History Day Blog

As some of you already know, I created a History Day blog for my students last year. I deleted all of the old comments and started fresh this year. My students got the information on how to blog yesterday. I already have 10+ posts from kids. There is one that I wanted to share with the group to show the power of blogging...

Here's the original post from a student: How do we write a para. about why the topic fits the year theme if we have a person, wouldn't we just say "they had a great impact and legacy"?

Here's the response from one of his peers: For the paragraph you do write about their impact and legacies. To dig deeper you write about what impact they had. What did your person do to change history? Also, you write about what legacies they had and how they got them. Just ask yourself questions as to what did your person do in his or her lifetime to influence the people around them.

Kids teaching/coaching other kids! Yippee!

Thing 18: Online Thought Organizers

Several times a year I have my students create mind maps for different topics that we study. I was intrigued by the idea of online thought organizers. So, I played around with FreeMind.

I don't think that I will ever have kids create Mind Maps using this tool, because I would have to do so much instruction on how the tool works. I think that would take away from my main purpose of using a mind map to teach or review content.

However, I could see some uses for this tool in my classroom. I could create one and then project it in the front of the room to fill out as a whole class activity. Or, I could print them out as a worksheet for individuals/groups to fill out. There are some fun features (blinking fonts) that would be lost by printing them off.

I created a "thought organizer" for Ancient Rome. I have had a student teacher for most of the Rome unit and he has been creating and delivering the lessons. I will be finishing the unit up after Christmas, once we have done some work with History Day. So, this unit is getting very spread out. To bring things back together, I think I will use the Ancient Rome organizer that I created.

Take a look at the Rome Review Chart under "assignments/worksheets" on my web page.

MMSA conference

Metronet was well represented at the Minnesota Middle School Association Conference on Dec 4th and 5th. Jeanne, Kelly, and I presented the work we have done with technology during 2 break-out sessions. I was pleased to focus in on some of my technology "loves": igoogle, blogging, and delicious. We also covered Wikis, podcasting, videography, wordle, google docs, etc... It was a great opportunity to show what we had done so far. I know that we gave them A LOT of information. But it's just like metronet: tons of info that people need to sort through and find the 2-3 things that work best for their classes and with their personality. I think it is so cool that our MILI experience is spreading throughout the state. Even more teachers and students will now benefit from the cool stuff we have learned. Thanks Metronet!!!!

cool web sitr

The November issue of the NMSA Middle School Journal had a brief blurb about a site that sounded very interesting to me. The author writes: "In my opinion Marco Polo is probably the most comprehensive and sophisticated Web site on the Internet." How could I NOT check this out?!

I spent some time on this site playing around with the educator tools. I did some searches for "lesson plans, interactives, and more". I really like how this site has various drop down menus. A person can enter their usual search term. (I tried Ancient Rome, for example). But then you can limit to subject area, grade level, resource type, and content partners.

The resource types include: lessons, interactives, primary sources, worksheets, reference materials, media, and assessments.

Some of the content partners are: readwritethink, the smithsonian's history explorer, xpedition...

This site has a lot of potential. I can't wait to explore it more. I already added it to my delicious under "teacher tools".

http://marcopolo-education.org/

Thing 16: e-portfolios

Several years ago...ok...maybe it was MANY years ago...a colleague and I wrote a grant focused on the meaningful integration of technology into the classroom. She was a tech teacher and I teach history....so it was a match made in grant heaven. We got the necessary funding and support to develop e-portfolios for our middle school. Initially, many teachers were using them. But I think I am the only one still holding on to this idea. I think it is so beneficial for kids to have a record of how their year went, from beginning to end. We also use the e-portfolios at student led conferences in the fall and the spring. In the age of online grades, parents enjoy seeing samples of their kid's work. They also enjoy reading their child's reflections about their work.

We actually use powerpoint to create the portfolios. We designed a template that the kids can personalize with the information. We did check out other tools (such as e-folio MN) but found that PPT was the best for middle schoolers. They love the flexibility and creativity! Plus, they already know how to use PPT. I could see how maybe high schoolers and college students could use the e-folios. I do think it's cool that they are provided for free. It is a great idea.

However, when it comes to e-folios I think I am going to stick with "if it ain't broke don't fix it". Since powerpoint has been working well so far, I'll stick with it.

I do love portfolios and think that teachers should use them...whatever the format!

Metronet History Day Training

I am VERY excited to go to the History Day workshop that will be put on by Metronet. I am eager to hear ideas of how I can work with my public library to make History Day an even richer experience for the kids. Another social studies teacher and I have already tossed around the idea of having a History Day work day some Saturday at the Chanhassen library. The librarians and teachers would be there to support the kids in using their public library. I think this would be a very cool collaboration!

The workshop is tomorrow and I can't wait to reflect on what I learned!

