Teaching
Guide
Welcome to my teaching guide. Check this page out to see if this curriculum web is a good fit for you. The key to success is to want to try new things and have fun doing it!
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for what's next!
| Introduction | Rationale | Learner Description | Subject-Matter |
| Instructional Plan |
General Goals | Prerequisites | Learning Objectives |
| Plan
for Assessment and Evaluation |
Resources | Aim | |
Introduction:
Welcome to It's All
About the Source,
a curriculum web that has been developed to help educators integrate
primary sources into their existing curriculum through the use of
technology. This teaching guide will show you how you can
make
small changes in your everyday lessons that will add up to big rewards
in your classroom.
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Aim:
The activities in this curriculum web are designed for the teacher to
incorporate primary sources into their already existing curriculum.
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According to the Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology the evidence is mounting to support technology in the classroom. 21st Century information and communication tools, as well as more traditional computer assisted instructional applications, can positively influence student learning. Technology can improve teacher and student achievement in content area learning. Technology improves higher order thinking and problem skill development. It also promotes a learning environment that can be mirrored in the work place. The research also emphasizes the importance of using technology in conjunction with collaborative learning methods and leadership aimed technology planning for school improvement purposes. Without school improvement for our educators the knowledge would not be passed down to our students. Teachers become stagnent in their teaching rituals.
Why use primary sources in your classroom? Bringing primary sources into your classroom will promote critical thinking skills, give the students the understanding that history is local and global, allows them to acquire empathy for the human condition, lets them understand the continuum of history, and has them consider different points of view for analysis. Teaching with primary sources deepens content knowledge and uses best instructional practices to help students read, think, and use their knowledge.
When developing this curriculum web the technology standards for teachers and students (NETS-T and NETS-S) along with the ISBE Learning Standards were woven into the project based activities.
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General
Goals:
My main goal for creating this curriculum web is for teachers to incorporate primary sources into their already existing lessons using the guidelines that are to be found in NETS-T.
My subsequent goals for teachers when using this curriculum web are:
- comfortable with searching and using the Library of Congress website
- creative and innovative
- communicative and collaborative
- research and find information with fluency
- promote critical thinking, problem solving and decision making in their classroom
- use instructional strategies to change the way they use technology in the classroom
Learner
Description:
The activities in this curriculum web were created for teachers who
teach in any content area. Any age, grade level or ability level
of students can benefit from the activities you will learn about. Since
I teach social studies, the examples will be based on that content
area. Educators who are interested in becoming change agents by integrating instructional
technology as a new way of teaching will be successful. Most
of
all educators must want to change the way they are teaching in their
classroom and not be afraid to try something new.
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Prerequisites:
The main prerequisite is an open mind. You will want to
change things up in your curriculum and be willing to do it.
As
a teacher, you will need to know how to:
- use a word processing program
- download images
- navigate the internet
Knowledge of the following would be a plus, but not necessary to complete the activities.
- PowerPoint
- Photo Story 3
- Movie Maker
- Web 2.0
- Enhanced Podcasting
You might want to check out Capzles and Voicethread. I've created some of my examples using these websites. I hope you like what you see on the websites. You might want to join and take the tutorials in advance and play around on the sites..
Subject-Matter:
Incorporating primary sources
into your lessons
can be done in all content areas. I teach social studies at a
junior high so the examples of activities will be appropriate to that
age, grade level, and subject matter. However, you know your audience
best. I would not hesitate to incorporate these activites for
third grade and up in all content areas. You can always
modify or
enhance the activities according to your audience
and curriculum.
Through activites this curriculum web you will be taught:
- What a primary source is and how it will enhance your curriculum
- Navigation of the Library of Congress
- Activities, examples and ideas to engage your students
- A final project that incorporates primary sources into your existing lessons you use in your classroom
After completing the curriculum web participants will be able to:
Activity 1:
- Understand what a primary source is
- Navigate the Library of Congress through a treasure hunt
- Gather primary sources for class projects
- Facilitate to their students how to successfully research for primary sources
Activity 2:
- Successfully complete a image, auditory, and reading analysis activity
- Investigate Web 2.0 website for possible culminating activity
- Investigate Photo Story 3 for possible culminating activity
- Investigate Movie Maker for possible culminating activity
- Successfully bookmark the primary sources
- Search successfully for images or information to enhance their classroom lesson
- Properly cite primary sources web sites
- Understand fair use and copyright laws
Culminating Activity:
- Change their existing lesson plan with primary sources
- Choose one of the medias demonstrated in the curriculum web for a final project
- Exchange lesson plan with other collaborating teachers
Instructional
Plan:
The curriculum web is divided into three activities and a culminating
activity. Each activity builds upon the previous
activity,
so unless you already familiar with and know how to do the activity,
please
do them in sequential order. You can work independently, or
work
collaboratively with other teachers (two heads are always better then
one) during one or all of the activities. It's always fun to
work with another person and the their feedback will be very
supportative. Before starting the activities you might want
to
think about what lesson or unit you would like to enhance with the use
of primary sources. You will also need to download Photo Story 3 or
Movie Maker, free programs, for your final product. Remember
small changes
are
not overwhelming. So start small and build.
