How to Interview Someone Using a Google+ Hangout

If you are like me and all of your classes have a state or national exam at the end, you often feel somewhat pressed for time so bringing a speaker is not always something you can do until the end of the year.  But if you use a Google+ Hangout, you can bring someone in, limit the time they are "in" your room and share the live broadcast and or have it recorded to YouTube for later broadcasts. Above is a short video telling you how to do this.

27 AP US Flip Videos

Here are twenty-seven flipped videos to go with AP US history.  You could use them to "give" your lectures and then do something more interactive in class or as a review site.  

Take My Tech Integration Course

I will be teaching the seventh version of my technology integration course with Fairfax County Public Schools this spring.  We will learn about such items as webquests, pacing your students individually using technology, flipping the classroom, using electronic textbooks, collaborating online, how to use Google Drive and lots more in a ten week course.  You can get more details here on page 43.  To sign up go to MyPLT (if you need help go to page 68) and put either the title or just a few words from the title or even e-mail me and I can add you to the class.  The sign-up period is from August 27th at 4 pm until September 10th.

The class will be on Thursdays from 4:30 to 7ish at Woodson.  It is free to FCPS employees, but if you live in the areas and are not in FCPS you can take it, but you have to pay for it (page 9).  The class fills up quickly, so if you are interested I would sign up sooner rather than later.  If you have questions, please e-mail me at ken.halla@fcps.edu. 

Twitter In-Service

Tomorrow I will be doing an in-service on using Twitter in the classroom.  My colleague, Doug Zywiol, joined my department last year having never used it before and attended my Twitter in-service. Now he is a force and will show you how to do warm-ups using Twitter while I will have a hands on demonstration on using Twitter for your PLN and how to use a hashtag for discussions.  We will be in room 228 during session A.  If you are not a FCPS teacher, use the video above to learn how to use Twitter.   If you prefer seeing it all written out, here is a great set of written instructions and below is a summary of them:

For your PLN, a great group to follow is listed below:
Ken Halla @kenhalla
Cool Cat Teacher @letytijerina
We Are Teachers @WeAreTeacher
Larry Ferlazzo @LarryFerlazzo
Eric Sheninger @NMHS_Principal
Richard Byrna @rmbryne
Shelly Terrell @ShellTerrell

For hashtags, go to this link to see how my classes use it for government discussions returns, presidential debates and reviewed for the exams.  Below is a list of hashtags you might want to follow.  Some other useful ones are #SSChat (social studies), #HistoryTeacher and #GeographyTeacher.  To find a hashtag, type in the # symbol plus the name in the search engine in Twitter and the conversation will appear.  If you want to be really blown away go here for the 300 most popular hashtags for educators.
Educational Chats: #edchat, #schools, #lrnchat, #TT (Teacher Tuesday), #GlobalEd
Technology Chats: #edtech, #elearning, #mlearning (mobile learning), #edapps, #gbl (games based learning), #islide2learn (iDevices & learning), #vitalcpt (effective use of tech in the classoom)

If you want to both follow a hashtag and Tweet at the same time, I'd suggest you use TweetChat.  Below is a video on how to use it.  

Flipped Classroom In-Service

Tomorrow I am teaching two sections of how to flip your classroom to Fairfax County (VA) teachers.  If you are coming, I will be in room 228 during sessions B and C.  If you aren't a teacher in Fairfax or if after our session, you want to watch how to do it again, above is an eight minute video detailing all of the steps and what to do in the classroom after you have done your flipping.  

The PowerPoint below has a number of great resources for more information on flipping.


Finally here is an example of a flipped video, the actual Google form we used and the interactive assignment that followed in class. 

Flipped Videos

Soon I am doing an in-service on flipping for the social studies teachers in my county (which I will post later).  For now if you want to have flipped videos for US history above are two versions from the French and Indian War, one from John Green and the other from Hip Hughes.  Green is the award winning tween author and Hughes teaches in Buffalo.  

