Cartoons

Kids Making Their Own Cartoons
I received this from one of my normal followers (feel free to leave a message with your tips or to e-mail me at kenhalla@gmail.com) if you have any. I always have my students create cartoons as I find it a good way to memorize something without having to actually sit down and say something over and over until it is in one's head. With this site, one can actually make digital cartoons much as we have drawn them in the past.

Second National Bank and Wikipedia

It is amazing to me the number of people who do not like Wikipedia.  Usually it is people who do not understand the back checking that goes on, but I believe it is a great starting point or, in many places, an adequate replacement for textbooks.  Here is one example on the Second National Bank and its fight with Andrew Jackson.  What is more interesting to me is that the state of VA has taken it off its end of the year exam - but that's another story.

Youtube Blocked At Your School?

I have been using Splicd.com to quickly show only the portion of a youtube video I want in class. It is great for schools where youtube is blocked.  But two others that you can use are ViewPure and SafeShare.tv which also give you a new url which will get you around the block your school may have.  I found these last two at a new blog I follow called "The Pursuit of Education Technology Happiness."

Cliff Notes

Cliff Notes has long been one of my favorites for my US history students.  Well here and here are the entire outlines for US history.

Edublog Winners

Every year I go here to see the Edublog Winners.  If you haven't done it, you will find some amazing new resources both in blog form as well as Twitter to add to your daily RSS feeds.

Facing History and Ourselves

This site has a number of resources to add to your US history class.  This video, for example, is a video of one of the African-American students who went to Little Rock High School when it was trying to integrate.

Great Summary of Online Resources

Super Book Of Web Tools For Educators -
If you are a high school teacher skip to page 36.  There is also a section on ESOL teaching as well as online teaching. It is very definitely worth your time to go through this and see what you can find that is new to you.  Even with my great use of technology, I found it helpful.

Slavery Survey Map

This is a survey map of the Southern slave states at the time of the civil war and here is an article about it.  You can even click on different areas and get more details.  Finally, here is a timeline of the war.

Historic Newspapers Website

The "Rag Linen" is a relatively new website dedicated to giving readers access to rare newspapers.  Additionally there is a link to a blog which is a whole lot of items on the colonial period. There are also a ton of visuals you can use in the classroom.

Museum Box

Museum Box allows you to create a visual box of elements such as pictures, video, sound, files, links and text.  It would be a nice way for your students to create a box of memories of an era you are studying.

Ben Franklin Timeline

This is a great timeline of Ben Franklin's life which also links you to items that are related to him so you can get more depth.

The Future of Computers

Okay, this is just pure fun - but for those I certainly hope it shows the future of our phones/computers (will there be a difference) and ipads.

Google Maps Mania & Google Earth

Here is a new blog I just found that shows how people around the world are using Google Maps.  I have used it with my students to show their own history and another person in my department uses it for "history trips."  You can add pictures and write about places (both today and historical) that you have your kids "go to."  So if you like using Google Maps, this would be a great new resource. Here is the blog for Google Earth which also would be helpful.  Above is a video explaining how you can use the new Google Earth which I found on the webpage.

Way to Capture a Historical Trip

Historvius is a quick alternative to Google Earth for having students create a trip to different places and to find out different information.  You will get an up close look at the place (any era of time) as well as information and even pertinent links.  At the end it even creates a pdf file (say for turning into a teacher!).  Watch the easy to follow short video above to learn more. Thanks for this idea from a Tweet of "dandidie".

Google Translate Goes Audio

I have been using Google Translate to e-mail students' parents who do not speak English.  They usually write me back in their native language and then I tranlate it back to English.  Well now, if you want, you can listen to what was written.  I'm not sure the language teachers will like it, but it is still fairly cool.

Korean War in Pictures

Incredible Set of Korean War Pictures
I found this from a Tweet from "curosa." If you go here, you can find 60 pictures from the Boston Globe 60 years since the beginning of the war.