Blogging Rubric

While going through my RSS feeder, I found another great tool from Free Technology for Teachers. It is a rubric for grading students participation on a blog. http://docs.google.com/View?docid=df8b89sj_324h7b58tgq

I appreciate that the rubric encourages students to be critical readers and thinkers as well as creative thinkers. Additionally, students are held to a high expectation for the quality of their entry. While these might be typical areas on the rubrics that many of us have been using forever, the area "community of practice" is specific to the world of blogging. As someone who has not created a rubric for blogging before and would not have known where to start, this rubric is a lifesaver.

I could certainly see myself "tweaking" this for my History Day blog this year.

Extra Thing C: Tools for Readers

Librarything.com



What an interesting website! When I read the introductory information on this site, I wasn't too sure about it. Why would I need to catalog the books in my home library? I certainly don't have that many books. I tend to borrow books from friends, family, and the public library. I have even started borrowing books from students so that I can read the Twilight series! So a catalog isn't something I would necessarily pursue.



But then I read about the social networking aspect of the site. I could find readers who have similar book lists. I can read their reviews/feedback to get ideas for my next great read. As cool as that sounds, I usually get my book suggestions from friends and family.



So...how can I use this site? The "local" tab is AWESOME! I entered in my zip code and searched a 25 mile radius of my home. In one column, venues were listed. They ranged from public libraries, to UM libraries, to unique speciality book spots like "Once Upon a Crime". There is a second column that lists upcoming events. In this list I discovered Common Good Books. That store has a TON of readings and other events. It is a book store in St Paul owned by Garrison Keiler. Definitely something that I want to check out because it seems to specialize in local authors. VERY COOL! commongoodbooks.com

Thing 6: Online Collaboration Tools

I have discovered that conferences are a great time to work on "things" for MILI! The article "Marking work in Google Docs" gave me some ideas.

I tried google docs as a tool with the other teachers on my team without much success. There were a lot of problems with the "invitations" that I tried to send out. This was very disheartening to me because I wanted to collaborate with my team in creating meeting agendas. I had pretty much given up on google docs.

This article gave me hope. I would like to give google docs another try with history day. I don't think I will involve ALL students, but I would like to make this option available for the students who are highly motivated and driven. That is what I have learned about history day: there are some tools that I need to make available for ALL students and other tools need to be saved for those students that really connect with the project. With google docs, I could involve other teachers in the review process. Groups could work on their projects and then share them with me, Jeanne, our gifted and talented coordinator, language arts teacher, etc...it would allow them to receive lots of valuable feedback. Something worth piloting this year! We'll see how it goes:)

Thing 4: Online Productivity Tools

When looking at thing 4 I decided to focus in on the first Blog Prompt:
Which customizable homepage did you choose? Why did that one appeal to you? Will you make it your permanent home page?

I strongly believe that I-google is the way to go in the world of customized home pages. It has made my life so much easier and I get done with routine tasks (like checking email and blogs) so much faster. It truly is a productivity tool. I started one in MILI last year and I can honestly say I use it every day!

I played around with some of the other tools mentioned in the directions for this "thing" but I feel the google products work very well for me. I am a big fan of google calendar and use that as my assignment calendar on my teacher web page. One tool that I thought was interesting was tinyurl.com There are certainly times that a web site has an unbearably long url and this tool helps to shorten it up. Might be nice for when I send websites to colleagues that I think might be of interest. However, I know myself well enough to realize I will probably forget all about this site...

One thing that I NEVER forget is my Igoogle page. MILI participants will hear about hundreds of tools/strategies/sites. I would strongly suggest that a customized home page is something everyone tries and sticks with for future use!

Thing 3: RPC and Dribbling Lessons

I remember being very overwhelmed with the RPC and Dribbling Lessons last year. This year when planning my first research project of the year I focused in on what was most important in achieving my objectives. I decided to focus on the gathering step. I wish I would have remembered the Condensed Version because it had some really great suggestions for speeding up the research process. I ended up condensing things on my own, but it would have been nice to have the guidance of the Condensed Version.

I am always looking for new resources that can be used both by me and my students in studying a unit or in doing research. factmonster.com has some potential in teachig about world religion. I was thinking it might provide some good introductory/anicipatory set material and/or it might also be good for providing closure at the end of the unit. Factmonster has a GREAT area about famous people. I will definitely show students this site when it is time to chose history day topics since the theme this year is The Individual in History. I especially like the "women of influence" subcategory. Looks promising...

Teaching research has always been a bit of a challenge for me. I know where I want the kids to go, but I don't always know how to get them there. Tools like the Big 6 and the RPC have helped give the structure that I need to guide my students in their research. I always struggle in finding powerful resources for my students, especially when looking for sources about Ancient History. Jeanne has always been great about helping me track down what I am looking for. I often go to Language Arts teachers for their help in planning research, too. I think one of my strengths in planning research projects is that I know I can't plan it all myself. I use collaboration to fill in some of the areas where I am weak.

Collaboration was KEY to me this week as I was out from school on Mon and Tues. Jeanne was able to pick up where I left off because we actually planned this unit together! What a relief for me. Of course, now I owe her bags and bags of chocolate!

new blogging tool

First of all...I am in love! Free Technology for Teachers is an awesome blog.  It can be found at freetech4teachers.blogspot.com If you have not checked out this blog, you need to do so immediately. Add it to your RSS reader ASAP!  The latest treasure I found on this blog is a new blogging tool called onsugar.

