Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists

This is a fascinating 4 minute overview of the Federalist and Anti-Federalists.  In a sense they are examples of early interest groups.  The Federalists were better known as nationalists or centralists and the Anti-Federalists were really the federalists.  But the Nationalists thought they would be better liked if they were the "Federalists" and their opponents were just "anti-."  Furthermore it is interesting to note that the Federalist were much better organized since, by definition, the Anti-Federalists just plain didn't want to work with one another 

Virtual Tour of Mt. Vernon

I teach at a school called Hayfield, so called because even though we are ten miles from Mt. Vernon, we were once one of George Washington's hayfields.  So in living so close, I have been to Mt. Vernon a number of times, but for those of you who live a long way from here, there is a virtual tour you can take of Washington's home. 

How to Make a Flipped Classroom

Today I am doing a short in-service for my school and since I only have ten minutes I am putting these items up there for our teachers to use later or for you to do use to make your own flipped classroom.

First off below is a PowerPoint with the main points of how and why to do flipped classrooms as well as additional resources.

Next is a video which shows you how to use Screencastomatic which is a free online resource which you can use to make screencasts.  If you go to my Youtube page you can see lots of my flipped videos.

Now once you have made the screencast you will want to share it with your students.  To do this you can create a Google form and add it right in the top.  The form will allow you to have students ask questions which you can start the next class by answering.  Then you can go to the interactive you want to use in class.

Making Maps in Google Drawings

If you want to have your student make their US history maps this year in Google Drive, above is a short video I made with the help of one my students!  If your students are 100% digital, this is a nice way to keep maps in their folders - but it won't work on iPads. 

Chromebooks for Your Classroom?

Chromebooks 101: What's All the Fuss About? from jonathanwylie

While I have been unsuccessful in convincing my school district (mostly since Pearson cannot yet run their end of the year state exams in the cloud - amazing for a company as big as they are) to let me buy Chromebooks, for our students, 22% of US school districts are now using them.  I am practicing what I preach as my wife and I have bought two of them for our kids and they love them for their school work and everything else they do (except for games that require Java downloads).  The best ones are only $250 which kills the price of the iPad and other laptops and the go from completely off to fully functional in 10 seconds.  Since they are cloud based they also keep updating themselves.

If you or your school district is thinking of purchasing them, the slideshow above is very balanced on the pros and cons (pro = cheap to purchase if your students use the cloud and your school district approves the use of Chrome apps; con = no Java and no Microsoft Word).

Here and here are two great pages on using Chromebooks and the slideshow above is a perfect place to start with lots of apps. 

GIldner Lehrman

Our school is a member of Gilder Lehrman which gives us free access to their items.  They have a collection at the New York Historical Society contains over 65,000 primary source documents (and is digitized).  In addition Gildner can provide dozens of lesson plans, podcasts, traveling exhibits and 40 summer seminars for teachers. member of Gilder Lehrman which gives us free access to their items.  They have a collection at the New York Historical Society contains over 65,000 primary source documents (and is digitized). 

How to Take a Screenshot

I use screenshots all the time for how to items and because I believe students should have several illustrations to make them look more appealing.  Here is how you can take a screenshot on all devices. 

American Ethnicity Map in 2000

Here's what America's ethnic heritage looked like in 2000. Check it out on the Mail Online.

Here are highlights, which I just copied directly from the Mail Online.

• Census data shows heritage of 317 million modern Americans 
• Clusters show where immigrants from different nations chose to settle 
• Largest ancestry grouping in the nation are of German descent with almost 50 million people 
• African American or Black is the second largest grouping with just over 40 million people
• Almost 20 million people claim to have 'American' ancestry for political reasons and because they are unsure of their family's genealogy Read more: 

American Revolution Site

This is a great site for the American Revolution.  It has nice information on the battles, people, events, timeline, commanders, videos, etc.  It would be great for a webquest. 

Using QR Codes to Differentiate Instruction

Edutopia has a great story on how to use QR codes to differentiate instruction.  You can use QR codes to send students to the same website and create differentiated activities or you can create different codes for different groups. The article explains exactly how.  My thanks to Sharon Dickens who sent the link.

Confederate Slave Soldiers

If I wrote a textbook it would include lots of personal accounts to add to the more dry texts. Thankfully the Internet helps provides this additions.   Here is an account of slave Silas Chandler who fought with the Confederates during the Civil War.  It comes from a memoir of his owner with whom he fought alongside.  We all teach about the 54th Regiment, but here is someone who undoubtedly fought against his owner and wasn't freed by the Emancipation Proclamation (a good way to show your students that it initially freed no one).  Even if it is just for you, it is a very interesting read about a very sorry period of our history. 

Digital Study Buddies to Improve Retention

Too many kids do not study for tests and still more think studying is just filling out a study guide. Sure you could argue that our students have become desensitized to them due to the incredible number they take, but I try to get them to get into groups using technology - knowing that not all my students (esp. my 9th graders) can get together with one another.  What I tell them is that studying in a group is going to force the kids to prepare (rather than risk embarrassing themselves in front of peers and then help them work on weaknesses.  Here are the sites I give my students.

• Free Conference Call - Barack Obama made this famous in 2008.  If could use it on a winning presidential campaign your students can use it to call as many friends as they want which is especially helpful if one or more do not have laptops.  

• Google Plus Hangouts will allow up to ten students to talk, see each other and share Google Drive documents.  Below is a easy to follow video.

• Oovoo lets you video conference with up to 11 friends.  Here is a hot to tutorial. 
  
• Quizlet and Study Blue allow kids to find already done study cards for tests.  I like Quizlet better as the kids do not even have to join to be able to search.  Both allow you to even put pictures as part of the study cards. 
  
  

Bitly Tutorial for Shortening Weblinks

I did a post a month ago on Bit.ly which allows you to shorten a url (much as Tinyurl and goo.ly allow you to do).  The advantage of this shortener is that you can tailor (as you can with Tinyurl) your link to something your students can remember (such as Bit.ly/Halla).  But with Bit.ly you can also save it to a folder in your account so that you can have it as long as you want and you can even see how many times it has been clicked on.

So I have Bitlys saved for my homework pages for my students and did another one for my Back to School night flip.  There is no limit so have at it. 

Teaching with the e-book American Vision

The best part about being a department chair is helping to hire great teachers.  Six years ago my assistant principal and I hired a super brand new teacher - on her birthday, nonetheless! That teacher, Janet Babic, has already taught four preps in three subjects and been amazingly innovative including one of my favorites of teaching the 60s to the present through popular television shows.  Needless to say she is also a tech wizard and has become our county's (12th largest in the US) American Vision e-book expert.  Tomorrow she is teaching an in-service to other US history teachers.  If you use the book, you might want to use Janet's resources.

• Before teaching with an e-book, you'll want to teach your students how to split their computer screen so they can see the online resources and do your work. 
• If you have never had your students use an e-book, you will first want to start with the scavenger hunt. 
• Here is her Learn model teaching on how to not only incorporate the e-book, but also many of its ancillaries 
• Here are all the videos that go with the e-book (look at the drop down menu in the upper right).
• Above is a how to video Janet made to better know how to use the many extras on the e-book.   
• For the people in Janet's in-service go here to put your lesson plans (and everyone else will be able to see them Wednesday evening. 
• Finally here is a folder of Janet's with several other goodies. 

Too Late to Apologize

My daughters' teacher showed this to her class last year and I loved it right away.  It covers many of the major things you will want to cover in teaching the Declaration of Independence and it's catchy.