Web Scavenger Hunt

I used the Discovery Education Puzzle Maker to create a web scavenger hunt and criss cross for the Transcontinental Railroad.  I have used this site before and believe it to be on of the better free puzzle makers around.  That being said, I often have trouble with formatting.  When I print the puzzle off the website it is often split on two pages, and I am forced to Frankenstein then photocopy my puzzle together.  It is still far more convenient than creating my own from scratch.

I do like the idea of assigning a web scavenger hunt to introduce a topic.  Not only does it require students to think about the content, but it also gives those with limited internet experience practice using search engines, the back button, and the find features on the computer.

YouTube Video Montage

I created a YouTube video consisting of ten clips from my husband's favorite movies.  I figured that it couldn't be too difficult to create something for YouTube considering some of the people who make videos; however, I did not realize how simple this actually was.  I really feel like a whole new avenue of expression has been opened to me.

As far as my use of this for teaching,  I will be using the keepvid website to save video clips from YouTube to show in my classroom.  There is a clip on YouTube that shows the construction of the Hoover Damn.  I have been looking for the actual film the clip is from for years; now I can show it in my classroom.  I am also thinking I can find some primary source footage of September 11th to show as well.

Stock Market Activity

I am competing against my cohort in an online stock market simulation at vse.marketwatch.com/game/homepage.aspx .  This is not a simulation I would use with my students because of the time it would require and the difficulty buying stocks.  If I taught high school economics I would definitely use this in my classroom.  When I was in high school we did something similar only we had to use the newspaper each day to figure out stock prices.  This would have been for more exciting.

MORE INFORMATION TO FOLLOW WHEN SIMULATION RUNS

Prezi Propaganda Picture Show

I created a WW2 propaganda picture compilation on the website prezi.com.  I had a lot of fun creating this.  This is a new and visually interesting way to present information.  I could have presented the same information in a PowerPoint format; however, this is far more exciting to watch.  It was also very easy to use.  With PowerPoint I would have had to worry about transitions or having words / pictures appear.  This was very simple and straight forward.  It is a shame that you need a login account to use this because I could see my students really enjoying this activity and being able to pick up how to use it very quickly.

Death of Abraham Lincoln PPT

I really like this activity. I have had students work in pairs or groups to create a PowerPoints on a project. Only one person can be working on the topic at a time and the other students usually end up sitting back and goofing off. Google PowerPoint would allow all students to work simultaneously. This also increases accountability. If one student doesn't get their work done, it doesn't effect the work of other kids.

Instead of just using this for group work, this program could be used with the whole class to jigsaw a topic like WW2 on the home front or the Civil War. Like the Abraham Lincoln PowerPoint done in class, each student could be given a topic. This beats PowerPoint because I would not have 30 individual files to open or put together. I will have to figure out the logistics of getting all my students to use this without insisting they all have a GMail account, perhaps a generic user name. I know some of my students use their parents email addresses, and I know there would be some small backlash to having them all sign up with GMail.

Wunderground Activity

I use wunderground.com to create a chart and graph that lists the high/low temperatures for Easter Island, Chile for the 15th of each month in 2010.  The graph is also shown above.  I really like the Wunderground website.  Right now it only goes back 14 years.  As a history teacher, I am really interested to see this website in 20 or 30 years.  At that point I could actually have my students go back and look up the weather for events we learn about.  

I don't know if it was because in our last class I had practice using Excel, but I found making a chart on the google spreadsheet easier than the last time I made one on Excel.  This is something I would like to practice more before I introduce students to the program.

Oil Map Activity

I used the NY Times' Map of the Oil World to create test questions for students to answer.  I think this is a phenomenal resource.  I taught a class of 8th grade geography last year, and these maps would be phenomenal for students to use.  Instead of using an interactive map I had students flipping back and forth between two pages in a book, to try and draw conclusions.  This makes the connections so much more clear for the students.  I will be sharing this website with the rest of the Social Studies department.

Use the following website to answer the questions below:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/11/06/business/20071107_WINNERSLOSERS_GRAPHIC.html#

1. List the three top oil consumers.

2. List the three top oil producers.

3. Excluding the USA, list the three top suppliers of oil to the USA?

4. Which continent, not including Antarctica, is the smallest producer of oil?

5. Why do you think Mexico is the 3rd largest supplier of oil to the USA even though it is not among the ten largest producers of oil in the world?

6. In general, does Africa produce or consume more oil? How about Europe?

7. The USA imports more oil than any other country in the world.  Which Asian country is second?

8. Based on what you know about industrialized countries and world economies, what general connections can you make between country wealth and oil consumption.

Answers

1. USA, China, Japan

2. Saudi Arabia, Russia, USA

3. Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia

4. Australia

5. It is so close to the USA

6. Africa= producer, Europe= consumer

7. Japan

8. Wealthier, industrialized countries consume more oil

Online Photo Editing Activity:

 

I took the image on the left and modified it four times using Web Resizer and Befunky.  I was able to change color, contrast, brightness, sharpness, crop, add borders, and much more.  These are not websites I would use in my classroom with my students.  I find students tend to get distracted by the creative aspect of these websites instead of focusing on the quality of their content.  I do think that these websites will be useful to me when I need to edit photos to create powerpoints for my class or to lighten them to be printed on a test or a handout.

Wikipedia Comparison

I looked up Darth Vader in both Encylcapedia Britanica and WIkipedia.  I was originally going to look up Star Wars but there was no comprehensive article on Britanica.  I found there was far more information on both regular and simple English Wikipedia than on Britanica.  Wikipedia contains information on his creation, his role in every movie as well as his appearences in subsequent video games.  For current events and popular culture Wikipedia contains more comprehensive information. 

My wikipedia changes are:

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