Here's what the blog author had to say:

OnSugar's integrated quiz feature makes it an attractive blogging platform for teachers. Teachers can post up to 20 questions in a multiple choice quiz. As a part of each quiz teachers can include an explanation of the answer choices. Posting a multiple choice quiz can provide students with a great opportunity to do a self-assessment of readiness for a test.

 I tried out the quiz making feature of this blog and thought it was fantastic.  I will certainly be using this as a review activity before a test.

Egypt Research Project

I am excited to report that Jeanne and I are working on a collaborative project! Nothing better than having a great Media Specialist that I can turn to!

I have always done a research project on Ancient Egypt because it is high interest for the students and to get them researching right away at the beginning of the year. This year I have decided to change the project and "ramp it up" quite a bit to align better with National History Day.

Jeanne and I both know the challenges students have faced in the past with History Day, so we were able to come up with some areas that kids need to focus on: citing sources, note taking, searching databases. Rather than focus on all parts of the research process, we decided to focus on these areas.

I used a lot of the worksheets available from the Research Project Calculator to create an informative packet for the kids. the first half of the packet will be yellow and will be all about the research process. The second part of the packet will be blue and it will deal with how to present the information. I think having this color-coded for 8th graders will work well.

I also plan on using the Wed Search Strategies in Plain English on Common Craft.

Additionally, I made a very quick powerpoint comparing a google search to a database. I am providing the students with the analogy that if you need to drive in a nail you use a hammer (database) not the ENTIRE hardware store (google). Like Jeanne said, we will still have kids wandering up and down every aisle in the hardware store, but if just a few kids catch on to the idea our job will be that much easier.

I am excited about all the planning that is going into this project and look forward to seeing the results over the next couple of weeks.

Video

On Monday we took our eigth grade teams to Camp Streefland for a team building day and of course I brought my camera. I started out taking several pictures of the kids, but eventually the kids got my camera and went crazy. I debated about what to do with the pictures, but remembered wonderful Travis talking about animoto last year and decided to go that route.

Then I embeded the video onto my school website so all of my kids can see it. What a great way to showcase the pictures.

Click here to see it.

wordle.net

While playing around with various sites, I came across wordle.net

It is a fun tool which created "word clouds". The original ones I saw were a speech by McCain and another by Obama. The size of the words is determined by the number of times the word appears in the text. I made one for my Metronet blog and was happy to see that "students" was one of the largest words in my "word cloud". I think this tool would create some very cool posters for a classroom. It would also be cool to compare political speeches.

Click to see my metronet word cloud
title="Wordle: sarah's blog"> src="http://wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/199952/sarah%27s_blog"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

Thing 2: Blogging and Rss

Yowza! There is so much out there in the land of blogging/RSS. I am so excited each time I log onto igoogle and see that I have some new blog posts to read in my google reader. Yes, I am a dork. I admit it!

During last year's MILI experience I was good about reading the blogs of people involved with the program. Now I am realizing how much more there is out there. I just subscribed to some sites dedicated to incorporating technology in the classroom. "TechTalk4Teachers" and "FreeTech4Teachers" had some great ideas. While reading through these sites, I discovered xtimeline.com which looks like a great tool for history teachers. I will certainly be spending some time there. I also came across realworldmath.org. I immediately sent this link to the math teachers that I work with.

The four youtube and google videos posted on our mili wiki reminded me that we need to meet students where they are at. I was especially struck by the young man who said that reading a blog and scrolling on a screen was much easier than turning the pages of the book. As someone who grew up loving to read, it is important for me to realize that the format of reading has changed. I did a very basic history day blog last year and these videos caused me to think about moving to the next level. I like blogging in this way because it is a meaningful integration of technology.

I tried to do a blog search for some good blogs about teaching in a middle school. I didn't have much luck with that. I also tried to look for a world history blog with no success. So, I decided to look for some recipe blogs. I was much more successful with that. YUMMY!

Google Chrome

As you may have already read on Travis's blog, I recently discovered Google Chrome. I actually need to thank MPR for telling me all about it. This new web browser is faster than Explorer or Firefox. According to the report, Chrome is designed for all the elements of a web page that exist today: audio, video, text, etc...The older browsers are really good at text-based web pages but don't deal well with some of the newer items that web pages are adding. Chrome has a lot of great features. I think one of the best is that if one web page freezes, others that are open in other tabs will remain in working order. This allows you to close whatever isn't working and still keep doing other things. I am still more comfortable with Explorer, but Chrome deserves some further investigation.

More thing 1: getting better at goanimate.com

Here is my second attempt. I shared this with my teacher friends...

Thing 1: Information literacy and web 2.0

As I sit around and count the last few hours of summer and mentally prepare for the 2008-2009 school year, I decided to distract myself with some MILI work.

