The blog that I subscribe to is the Educational Technology Blog located at : http://www.educationtechnologyblog.com/
I subscribe to this blog because it helps me to stay abreast of all the most recent web 2.0 tools and how to use them in education. I find that this blog helps me in my discipline, education, specifically online education. It also helps to nurture my creating mind by giving me advice from experts and modeling ways in which these tools are used by others. I like the informal atmosphere of the blog and I like being able to comment and share my experiences by leaving comments without fear of reproach.. Not all of the information presented in the blog is for online educators, in fact most of it is for classroom teachers. However, I am able to synthesize the various skills and resources and adapt and modify them so that I can use them for online teaching and to present them to my faculty. The best part of this blog is not the original postings but the comments that come in from educators around the globe. Through these comments I am able to gain new and different perspectives on how other educators are using these same resources in their traditional and virtual classrooms, and I am able to share my perspectives with them.
Gardner, H. (2006). Five minds for the future. Harvard Business Press.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Cultivating the Respectful and Ethical through the use of technology
From educators to entrepreneurs to journalists, the consensus is that were a quickly becoming a global community and our students need to be prepared to live and thrive in this community. Gardner tells us that to be successful in this global age we must develop minds that are respectful and ethical. A respectful and ethical mind shows tolerance and understanding of others cultures and belief systems and fosters collaboration between individuals and groups. Julene Reed offers several different ways in which educators can use digital media to begin to develop the skills they need to nurture respectful and ethical minds and eventually prosper in this new global community. Ms Reed lists several examples of web 2.0 tools that can be utilized for this purpose. One that she does not mention are virtual learning environments.
Through virtual 3D learning environments, students can take virtual field trips, work collaboratively with students all over the world and accept others on their character, abilities and behavior instead of appearance or lifestyles. One such virtual world is Zon. Zon is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).In this virtual environment, students arrive in virtual Beijing at a train station and must use their Chinese language skills to navigate through the city. Students who participate in this "game" learn about Chinese culture, Chinese language and they experience being a tourist in a foreign country. Students create avatars and they use audio tools to speak to others within the game. This is a wonderful way to learn technology skills, learn about other cultures and languages and learn how to work collaboratively with others. The game has rules for proper and respectful behavior as well.
Resources:
http://www.experiencechinese.com/index.php/products/zon
Gardner, H. (2006). Five minds for the future. Harvard Business Press.
http://www.edtechmag.com/k12/events/updates/global-collaboration-and-learning-2.html
Through virtual 3D learning environments, students can take virtual field trips, work collaboratively with students all over the world and accept others on their character, abilities and behavior instead of appearance or lifestyles. One such virtual world is Zon. Zon is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).In this virtual environment, students arrive in virtual Beijing at a train station and must use their Chinese language skills to navigate through the city. Students who participate in this "game" learn about Chinese culture, Chinese language and they experience being a tourist in a foreign country. Students create avatars and they use audio tools to speak to others within the game. This is a wonderful way to learn technology skills, learn about other cultures and languages and learn how to work collaboratively with others. The game has rules for proper and respectful behavior as well.
Resources:
http://www.experiencechinese.com/index.php/products/zon
Gardner, H. (2006). Five minds for the future. Harvard Business Press.
http://www.edtechmag.com/k12/events/updates/global-collaboration-and-learning-2.html
Friday, November 19, 2010
EDIM 508 transue Project2: Glog
I created my Glog around the theme of digital media resources for teachers. I supervise 60+ online social studies teachers. Although my teachers instruct using digital media. They are often just as unaware or intimidated by digital media as any brick and mortar teacher. The courses they teach are created by our curriculum department. The courses have a lot of interactive media within them, However, they are designed to provide students with solid foundation that teachers enhance with supportive instruction and resources. I have found that many of my teachers are hesitant to use other media sources to instruct their students. I believe there are several reasons for this phenomenon.