Throughout the activities I will be giving you classroom examples of you how you can incorporate the activity into your classroom. I will be taking the same lesson in Activity 2, 3, and the Culminating Activity and show you the transformation of the lesson to the final product to get your imagination going.
- Activity 1 - Get This Party Started! You will be navigating and exploring the Library of Congress, a primary source site through a tutorials and a scavenger hunt.
- Activity 2 - Primary Source Detective! This activity is an image, hearing and reading analysis exercise you can easily do with fellow teachers or your own students in any subject.
- Activity 3 - Change, Change, Change! Chose your own adventure. Through collaboration and reflection you get to take one of your own lessons and add primary sources to it.
- Culminating Activity - Hey, Look at What I Can Do! Here you will see examples of how to incorporate your changed lesson into a finished project by either using Digital Story Telling, Web 2.0, PowerPoint, Movie Maker, or Enhanced Podcasting.
Materials:
The materials in your classroom you will need to be
successful in this curriculum web will be:
- Computer
- Internet access
- Lessons you
are willing to change and incorporate primary sources into
- Movie Maker (free program)
- Photo Story 3 (free program)
- LCD Projector/ Screen
- Digital Camera
- Microphone
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Plan
for Assessment
and Evaluation:
When preparing for this
curriculum web, I surveyed my peers in the Social Studies Department
during an articulation meeting. There was an overwhelming response for
a need to incorporate primary sources into our curriculum. Our
students feel that if it is on the web it is a primary source.
Therefore I tailored this curriculum web to meet those needs.
- Teachers very rarely are able to take the time to reflect on what they just did, what worked, what didn't work, and how would they change things in their classroom. At the end of each activity please take the time and send me your reflection form.
- Feedback from your peers and self-assessments are built into each activity. Your final goal is to create a lesson that has incorporated primary sources through the use of technology into your existing curriculum. You will be filling out a project based assessment checklist after completing your culminating activity rather than a rubric. By completing a checklist rather than a rubric I feel you will see how far you have moved toward change.
- Finally there is a short survey to complete. This will give me feedback on what you thought of this curriculum web.
Many of my resources came from Teaching with Primary Sources, a project funded through the Library of Congress. It promotes professional development for teachers on the use of the Library of Congress.
Introducing Primary Sources PowerPoint Presentation (This will take a while to download). Powerpoint presentation that discusses what primary sources are.How to Bookmark Images from the Library of Congress Video (This will take a while to download).Step by step directions on how to save images and other files from the Library of Congress.
Using Primary Sources in the Classroom - Examples of ways to use primary sources in your own classroom.
Using Learning Page in the Library of Congress- This site walks you through the learning page for teachers. Excellent site for teachers, their lessons, and for students and their families for games and things to do at the Library of Congress website.
Tutorial for Navigating American Memory Collection - This site is an audio tutorial of how to navigate and browse the American Memory section in the Library of Congress.
Tutorial for Navigating - This is a audio tutorial of the Library Catalog.
Photo Analysis Guide Activity - activities for photo analysis with primary sources.
Listening Guide Activity - activities for audio analysis with primary sources.
How Does it Read Guide Activity - activities for print analysis with primary sources
Treasure Hunt -treasure hunt for information on the Library of Congress site
Photo Story 3 - is a great free program for digital story telling with narration. A great program for students to start and with then move on to Movie Maker.
Windows Movie Maker - free program for story telling with stills, narration, video, and music. More advanced than Photo Story.
Capzles - Web 2.0 program, very easy to use for digital story telling. Advantage to this is you are posting your story on the web.
Library of Congress - Awesome Primary Source for students and teachers.
Voicethread - Used for enhanced podcast.
ed.voicethread - educators only site. This is part of Voicethread web site.
Flickr at the Library of Congress - Awesome site. There are collections of over 3,000 photographs already put into categories for you.
Audacity - this is a free site for audio recording. Great site use for podcasting projects.
free music - free downloads for music.United Streaming - web site for educators that has primary source videos.
Animation Factory - free animated gifs.
Gifs - make your own animated gifs.
Adult Learning Theory - explanation of the adult learning theory.
No Worries!