I really enjoyed the "truth:can you handle it" article. The part about students getting impatient while they research especially resonated with me. If teachers plagarize-proof their assignments then they are asking students to do research that will take some time. Students live in a world where information is just a click away. but as the article pointed out we need to help students understand what to do with that information and how to form knowledge.

The article also made me feel better about asking kids to use book resources and limiting their use of websites while researching. I feel like understanding a variety of sources is part of the research process. I hope that when kids leave my classroom they understand a wide variety of sources and the benefits and burdens of each source. I believe this will help them discover the truth about research.

Another part of this "thing" was to look at some of the web 2.0 tools. I was overwhelmed by all the items listed on http://www.go2web20.net/ I got a big kick out of the description for getmooh.com: "Get me out of here....
Getmooh is an automated call back service. It is designed to help you escape a variety of situations by calling you automatically on your phone at a pre-specified time and playing you a recording which will either instruct you on what to say to elude your tormentor(s), or which will simply give a convincing sense of you being on an important call." Perhaps this is a tool for those difficult parent meetings...

I spent some time playing around with goanimate.com I thought it would be a lot of fun. I must admit that I got frustrated wih some of the features. It took me about 15-20 minutes just to do what you see here. I am sure students would LOVE doing this. I thought it might be fun to have my group of 17 advisees create a short animation about school for conferences. I think it would be a cool thing for them to show their parents. "Traditional" conferences are so obsolete with all the tools available to parents to look up grades online. So, coming up with creative ways for kids to express themselves at conferences is a MUST!

Web 2.0 for the Classroom

I was playing around online to try and find a seating chart tool online. I just don't think our new system is going to work well. It doesn't seem to be very flexible. In my quest to find something better I came across a great website that lists TONS of online tools for teachers. The sources available range from online productivity tools to great blogs to read. I can tell I will be spending a lot of time on this site. Hopefully others will find it helpful as well.

Web 2.0 for the Classoom

Trying someTHING new

After reading Jeanne's last post, I was inspired to try yearbookyourself.com
What a hoot! Fun to play around with for sure!

Thing 2: blogging and RSS

Loved the video about setting up an RSS feed. I saw this same one last year and it is such a nice review of what an RSS is all about. It is also done in such a creative and easy to understand format. I would love to find some relevant videos like this to show my students. I bet some of them would also enjoy creating their own in this style.

I just added everyone's blogs to my Google Reader. I love that the information now comes to me. I have a few other blogs that I susbcribe to, but they are always from people I know personally. My goal for this year is to add some other blogs that will help me as a teacher. I added Edutopia today as well as InfiniteThinking. I am hoping they give me ideas on what I can do in my classroom.

The cool thing about Google Reader is that I can "mark all as read" if I get behind on reading the blogs that update constantly. If course, I would never do that to the MILI blogs that everyone is making.

Information Literacy: The Bridge to College Readiness

Travis, Lisa, and I had the honor of representing the first ISD 112 MILI participants at the Metronet "Information Literacy: The Bridge to College Readiness" conference this summer. We were able to share our experiences with MILI as part of a panel discussion. It was very fun to be able to brag about the work being done in Chaska. Plus, the food was REALLY good! So, we got to toot our own horns and then pig out. What a great day!

1st blog of 2008-2009

Well...here we go again and I couldn't be more excited. I can't wait to build on my learning from last year's MILI experience. My students and I benefited greatly from this opportunity, especially while working on History Day. I want to further develop History Day research skills as well as do some backwards mapping to integrate those skills into smaller research skills earlier in the year.

fun technology

I know many teachers in the Chaska district already have this technology but I was very excited to go wireless the other day with my new tablet PC! I can't wait to have the freedom to walk around my classroom when giving a presentation with my LCD projector. My students are all VERY excited about it, too.

However, it really makes me think about the issue of equality. Chaska is blessed to have the resources to provide this technology to students and staff. But what about rural schools or inner city schools? Having the science MCAs on line created a lot of techological headaches for us as we gave this test for the 1st time, but what about the schools who don't have the necessary equipment?

Google Teacher Academy

I stumbled across the Google Teacher Academy today. It seems to go hand-in-hand with all the work we have done with MILI. Sounds VERY COOL!

Click here for more info

Using Sketchcast in class

I was trying to think of ways to use sketchcasting in class. As a teacher, I am not sure that I would share information with my students in this manner. But, I was thinking I could ask some of my students who excelled at History Day (or any other project) to tell their digital story with this tool. Then I could show next year's
8th graders the sketchcast as an anticipatory set to get them excited about the project. I like the idea of having kids explain to other kids what a project is like. I can totally see a "top 10 tips for History Day success"...

Sketchcast

thing ??: a random thing

I have a subscription to Middle Ground which is a magazine put out by the National Middle School Association. This month's edition had an article entitled "Using Today's Technology to Support Diverse Leaners". I was very excited because it includes two of my passions: differentiation and technology. I have always viewed these seperately, but this article helped me to see how technology can help with differentiation. I was a bit disappointed with the articles interpretation of differentation, the author made it seem like it is only for kids with "labels" of some sort. I am a strong believer in the idea that ALL students are diverse, but the article still had some interesting things to say. The author listed all kinds of websites. The one I was most interested in (and will continue to explore) is:

www.wested.org/cs/tdl/print/docs/tdl/home.htm

Thing 35: Online productivity tools CONT...