Teaching Thoughts

One of the more interesting education books I have read recently is "The Smartest Kids in the World."  Above is a very interesting interview "excerpt" where she mostly says Finland closed down its education schools and then only opened them again in the prestigious universities.  She even notes that technology is often missing in Finland and Korea (although I argue in my book that it is being used improperly as effectively a way to just digitize paper).

But what you might want to do is to look at the author, Amanda Ripley's blog which has a lot of stimulating articles.  You can also follow her on Twitter.  Food for thought to improve our craft.  

British Burn Washington,1814: NPR Re-enacts

NPR re-enacts the burning of Washington in 1814 with this broadcast in which reporters around the city tell listeners what's happening.

Become an AP Reader

I have been grading different AP exams for well over a decade and have found it one of the most rewarding experiences of my professional life.  Yes it does get hard the fourth and fifth day of grading the same exam over and over (well some subjects like US train you in two), but the rewards are many.  I have a national network of friends whose collective brains I pick throughout the year, learn how to master an AP rubric and generally enjoy the places where we grade (San Antonio, Salt Lake City, Lincoln, Daytona Beach).  Perhaps the best thing, and the reason I go is so I can help my students "beat" the AP exam.  I must also say I am very efficient in grading throughout the year as being a grader has greatly improved my speed and the ability to find the exact mistakes the kids are making (which unlike the real AP exam I mark).

If you are interested, apply here by the end of September.  If you decide to go and they generally look for people in their third year - but last year government took people who had taught fewer - you will have your plane, hotel and food paid for the week and you will get an "honorarium." You will spend your first day learning the rubric, the grade for five full days and part of the a sixth one.  You work from 8 to 5 with two 15 minute breaks and an hour lunch.  Even if you think it would be miserable, I think you owe it to your students to try it once. 

Take Our Online Class

Richard Byrne of FreeTech4Teachers and I are going to be leading an online course.  In "Teaching History Using the Web," we take you through the process of developing engaging, web based history lesson plans.  The course features three interactive online meetings along with a discussion forum in which you can further interact with me and Richard and your classmates.  The course meetings are August 27th, September 3rd and September 10th at 8 pm EST.  Click here to register today or read on for more information. 

For $97 you will:

• Learn how to develop a Google Plus community for professional development and instructional purposes
• Develop an online Professional Learning Community
• Learn how to draw virtual maps
• Learn how to locate and help students find online primary resources
• Find and use virtual tours on the Internet
• Find and use flipped videos
• Create your own flipped videos

Click here to register.  

If you are a FCPS teacher this is a different course than my "Enhancing the Classroom Using the Internet" which will I will be teaching on Thursdays starting Sept. 25th (more the last week of August when registration opens)

#TwitterHistorians

Thanks to Amanda Mecke for the tip to try out the hashtag #twitterhistorians.  It is filled with resources from other "history geeks."  For those of you who haven't used hashtags, just get a Twitter account and then type in the hashtag (including the "#") into the search engine and then you can add items simply by typing a message with the hashtag title in it. 

Digital Vaults

The National Archives has an amazing site where you can look at tons of images and then find related ones to help create a lesson plan.   For example above is one from the Great Depression. It is a letter from a number of men essentially asking that the women be fired to make room for unemployed men.   If you go to the search engine, you can find lots of primary resources for any US topic.  

I heard about the site from Richard Byrne of FreeTech4Teachers.  If you like it, you might want to consider taking our three session class.  Go here for details.  

Take Our Online Class

Richard Byrne of FreeTech4Teachers and I are going to be leading an online course.  In "Teaching History Using the Web," we take you through the process of developing engaging, web based history lesson plans.  The course features three interactive online meetings along with a discussion forum in which you can further interact with me and Richard and your classmates.  The course meetings are August 27th, September 3rd and September 10th at 8 pm EST.  Click here to register today or read on for more information. 

For $97 you will:

• Learn how to develop a Google Plus community for professional development and instructional purposes
• Develop an online Professional Learning Community
• Learn how to draw virtual maps
• Learn how to locate and help students find online primary resources
• Find and use virtual tours on the Internet
• Find and use flipped videos
• Create your own flipped videos

Click here to register.  

