A Very Old Place

Makes Math Look Easy!

2008-09-21T16:45:00.001-07:00

Thought you math guys out there would enjoy this simple problem solving exercise.

Suitcases From A State Hospital Attic

2008-07-15T18:03:00.000-07:00

If you are a reader here's a book I'm getting ready to buy that sounds really intriguing-- The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic by Darby Penney

From Publishers Weekly: When New York's 120-plus-year-old mental institution Willard State Hospital was closed down in 1995, New York Museum curator Craig Williams found a forgotten attic filled with suitcases belonging to former inmates. He informed Penney, co-editor of The Snail's Pace Review and a leading advocate of patients rights, who recognized the opportunity to salvage the memory of these institutionalized lives. She invited Stastny, a psychiatrist and documentary filmmaker, to help her curate an exhibit on the find and write this book, which they dedicate to "the Willard suitcase owners, and to all others who have lived and died in mental institutions." What follows are profiles of 10 individual patients whose suitcase contents proved intriguing (there were 427 bags total), referencing their institutional record-including histories and session notes-as well as some on-the-ground research. A typical example is Ethel Smalls, who likely suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of her husband's abuse; misdiagnosed and institutionalized against her will, she lived at Willard until her death in 1973. While the individual stories are necessarily sketchy, the cumulative effect is a powerful indictment of healthcare for the mentally ill. 25 color and 63 b&w photographs.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

There is a traveling exhibit that mirrors the findings of the book and they have a neat website. I'm a big fan of using primary sources in the classroom, I wonder if this may be insightful for high schoolers. Let me know if you read it.

Mnemograph Diary Day 1

2008-04-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

I decided to have the sixth graders do a comprehensive timeline on Titanic history using Mnemograph. There are 16 of them and they are working without a net. My co-teacher and I are giving them no help. I gave them a piece of paper with a tiny message in the middle

After they read the assignment I asked if there were any questions. There were a few which, of course, I wouldn't answer. Sam, a member of his school's student council seemed to be an expert on Robert's Rules of Order and set out to elect a leader. Carolina won a majority of the votes, the count taken by Sam with all heads down on tables. She immediately took charge, which for Carolina wasn't hard. All the kids gathered around the chalk board and started throwing out ideas. They decided to break the work up into sections which included The Building of the Titanic, The Voyage, The Sinking, The Rescue, The Inquiries, The Salvage, etc.

Ben took it upon himself to figure out Mnemograph, which he did with great interest. He called me over to see that the program had the capability to mesh Wikipedia with our timeline. My comment? "Waaaay too much information!!" Sam and Quinton are in charge of graphics and Jason is editor. Wonder if that is a good choice since Jason is not one our strongest spellers!

It's fun watching them get organized (which they did) and it's hard keeping my mouth shut (which I almost did). When they are finished the timeline may be posted on the Mnemograph site and will find a prominent place on our project website, Titanic in the Classroom.

I blogged about the timeline on our student blog, A Really Differentplace, and the first response from Chloe mentioned that she had never done a project in school that was not teacher directed and organized! That was a reminder to me because I've taught gifted kids for 25 years!! Note to self--step back.

Another WOW! Digital Vault

2008-04-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

Just found out about Digital Vault a wonderful new offering by The National Archives. You can read all about it at Glenn Weibe's blog.

HSI Historical Scene Investigation

2008-04-07T18:58:00.000-07:00

I tend to blog about stuff that makes me say "WOW". HSI:Historical Scene Invesigation looks like it has a lot to offer and also has potential to grow into a really usuable site. Check it out!

