources pertaining the the content of the article such as maps, charts, pictures, reading questions, author commentary, primary sources, and links to supplemental websites in order to help "bridge this gap between the latest scholarly research and classroom teaching."
The Journal of American History is published four times each year by the Organization of American Historians at Indiana University. The website for the Journal boasts multiple resources for the historian and for the teacher. Full text versions of all the issues of the Journal from 1999 to the present are available through the website, and older issues are made available through a link to the JSTOR database. Under the "Web Projects" tab on the website are two resource that can be very helpful: "Teaching the JAH" and "Textbooks and Teaching".
"Textbooks and Teaching" is a feature published once every year by a different author. Full text versions as well as other supplemental material from the authors can be found on the website as well. THe resources provided include articles, syllabi, lesson plans, teaching strategies, and more. Similarly, "Teaching the JAH" offers a multitude of resources for teachers at many levels. Each installment of "Teaching the JAH", published twice each year and contributed by various authors, offers ways to "teach the article" to a classroom. It provides useful resources pertaining the the content of the article such as maps, charts, pictures, reading questions, author commentary, primary sources, and links to supplemental websites in order to help "bridge this gap between the latest scholarly research and classroom teaching."
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Teacher's Guide-Black History Month
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/bhm/tg.html
February is a time of year that comes around for all teachers. For history teachers, who often want to emphasize diversity, February means Black History Month. It is often challenging to find a tool that allows instructors to teach black history in an open-ended, interactive manner that both challenges students and allows them access to pertinent, primary sources. The Teacher's Guide, provided here by the University of Illinois Extension, offers a wonderful way for instructors, including those in elementary, junior and high school, to teach black history.
The site offers a variety of options for students at all levels, which are pretty clearly delineated. There is a small History for Kids section, which teachers can click on to find easily accessible links for early students, such as Black History from A-Z and Black History Links for Kids.
The rest of the site is devoted to material that I believe is excellent for high school teachers. There are, in addition to the History for Kids section, six additional sections along the left hand side of the screen that act as a kind of guide for both teachers an students. These are divided into categories of Teacher's Guides, Community and Culture, History, Museums, Notable African Americans and News. Within each section are useful primary and secondary sources dealing with that particular heading. For example, under notable African Americans, there are links to primary documents that include the Frederick Douglass Papers, Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers and pieces specifically by African-American women writers of the 19th century. There are links to sites on African-American warriors (i.e. in the United States military) and even more specialized topics like Notable Chicago African-Americans. With such a deluge of information teachers can design their course around either large, open-ended topics, such as African-Americans in the military or more specialized topics like African-American women writers in the 19th century.
The news section of this site is also particularly useful because it provides information on areas where African-American history is permeating and links to new, relevant sites that offer students and teachers access to even more crucial information. Diversity is a cornerstone of our education, and in an increasingly interconnected world, it is essential that students and teachers have the tools necessary to educate themselves on it. The Teacher's Guide to Black History Month provides such an opportunity for instructors looking to incorporate it into their curriculum.
February is a time of year that comes around for all teachers. For history teachers, who often want to emphasize diversity, February means Black History Month. It is often challenging to find a tool that allows instructors to teach black history in an open-ended, interactive manner that both challenges students and allows them access to pertinent, primary sources. The Teacher's Guide, provided here by the University of Illinois Extension, offers a wonderful way for instructors, including those in elementary, junior and high school, to teach black history.
The site offers a variety of options for students at all levels, which are pretty clearly delineated. There is a small History for Kids section, which teachers can click on to find easily accessible links for early students, such as Black History from A-Z and Black History Links for Kids.
The rest of the site is devoted to material that I believe is excellent for high school teachers. There are, in addition to the History for Kids section, six additional sections along the left hand side of the screen that act as a kind of guide for both teachers an students. These are divided into categories of Teacher's Guides, Community and Culture, History, Museums, Notable African Americans and News. Within each section are useful primary and secondary sources dealing with that particular heading. For example, under notable African Americans, there are links to primary documents that include the Frederick Douglass Papers, Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers and pieces specifically by African-American women writers of the 19th century. There are links to sites on African-American warriors (i.e. in the United States military) and even more specialized topics like Notable Chicago African-Americans. With such a deluge of information teachers can design their course around either large, open-ended topics, such as African-Americans in the military or more specialized topics like African-American women writers in the 19th century.
The news section of this site is also particularly useful because it provides information on areas where African-American history is permeating and links to new, relevant sites that offer students and teachers access to even more crucial information. Diversity is a cornerstone of our education, and in an increasingly interconnected world, it is essential that students and teachers have the tools necessary to educate themselves on it. The Teacher's Guide to Black History Month provides such an opportunity for instructors looking to incorporate it into their curriculum.
Microsoft.com/Education
As a service to teachers and students microsoft.com offers a plethora of lesson plans and resources for students to use. The benefit of these lesson plans being created by Microsoft is that each of the lesson plans involves using technology to various extents.
Many of lessons incorporate Microsoft software in ways that I would have never imagined; for example Microsoft has a lesson plan entitled Making and Reading Maps in the 21st century. This lesson uses Bing Maps, which is Microsoft's version of Google Maps, to help students learn more about the digital maps of today's society. The lesson plan is designed to help show students the benefits of using digital maps and how to search them and find what they are looking for. After an introduction to digital maps, the students are allowed to create their own maps to help them understand the difficulties a mapmaker has to work through while selecting what to include or not include in a map.
Microsoft has lesson plans listed for every subject including: Math, Social Studies, Geography, Language Arts, Digital Media, Science, Music, and Physical Education. As I mentioned in the first paragraph the great part about these lesson plans is that everyone of them incorporates technology in some form into the lesson; and the incorporation of this technology is actually worthwhile and with a purpose. I feel that this website is a great resource for when a teacher desires to incorporate more technology into the classroom.
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