The teachers who seem to be the most adventurous and creative when it comes to using digital media are those who are new to teaching. The inexperienced teachers have first hand experience using digital media in their personnel lives and in the course of their under graduate studies. Some of my veteran teachers may be experienced in traditional teaching and online teaching but they have not grown up with the technology. The more experienced, more mature teachers are "digital immigrants" compared to the less experienced teachers who are "digital natives" I think this is a big factor in a teacher's desire and level of comfort in using digital media to instruct. Experienced teachers may be concerned with the possibility that they may not be able to master the media tools and they fear failure. The less experienced teacher is willing to be more adventurous with the media tools because they are less worried about their reputation should they fail. The older teachers may have the polished digital media examples in their course content, but that was created by expert curriculum writers. The teacher is not privy to the process or processes that were taken to achieve the finished product. They may even be intimidated by it. The less experienced teachers are more accustomed to researching new ideas and techniques on the Internet and they seek out expert advise on incorporating media into their instructional practices from experts on various web sites including YouTube, Google, Wikipedia and a myriad of others. The teachers who are less experienced at teaching are the first to volunteer to support their colleagues in learning new skills and techniques for using digital media.
I decided to do my Glog on "using digital media in the online classroom" to have a place where experienced and inexperienced teachers in my department could go to learn a little bit about digital media for education. One of the goals for my department is to expand the ways in which we instruct our students. I want to develop creating minds in my teachers. I plan to keep updating my Glog and adding pages as I add more digital media resources and my own videos and images of how to use the resources specifically in our online program. I also want to get my teachers to link their own Glogs to it so that they can share their resources as well as model how they are using those resources. I plan to encourage my teachers to share their successes as well as their failures.
I hope to nurture and develop the creating minds of my teachers by providing them with a venue where they can try new skills and feel comfortable sharing their experiences with digital media, both successful and unsuccessful. Being able to learn from teachers who are more adept at these skills and seeing successful models of these skills should also help to develop and nurture a creating mind in my department as a whole and in individuals. Collaboration will also foster creating minds as teachers work together to build on each others ideas on how to provide students with a digital media rich learning environment.
My Glog will itself serve as a model. Teachers will be able to use this media resource to share with other teachers, but hopefully they will also see the value of Glogs for their students. As I praise them and their colleagues praise them for their creative use of digital media, they will feel more empowered to explore other digital media resources. Gardner list all of these practices as factors that precipitate the development of a creating mind. My teachers will learn by example and experience how to nurture the creating mind in their students.
I should be able to assess my teachers' understanding of the importance of using digital media in their online courses by the frequency and intensity in which they participate in the creation of their Glogs. The Glog that I have created is very basic.My hope is that my teachers will surpass me in their knowledge of digital media based resources and uses and that they will continue to share and model new resources. I will also be able to compare the number and quality of the digital media resources they use to support their instruction in their online classrooms as part of their observations and evaluations.
My Glog: http://ltransue.edu.glogster.com/edim-5008-project-2/
The teachers who seem to be the most adventurous and creative when it comes to using digital media are those who are new to teaching. The inexperienced teachers have first hand experience using digital media in their personnel lives and in the course of their under graduate studies. Some of my veteran teachers may be experienced in traditional teaching and online teaching but they have not grown up with the technology. The more experienced, more mature teachers are "digital immigrants" compared to the less experienced teachers who are "digital natives" I think this is a big factor in a teacher's desire and level of comfort in using digital media to instruct. Experienced teachers may be concerned with the possibility that they may not be able to master the media tools and they fear failure. The less experienced teacher is willing to be more adventurous with the media tools because they are less worried about their reputation should they fail. The older teachers may have the polished digital media examples in their course content, but that was created by expert curriculum writers. The teacher is not privy to the process or processes that were taken to achieve the finished product. They may even be intimidated by it. The less experienced teachers are more accustomed to researching new ideas and techniques on the Internet and they seek out expert advise on incorporating media into their instructional practices from experts on various web sites including YouTube, Google, Wikipedia and a myriad of others. The teachers who are less experienced at teaching are the first to volunteer to support their colleagues in learning new skills and techniques for using digital media.
I decided to do my Glog on "using digital media in the online classroom" to have a place where experienced and inexperienced teachers in my department could go to learn a little bit about digital media for education. One of the goals for my department is to expand the ways in which we instruct our students. I want to develop creating minds in my teachers. I plan to keep updating my Glog and adding pages as I add more digital media resources and my own videos and images of how to use the resources specifically in our online program. I also want to get my teachers to link their own Glogs to it so that they can share their resources as well as model how they are using those resources. I plan to encourage my teachers to share their successes as well as their failures.
I hope to nurture and develop the creating minds of my teachers by providing them with a venue where they can try new skills and feel comfortable sharing their experiences with digital media, both successful and unsuccessful. Being able to learn from teachers who are more adept at these skills and seeing successful models of these skills should also help to develop and nurture a creating mind in my department as a whole and in individuals. Collaboration will also foster creating minds as teachers work together to build on each others ideas on how to provide students with a digital media rich learning environment.