From the site:
The Historical Scene Investigation Project (HSI) was designed for social studies teachers who need a strong pedagogical mechanism for bringing primary sources into their classroom. With the advent and accessibility of the internet, many libraries, universities and government agencies are housing their historical documents online. Simultaneously, there has been a push in K-12 history education to give students experiences that more closely resemble the work of a real historian. The National Center for History in the Schools (NCHS) provides standards challenging teachers to design experiences in which students:

to raise questions and to marshal solid evidence in support of their answers

to go beyond the facts presented in their textbooks and examine the historical record for themselves

to consult documents, journals, diaries, artifacts, historic sites, works of art, quantitative data, and other evidence from the past, and to do so imaginatively--taking into account the historical context in which these records were created and comparing the multiple points of view of those on the scene at the time (National Center for History in the Schools, 1996, p. 14.

Most social studies teachers accept these challenges but find it difficult to find projects and experiences that are accessible for their students. Researching the "cybraries" of the internet takes time, a precious and scarce resource for the typical social studies teacher. While the Internet provides access to Civil War diaries, newspapers from the 1920's, images from the Jim Crow south, and many other primary sources, the sheer number of possibilities is daunting. Even the most sophisticated search engines provide such a vast number of "hits" that a classroom teacher would find it difficult to gather the necessary resources to launch a primary source investigation/interpretation activity. The HSI project was developed for these teachers.

Mnemograph

2008-03-20T17:16:00.000-07:00

I read this post on Classroom 2.0 and with permission from the author, I'm reposting here. This application looks like it has a lot of potential, I think I'm going to use it with our Titanic unit.

I'm excited to introduce to Classroom 2.0 our new software for creating rich, interactive (Flash, web-based) timelines. It's called Mnemograph. Briefly, with Mnemograph, one enters events (title, date, description) into a database which are displayed on a timeline "ruler" that can scroll and zoom. You can plan the semester ahead or create a history of ancient Egyptian civilization. Each event can have a description and can be linked to a web page or any other URI --- pdf, etc. Images can also be added to the timeline in a similar way as events, and dragged and dropped to position them.

This represents a real sea-change in "timelining". Other softwares out there (xTimeline, the Simile project at MIT, TimelineMaker) are either very restricted graphically, designed poorly, or are restricted to a local PC. We're planning to build a very powerful collaborative environment in which kids and history professionals alike can collaborate to create expansive, deep timelines. Eventually, a single "event" (say the life of Herman Melville) will be able to drill down into an entire biographical timeline. We're also building importing capability for RSS feeds, Dublin Core data, the Library of Congress's American Memory collection, Flickr, iCalendar (Google calendar, Mac iCal) formats, and so forth. One will be able to have two timelines open at once, and simply drag-and-drop an event from, say the LOC into one's own timeline about the Depression. Not quite there yet...

We're in a very early beta stage, so there's a lot to be worked out: I'm excited to get feedback from educators about how they would imagine using it -- especially on the collaborative level. Here are a few major questions:• How would collaboration best be structured? Are there models out there (del.icio.us, Facebook, xTimeline) you prefer when it comes to inviting others to, or requesting to collaborate?• What are best practices when it comes to creating a system (like this collaborative environment) in which kids are safe/secure?

To what degree can you imagine using a timeline for planning curricula, recording classroom events, and so forth?Way down the road (with some capital), we're planning
keep a robust version free for personal and educational use
create ways to display any time-related data: Line and bar graphs which can run alongside historical events
have live collaboration tools
link to more live, time-related or on-demand data
allow zooming out to the big bang, and zooming in to the minute• host all manner of files -- video, etc.
create versions for the medical, financial, legal, and scientific markets

Some links:
our home page
Wright Brothers sample timeline
Niger/Plame/Libby

I'm very pleased to have found this amazing community. Please contact me if you have questions or thoughts -- and especially problems -- and I'll try to be as responsive as I can:

michael@mnemograph.com
Best, Michael Richardson
Boise, ID

Graphing Datasets

2008-03-07T09:12:00.001-08:00

We are starting to look at the Titanic "by the numbers". After reading background information about the crew, students made graphs all of the different jobs the crew held. I had no idea when I made the assignment that there would be hundreds of different job descriptions. We used a Web 1.0 application Create a Graph (been around forever, but recently updated) to create our graphs.

