In my History class, the students located on a map where different agricultural products originated.
They used the website Symbolya to create maps, which they then embedded on their blogs. Here is a student exemplar.
Symbolya lets users create place marks on a Google map. They have a collection of different icons that can be utilized. Nice.
This year, I am teaching Geography, History and English; plus, some other subjects.
I was not having much difficulty creating English activities for the students that incorporate the internet; however, I was having difficulty developing online activities for my two social sciences classes.
Today in Geography, I asked the students to do an activity using internet resources, which I will describe presently. The class was enjoyable for me, and I think the students enjoyed their one hour with me more than they would have if they had been forced to do worksheets. As a corollary, there were no classroom management issues. It dawned on me that I need to continue to develop online activities. By now, I should have a sufficiently adequate pool of resources from which to choose. What is required of me is a bit of creative thinking to imagine ways that the prescribed curriculum can be adapted to the internet.
At this point, there is no compelling reason for me to use worksheets. It was be foolish of me to do so.
For the map activity, I had students download a blank jpeg of Montreal. Then, using the website, Fotoflexer, the students added text to their map, labelling the rivers and major areas of the city. Tomorrow, the students will use Wikispaces to create a webpage that describes Montreal (the population, the major developments, and so on). They will include their map on the their webpage.
