Social Media and The History Classroom - 2011 MCSS

Hello.  Today I'm presenting at the 2011 Missouri Council for Social Studies Conference in Kansas City.  My topic is how history teachers can use social media to collaborate and enrich their curriculum. 

You can view the Prezi that I will be sharing at the conference.  A list of links related to the presentation are included below the Prezi.

MCSS Social Media on Prezi

Twitter

TweetDeck

Twitter Site for #historyteacher hastag

Flickr

Eric's Flickr Collection

Clay County Museum Flickr Collection

National Archives Flickr Collection

Smithsonian American History Museum You Tube Channel

Musket You Tube Video

Declaration of Independence Break Up Letter You Tube Video

Mount Vernon You Tube Video

Skype

Skype in the Classroom

2010 MSTA - Building Your PLN

MSTA 2010 Building A Personal Learning Network

View more presentations from South Valley Jr. High School / Park University.

Twitter

Eric's Twitter Account

MSTA Twiter Account

Delicious

Eric's Delicious Account

Flickr

Eric's Flickr Account

MSTA Flickr Account

Blogger

Eric's Speaking of History Blog

MSTA Blog

Skype

MSTA Podcast

YouTube

Eric's YouTube Channel

MSTA YouTube Channel

Google Call

MSTA 2010 - Improving Parent Communication

MSTA 2010 Improving Parent Communication

View more presentations from South Valley Jr. High School / Park University.

Eric's BlackBoard Classroom Site

Google Forms

Podcast #212 - Washington's Big Decision Lesson Plan from Mount Vernon

Many people think of George Washington as a general or a president but he was also a very innovative farmer. During my week at Mount Vernon this summer as a participant in the 2010 Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminar I spent time studying Washington's actions as a farmer. He did some amazing things on his farms and was on the cutting edge of technology for his time. Today on a visit to Mount Vernon you can visit a reconstruction of the 16 sided round barn he built and designed to thresh grain.


One of Washington's most important decisions as a farmer came in 1765 when he decided to shift the from growing tobacco to wheat. He was one of the first to do this on a large scale in Virginia. He made this decision for several reasons and it ultimately allowed him to make a profit at a time when those who stayed with tobacco eventually fell further in debt.


During the seminar I created a lesson plan to help students analyze why Washington made this decision. The lesson is created primarily for a middle school or junior high history class and can be conducted in one 45 minute period. Students will also be using a couple of primary resources from George Washington. The podcast describes the lesson plan and this blog post includes a full description and materials in PDF format.

This blog entry also includes a short video shoot at Mount Vernon with Daniel Purkey, Lead Interpreter for Historic Trades at Mount Vernon, describing the reasons for Washington's decision.


Link to a full text description of the Washington Decision lesson plan (PDF file)


Link to the student graphic organizer used in the lesson along with a copy of a completed teacher version (PDF file)

Click to subscribe to the Speaking of History Podcast at i-Tunes here

Direct link to Podcast #212 - Washington's Big Decision Lesson Plan

Podcast #211 - Sunrise at Mount Vernon

Hello. Several weeks ago I was very fortunate to participate in the 2010 Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminar for Teachers at Mount Vernon. One great opportunity while attending the seminar was the opportunity to stay on the grounds at Mount Vernon. On a couple of the mornings I got up around 5:15 AM and walked to the mansion to see the sunrise over the Potomac River from the back porch. Today's podcast is a very quick reflection on that experience. I have also added several of the pictures from that morning at the mansion with this blog post.

You can view over 900 of the pictures I took while attending the week long seminar at this Flickr set.

Click to subscribe to the Speaking of History Podcast at i-Tunes here

Direct link to Podcast #211 - Enjoying Sunrise at Mount Vernon

2010 Gilder Lehrman Summer Institute at Mount Vernon

Hello. This week I will be attending the 2010 Gilder Lehrman Summer Institute at Mount Vernon. I will be spending the week touring the grounds, listening to presentations about Washington and learning as much as possible about the life of our first president.