My Glog will itself serve as a model. Teachers will be able to use this media resource to share with other teachers, but hopefully they will also see the value of Glogs for their students. As I praise them and their colleagues praise them for their creative use of digital media, they will feel more empowered to explore other digital media resources. Gardner list all of these practices as factors that precipitate the development of a creating mind. My teachers will learn by example and experience how to nurture the creating mind in their students.
I should be able to assess my teachers' understanding of the importance of using digital media in their online courses by the frequency and intensity in which they participate in the creation of their Glogs. The Glog that I have created is very basic.My hope is that my teachers will surpass me in their knowledge of digital media based resources and uses and that they will continue to share and model new resources. I will also be able to compare the number and quality of the digital media resources they use to support their instruction in their online classrooms as part of their observations and evaluations.
Resources:
Cooper-Taylor, Carol. (2008, August 22). 50 ideas on using twitter for education [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://cooper-taylor.com/blog/2008/08/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-education/
Day, Bobby. (Artist). Rockin’ Robin. [Web]. Retrieved from http://klg.cps.com/mp3/swing/RockinRobin.mp3
Gardner, H. (2006). Five minds for the future. Harvard Business Press.
McMillan, Don. (Artist). (2010). Life after death by PowerPoint. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpvgfmEU2Ck
Pacha Films. (2010). Rescued: The Chilean Mine Story [Full Video]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants.
Time for kids? The Week in Rap - November 12. (2010, November 12). Retrieved from http://vimeo.com/16757566
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Creativity outside of the classroom
It was a challenge to think of an application that allows students to share with peers inside and outside of the classroom. I kept coming back to the same thing but I hesitated to blog about it. The reason I hesitated is because I am talking about social network sites, Facebook for example. Facebook is a social networking site that is very popular with secondary and post-secondary students. Facebook gets a bad rap because it can and has been used inappropriately and irresponsibly,
However, there are settings that can make Facebook a more secure and private sharing site for students. There are options to limit Facebook sharing to a particular audience, say only members of a class. There is also an option to change the access/privacy options for specific images, videos and comments posted by an individual. Students can use Facebook to share with classmates and teachers or they can share with the world. Students and teachers should learn more about these options and how to set them up.
Changing the privacy settings is one way to help students stay safe on Facebook, but they are not foolproof. Students need to learn how to keep themselves safe on the internet in and out of the classroom. They also need to learn how to use the internet responsibly and to practice "netiquette". Using Facebook in the classroom can provide students with an opportunity to learn safety and netiquette skills in a supervised situation.
Facebook has a lot of features that students may not be aware of. Students can tag items, use social plugins to share websites, collaborate on projects, keep up with class events and share digital media. Facebook can provide students with opportunities to access and share resources provided by experts. Students can share their own thoughts and creations and receive feedback from their peers. It is true that adolescents can be overly critical and that their creativity can be thwarted by criticism (Gardner, p 87). However students can be encouraged by the positive comments of their peers and they need to experience criticism and failure so that they can improve.Facebook can nurture and develop the creating mind through the many features it offers to students.
Gardner, H. (2006). Five minds for the future. Harvard Business Press.
However, there are settings that can make Facebook a more secure and private sharing site for students. There are options to limit Facebook sharing to a particular audience, say only members of a class. There is also an option to change the access/privacy options for specific images, videos and comments posted by an individual. Students can use Facebook to share with classmates and teachers or they can share with the world. Students and teachers should learn more about these options and how to set them up.
Changing the privacy settings is one way to help students stay safe on Facebook, but they are not foolproof. Students need to learn how to keep themselves safe on the internet in and out of the classroom. They also need to learn how to use the internet responsibly and to practice "netiquette". Using Facebook in the classroom can provide students with an opportunity to learn safety and netiquette skills in a supervised situation.
Facebook has a lot of features that students may not be aware of. Students can tag items, use social plugins to share websites, collaborate on projects, keep up with class events and share digital media. Facebook can provide students with opportunities to access and share resources provided by experts. Students can share their own thoughts and creations and receive feedback from their peers. It is true that adolescents can be overly critical and that their creativity can be thwarted by criticism (Gardner, p 87). However students can be encouraged by the positive comments of their peers and they need to experience criticism and failure so that they can improve.Facebook can nurture and develop the creating mind through the many features it offers to students.