OK...So "remember the milk" is the way to go for all the list makers out there. It has many different options and cool components. It also worked with my iGoogle page. It will take me some time to transition from written lists to ones online, but it is an exciting new development.

Thing 35: Online productivity tools

The tool that I checked out for this thing was the "ta da list" web site. Anyone who know me, knows that I am a HUGE fan of making lists. I make a list EVERY day. I have work lists, personal lists, you name it and I probably have a list for it. I thought an online list was a great idea. However, after creating a list I realized it would be better to have it on my iGoogle page so that it is even more efficient. When I tried to add "ta da" it only said "invalid data" or something to that affect on my igoogle page. So, if anyone has had luck adding this site to a customized home page I would love to know. Maybe I will try "remember the milk" next as I have heard that is also a place that allows someone to make lists.

Thing 36: social networking

After much arm-twisting from a friend of mine, I finally took the plunge and entered the world of Facebook. After some initial hesitation, I am SO glad that I did.

I have already connected with several kids that I used to babysit. Two of my brothers also have facebook accounts that I didn't even know about. I am from a very small hometown, so it has been fun to connect with people from Chokio-Alberta High School.

I can easily see why kids get hooked on it. I spent a couple of hours in just setting it up and reading some of my friends profiles.

It makes me think about how communication has changed. The world is so connected now!

Thing 15: Collaboration

I always thought that I did a pretty good job of collaborating with my media specialist. However, when I looked at the rubric that was included in the core with this "thing" I can see where I certainly fall short!

I see myself mostly at a level 1: ask Jeanne for some resources and then use them in my classroom. I can't think of a time when I was functioning at level 4: being an equal partner in the planning, teaching, and evaluating of a unit.

One of the articles I read about collaboration pointed out the biggest obstacle: time! Isn't time always a problem?! I also read that teacher training programs don't necessarily teach people how to collaborate. I would tend to agree with this.

While Jeanne and I certainly collaborate here and there...like on research projects throughout the year and History Day, we have yet to work on a unit together. I want to continue the sporadic collaboration of course (especially with the Medieval Unit coming up) but I would really like to look at a unit from beginning to end.

This gives me a goal for next year! I always think my Ancient Rome unit lacks pizazz. It is a fascinating area to study, but I sometimes feel like I am running short of ideas by this time of the year when I hit my January slump. I know that Jeanne is a very creative person, so I believe the two of us could come up with some great stuff!

thing 21: YouTube and More

This weekend I registered to get a TeacherTube account. I don't like it as much as YouTube.

I really like to use YouTube for the World Religion Unit that I teach. The kids especially enjoy a clip that I show them from "Ripley's Believe It or Not" of a Hindu Rat Temple. They squirm in their seats when they see the hundres of rats running everywhere. Fascinating stuff. I tried to find this clip on TeacherTube and had no luck.

I certainly think that YouTube can have some wonderful academic applications if carefully monitored. I always make sure I have the video cued up and ready to go before I turn on my LCD projector. I don't want my students to catch any of the most popular and currently being viewed videos that show up on the screen while searching for a video.

I also think there is merit in using it as an entertainment tool. I showed one of my classes my favorite clip called "Charlie Bit my Finger Again". It is adorable! My students and I enjoyed a good laugh and experienced a moment of bonding:)

History Day Update

Sorry that I missed the last meeting! I heard that there was a lot of great stuff about Wikis and Google docs. As you sat in the PRFC media center, I was with my students at the Metro West History Day competition. This was the 3rd year that CMSW competed and the first year that we had kids qualify for state! Two of my groups (6 kids total) will be moving on with their documentaries! I am very excited and exhausted all at the same time.

The reason I bring this up in my MILI blog is that technology and information literacy had a lot to do with our success this year. I really focused in on databases like Historical Newspapers. Jeanne and I made sure that the kids had tools like easybib.com to make life easier. We also used UnitedStreaming with one of the groups and that made their documentary look extremely professional. I think we had the right combination of kids this year who were willing to work hard and wonderful collaboration among teachers and media specialist.

I asked the kids to reflect on their experience with History Day. Two things came across loud and clear. They need more tools to help with procrastination (research calculator) and more help locating primary sources.

Thing 22: Ebooks and NetLibrary

I am not sure I will ever be a fan of Ebooks. There is just something about holding a book on my lap and relaxing on the couch. I know a person could do this with a laptop, but it is just not the same to me. I did notice that some of the ebook websites allow a person to print pages every-so-often. But I can't wait to print 25 pages every 10 days. So, this will never be an alternative to the novel for me.

I did notice that they had some resources from Century 21 on buying and selling homes. This seems like a lot better use of this tool: as a reference tool.

This is certainly a tool that I need to play around with more.

Just as I struggle with how to use audiobooks in my history class, I also struggle with how to use Ebooks. Ideas?

