4 - Hunting the Web

I am hoping to become a high school history teacher in the future. For me, as an American History student, it was a lot easier for me to memorize timelines and dates when I was able to do something interactive with them. Standard SS.912.A.1.3 requires students to "Utilize timelines to identify the time sequence of historical data." I found a website that allows for students to make shareable interactive timelines and blogs that include features to help fellow students study off of them that work very well in my classroom. It can be found here: https://www.hstry.co. The use of academic software in the classroom is very important because it is beneficial to both the students and their teacher. Interactive timelines can be can be used as presentation software or as a concert mapping tool, because this site allows students to interconnect pieces of information and show relationships. Also, due to its fun and eye pleasing nature it could be used by students to give in-class presentations.

I use Google for just about everything, including my school work. When researching for academic projects Google Scholar was my go to. It was very important for me to find credible sources, and Wikipedia was never an option. Academic databases were my best friend from JSTOR to EBSCOhost,  I was given thousands of reliable articles, websites and newspaper sources. But, if I did just use regular ole' Google to find a source I would have to do a lot of fact checking. The podcast explained to me that I need to be double checking the domain name, which I knew was necessary. But, I never thought about the design of the website being apart of it reliability, which will now make checking sources a lot more efficient and simpler for me.

Working on the "Web Hunt" assignment was a very interesting experience for me. At first I ran into zero problems. I was finding everything without a problem. But, one thing that surprised me was that I had the most difficult time trying to figure out #8, which directed me to find a primary source civil war video. Using Google's special filters for videos frustrated me because it was not taking me to what I wanted. But, after some deep breaths and a restart I think I was able to figure it out, so we will just have to wait and see. Overall, I enjoyed this assignment because it allowed me to learn how to manipulate Google for everything it has to offer. Let's see if you have the skills to "hunt" the web too:

1. Find a program or software that allows you to conduct live in-class quizzes with your students.

2. You are teaching your students the importance of MLA, and how it works. Find a website that helps students learn how to use MLA in an interactive and fun way.