Gardner, H. (2006). Five minds for the future. Harvard Business Press.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The "Creative Mind"
The “Creative Mind”, just the title intimidates me. Members of every family fall into a different group, the smart one, the dramatic one, the athletic one and many others. The “creative one” is an attribute that I doubt anyone would ever apply to me. My father was the creative one. One day he decided to take up painting, he was in his late 60’s he took a course at the YMCA but left half way through the first class because it moved to slowly. He sketched and painted many works over the next several years of his life. The first thing he painted brought offers from friends and customers and they thought he had been working on it for years. My dad could do anything he set out to do. One vacation we drove all the way home from Maine with a half rotted, spider infested oxen yoke in the backseat of the car. It became a room divider in our dining room and it looked phenomenal when he was done with it.
I know talking about my dad seems really off topic but while reading through Gardner’s chapter on the “Creative Mind” my thoughts kept returning to my dad. Gardner states that, “early views of creativity stressed either the role of the divine, or the roll of the dice”. (p. 79). I am not sure that Gardner debunks that view of creativity. Gardner makes an excellent point regarding failure and creativity when he writes, “Only a person who is willing to pick herself up and ‘try, try again’ is likely to forge creative achievement”. (p83). Not all are willing to do so. I remember watching my dad restoring antiques, landscaping, remodeling and various other activities. Looking back I recall that he made many mistakes but just kept working at something until he got it right.
As a student, I remember feeling very pressured to perform to my best ability. Failure was my dreaded enemy. In 5th grade I refused to go home with my report card because I had one “N” (needs improvement) on a math unit. The reason I had the “N” was that although I was able to produce correct answers, I could not follow the proper steps to get there. I was actually afraid to go home because my father would be very disappointed in me. It is interesting that my dad is the one who fostered my creative mind in other areas. I had to learn and keep house at 10 years old. My father praised my efforts, made suggestions and helped me understand at which step in the process I had made an error (apparently when the cookbook says bake the chicken for 45 minutes they mean if it is already defrosted). Here and working in the garden with my father, I could make mistakes. I learned from those mistakes and as I grew older I became more comfortable with failure and the opportunities it provided for future success. I learned this from observing a model of creativity, being allowed to make mistakes, being praised for my accomplishments and innovative ideas all while working at an activity removed from the rigidity of academics. Gardener lists all of these as parts of the formula for nurturing the “Creative Mind” (p86).
There are so many digital tools out there that can help develop and nurture the “creative mind”. YouTube and sites like it come immediately to mind. A student can go to this site and pull up a video on almost any subject he is interested in and find tutorials, viewer’s comments, related videos, viewer created examples, how to’s. YouTube offers videos of other creative folks modeling or performing creative tasks . Students can search freely and not worry about whether or not they are being judged. They can also create their own videos and share their creations. The videos are mostly amateur and don’t require any expertise. Students can get feedback for the ideas they present in their videos. YouTube would satisfy most, if not all of the essentials Garner describes as nurturing to the “Creative Mind”.(p. 86)
Gardner, H. (2006). Five minds for the future. Harvard Business Press.
Friday, November 5, 2010
transue_u03a2_media infused presentation
I used Prezi to design my media infused presentation on the Spanish American war. At first, I was a bit frustrated that I had to learn a new software application as well as create a project. I use PowerPoint often as a teacher and as a instructional supervisor. I like the numbered slides and the linear design of PowerPoint, at least I thought I did. When I really got into my Prezi and began to see its possibilities and I found the non-linear method of designing it inspires more creativity and flexibility in my presentation. Using Prezi also gave me a new perspective on Howard Garner’s, Five Minds for the Future.
Gardner lists five minds for the future, however, for this project, I was asked to focus on just two of those, the Disciplined Mind and the Synthesizing Mind. Gardner describes the Disciplined Mind in this way, “The disciplined mind has mastered at least one way of thinking – a distinctive mode of cognition that characterizes a specific scholarly discipline, craft or profession.” (Gardner, 2000, page 3). I am a mature woman, and I was educated in a system that focused its energy on fostering this type of mind. It has served me well. I am very used to this way of thinking and if you had asked me, before this project, which of Gardner’s five minds I most identified with, I would have responded the Disciplined Mind. After finishing this project, I find myself wondering if I am more inclined toward the Synthesizing Mind. The synthesizing mind takes information from disparate sources, understands and evaluates that information objectively, and puts it together in ways that make sense to the synthesizer and also to other persons. (Gardner, 2000, page 3).
