Anyway – here is a project about using Twitter to record historical events. Even though we can’t get to Twitter in school – it might be a fun project to create our own Twitter experience. Kids could create twitter conversations between historical figures, or perhaps authors or literary characters.

Our web pages have a blog function that would probably work for such a project. If not – we can create another collaborative space for students to contribute their “tweets”.

From David Warlick - Tweeple in History:

Starting last Wednesday, the Massachusetts Historical Society began posting Adams’ updates from two centuries ago onto Twitter. His Twitter name is JQAdams_MHS and you can follow his daily tweets here. So far, Adams has:

8/5/1809: Saturday. Diary Vol. 3. begins: Sailed in Ship Horace, Benjamin Beckford, from Charlestown to St. Petersburg.

8/6/1809: Thick fog. Scanty Wind – On George’s Bank. Lat: 42-34. Read Massillon’s Carême Sermons 2 & 3. Ladies &c. Sick.

8/7/1809: Fog. No Observation. Spoke a fishing Schooner from Grand Bank, bound to Plymouth. Read Chantreau’s travels.

Shmoop Study Guides for Spanish, Civics, Biographies, History and Literature

From one of my favorite education blogs:  Free Technology for Teachers

1. Air the speech as well as the speeches to students given by Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Ask students to compare and contrast rhetorical styles, the setting for the speech, response of students in the audience, etc.

2. Use Wordle.net to have students create Wordle visuals of presidential speeches to examine their emphasis and content so they can compare and contrast.

3. Examine the media frenzy over the recent speech. Help students filter out fact/fiction in print reporting /internet reporting over the speech. Have students look at the reporting before the speech (by checking newspaper archives, databases for last couple of weeks, letters to the editor, etc.) and then have them check out the post-speech reporting in the next day or two in those same sources.

4. Have them analyze the speech for examples of good rhetorical techniques (using a personal story, word choice, call to action, etc.) Compare these used to other motivational speeches.

5. Use the Newseum website to examine headlines around the country for their reporting on the speech and compare/contrast the reporting. (But quick, before the headlines disappear!)

KIDS NEED READING STAMINA

Here are a couple of searches I was able to perform with the new options.

Timeline of hate groups
A big increases can be seen from the 80’s upward.  Could be a function of the availability of articles on the web for the different eras – but it is still interesting.

Hate Group Forums

Pages published in the last 24 hours

Related Searches

Wonder Wheel (My favorite option. Organizes related topics in a “wheel”.  Great way to get kids thinking about alternative search terms)

Trying your own search:

1. Go to Google
2. Enter a sample search
3. Above the usual search results, click “show options”

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Moving on Up!

This page will give you insight into the anxiety that our 9th graders might be feeling.  The project would be a great one for middle school teachers, and also for Chris Corey’s class to look at.  His class is preparing a “handbook” for the upcoming class, full of advice from the kids who have “been there and done that”.

Some (most?) of the web tools used in the above link are blocked by BESS.  But there are other tools that can be used.  The other tools are not as good or as collaborative – but perhaps our district policy will become less retrictive in the future.  Meanwhile – we are all pretty good at adapting ideas to our circumstances.

Hope you find some useful ideas.