Video Chat with Author Pat Hughes

Today my 8th grade American history classes in Liberty, Missouri participated in a live video chat with Pat Hughes, author of Guerrilla Season. Guerrilla Season is a book with a focus on Clay County (the county in which we live) in the years just before the Civil War. We used G-mail video chat - free - to visit with Pat from her home in Philadelphia.

I also used a Flip cam to record the conversation for students who missed it and wanted to watch it. Pat spoke with us from her sun room and then took us upstairs to show us her office and shared some of the resources she uses to write books about Civil War era Missouri.

Pretty amazing that this all took place today with no technical glitches at all and we were able to have a great conversation with an author 1,200 miles away! Why aren't classrooms doing more of this?

Podcast #137 - Hardtack to Hard Drives - The Guerrilla Season Book Blog Project - MASL Presentation

Hello. Today's podcast is the audio from a presentation I gave at the MASL (Missouri Association of School Librarians) Conference at Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach, Missouri on April 14, 2008. We have recently completed our Guerrilla Season book blog project - our second book blog project with this book by Pat Hughes in the past two years. I feel this project is one of my more sucessful personal applications of Web 2.0 in my own classroom.

The podcast is the audio of the presentation and is about 50 minutes in length. I do mention a wiki that has all the links to articles, sites mentioned, etc. during the presentation and that URL is listed below. I also show a short video describing the book blog project and that is available to view using the link listed below.

If you have any comments or questions about the presentation please feel free to contact me at speakingofhistory@gmail.com

Direct link to Speaking of History Podcast #137 - Hardtack to Hard Drives - The Guerrilla Season Book Blog Project - MASL Presentation - MP3 Audio Format - 56:00 minutes




Podcast #137 Show Notes:

- The Official 2008 Guerrilla Season Book Blog Project

- Wiki with links mentioned in the Hardtack to Hard Drives Presentation

- PowerPoint presentation for Hardtack to Hard Drives available on SlideShare

- Video describing the Guerrilla Season Book Blog Project

Check Out Our Current Book Blog Project on Guerrilla Season

Hello. Please take a moment to drop by and check out our 2nd annual Guerrilla Season Book Blog Project. For the second year we have over 300 students and parents in Liberty, Missouri reading a historical novel about the Civil War and are joined by students in California, Illinois and Pennsylvania. The author of the book - Pat Hughes, who lives just outside of Philadelphia - is also joining us again to answer student questions and describe the writing process.

The blog includes comments and discussions by participants - using pen names only - along with links to more information, podcast interviews with the author and other interesting facts about the book.

Please stop by and check it out, even join us if you want. We just started. The project is live from March 3, 2008 through April 4, 2008 and the blog will remain up after the project is finished.

Guerrilla Season Book Blog Video on Teacher Tube

Hello. I have recently been tyring out the new Teacher Tube and have found it to be a great resource for teachers who want to view and/or post educational video. Last night I produced a short (3:45 minutes) video that describes the Guerrilla Season Book Blog my students participated in this past fall. I posted it on Teacher Tube and will embed it with this post. It is created with Photo Story 3 - a slick application for making videos from digital still pictures. The narration was done in audacity and then included with the video.

Here is a link to a higher quality version of the video - it will load slower.

Podcast #49 - Guerrilla Season Book Blog Author Interview #3

Hello. Today's podcast is the week 3 podcast from our Guerrilla Season Book Blog Project. We have over 300 students at South Valley Jr High School in Liberty, Missouri reading a historical novel by Pat Hughes about Missouri in 1863 at the start of the Civil War. The blog contains discussion questions, links, podcasts, and places to ask the author questions. Each week we have included a podcast interview with the author Pat Hughes. This week she talks about some supernatural events that took place during the writing of the book and why she decided to write a novel about Missouri during the Civil War.

Direct Link to Podcast #49 - Week 3 Guerrilla Season Book Blog Podcast - Interview with Author Pat Hughes - MP3 Format - 13:00 Minutes

If you have any questions or comments please send an e-mail to speakingofhistory@gmail.com

Podcast #47 - Guerrilla Season Author Interview Part 2

Hello. Today is the week 2 podcast for the Guerrilla Season Book Blog Project. Over 300 students at South Valley Jr High are reading "Guerrilla Season" by Pat Hughes - a historical novel describing Missouri in 1863 at the start of the Civil War. Participants are commenting and discussing the book via a blog at www.guerrillaseason.blogspot.com The blog includes links, podcast interviews with the author, questions answered by the author and discussion questions. We will be doing the project through November 19th.

Direct link to Podcast #47 - Guerrilla Season Author Interview Part 2 - MP3 Format - 9:00 Minutes

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to send them along to speakingofhistory@gmail.com

Podcast #46 - Guerrilla Season Book Blog Author Interview

Hello. After months of planning and discussion we have started our book blog project for the first semester. Over 300 students at South Valley Jr High are reading Guerrilla Season by Pat Hughes - a historical novel based in Missouri in 1863 at the start of the Civil War. We have a blog at www.guerrillaseason.blogspot.com with suggested pages for each week of the four week project along with discussion questions, links to additional information, a place to ask the author questions and even some audio podcasts from interviews with the author about the novel. Check it out and join us if you like. In addition to the students here in Liberty, Missouri we have students in California and a teacher in Louisiana taking part right now. It just started so there is plenty of time to join. I want to thank Pat Hughes for taking such an interest in our project. She is commenting directly to reader questions and spending a great deal of with this project. How incredible it is for an author to be communicating with her readers while they read the book!

Direct link Podcast #45 - audio podcast from the Guerrilla Season book blog project in which the author Pat Hughes describes how she researched this historical novel - MP3 format - 10:35 minutes