I mention my thoughts on my own identification with the Disciplined and Synthesizing Minds because I think it is important that we, as educators, are aware of where our strengths and weaknesses are. All these many years I have believed what my teachers taught me that a disciplined mind is the only way to approach a subject. Gardner makes it clear that in order for us to help students develop a more synthesized mind, “ we need role models – individuals who are gifted at multiperspectivalism, interdisciplinarity, and/or synthesizing” and “we need criteria that establish the differences between excellent, adequate and inappropriate interactions”. (Gardner, 2000, page 75). Teachers need to be vigilant toward these ends. One way we can do this is through the curriculum we design for our students. We can provide cross content, media infused, nonlinear content using methods and techniques that support both the Discipline and Synthesizing Minds.
The multimedia presentation I designed allows for the Disciplined Mind to focus on learning the history of the Spanish American war. The disciplined mind can move from item to item in an organized, chronological and disciplined way. This is especially true if the presentation is teacher directed and viewed as a group. A Synthesizing mind can view the presentations in any order and bring all aspects of the literature of the time period, the music, the medical science and technology issues related to the war into a synthesis. In a group situation both types of minds can benefit from and share with one another’s perspectives on the lesson. The design of the presentation which aligns to standards from various content/subject areas and presents varying perspectives using text, images and other digital media resources fosters critical thinking for all students. It was also a learning experience for me as the designer.
Below is my presentation and it is followed by the PA State Standards aligned to the lesson, as well as a list of resources used:
Alignment to Pennsylvania Standards
Subject Area - 8: History
8.1.12.A: Evaluate patterns of continuity and rates of change over time, applying context of events.
8.1.12.B: Evaluate the interpretation of historical events and sources, considering the use of fact versus opinion, multiple perspectives, and cause and effect relationships.
8.3.12.A: Evaluate the role groups and individuals from the U.S. played in the social, political, cultural, and economic development of the world.
8.4.12.A: Evaluate the role groups and individuals played in the social, political, cultural, and economic development throughout world history
1.3.12.A: Interpret significant works from various forms of literature to make deeper and subtler interpretations of the meaning of text. Analyze the way in which a work of literature is related to the themes and issues of its historical period.
Subject Area - 7: Geography
7.1.12.A: Use geographic tools to analyze information about the interaction between people, places, and the environment.
Subject Area - 3: Science and Technology and Engineering Education
3.4.12.A1: Compare and contrast the rate of technological development over time.
3.4.12.B1: Analyze ethical, social, economic, and cultural considerations as related to the development, selection, and use of technologies.
Subject Area - 10: Health, Safety, and Physical Education
10.1.12.E: Identify and analyze factors that influence the prevention and control of health problems.
Subject Area - 9: Arts and Humanities.
9.2.12.D: Analyze a work of art from its historical and cultural perspective.
9.2.12.E: Analyze how historical events and culture impact forms, techniques and purposes of works in the arts (e.g., Gilbert and Sullivan operettas)
Resources
American experience | the great fever | people & events | scourge of the Spanish American war . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/fever/peopleevents/e_cuba.html
Gardner, H. (2009). Five minds for the future. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Pr.
Intelecom. (2004).The White Man's Burden: America in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, & Cuba [Video Segment]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Jeffries, R. (2001). The rough riders and colonel Roosevelt by the Theodore Roosevelt association:. Retrieved from http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/rough_riders.htm
Media Rich Learning. (2001).American and Spanish Expansionism at the Turn of the Century [Video Segment]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Media Rich Learning. (2001).The Spanish-American War Begins [Video Segment]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Robinson, C. (Artist). Crucible of empire - pbs online. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/crucible/music_cover11.html
Smithsonian Institution, The price of freedom: Americans at war. Retrieved from http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/printable/section.asp?id=7
The Spanish American war: battles of 1898. (2006, November 22). Retrieved from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0072424362/128856/im_2256.swf
William Hearst and the Spanish American war. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.hulu.com/watch/76830/livemojo-william-hearst-and-the-spanish-american-war
Yellow journalism and the Spanish/American war:. (1997, June 24). Retrieved from http://alt.tnt.tv/movies/tntoriginals/roughriders/jour.influencewar.html
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
(u03a1) Blog on the Synthesizing Mind
My focuses is usually concentrated purely on Social Studies, as I supervise a staff of 65 online Social Studies teachers. It is sometimes difficult to coordinate with teachers in other departments especially when teachers are separated by distance and time zones. However, I and the teachers in my department recognize the importance of cross content teaching in ensuring that students experience concepts from a variety of approaches and perspectives. In the course that I currently teach, AP US History, it is especially important that students experience American history in a synthesized way. This because the College Board has long recognized the importance of cross content learning and have designed their AP exams to reflect this.
