Justin Reich
Thomas Daccord
Falmouth High School, 1/18/2008
A Brief Survey Please!
Center for Teaching History with
Technology
 Summer Workshops
 Teaching History with Technology
 Teaching English with Technology
 Teaching with New and Emerging Technologies
 Web Sites
 Best of History Web Sites: www.besthistorysites.net
 Teaching History with Technology: www.thwt.org
 www.EdTechTeacher.org
 Books
 Best of History Web Sites (Neal-Schuman)
 Classroom Tested Ideas for Teaching History with Technology
Why Teach with Technology?
 #1- “Whoever is doing most of the talking,
or most of the typing, is doing most of the
learning (and the more people listening the
better).”
 #2- “The more different ways we put things in
our brain, the more likely we are to learn and
remember.”
 #3- “We can reach out to the world, and we can
bring the world into our classroom- including
all of the sources that helped us fall in love
with our disciplines in the first place. ”
 #4- Sometimes technology makes things easier, sometimes…
Taking risks and failing
 Experimenting with computers models the kind of
risk taking we ask students to do
 Students need to see us try and fail and try again
 Start small- simple applications of a tool harness




many of the benefits
Plan a back-up
Practice as teachers and students
Put a colleague on call
The more you do it, the more things work
Computers and the Collaborative Classroom
 #1- “Whoever is doing most of the talking,
#3can
out to the
world,most
and we
or “We
most
of reach
the typing,
is doing
of can
the
bring
the world
our classroom”
learning
(and into
the more
people listening the
better).”
Tools for the Collaborative Classroom
 Wikis- Empowering students to publish their
collaborative work
 Blogs- Persistent conversations amongst
students- where it’s easy to invite the world
 Chatting- Inviting reluctant speakers into the
conversations
 Email- Turning assignments into real-world
conversations
Anatomy of a Blog (r u a blogger?)
POSTS
SIDE
BAR
Comments
Two Basic Blog Types
Two Basic Blog Safety Rules
 Require students to follow the school Acceptable Use
Policy or other computing guidelines
 Enforce that students not reveal personal information
publicly
Ten Ideas for Blogging
 Post a homework question
 Each student writes a one paragraph response
 Read a few before class to see what your students think about the reading
 You can require students to respond not only to the reading, but to each
other’s responses as well.
 Start a discussion
 Pose a question and require that students post at least three contributions to a
discussion over the course of a week, or more contributions over the course of
a unit.
 Invite outsiders to comment on student work
 If you know the author of a book you are reading, have students write
feedback and have the author respond
 Have students from another school comment on your student’s work
 Have students post discussion questions for tomorrow’s class
 This is great when you know you won’t have time to plan
 If you know that you’ve flubbed a class and students are confused, have them
post questions about things they don’t understand
 Post your lecture notes or a summary of the day’s class
 You can even record a podcast and post an audio summary of the days class on
your blog.

Have students post their notes for the day



Assign one student per day to be the scribe for the class. This is
great for discussion based classes where you want students to
focus on the discussion and not have to worry about taking notes.
Post the daily homework assignment
Post links to supplementary materials from the internet




Author bios or websites
Links to book reviews
Links to relevant news articles
Post progress reports on team projects


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Students can post their work to the blog so that others can see
what they are doing. They can also comment on each other’s
work.
If faculty are trying to work as a team or core group, use a blog to
communicate with each other about lessons, etc.
For an independent study- have students create their own
blog