If you are a FCPS teacher this is a different course than my "Enhancing the Classroom Using the Internet" which will I will be teaching on Thursdays starting Sept. 25th (more the last week of August when registration opens)

Helpful Site When Teaching Geography

My students always seem to be very weak in geography and so I incorporate it as much as I can when teaching history. One of the sites that I like to use is Lizard Point. I know that it's a strange name for a website, but it's useful and students enjoy using it as well. When I got onto the site to write this post, I also noticed several new features, such as creating an account to track progress, submitting scores, etc. There are various quizzes available depending on the needs of your students.

Need to Meet

Do you have problems scheduling meetings with your colleagues and send numerous emails to get it together?  Well Need to Meet might be the answer.  First off you don't even have to join.  Secondly it is incredibly easy as it prompts you for each step.  Essentially you give the date and time of potential meetings and send a url to friends who put in their preferences and without a second email you will have a date and time for your meeting.  

40 Maps That Explain World War I

Vox published 40 maps that explain the first world war. The map above shows the world mobilizing for war and the map below shows the Battle of Gallipoli. You can view the other 38 maps here at Vox.

My thanks to my colleague, Jeff Feinstein, for sending me the link.

What To Do on the First Day of School

I am almost laughing this as my summer school students finished on the 5th of August when some of you were already heading back to school for teacher work days.  Unfortunately in Virginia, for both parties, business reigns supreme and so we have our so called Kings Dominion Law which necessitates that we start school after Labor Day putting giving our students 2-3 weeks less instruction than others before the AP and IB exams not to mention more time after Spring Break when we all know students start smelling summer!

But enough of the diatribe.  I am thinking to my first day of school on September 2nd.  My first day is typical - refined somewhat after twenty-three previous ones.  I spend most of the period getting to know my students and they me.  They have to answer questions such as 1) best place they went this summer (outside of their home bc otherwise they would say "bed!") 2) the place they would most want to be (again outside of their home) to which I answer here where I spent four years (and has this at the end of it)  3) Why we should study history (and don't say "to learn from the past") after which I show them the first minute from this.  4) something they want to learn from the course (which is difficult for most - but we want thinking to occur right) even it is a skill.  5) a quality (singular or plural) about their favorite teacher.

This article and this one use research to effectively say what I am doing is on task, but the authors also argue that your introduction to the content should also be done the first day and that (and thankfully I do this as well) your expectations should also be laid out the first day.  As we know from back to school night, students often form their impression of us on the first day and it is hard to change that.  So be fun, firm and kindly keep the kids on task and you will set yourself up for a great 2014-15 school year.

Good luck.  

US's Immigrant Past

This is a great map to let your students see how the US has changed its immigrants over time.  The map actually changes decade to decade so you can see the predominant nations of origin. 

Lesson Plans on Nixon

George beat me to the punch.  I well remember forty years ago walking in my house after coming back from camp and seeing Nixon's resignation speech on television.  If you want some lesson plans on the resignation of other Nixon milestones, look no further than the ones on the Nixon Library site.  

How Nixon Tested the US Government: PBS Clip

Who Won Lexington and Concord?

In all of my years of teaching, I don't think I have ever really been confronted with the question of who won Lexington and Concord. Not only that, but we lump the two together.  But try finding things such as casualties and definitive stories - such as who fired the first shots and you will have problems.  Well we know that the Regulars (hey we were all British) won the Battle of Lexington and the American colonists we think lost 8 to death and 10 more were injured.  At Concord, you could say the Regulars won as they confiscated the weapons they sought as you can see in the video above.

But then other questions to ask your students.  Why do we even say Lexington was the first battle since it wasn't even close to the first skirmish between Regulars and colonists as the former sought other magazines with weapons.  Ray Raphael wrote a book called "The First American Revolution" and put up some original documents he found of letters, newspapers, etc. from pre 1775.  What is great is that you can show them to your students so they can see the very tough work historians have in reading and interpreting letters, for example.  Raphael even has a page on "myths perpetuated in your textbook" for Colonial America and has gone through every textbook we use.  

