More uses of Web 2.0 Tools

Mr. T, an 8th grade American Cultures teacher at Hershey Middle School, is the author of the American Cultures 2.0 blog. While reviewing his blog recently, I noticed that he has developed two great uses of Web 2.0 technologies for teaching the Civil War.

The first one is called What stories do these Civil War photographs tell? In this short blog post, Mr. T uses a quick VoiceThread video to get students to look at a photograph and answer questions. There are even several student responses to this post. Very cool!

The second one is called Civil War Day and shows a very nice Animoto photo slide show. The photo slide show is a collection of Civil War era photographs from the Library of Congress and is set to some somber period music.

So, here are two more examples of how you (and your students) can create and share things you are doing in your classroom.

Create & Collaborate!!!

Until Next Time...

Confederate Memorial Museum in Oklahoma

Wesley Fryer of the Moving at the Speed of Creativity Blog recently visited the Confederate Memorial Museum in Oklahoma. While touring the museum he took photographs of the various displays and then used Voicethread to post a narrated slide show to his blog. Check it out HERE.

This is a great way for you to see the exhibits in a museum that may otherwise be in accessible to you as a teacher. You can also check out the museum's website at: http://www.civilwaralbum.com/atoka/

Question is: How can your students do something like this? Do you live near a Civil War museum or a location associated with the Civil War? Does your local historical society have artifacts from soldiers who may have fought during the war? If so, take some digital photos and create a virtual tour for everyone to share.

Another thought...look up museums and historical societies in other towns with ties to the Civil War. Then find the local schools and get in contact with the district. Once you get in contact, ask them to collaborate on a project. Have their students go and take pictures and have your students write up the narrative.

Lots of ideas...