I have my students post an outline of their week’s work before our
weekly meeting
Extending the Conversation
Temporally
Geographically
 Once you start collaborating online, be on the
lookout for unexpected benefits…
Assessment
Beginning
Developing
Proficient
Strong
1
7
9
10
Blog entries are few
and generally simple
retellings of personal
events. No
comments are made
on blogs of others.
Almost all required
blog entries and
comments have
been completed.
Five blog entries and
five comments are
submitted, though not
all of them may give
evidence of a
substantial
contribution.
Five blog entries
and five
comments are
submitted, all of
which are
substantial.
Beyond the
required five,
your blog
includes many
more reflections.
40%
Intellectual
Engagement
with Key
Concepts
Blog entries make
no reference to
issues raised
through readings
and/or class
activities
Blog entries make
some reference to
issues raised
through readings
and/or class
activities
Blog entries
demonstrate
awareness of most of
the key issues raised
through readings
and/or class activities
Blog entries
demonstrate
engagement
with the
important issues
raised through
readings and/or
class activities
25%
Personal
Response to
Key
Concepts
Blog entries show no
personal response is
made to the
issues/concepts
raised in the
readings/activities
Blog entries
convey little
evidence of a
personal response
to the
issues/concepts
raised in the
readings/activities
Blog entries convey
evidence of a personal
response to the issues
raised in the readings/
activities, and
demonstrate that the
author is capable of
reflecting on learning,
technology, and
society.
Blog entries
convey
extensive
evidence of a
personal
response to the
issues raised in
the readings/
activities, and
demonstrate the
author's growth
through
reflection on
learning,
technology and
society.
25%
Engaged
Writing
Blog entries use
incorrect grammar
and syntax
consistently, making
it difficult for others
to follow. No links
are included
connecting your
thoughts to those of
others.
Blog entries
demonstrate some
evidence of correct
spelling, grammar,
punctuation, etc.
Audience will have
little trouble
reading your blog.
An occasional link
is included.
Blog entries show a
good command of
Standard English. No
problems for your
audience. Most blog
entries include links.
Blog entries
show a very
good command
of Standard
English and have
some flair and
originality. Blog
entries may
contain multiple
links.
10%
OUTCOME
ASSESSED
Overall Use
of Blogs
SCORE
WEIGHT
VALUE
Modified from a rubric found at http://www.catholic-forum.com/churches/cathteach/outcomes_rubric_reflection_journal.html
From:
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec296/assignments/blog_rubric.html
Teaching with Old and Established
Technologies: Word Processors
Improving Writing and
Grading with Word
Editing with a Twist
Historical Newspaper
Projects
Improving Writing and Grading
through Microsoft Word
 Set your grammar preferences
 Use the find command
 Setting auto-correct preferences
Editing with a twist
 Students come in with a piece of writing and need to
change:
 The Author
 The Audience
 The Context
 The Argument
 The Length
 ???
The Original Assignment
 1) Write a 2 page sermon, drawing on the New Testament readings we
have read for homework and in-class. The sermon will be delivered on
September 16th, 1963 in Birmingham. This is several weeks after the
successful March on Washington, and right in the middle of the heroic
and brutal Birmingham Campaign for Civil Rights. Your sermon should
use Christianity to inspire, console and motivate your congregation
 2) Please use Times New Roman 12 point font, 1.5 spacing
 3) Save it somehow to NoblesNet. If you use a program other than
Word or Appleworks, you should copy and paste the text into an email
or a document.
 4) At the beginning of class i will give you instructions, and then I'll
give you about 30 minutes to revise the sermon.
The In-Class Twist…
 After successfully presenting your sermon at the morning service, you
retire to your quarters to rest before the 11:00 service.. At 10:30, one of
the church members rushes in and tells you that something horrible
has happened: the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham was
bombed, 4 little girls at Sunday School have been killed.

 As an important leader in your community, it will be your job to
console your community, and to help them understand how these
deaths fit into your struggle for civil rights.

 The second service starts in 1/2 hour. You probably don't have time to
write a whole new sermon. Your challenge then, is to adapt what you
have written to take into account this shattering loss of innocent lives.
Newspaper Projects
 Editorials
 Cartoons
 Cover Art
 Articles
 Classifieds
 Advertisements
 And more!
Don’t worry
about fancy
publishing,
learn
Columns
and the Text
Box
Image from Microsoft Word