Finally I know that Wikipedia is controversial, but there are actually 80,000 people who have claimed their stake in it and if you write a falsehood will very quickly correct it. Having said that go here and look at the reasons behind some of our myths surrounding Lexington and Concord. For example, I like to ask my students why we only remember Paul Revere and not Prescott and Dawes and for that matter did they know only one of the three was captured by the Regulars that night - yes Revere (and soon thereafter released)! 

So it could be a great exercise for your students to look at some of the links mentioned above and to try to see how history is often re-created, changed and made into nice neat stories to fit in our textbooks! 

Impact of WWI: PBS Clip

PBS News Hour reviewed World War I and then, in the second clip, interviewed three historians about the impact of the war.

Take Our Online Class

Richard Byrne of FreeTech4Teachers and I are going to be leading an online course.  In "Teaching History Using the Web," we take you through the process of developing engaging, web based history lesson plans.  The course features three interactive online meetings along with a discussion forum in which you can further interact with me and Richard and your classmates.  The course meetings are August 27th, September 3rd and September 10th at 8 pm EST.  Click here to register today or read on for more information. 

For $97 you will:

• Learn how to develop a Google Plus community for professional development and instructional purposes
• Develop an online Professional Learning Community
• Learn how to draw virtual maps
• Learn how to locate and help students find online primary resources
• Find and use virtual tours on the Internet
• Find and use flipped videos
• Create your own flipped videos

Click here to register.  

If you are a FCPS teacher this is a different course than my "Enhancing the Classroom Using the Internet" which will I will be teaching on Thursdays starting Sept. 25th (more the last week of August when registration opens)

TJ's Plagiarism?!

Every year I have my students look at the VA Declaration of Rights (also known as the VA Constitution of 1776) compared to the Declaration of Independence.  It was published on June 29 and appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette the day before Jefferson was charged, along with four others to write the Declaration of Independence.   If you follow my students' exercise you will see that the bottom part of the VA Dec. of Rights looks surprisingly like the Dec. of Independence, in some case, in fact, it is word for word.  Know also according to Ray Raphael (I just read this) that Mason's document was copied much more in the colonies than Jefferson's.  Indeed the VA legislature voted for independence in April 1776 and prior to that was Worcester, MA.

If you want to finish my exercise, then have your students compare the complaints in both the Mason and Jefferson documents to the Bill of Rights and it will be a clear case of cause and effect.  

Padlet

Formerly Wallwisher, Padlet is a great interactive online board that students can post to. Although there are many different interactive boards available, this one is my favorite because it's easy to use, it can be customized and it allows teachers to moderate posts before they appear.  I also have never had any issues with the site itself.

Although I've used it several different ways, one of the most frequent ways I use it is to post a guiding/essential question for a unit, often as an introductory activity. The question, "What Was Life Like on the Great Plains in 1870?" is the question I post when I start my westward expansion unit that focuses on Native American conflict in the 2nd half of the 19th century.  I require students to post a picture or video along with their response also. I save their boards for them to use to review at the end of the unit as well.  This is just a very small sample of a student response board. They are much more full, it was just difficult to include a thorough picture of a board because most students posted with first and last names.

Notes, Definitions, Quiz Questions for AP US History

Mary Ward is going to be posting some ideas on my government blog and so from here I learned about Study Notes which has outlines, vocabulary, quiz questions. timelines and practice essays. Obviously it is getting harder and harder for students to be assigned the traditional "take notes" homework as there are so many ways to get notes without the reading.  But if you have a fool proof way to avoid this then Study Notes might be a very useful site.  For example you could have students use the reading to complete a higher (Bloom's) level assignment and use the book and the Study Notes site to assist your students.  By the way, if you have some good ones, please send them to me and I'll be happy to put them up here.  Here is the site for US history.