The sixth graders then took a look at the passengers and charted their nationalities. The charts made it clear that most of the first class passengers were from America and most of the third class passesngers were not! You can see all our charts and graphs here.

Here is another site, CIESE, that has outstanding activities using "real" data.

Classroom Activities Using Old Photos

2008-02-08T08:03:00.000-08:00

Old photographs can make great focus activities, journal prompts, discussion starters or homework. Take a look at this picture of a woman cooking. How does her life differ from yours? your mother? your grandmother? Show your parents or grandparents this picture and see what they have to say. I've used this photo in dozens of workshops. Each time I ask "How does this woman's life differ from yours?" I always get the same answer "she cooks---I don't!" (From Library of Congress: A member of the Wilkins family…Tallyho, Granville County, North Carolina)

Here's another one. How does this store differ from Walmart? What could you buy at Walmart that you can't buy at this store? What can you buy at this store that you couldn't buy at Walmart? (From Library of Congress General store interior, Moundville, Alabama)

President Roosevelt had opinions about children and apartment buildings. Read This article "Why the American Child Is Not Welcome in Apartment Buildings". What do you think about his opinions? (Ohio Historical Society)

Telephones have changed a whole lot since 1943. Discuss the evolution of the telephone. (National Archives The Way We Work)

All you have to do to find images that will inspire discussion or reflection is go to the Library of Congress or The National Archives or the thousands of other historical societies on the Web. The Library of Congress has even placed images on flickr!

Mark Adams--Guest Blogger

2008-02-07T11:05:00.000-08:00

Hi, I am a guest blogger invited by Mrs. Bosch to post about the collection of primary sources online at the Truman Presidential Library.

I work as the Education Director and Webmaster at the Library and wanted to share the primary sources we have online. We also have a large collection of lesson plans and encourage lesson plan submissions based on our materials.

So, what we do have online? Firstly our collection focuses on the Truman Presidency, so the bulk of the primary sources we have online focuses on the tough decisions President Truman faced. So you can find topics such as his Decision to the Drop the Atomic Bomb, the Korean War, and the Desegregation of the Military. However, the materials we have cover all of Truman’s life, not just his presidency.

So last summer we added materials related to his time in World War One. Truman was a Captain in World War I and we have tons of materials online. Even a red poppy that he brought back from France!

I know many students like to look at visual sources so I just wanted to finish up by pointing out links to online political cartoons and thousands of photographs from the Truman era which are a treasure trove of fascinating information.

If you have questions or would like to submit lesson plans you can email me at: mark.adams@nara.gov and you can follow this link for more information on our educational programs at the Truman Library.

Titanic Finally Sails

2008-02-06T16:56:00.000-08:00

We started the study of the Titanic. I first posted about this curriculum this summer and we are finally starting this week. One of our parents, Mrs. Schroeder, turned out to be a Titanic buff. She came in to visit with the kids and get them excited to answer some big questions. Mr. Sauerbrau is still working on the searchable database. Hopefully he finishes in time for us to use it. Be sure to see our website Titanic in the Classroom and check back often as we add student work.

Mrs. Schroeder told us (I'm still checking out its authenticity) that the "woman and children first" rule set back the suffragette movement. Now, that's a story I hadn't heard.

Library of Congress Meets Flickr

2008-01-17T18:20:00.000-08:00

I just read on the Library of Congress blog http://www.loc.gov/blog/ about the collaboration between the Library of Congress and Flickr.

From the blog: "The project is beginning somewhat modestly, but we hope to learn a lot from it. Out of some 14 million prints, photographs and other visual materials at the Library of Congress, more than 3,000 photos from two of our most popular collections are being made available on our new Flickr page, to include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/

What a brilliant blending of the old and new. Too bad Flickr is blocked by my school district.

