Software Review: Learning.com

Web Browsing: Research and Citing Sources Grades 6-8

Self-Review:

First of all, I have found that learning.com is a very useful tool. However, as far as new information that I have learned from the site, there is not much. I am already pretty efficient when it comes to web browsing so I am not the target person for this lesson. A 6-8 grader however would learn a lot from this tutorial. Research and citing sources is a huge part of higher education, both high school and especially the college level. Therefore, lessons like this one are extremely important for young 6-8 graders to learn early in their education.


National Educational Technology Standards for Students-2007

· K-12 [5] Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior.
o K-12 [5.a] advocate and practice safe, legal and responsible use of information and technology.

· K-12 [6] Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems and operations.

o K-12 [6.a] understand and use technology systems.

o K-12 [6.b] select and use applications effectively and productively.

6-8 [7] Select and use applications effectively and productively

Learning.com. Retrieved March 9, 2009, from http://platform.learning.com

ISTE. (2007) NETS for Students 2007. Retrieved March 9, 2009, from http://iste.org

Digital Images in the History Classroom - by Stephanie Van Hover

This article is about how digital images in the history classroom can help facilitate all the necessary skills that can be developed, such as chronological thinking, historical comprehension and analysis, historical interpretation, historical research, historical issues analysis, and historical decision making.  The article explains how important the development of the internet is to teaching and learning history.  Before the internet, classrooms were usually confined to using only textbooks and nothing else for the teaching and learning of history.  The internet today provides a much grander scope of teaching and learning tools, such as digital images.  We are now able to search places like the Library of Congress for relevant pictures and information to certain project or lesson plan.  This article explains a project in which students examine historical digital photographs and attempt to ask and answer questions about them.  Then, they go out into their community and take their own photographs of historical items that they find in the community.  They then compare these to historical images found online for a very enriching learning experience.  This is a very useful tool in getting students to practice historical thinking so that they can uncover past events, places, and people and can help their history teachers make history class relevant and meaningful.

Q1:  How, as a future history teacher, can I look at this article and make it useful to me?

A1:  There are several things in this article that I can certainly learn from.  An example is the examining of historical images.  Comparing and contrasting historical images from different time periods can be a very useful exercise in the classroom.

Q2:  If my school does not possess the tools that allow students to participate in a project like this (digital cameras, picture editing programs), how might I take the idea and change it?

A2:  Learning about the history of the community in which children go to school can make for a very interesting and useful lesson plan.  While students may not be able to go out in the community and take pictures, there are other ways to learn the history of the community.  I may be able to have students research online the history of the city or town and compare it with that of a city, society, or civilization that we are currently studying in the classroom.

B & G Express

B&G Express - Google Docs
 

Subject Area - by Nick Brust

The subject area that I am most interested in teaching is social science, particularly U.S.history.  I am planning on teaching at the high school level, so that may also entail teaching government and economics, which I also would be glad to teach.  I am currently in my last semester for my history B.A. at California State University San Marcos.  I have already taken and passed two of the three subtests for the Social Science CSET required to teach history at the secondary level.  I believe that history is one of the most important subjects to learn throughout school, from the elementary to college level.  History is the study of what people like ourselves have done in the past.  There is so much for us today to learn from our ancestors of the past.  Studying  -the highs, lows, successes, and failures of past societies and civilizations- is extremely important for us equal citizens today to study and learn from.  Resources for teaching history

Teacher Biography - by Nick Brust

First of all, there are two things that you need to know about me: 1) I love working with high school students, and 2) I love history.  I feel that these are the two most important things to know about me and my qualifications for becoming a teacher.  In the above article I have already explained where I am at in school and the subject area history tests that I have passed.  Also, I love coaching, and I am currently the JV tennis coach at Temescal Canyon High School in Lake Elsinore.  Once I get a job teaching I plan on coaching any sport that I can because I am just a sports nut.  

When it comes to history, I feel that certain things about the way history has been taught in the United States for the last fifty plus years that are simply wrong.  First of all, in many cases, an accurate testimony of historical events has been missing from many curriculums over the years.  What is known as the "great white man" version of history is still being taught in this country today, beginning at the elementary level.  I plan on taking a much broader view, focusing less on world leaders and more on individuals within societies.  I am not saying that these world leaders are not important to study, they absolutely are, I just feel that there are certain things left out of the curriculum that should be there.  I will do whatever I can using the California standards provided to me to find new, innovative and productive ways to teach history. http://brust004@cougars.csusm.edu

http://nickblog87.blogspot.com/

Subject Writer: Aaron Jesus Garcia Sigmond

Subject Area:  The area of teaching that I would love to teach is High School English.  No matter what grade it is I want to teach this fun an amazing subject.  I am currently in my last semester as a literature and writing studies major and i have enjoyed every class i have been able to take.  My passion is U.S. Literature which is http://www.coachk.com/images/duke-basketball-camp.jpg i would like to teach as an honors class in the High School level.  I am even willing to teach some Shakespeare and some critical texts if possible.  I believe my passion for this subject and the in-depth knowledge I have, will let me enjoy what I do and be excellent at it. To learn more about U.S. Literature, visit this helpful website which gives you bios and even written text from famous U.S. Literature Writers go to, .love.lit .usliteraturepapers.com/.  To see the California teaching standards visit this site.   California English Standards