In my experience as a history teacher I have always striven to include learning concepts that include perspective from the various content areas. I have always believed that History is best learned when students can relate to the culture in which the events occurred. I have done this in my courses by presenting example of the music, art, literature, science and technology of the period which we are studying, and their direct and indirect impact on the events of history.
One unit that allows a great deal of cross content material to be presented is that of the 1920's.In my brick and mortar school I coordinated with the language arts teacher so that students were reading the Great Gatsby during the same time we were studying this unit. We coordinated to also show the film to students in segments. In my online class I provide links for my students to listen to samples of music from Billie Holiday and to read the Poetry of Langston Hughes to understand not all of the country was enjoying the progress of the "progressive era".. Students are directed to a video of the Ford motor company to understand the impact the new technology of mass production had on the country's economy and the attitude of its people. I use images of people, especially women to demonstrate not only how fashioned changed, by morals changed with the length of woman's skirts.
I try to cover these aspects of culture in each unit of study so that students can track changes and their impact on creating historical events and also in reaction to them. It has become such a part of my method for teaching history that I find it hard to pull the various content areas apart from one another. Having the ability to pull digital media off the Internet has made the integration of different content areas easier. There are a myriad of resources available on the web including, Discovery Education, The Smithsonian, The History Channel and many others.
For me, as a student, I fell in love with history in sixth grade after my teacher came to school in a Continental soldier's uniform that he wore in reenactments. It was the first time that I really understood the War part of the Revolutionary war. he demonstrated how he loaded his weapon and how the troops fired in volleys. We watched a Disney Movie, "Johnny Tremain" about a fictional young man in Boston at the the time of the American Revolution. That summer my family visited Colonial Williamsburg and I learned how folks lived at the time, what they wore, what they did for fun and what was important to them. Now I can have my students watch reenactments of American Revolutionary battles online. "Johnny Tremain" can be streamed through technology right into my classroom and my students can tour Colonial Williamsburg and see demonstrations of daily colonial living right from the classrooms, their home computer or their local wi-fi hot spot.
In my experience as a history teacher I have always striven to include learning concepts that include perspective from the various content areas. I have always believed that History is best learned when students can relate to the culture in which the events occurred. I have done this in my courses by presenting example of the music, art, literature, science and technology of the period which we are studying, and their direct and indirect impact on the events of history.
One unit that allows a great deal of cross content material to be presented is that of the 1920's.In my brick and mortar school I coordinated with the language arts teacher so that students were reading the Great Gatsby during the same time we were studying this unit. We coordinated to also show the film to students in segments. In my online class I provide links for my students to listen to samples of music from Billie Holiday and to read the Poetry of Langston Hughes to understand not all of the country was enjoying the progress of the "progressive era".. Students are directed to a video of the Ford motor company to understand the impact the new technology of mass production had on the country's economy and the attitude of its people. I use images of people, especially women to demonstrate not only how fashioned changed, by morals changed with the length of woman's skirts.
I try to cover these aspects of culture in each unit of study so that students can track changes and their impact on creating historical events and also in reaction to them. It has become such a part of my method for teaching history that I find it hard to pull the various content areas apart from one another. Having the ability to pull digital media off the Internet has made the integration of different content areas easier. There are a myriad of resources available on the web including, Discovery Education, The Smithsonian, The History Channel and many others.
For me, as a student, I fell in love with history in sixth grade after my teacher came to school in a Continental soldier's uniform that he wore in reenactments. It was the first time that I really understood the War part of the Revolutionary war. he demonstrated how he loaded his weapon and how the troops fired in volleys. We watched a Disney Movie, "Johnny Tremain" about a fictional young man in Boston at the the time of the American Revolution. That summer my family visited Colonial Williamsburg and I learned how folks lived at the time, what they wore, what they did for fun and what was important to them. Now I can have my students watch reenactments of American Revolutionary battles online. "Johnny Tremain" can be streamed through technology right into my classroom and my students can tour Colonial Williamsburg and see demonstrations of daily colonial living right from the classrooms, their home computer or their local wi-fi hot spot.
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