Essential Vermeer

2007-12-17T06:29:00.000-08:00

One of the wonderful things about the Internet is websites that make you go "wow". Essential Vermeer is one of those websites. A comprehensive site on Johannes Vermeer brings to life the man and his paintings. One of the neat things about the site is indepth analysis of some of the paintings. Several years ago my students read the book Chasing Vermeer, by Blue Balliett and we studied the works of Vermeer. I put together a curriculum to guide us. Take a look at this beautiful website, you'll be better off for it.

Blog Rating

2007-11-18T18:02:00.000-08:00

My other two blogs received an Elementary Rating and a Junior High Rating but this one received a Genius Rating. Who the heck knows why?

Photos As Primary Sources

2007-10-06T15:57:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday we joined the fifth graders in our building on a fieldtrip. Our school's art teacher, Paul Elo, designed a architectural fieldtrip to Northeast Kansas City. Using a scavenger hunt, we looked closely at 20 homes built at the turn of the century. Students wrote short paragraphs and took 400 photos. We developed a website to share all of our information. You can see the website here.

You can also find the original scavenger hunt and the tour map on the website.

Wonderful Images of Old Classrooms

2007-08-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

When I was designing the header for my students' blog I wanted to use images of old classrooms so I searched for hours until I came up with some good ones. I'm going to share them with you in this entry, then I'm going to look for the citations. So, if you don't see the citations check back.

I love the images on the left. Shows how much classrooms have
change in the last 100 years, these young women are doing
calisthenics at their desks. Wasn't there a movement several years
ago to have kids exercise at their desks?

Below is a list of images from the Library of Congress that you might enjoy. This is a portion of 100s of images they have archived at the LOC.

Classroom of students at the State Normal School, Kearney, Nebraska Nebraska State Historical Society, [Digital ID, e.g., nbhips 12036]

1st grade art work at Central, 1941
Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library

2nd grade at Central, 1941, Miss Monroe
Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library

Aspen School Room
Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library

Boys sitting at tables and reading books at the Chicago Telephone Company School for Boys
Chicago Daily News negatives collection, DN-0003451. Courtesy of the Chicago Historical Society.

Small Children Studying Geometry in the Classroom Johnston, Frances Benjamin,1864-1952. Washington, D.C., school survey Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

Novels with a Historical Connection

2007-07-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

Blue Balliett wrote several novels that we used in our classroom with great success. Her first book was Chasing Vermeer, a mystery developed around a missing painting by Johannes Vermeer. The second book, The Wright 3, had the Frank Lloyd Wright Robie House as its main focus. I really liked the historical connection in the novels and the kids immediately warmed to the main characters. I liked the connections with primary sources; the paintings, the blueprints, the original photos.

I wrote curriculum for each book with a heavy emphasis on technology and the Internet. We did our first classroom wiki as a culminating project for our reading of The Wright 3. I discussed the wiki in a previous post Wikis in the Classroom.

I've read several other novels with a historical connection. I have not used Endymoin Spring by Matthew Skelton in the classroom, but there is a lot of potential in it---it's all about the power of the book. We might read it this Spring. The other book, which our students loved, was The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. It is a marvel---I didn't write a curriculum but there are so many connections to old movies and movie makers--definately a must read but students really need their own copy since 1/2 of the 300+ pages are illustrations. Let me know if you run across any other novels with a historical connection. These Da'Vinci Code like books for kids makes great gifted curriculum.

Titanic in the Classroom

2007-07-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

Be on the lookout for something new. Titanic in the Classroom was originally developed by the Department of Education & Children Services, Southern Australia http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/. I contacted them in June 2007 to ask if I could use some of their activities in a Titanic curriculum I was writing to use in the fall. I looked for Wayne Starick, the original webmaster, he was no where it be found. Eventually I found Henry Legedza, Corporate Web Administrator and he informed me that they were getting ready to disassemble the site. The Titanic in the Classroom site seemed to be the only site with a "searchable" Titanic database so I asked if I could re-construct the site. Luckily, Mr. Legedza said "yes".