I will be Tweeting, writing some blog posts and sharing lots of pictures (the one above is the mansion this morning as I took my morning walk). I hope to share this experience through the blog.

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 #210 - Update on 365 Photo Project

Hello. Today's podcast is an update on my 365 Photo Project for 2010. I am taking a picture each day this year and posting it on Flickr. You can check out my photos so far this year below on the slideshow.

Click to subscribe to the Speaking of History Podcast at i-Tunes here

Direct link to Podcast #210 - Update on 365 Photo Project

Press PLAY button below to listen to podcast on this page.

Podcast #209 - Review of "The Monuments Men" by Robert M Edsel

Hello. For the past couple of weeks I have been reading "The Monuments Men" by Robert M Edsel. This books tells the fascinating story of American troops racing across Europe to find and save the priceless art work taken by Hitler and the Nazi war machine.

This podcast is my quick review of this novel and how it could be implemented into an interdisciplinary lesson in the classroom.

"The Monuments Men" by Robert M Edsel

Official Monuments Men Foundation Site

The Greatest Theft - Lesson Plans and DVD Set

Robert M Edsel's Blog

Follow Robert M Edsel on Twitter (RobertEdsel)

Click to subscribe to the Speaking of History Podcast at i-Tunes here

Direct link to Podcast #209 - Review of The Momuments Men by Robert M Edsel

Hit Play button below to listen to Podcast

Podcast #208 - Ask the Experts Donner Party Project

Hello. I am a big fan of the American Experience series from PBS and WGBH. This series has produced some of the most fascinating and engaging historical documentaries I have ever seen. One episode that I have used repeatedly in my class over the years is "The Donner Party" by Ric Burns. This documentary is both haunting and descriptive in telling the tale of this group's fateful journey west.

For the past several years I have had my students participate in a debate after finishing the video. The debate is centered on the role of Lansford Hastings - the person who told the Donner Party to take the shortcut that cost them valuable time on the attempt to reach California. The Donner Party becomes trapped in the mountains and some resort to cannibalism. The class is divided into two groups and debates whether the blame should be placed upon Hastings or the Donner Party themselves. While watching the film students have been recording events and information which could be used to defend both sides of the debate.

Two years ago I started recording the debate in audio format. I then contacted several Donner Party experts - authors and writers who have experience with the Donner Party - and asked if they could critique the debate and provide feedback for my students. I sent the audio file as an attachment with the e-mail. This was very successful and my students loved the feedback.

This year we used a Flip camera to record the debate in video format and I then posted it to YouTube. I contacted a variety of Donner Party experts through web searches and found five individuals who were willing to take the time to comment on the student debates. I then gathered the responses from all the experts and created a handout for my students. I am always amazed at the amount of detail these experts provide.





The technology used in this project is pretty simple - posting a video on YouTube and then sending an e-mail but the ability to find experts in the field and then have them comment directly to students is extremely powerful.

Special thanks to my experts who were willing to share their time and respond to my students :

Dr. Julie M. Schablitsky, Archaeologist with University of Oregon

Daniel James Brown, author of The Indifferent Stars Above : The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride

Kristin Johnson - Historian for Donner Party Archaeology Project and author of The Donner Party Blog

Chelsea Walerscheid - Truckee Lake Historical Society

Katie Holley - Truckee Lake Historical Society


To learn more about this project please listen to the podcast. I have also included the links to the student debates and included one video as a portion of this blog post. I am also posting the feeback from the experts as a PDF if you would like to see the comments the experts returned to my class.

If you have any comments on this project please feel free to leave a comment on this blog post.

Period 2 Class Debate

Period 3 Class Debate

Period 4 Class Debate

Period 5 Class Debate

Period 7 Class Debate

Period 8 Class Debate


Click to subscribe to the Speaking of History Podcast at i-Tunes here

Direct link to Podcast #208 - Ask the Experts Donner Party Project