In our history class, the students created websites to display information about the European explorers.
We used www.weebly.com to create the sites. We used www.scribblemaps.com to create the embedded maps and www.timerime.com to create the timelines.
Here are some examples:
Here is a great resource that I found out about from Larry Ferlazzo.
It is a website hosted by the textbook company Glencoe. The content is intended to be used in conjunction with their textbooks. However, it is not necessary to possess the textbooks in order to take advantage of some of their online resources.
Glencoe’s landing page looks like this:
As you can see, in the corner is a box you can use to access their online resources.
There are many subjects available. The subject that interested me was Social Studies. Selecting Social Studies takes you to this page:
I have opened up the “World History” tab. You can see that there are resources for three text books available within World History.
Selecting “Journey Across Time” brings you to this page:
You can see that there are many resources available. Some are better than others. I would recommend the “In-Motion Animations,” and the “Student Web Activities.” However, perhaps the best resource on this site is the “Spotlight Videos.”
There is a large library of videos available. Here is a screen shot showing just some of them.
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.