Thing 20: Downloadable Audio Books

I had no idea that my public library has so many wonderful tools! I only used their website to put books on hold. I think the downloadable audio books are very cool. It's so interesting to me that you can check them out for 21 days. I downloaded one to my computer and it was so easy to do. I could see downloading them to my MP3 player and using it on long car rides. I would think an elemetary teacher could use it to download some children's books to help with reading. I am not sure where the advantage would be as a secondary teacher would be. I would love to hear about others ideas for using this in the classroom.

Thing 31: bibliographic tools

Easybib.com saved my life during history day. It is so much easier than the days when we all had to have a bibliography reference book on our lap as we typed up our sources. I can remember counting the spaces, making sure I had a comma vs. a period...all of those very small details. Easybib.com made it so much easier on the students and on me. I have tried to teach writing a bibliography the "old-fashioned" way and I rarely got one that was correct. For History Day the kids actually have to do an annotated bibliography and easybib.com has that as an option.

thing 23: Del.icio.us

Social bookmarking is a very interesting concept. I use my del.icio.us account mostly for the bookmarking aspect. I am able to check my "favorites" from any computer. This is so much better than bookmarking to a specific computer. I have not done as much with the social part of it. I think it would be so cool to show this to one of my social studies colleagues and we could share sites this way. I do have one person that I share with, but she teaches science so I don't think it is as helpful as it could be.

I think having a del.icio.us account would help kids to keep track of sites they visited while researching. Especially when they are researching in a group...each member could have an account and they could track the sites that everyone has been using.

Thing 27: Customize home page

Creating an iGoogle page is one of the most time saving things that I have done in awhile. Having all of my important items in one spot makes me so much more efficient. Every morning when I log on to my computer at work, I am able to check my personal email, google alerts, blogs and feeds. I am also a big fan of the Google Tip of the Day.

Thing 19: Just for Fun

I think that the online image generator found at (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/) is a very cool thing. I created both a trading card and a magazine cover with a picture of my brothers and me. I could see how a person could spend hours playing around with this site and lose track of time. What a fun way to play around with digital images! This is one of those things that I need to use to make a bunch of "old, dead guys" more interesting to my kids.

I would love to have the kids create trading cards of historical figures from the various civilizations that we study. I think this would be a very useful review tool for keeping those pesky Roman dictators and emperors straight!

It would also be fun to use this with my advisory group at the beginning of the year as an ice breaker activity. They could each create their own trading card as a way of introducing themselves. Since I write our "Hawk Time" curriculum, I will make sure to share this with all the 8th grade advisors.

I was very excited to see that there is a tool for making a magazine cover. Our students create a magazine as a culminating project for an integrated unit on "perspectives". It would be fun for them to create a very professional looking cover with this tool. I just wish there was a way to do the inside pages as well.

Thing 14: reliable sites

I found the Librarians Index to the Internet very useful for a broad topic such as "buddhism" but as soon as I tried one of my student's history day topics I got nothin'. I tried to search for "minneapolis teacher strike of 1970." Apparently that was too specific for this index. I would have a hard time selling this to my kids for history day but maybe for another project I could tell them about this tool. I would probably compare it to a search engine like Google so that they could make the connection.

I liked how the Internet Public Library had the KidSpace and Subject Collections with Sub-headings. Again, it was not helpful with a specific search.

I did not like docuticker since I could not figure it out at all. I thought it was very unfriendly. I would never introduce this to my kids.

DMOZ and Complete planet were just "okay". I gotta be honest and say that I did not LOVE any of these sites very much. In a "google-world" it is hard to work with other ways of doing searches.

I also think it is important for kids to learn to evaluate sites for themselves. It is a good skill to have. Even though they get impatient and want immediate answers. They need to work on slowing down and looking at the reliability of sites.

Thing 13: databases

I spent some time playing around with InfoTrac Junior Edition and Kids Infobits. The first thing I noticed is that when I entered the databases through my school's web page they looked a lot more userfriendly than using elm4you. I wonder why they have different looks depending on how a person enters the database. Since I am in the middle of the World Religions unit that I teach, I decided to search for Buddhism to see what would happen. I really liked InfoTrac Junior edition. It pulled up a variety of helpful sources. I also liked that it had the "see also" button. It opens up more options for kids to look at. It might really help a student narrow down a research topic that is too broad. I also really liked the tool box. I would like to use the following tools with my students: how to judge information, how to write a conclusion, and how to write a thesis statement. I need to collaborate with the LA teacher on my team and figure out how we can do this together.

Even though it was obviously meant for elementary kids, I liked the Kids Infobits a lot. I liked the way that they provided subject areas and narrowed that down into topic areas. I found that they had a topic on "religions" which I am sure will come in very handy.

a VERY cool thing...

The Central Minneapolis library and the Minnesota Historical Society hosted a History Day Hullabaloo this past Saturday. I told my kids all about it and really tried to sell them on the idea. I offered a TON of extra credit. I figured if they spent a Saturday at the library and if their parents drove them downtown they deserved a sizable reward. Around 20 of my students went to this event. Most said that it helped them a lot with History Day but everyone agreed that the library was really cool. Can you believe that?! 8th graders said the library was cool! I am very excited about this!

