Qwikis for Multiple Ways to Get Summaries

View Reconstruction Era of the United States and over 3,000,000 other topics on Qwiki.

Qwiki came out two years ago and has become a way to quickly edit your personal videos.  But for me it was a way to create a sound video, show pictures and have written text for most historical items.  Now you can only find the videos by going to a search engine and typing "Qwiki.com + whatever you are looking for."  So above is one on Reconstruction as an example. 

Remind 101 for Homework Reminders

I have done a few posts on Remind101 which is a way to remind your students using texting about their homework.  It allows you to preset a time and it is blind texting in that the teachers never see the student cell phone numbers and it is one way so students cannot text you.  Above is a how to video and here are written instructions.  

How and Why to Flip the Classroom

The Flipped Classroom on Prezi

Frank and I are presenting to the high school social studies chairs today on when you might want to use a flipped classroom and how to create the screencast for it.

Above are the easy directions on how to create a screencast using Screencastomatic which is free and does not require you to have a login/password.  You will need a Youtube account (comes with your gmail) into which you can place it.

The top video and Prezi explains when, how and why to integrate the flipped classroom into your repertoire.   

Google Forms for Teachers

If you are like me and have trouble with making Google forms, then you should check out this article with links to several pre-made forms for self-grading quizzes. You can find the article and forms here at "Educational Technology and Mobile Learning."

Screenr to Record & Get Link or Publish on Youtube

I love Screencastomatic, butScreenr is an alternative that allows you to keep your videos on their site or on Youtube.  This would allow students to get a link they could share with a teacher Above is a video explaining how easy it is to do.  I have been looking for something this for a while as I want to easily make my students record "flip class videos."  I found this from a Google+ post by Anne Marie Rowley

Michel Beschloss Tweets American History

Learn US History through the pictures that presidential historian Michael Beschloss tweets. Every one, like the one above, tells a story. This is what he tweeted about it: "Jackie Robinson backed RN '60 (like many African-Amers), later shunned him for "Southern strategy" courting white Southerners." You can follow him at @BeschlossDC. You can watch the Beschloss interview on The News Hour talking about the response to his tweets.

More Teachers 'Flipping' The School Day Upside Down

Webquest on Causes of Civil War

One of the things my teacher-students learn to do is to use a multitude of places online to craft a webquest.  Here is a very nice one by Erin Wittington on the events leading to the Civil War. 

First Person Account of Pearl Harbor

Here is one very interesting interview with a reporter who witnessed Pearl Harbor.  What is fascinating is that one of her dispatches was never published until yesterday by the WashPost.  If you want your students to hear (above) or read a first person account, then this might be a nice assignment for you.

iPad Gestures or How to Toggle

So a textbook publisher for my students' e-books has asked me to try out their new iPad e-book to see what my students think of it.  To do so they are willing to give us 30 iPads for a month of use.  Actually other than completely changing the way I teach and my students have been learning this essentially is just an opportunity for us to learn since they aren't giving the school anything!! Initially I was hesitant, but since I love learning new things, I think I will accept the offer despite the shortcomings.  Already one nice thing I have figured out is that there are gestures you can do to more easily maneuver between documents.  So if that is you, then this might be helpful as well as this to turn on the gestures.  

Fakebook Gallery & Project Ideas

I've done a number of posts on Fakebook which allows you to create a historical discussion between many people, put in their pictures, have friends, etc.  In fact it looks very much like the real thing, but no login/password is required (can you tell it is actually made by a real teacher!).  But I just noticed via FreeTech4Teachers that the creator of Fakebook now has a gallery of historical figures which is updated each day. If you want to show your students examples before you start a project, it is tremendous. 

Albert Einstein Interview

We are so used to looking at pictures of Albert Einstein, but here is actual footage and you can even hear him (and his accent) talking.  I like to show kids items such as this to literally bring people alive. 

REAL Collaboration Made Easy

Ever thought of an activity where you would like the students to collaborate with others:

in the classroom?

 in the school?

 in the county?

in the state?

 in the Country?

in The WORLD?

Do you have a desire to use this type of activity to promote critical thinking,  either during class, or later? 

Wallwisher is an easy and safe web site that  provides a quick way to interact and share thoughts and ideas. It does not require any student sign on to use, and could serve as a class activity, or a formative assessment.

Test it out be posting a "Virtual Sticky Note" to the Wall below.  

History Channel & the Civil War

I still remember 22 years ago when I was in my first year of teaching and all the other teachers were showing a three day (one hour classes back then) film and so I just followed along.  Today I tell teachers to just show a few minutes to highlight a concept and move on.   If you agree with this, here are a bunch of clips from the History Channel on things such as the difference between Confederate and Union soldiers, women in the war, technology, the 54th Regiment, etc. 

Web Search Strategies in Plain English