History of Wikipedia (10 Years Old)

This is a nice history of Wikipedia by its founder, Jimmy Wales. 

Prezi

This is the best teacher Prezi presentation I have seen yet.  The only change I would make is instead of just having a picture of Youtube (as you will see on it), I would have an actual video embedded which you can do.  Definitely take two minutes and go through this presentation to see how you can enhance your PowerPoints. 

Make Your Own Maps

This is a pretty cool site as it allows one to create your own maps.  In other words, you can select a region of the world and then decide what you want the kids to label. Once you have made your decision, a map made exactly to your specifications is created as a word document.  Thanks to a tip from Edugalaxy.

The Civil War in Four Minutes

This is about the best film summation of the Civil War one can find.  Play it and see how much your students remember. 

Antietam Qwiki

Ok, Qwiki now lets one embed code into a blog or even to take a link even if you aren't part of the pilot.  In other words, you could put this link for Antietam on your student site and have your students answer questions.  Above is the embedded Qwiki search for it. 

Qwiki

Qwiki is getting a lot of buzz as a new type of search engine. For me, it is a good idea for a taking off idea for students to create their own.  Quiki creates a "qwik" movie on any subject you can think of.  Here is one on MLK, Jr.  It is only in the "alpha" stage which means you can sign up to get permission (it takes a day) and then show your students whatever you want.  To see my MLK link, you need to be logged into the account (which, again, you can get in under 24 hours), but otherwise, here are some examples. 

Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and other Review Games

I got this first tip from one of my readers, Marchelle Conway.  This is a site that lets you enter in your questions and answers for jeopardy and it instantly creates the game for you.  You then store it on their site and can see what others have developed. Here are other games you can use like Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, Wheel of Fortune and $25,000 Pyramid.

Virtual Tour of Monticello

Here is a virtual tour of Monticello, both the entire house as well as the grounds. I found it at freetech4teachers.com.

Prezi

Above is a great show of the power of Prezi.  Click on the arrow a few times and you will see how it works.  Also, when you get to a youtube video, let is sit a second and you will see that the video will begin (or if it doesn't, click the start button on the video).  You can go here to see a larger version. 

Bit Torrent

One of the fastest growing companies on the Internet is BitTorrent.  It allows you and others to download huge files very quickly.  This would allow your students, for example, to work on a video together that one of them uploaded onto say Youtube.com.  The video above explains it.  The downside is that you (or your students) will have to download a small file and not all schools allow this without permission.

Battle of Shiloh

Here is the Battle of Shiloh in ten short descriptions, each with a map showing troop movement.

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.