Thing 10: copyright and plagarism

The quizzes were much more challenging than I thought they would be. I only got a 14 out of 21 on one of them. I guess I am glad that the ones I got wrong were because I was erring on the side of caution. I am also glad that I have a wonderful media specialist who can help me when I have a question on copyright. This is a great time to collaborate!

How do you deal with issues of plagiarism in your class?
The student automatically gets a 0 on the assignment, with the option of redoing it. I will take a phrase that I know they did not write and type it into Google. When the web site comes up that they plagarized, I print it off and attach it to the assignment. The kids can not deny anything at that point.

However, more importantly, I think it helps to be more proactive at the beginning. A well designed project makes it hard to plagarize. For example, with history day the kids have to connect their topic to a theme and explore its historical significance and impact. This kind of analysis demands that they use multiple resources and their own interpretation. Very hard to plagarize.

What resources do you use to teach these concepts?
For the first project that I have kids complete, my media specialist gives a mini-lesson on plagarism and citation. With easybib.com citations are a breeze. I find some 8th graders are already experts at notetaking and paraphrasing. Others are simply not there yet. Whether they are being mentally lazy or just don't have the skills, I am not sure. I often assume that kids know how to take notes, but I am not sure if they have ever actually been taught. Modeling is a powerful tool. Sounds like another great way for me to collaborate with my MS....

Thing 16: MnLINK

It's official. I am in LOVE! MnLink Gateway is my favorite 'thing' so far. How have I gone so long without knowing about this resource?! I have been playing around with the basic and advanced search options. I am amazed that I can access libraries throughout the state. This has been a real eye opener for me. I didn't realize how everything is networked. Wonderful! I always thought I had to ask a media specialist to guide me through the ILL process, now I know how to take care of this on my own.

I have already included a link on my teacher web page for the kids to access MnLink. I am planning on showing it to them today. I am going to do a really vague search like "Jackie Robinson" vs something specific like "Minneapolis teacher strike" to show them how a tool like this is effective with a specific subject. I also want to show them how to do an advanced search for a title since many of them found titles in the works sited pages of other resources they have been using.

I am nervous that they won't have the sources in time for History Day in a month, but it is worth a shot. It will be very helpful for kids who make it on to the next level of competition.

Next year I will have to show them MnLINK right away in November when I introduce history day. This is the perfect kind of long-term project to use ILL.

Thing 17: One New Thing

While exploring the world of databases, I discovered Historical Newspapers. (Thanks, Jeanne!)What a powerful tool to use in my classroom. Especially when it comes to the kids finding primary sources for their History Day projects. When I introduced this to the kids they were SO excited. To see newspaper articles the way that they actually appeared so mnay years ago was really cool. There is also a timeline that shows the context of that time period.

I also like the "this day in history" feature. I have seen this many times before but Historical Newspapers shows the article that went along with the story. Like today is the day that the Roe V Wade decision was handed down and the New York Times article is there to read.

Unfortunately, this is a subscription that we may have to let expire because of lack of funding. So, using what I learned in my administration program (it's hard to say no to kids), I asked a couple of my students to write a letter about what the Historical Newspapers database has meant to them. A very "cheesy" technique to be sure, but if we are truly interested in doing what's best for kids then we need tools like this to assist them in the research process.

More things 7 and 8...

I used the relfection sentence starters that I found with the RPC to monitor my students' progress on HD. I used a variety of senteces, but the one I liked the best was "I need help with...so, I will..." I thought this was a great sentence because it got the kids to identify an issue and then how they will solve it. They didn't just complain but they had to think out how to solve the problem. Many of the kids' solutions were things like..."I will blog about it"..."I will try ask.com" or "dogpile.com"..."I will try the media center databases"...I was so pleased that kids were referring to the tools that I had demonstrated for them. Without this reflection I would have never known how they wer using the tools. This showed me how important reflection is as a part of the research process.

Things 7 and 8 combined

Right now I am in the middle of History Day with my students. I seem to mention this in EVERY blog, so I think you can see how all-consuming it can be. So, I did some initial browsing of the RPC and Dribbling lessons to see what I could include to make HD an even bigger success without creating more work for my students or myself.

After examing the 5 steps, it seems as if between info from national history day, minnesota history day, my own teaching bag of tricks, and collaboration with my gifted and talented teacher and LMS, I have the first 4 steps firmly covered for history day. I am lacking in the area of evaluation. It seems like both the students and I are so relieved when it is over that I just ignore the final step. But I found a couple of tools that I am going to try out. There was a "student self-assessment rubric for research module" that I am going to have the kids hand in at the end of January with their 5 paragraph research paper. This should give them direction on what they need to work on for the Feb 19th due date. I also found a series of sentence starters that I want to use for reflection at the very end.

This may appear to be a very superficial use of these tools, but I am going to get my feet wet with history day. When that chaos is over, I may try the tools again with the unit that I do at the end of the year on the Medieval period. Time to collaborate with my LMS! Yahoo!