So I have reconstructed the original site and am adding much more including the curriculum we will use. Please check out the new site Titanic in the Classroom now and again and see how things are progressing. As of today the database is the only weak link. Hopefully in the next few months I will find someone to get it up and running.

CSI--Finally Finished!!

2007-06-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

We finally finished the CSI:Cemetery Scene Investigation website mentioned in an earlier post. Check it out!

Martha Ballard's Diary

2007-03-26T18:02:00.000-07:00

I ran across this site, Martha Ballard's Diary, seven years ago and was amazed by it. I included it in all my primary source workshops. There is a PBS documentary about the same topic. I was reminded of the site by a listing on Blue Web'n listserv-- be sure to check out the diary site as well as the documentary.

American Experience: A Midwife's Tale (PBS)http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/mwt/index.html

Description: In 1785 Martha Ballard began the diary that she would keep for the next 27 years, until her death. At a time when fewer than half the women in America were literate, Ballard faithfully recorded the weather, her daily household tasks, her midwifery duties, and countless incidents that reveal the turmoil of a new nation. Historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich discusses the importance of Martha Ballard's diary and what it reveals about 17th century America and women's roles at that time. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, "A Midwife's Tale," Teaching Activities may be adapted in the absence of the for-fee film.

What Do You See?

2007-02-11T18:02:00.000-08:00

I've done several NECC workshops on The Library of Congress and was "wowed" at the time as I looked deeper into what they have available for teachers and students. I want to share one of those "wow" activities with you. I was researching visual learners when I ran into this activity and I said to myself, "I can see where kids would really like this". The activity is called What Do You See?

"In this lesson students analyze a single photograph from the American Memory collection Selected Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865. Using the skills developed, students then find and analyze other images. Conclusions reached will allow students develop links between the Civil War and American industrialization."

Students divide into teams and look at a section of a bigger picture, they then come up with answers to questions about the photograph. They return to to the larger group and discuss the "Big Picture". When, in the late 1990's, I first saw this photograph and the "technology" used to cut it up I thought, "this is so cool". It seems rinky dink by today's standard but utilizing the technique is a good way to enhance visual literacy. Check it out and see how you could use this technique in your classroom.

Image From Selected Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865, Library of Congress

CSI: Cemetery Scene Investigation

2007-02-07T17:12:00.000-08:00

Over the summer I read an article in Edutopia magazine called Six Feet Wonder. I have no idea why I was reading a 3 year old magazine unless it was on the stack of things to "read eventually"! The article told of a cemetery project that some students in California had done and linked to the curriculum the teachers had written. I thought it sounded fun so I mentioned it to my co-teacher.

When our district's foundation grant application came in the mail we decided to write a grant to do the CSI project. I can usually come up with good grant ideas and I've written grants before, so the "prize patrol" came to our classroom with a big check, flowers and balloons in November, we'd gotten the grant. With the grant monies we purchased 2 GPSs, 2 Palm TXs, 3 digital cameras and a digital video camera; we also included fieldtrip expenses. You can read about the project objectives on our website.

After looking at the original CSI project and webquest we decided how we were going to go about completing the project with the sixth graders in our gifted program. I spent dozens of hours setting up a skeleton website so there would be some scaffolding for our students' work. We expanded our project (from the original) to include extra research providing a thorough background for all of us. The students were able to use a wiki to "store" their research before it went to the website. Students started working on the project about three weeks ago. You can see the day to day schedule and student research done so far on our website CSI: Cemetery Scene Investigation .