Bio:Well first off I was raised in a house with a bunch of women, and as the middle child I couldn't get away with anything.  Ever since I can remember I have enjoyed reading.  Whether it was the nutritionlal facts on grocery items as a child, to anything that could take my imagination to a new level.  I love listening to any kind of music and love sports, but i am in infatuated with the game of basketball and would like to coach and teach the game  along with teaching English.  Some say I am charming, while others think I am crazy.  I am filled with energy and love to teach no matter what it is.  I have a passion for helping others learn and that is why I think i would make an excellent teacher.  I really don't like to follow the normal classroom rules and outlines, but I influence my students to learn and have them enjoy what i teach them.  Teaching is in my blood and runs in the family and even though I will not be making the big bucks, the fact that i can influence a child's life is why i want to teach. For more info about me check me out at  calipy32@gmail.com  mehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01577961951554804431

Pic-constitution- 2/11/09

Pic-american flag- 2/11/09

calvin and hobbes-2/11/09

duke-bball-2/11/09

Making History Come Alive - by Howard Levin

This journal article by Howard Levin, director of technology at the Urban School of San Francisco, is about a new technology program that counts as an elective class for high school students at the Urban School of San Francisco.  The class is called "Oral History," and it consists of students traveling off campus to meet and interview survivors of historical events in order to create an oral history that can be put online and viewed by anyone across the globe.  The first historical event of this new program was the Holocaust.  Students found several survivors with first-hand accounts of the Holocaust and were able to conduct successful interviews to turn into oral histories.  Oral histories are extremely important to the study of history, and the fact that this high school has successfully put together a program where students become the historians is very impressive.  This technologically advanced program is probably not possible at many high schools around the country today, but it is a good look at what is to come in terms of technology being incorporated into education.  Students at the Urban School of San Francisco are all given personal Apple Book Laptops and are able to work on the video-taped interviews from their homes.  This allows for maximum classroom time to be used for instruction on the technological aspects of the project while the students to the majority of the work from home.  The school bought one video camera, one tripod, one light, one umbrella, and the necessary sound equipment for a portable studio to bring to each interview.  To me, this new program at the Urban School of San Francisco is something that every school should strive for in the coming years concerning technology.  However, with today's budget crisis I realize that very few schools would be able to successfully do something like this, but it is definitely something to shoot for in the future.

Q1:  What can I, as a future history teacher, take from this article?

A1:  This article to me symbolizes the way that I think history should be taught and the way that I will strive to teach it.  The fact that high school students have successfully conducted multiple interviews of firsthand accounts of the Holocaust is extremely impressive, and it also shows that history can be very interesting to students.  It is programs like the one from this article that I will study and explore for ideas on teaching the curriculum handed to me in new and innovative ways.

Q2:  The program described in this article is very technologically advanced.  At a school that does not possess the same tools, how can something like this be achieved?

A2:  Unfortunately I do not have the answer to this question, but it is an extremely important one to ask.  As a future teacher, I know that there is a high possibility that I may find myself in a school with little resources in terms of technology, and it will be important for me to find ways to contribute to the school obtaining proper funding and resources for up to date technology.

Chatting It Up Online - by Pamela Livingston

This journal article by Pamela Livingston, director of technology at Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, displays the advantages of using technology as a learning tool in the classroom.  Students at the Chestnut Hill Academy wished to ask the author of a book series some questions about the books and why she wrote them.  The faculty at this school saw this as an opportunity to use new technology to allow the students to chat with the author online in real time by using an "author chat."  Author chats allow students to ask authors of their favorite books any question they would like, which is a very useful exercise in increasing students' interest in reading.  This article explains that a lot of preparation is needed when using this type of technology for a classroom exercise.  When attempting something like an "author chat," it is important to make sure that everything technologically needed to make it happen is tested multiple times in the days leading up to the event.  Everything from internet connection to lighting at the view site is very important to prepare properly for an event like an "author chat."  After days of preparation, the students of Chestnut Hill Academy successfully participated in a live chat with an author of a popular book series and had all of their questions answered thoroughly.  

Q1:  What advantages can computer technology bring to the classroom?

A1:  Computer technology provides countless advantages for school teachers, and the author chat described in this article is just one example.  Computer technology allows the classroom to escape the school grounds and obtain information from anywhere in the world.  While enabling students to speak with an author without having to bring that author to the school is a fabulous tool, it is only one of many possible with computer and internet technology.

Q2:  As a high school history teacher, how might I use the ideas in this article to come up with valuable teaching tools for a history class?

A2:  While the majority of high school students don't particularly read history books, and therefore wouldn't be very excited about talking to some historian that wrote a history textbook, the idea of the "author chat" is still valuable.  One example would be to find an expert on certain historical event and allow students to ask them any questions they wanted.  This is just one idea pertaining to that of an author chat.  Computer technology in general is going to prove to be extremely valuable to myself as a history teacher in many different ways.