Thing 12: Other search engines

What?! There are other search engines besides Google! OK, so I am just kidding....kind of. I use Google for 100% of my searches. I think because I have an iGoogle home page it is just so convenient. I like the way the results are displayed. None of the mapping tools like KartOO appealed to me. As someone who is VERY linear, I just want a list of hits. I did not find the mapping of sites helpful to me at all. Maybe some of my students would enjoy using it, but not me. I didn't really find the sites that compare Google, Yahoo, and other search engines very helpful at all either. Maybe I went into this "thing" thinking that google was the best and nothing else would do.

A couple of things that I did like were the metasearch engines. Both Clusty and Dogpile seemed to hold promise for future searches. I also liked how Ask.com had a bar on the left-hand side for narrowing or expanding the search. I thought this was a very nice tool for my 8th graders who still struggle with the concept of narrowing a search or a topic.

Thing 4: public library visit

After reading Kelly Johnson's blog, I was inspired to go visit the new Minneapolis Central Library. I frequently visit the Chanhassen library, so I was ready for a new adventure. First of all, it is a beautiful building. The arcitecture was amazing. I thought it was very modern and yet very warm and inviting at the same time. It appeared as if many different types of people felt welcome at the library. Chanhassen is very homogeneous, so I really enjoyed observing the diverse people at the downtown library. It was a very unique mixing of cultures.

The library has some really special spaces and collections. I thought the children's area was fantastic. I could see how a young person could get lost there among all the wonderful books. The teen area was very cool. I was surprised at how small it was, but it certainly looks like a place my 8th graders would want to hang out. I thought it was an ingeneous idea to have each floor in a different carpet color. It certainly made it easier to navigate the huge space.

Now that I have returned from this adventure, I need to spend some time exploring the online sources that public libraries have to offer.

I am also making plans with my media specialist to get all of my kids a library card to facilitate their use of public libraries for our History Day project.

Thing 9 United Streaming

I have used United Streaming many times in my class before. Despite stereotypes, as a Social Studies teacher I do not like to show too many videos :) There are times though, when I want a short clip to illustrate a point we have made in class. United Streaming video segments are perfect. I can find quick 5 min clips to supplement a lesson.

I have never done much "exploring" on United Streaming. So, I took some time to do that. I love that the full videos come with blackline masters, curriculum guides, and other teacher resources. I could really see using them during my World Religion unit. I love teaching that unit but struggle finding ways to help the kids understand religions that they are unfamiliar with. I found that these resources go beyond "video worksheets" and cover important concepts, vocab, maps, etc...

I also played around with embedding video. I have a powerpoint presentation about Confucianism and Daoism as part of my world religion unit. I found a 1 min clip about Confucius and I embedded that into the powerpoint. I found it to be very easy to do. In fact, I surprised myself by figuring it out so quickly. I could see doing this a lot more. I have put together the powerpoints to make note-taking more engaging for my 8th graders, now I can improve on them even further by adding the video clips.

revisit thing 5: teacher web page

Cool thing. My tech coordinator helped me to put a shortcut folder on my desk top. I can click and drag any documents, powerpoints, etc...into this folder and they are automatically posted on my web page. I have no idea how he worked this magic, but I think it is going to be a great way to keep absent kids on track. I already have posted a couple of items and have shown it to my kids. I think it will be a success.

more thing 11

To steal an epxression from the kids: OMG! There is so much more to google than I ever realized.

I put together a customized search engine for a world religion unit that I will be teaching. There can be some very misleading web sites out there when it comes to religion. So, I thought this would be a perfect time to put some limits on a google search. While I have not put in any specific web sites yet, I have at least laid the foundations. I see a perfect chance for some collaboration here as my LMS come up with some reliable sites to share with the kids. I will also have to collaborate with my tech coordinator to figure out how to link it to my teacher web page. I am really discovering that technology can serve as a way to bring people together.

I also did a google alert about ancient history. So, I am curious to see what I get about that.

I discovered that the news archives search and timeline are PERFECT tools for history day. My concern is that many of the articles cost about $4. Are there any free options out there? I found some really cool looking articles about the teacher strike in Minneapolis of 1970 (a topic one of my groups is doing). But could not read the whole thing. FRUSTRATING!

Within google for educators I found a lesson plan entitled "flying through the crusades" which uses google earth to show the students the path of the crusades. Looks very interesting. Perhaps too intense for my purposes, but with some tweaking might be great!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Google!

Thing 11: Google, just getting started

I am amazed at all the tools available with Google. I have had an I-google page for a few months now. Yesterday I easily spent a couple of hours playing around with customizing my page even further. I took all of our Metronet blogs and put them into Google Reader. It is so much more convenient for me to see them on my Igoogle instead of using bloglines. I also found what I hope to be some useful history blogs using the search feature of google reader. I also started to look into Google docs. I am so impressed with the range of items available with google. I meant to start working on the core items for thing 11, but it was so easy to get distracted by all the "bells and whistles". So, I will be doing a follow-up blog soon.