Before we take our first of three fieldtrips we are going to have a Garmin representative come in and do a workshop on GPSs, high school students are coming in to teach digital photography and photo manipulation, a videographer is coming to talk to the kids about making and editing videos. We are also going to do lessons on weathering and of course take a look at patents for preventing premature burials (!), ghost stories, and vampires!! We are visiting a local Indian Mission cemetery and a family farm cemetery as an introduction to the field study. We will then spent two full days in two other cemeteries recording data, taking pictures, making videos, and of course doing whatever we are suppose to be doing with the GPSs. The last month of school will put all the data and media on the website and probably have a big Open House/Party to share our findings!! Check the website often to see how we are doing.

The Voyage of the St. Louis

2007-02-06T05:21:00.000-08:00

When my students were working on the background research for the Guardians of Freedom project we used this site, The Voyage of the St. Louis from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Quoting the site, Students of the Holocaust frequently ask, "Why didn’t Jewish people flee Germany when the Nazis took power?" Framed in the context of several broader issues, the story of the St. Louis offers a historical case study through which to address this question. The broader contextual issues include: German anti-Jewish policy in 1938 and 1939; the international response to the growing refugee crisis; the plight of refugees in German-occupied western Europe; and United States immigration and refugee policy during the 1930s and 1940s.
Using documentary evidence, Museum researchers have reconstructed the individual stories of many St. Louis passengers. This information will help students understand the complex issues mentioned above, especially the difficulties that Jewish refugees faced when fleeing Nazi Germany and how United States government policies influenced the fates of refugees.

Students used the primary documents to discover the fate of several passengers on the St. Louis. There is something very powerful about scrolling the database of prisoners registered at Auschwitz, scanning for the name of a family member you are trying to "locate". This site certainly enhanced the students' understanding of the plight of Jews during the Holocaust.

Guardians of Freedom

2007-01-31T17:51:00.000-08:00

In each teacher's career there is the time when you say "this is the best thing I will ever do as a teacher". That happened to me in 2000. My co teacher, Judy, mentioned in the middle of August that she thought it would be neat for students in our gifted program to interview WWII veterans. This was the year of the Library of Congress Veterans Project and I agreed but we immediately realized there would be some stumbling blocks. We figured it would be hard, if not impossible, to interview veterans without knowing anything about the time period or the war.

So we embarked on a world wind saturation curriculum. Since we only saw our students (3 different classes) one day a week we knew we were going to have to cram. Through the fall and winter I gave a series of lectures on the time period between 1915 and 1945. Sometimes the lectures would last would last several hours and it still amazes me that our fifty 5th and 6th graders would sit and listen intently. We supplemented the curriculum with guest speakers, videos, web activities and field trips.

As the year progressed I asked my mom who she knew that had fought "in the war". She suggested I contact the seniors group at a local college and ask all my friends and students about their parents and grandparents. The rest, as they say, is history. Hoping to get about 20 veterans we ended up with 54!!

Even though our students are in a program for academically gifted students, we knew interviewing would be hard. Asking the questions, listening and recording would be hard for anybody, so we "hired" 40 adult secretaries (parents, teachers, friends, children) to record the interviews. The veterans came, some in uniform with boxes of memorabilia, to tell stories they had never told before. Each student and adult secretary spent an hour with their veteran to record the history of that man or woman. Six adults, including one of my sons, proofread all of the stories and we published a book and posted a website, Guardians of Freedom. We had a reception for the veterans and gave them a copy of the book, over 400 people came and we enjoyed showing the veterans how to use the computer so they could see their webpage.

This project changed the lives of everyone involved; the students, the adults, the veterans. We will never be the same having met those wonderful men and women. Since the project ended, six of the veterans have died, but the project lives on. I receive 3-4 emails a month from people trying to connect with one of our veterans. People from all over the country are trying to find someone who knew their grandfather, uncle, or brother. Taking the oral histories of men and women from the "Greatest Generation" gives us an invaluable resource from which to draw strength and an understanding of times past. Even if you don't do oral histories in your classes, be sure to take the oral histories of your own mom and dad. They won't be around for ever to tell those stories.

Footnote

2007-01-30T05:24:00.000-08:00

What a find. If you are interested in using primary source documents and Web 2.0 technologies you will love Footnote. Here's what they have to say:

At Footnote.com you will find millions of images of original source documents, many of which have never been available online before. But at Footnote, finding an image is just the beginning. We have created powerful tools that let you interact with and enhance what you find. Annotate important information on the image, easily organize and share your findings or collaborate with people who have similar interests. If you have original source images of your own that you want to share with your colleagues, classmates, friends and family, simply upload them to Footnote and use our tools to make your images searchable and available to others. Footnote also gives you an opportunity to share your story, ideas or research with others by creating your own "Member Pages". A Member Page is a place on the Footnote site where you can share your knowledge and research with others. You can write what you know, attach original sources that support your story and invite others to share their insights.
Footnote has something for everyone, from individual history buffs to groups and societies looking for a smart way to make their collections available to millions of people.

2/10/07 OK, this is a good lesson on why you should look over a site before recommending it--I was just looking at Footnote and even though they have some free documents to play with most of the site is fee based. I guess I'm not that surprised.

Here is a recent comment I posted at NCS-Tech

February 5th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
I have always loved those “wow” things (thanks for pointing them out) that show up on the web. I remember when I first started presenting at NECC (1995 ish) my three hour workshops would be filled with “things that make you go hmmm” and we would all “ow” and “ah”. Some of those things seem almost archane now…things like online citation machines, rubric makers, photo manipulators, eboards, create a graph, etc. BUT back then they were way cool.
I look at the Web 2.0 stuff and I’m saying “wow” again. This time the stuff is even cooler!! I also remember a lot of stuff that used to be free that now costs money like Big Chalk, RiverDeep, Noodletools etc. Won’t all these neat applications like Ourstory, Letterpop, and Scrapblog, and Footnotes et al, eventually be subscription sites? I retire in 3-4 years so I bet I’ll get to use all the Web 2.0 before I retire, and hopefully they’ll be free.

Focus Activities

2007-01-28T17:30:00.000-08:00

The Learning Page, part of American Memory at the Library of Congress suggests the use of primary sources as a focus activity to introduce a topic or re-engage students. This what what the Learning Page has to say about choosing focus activities. Choose activities that:

present a puzzle;
challenge a stereotype or conventional wisdom
present a contradiction;
offer an insight (or aha! experience);
promote empathy (through a human interest story);
present a generalization or explanation against which different generalizations or explanations can be compared later.

I've used a focus activity dozens of times with both adults and kids using the following images and questions:
General store interior, Moundville, Alabama What year is it? What could you buy in this store that you can't buy at Wal-mart? What could you buy at Wal-mart that you can't buy at this store?

A member of the Wilkins family…Tallyho, Granville County, North Carolina How does this woman's life differ from your mother's life? How does this woman's life differ from your grandmother's life? What do you notice about this woman's kitchen that is different from your kitchen? When I use this photo with adults I always get great responses; "I never wear a hat or apron when I cook", "Where's the carry-out?" "Does the scale mean she's on Weight Watchers?"

Why The American Child is Not Welcome in Apartment Buildings? What did President Roosevelt say about children living in apartments? Does the author of the article think that the fault lies with the child or with the apartment?

Japanese Internment Camps-- After introducing the topic, have students take a look at the picture. Students work with partners to come up with a list of questions they have about this family.
"Members of the Mochida family awaiting evacuation bus. Identification tags were used to aid in keeping a family unit intact during all phases of evacuation. Mochida operated a nursery and five greenhouses on a two-acre site in Eden Township." In 1942 Executive Order 9066 ordered the removal of 110,000 civilians of Japanese descent, including 71,000 American citizens, from the western United States, placing them in internment camps. By Dorothea Lange, Hayward, California, May 8, 1942 From National Archives

Hopefully, you can find uses for this great strategy using primary source documents as focus activities to intrigue and inspire kids.