20 Tools and Ideas For Using Primary Sources With Technology! Oh, Those Amazing Web 2.0 Tools

Web 2.0 Tools Meet Primary Sources. Two Geeky Teachers share ideas for Using Technology to Highlight Primary Sources in the Classroom.

Well we started with 10 ideas and once we multiplied it with primary sources we loved, and great tools to use, we ended up with over 250 ideas for using primary sources in the classroom! History, Art, Historic Preservation, Science...it's all there!

We are thrilled to be presenting at the National Council for Social Studies (#NCSS17) and even happier that we can share our love of primary sources and technology with participants and friends at the conference in San Francisco.

We are deeply proud to be part of the team from the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Regional Center in Colorado who are presenting in San Francisco and will be tweeting out resources this week (and next) to showcase ideas on how to merge Web 2.0 and Social Media tools with the rich collections and digital resources from the Library of Congress.

If you don't know about the Library of Congress TPS program check out their links here: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/

Here's a list of great tools and ideas! Check some of them out and bring non-fiction, primary sources, critical thinking, and 21st century skills into your classroom!Check out the links below for social studies, literacy, student engagement, science, math, art, architecture, and historic preservation ideas using primary sources from the Library of Congress (LOC.gov )

 

Adobe Animoto

Blabberize

Campayn

Easel.ly

Edpuzzle

Flipgrid Flipboard

GSuite

I-nigma

Instagram

Jigsaw Planet

Kahoot

Livebinder

Minecraft

Nearpod Padlet

Peardeck

Picmonkey

Pinterest

Popplet

Quizzlet

SMORE

Symbaloo

Twitter

Vocaroo

WeVideo

You Might Be A Geeky Teacher if You Attended EdCamp Denver on a Saturday!

EdCamp UnConference!

Michelle, Janis, Kim, Laura and Christina at EdCamp!

You might be a Geeky Teacher if you attended an EdCamp in your area.  We went to our first EdCamp Un-Conference on Saturday!  It was an interesting way to bring together rock star educators who are using technology and 21st Century Learning in their teaching.  You all gather together in one location, put up a subject on the big board that you are willing to teach or want to know more about.  Then, you move from session to session and share what you know or ask questions of people who share their expertise.  It was an amazing experience.  We seldom get time to round table discuss with like minded people from other districts and schools.  We led a session on rolling out a BYOD or 1:1 program in your building.  I was very interested in people who were using maker spaces and Makey Makey.

Here is the google doc with all of our resources and discussions.  When people are in the sessions, they add to their document and the resources are then available to everyone.

 I was really interested in the Minecraft session.  They suggested that we go to Minecraft.edu and purchase a server space for $41.  I plan to have my 4th graders create a Colorado Historical location in their Minecraft sever space.  They did a demonstration with the large land on the bit screen in the front of the room and then everyone in the room can work on their house or small location in the land and see it adding in real time on the big screen.  I really think our kids will love this and will have to spend time with primary sources and research to make sure that they get their structures right!

We even got to try out Google Glasses!  Amazing!  The sides of the glasses are a touch pad and allow you to move from screen to screen and see a computer screen and information inside of the glasses!  I felt like Jordie on Star Trek!  Augmented Reality!

We enjoyed the SLAM Session with new ideas for web 2.0 tools and Apps.  There are some great applications for teaching with these tools!

You Might Be a Geeky Teacher if You Have Used Gaming in Your Classroom

I've had several requests and experiences around gaming in education this week. 1.  The first was reviewing 50+ video submissions from students applying to be a PBS Super School News Anchor or Reporter.  One student submitted a video story about Mine Craft.  I have to admit that I am surprised at how many kids play and work in this 2 dimensional world for hours at a time and beg to code and build here when they have free time.  Check out this news story! 

2. The second occurred as I was considering that all I needed to know about the future of education may be learned from science fiction! We are starting a One Book Four Grades program at my school around Ender's Game which will culminate in attending the movie in November with a compare and contrast follow up!  Consider this section of Ender's Game (published in 1985) and the vision of tablet computing:

Personal Tablet Computing – Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1985) 

"Ender doodled on his desk, drawing contour maps of mountainous islands and then telling his desk to display them in three dimensions from every angle...

The bell rang. Everyone signed off their desks or hurriedly typed in reminders to themselves. Some were dumping lessons or data into their computers at home. A few gathered at the printers... Ender spread his hands over the keyboard near the edge of the desk and wondered what it would feel like to have hands as large as a grown-up's... Of course, they had bigger keyboards - but how could their thick fingers draw a fine line, the way Ender could..."

Game-Based Learning – Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (1985)

Consider the Battle School from Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. Through rigorous game-based simulations, students in Card’s world learned standard curricula as well as military strategy.  Schools around the world are starting to pay attention to video games and how they can be effective tools for teaching. 

3.  Gamification came up several times today, once with a student who is applying for a specialized high school program and wants help submitting an application that includes information about gaming in education and then some of my own research and attendance on a gaming webinar.  What questions come to your mind as you watch these slides?  Can we use gaming to engage our students in the classroom?   

WoWinSchool: How to Use WoW and MMORPGs to Engage Students - GSummit 2013 from Lucas Gillispie

Listen to this TED talk about the short history of gamification beginning with Where in the World is Carmen San Diego (1987 - can you believe it?)    

I am interested now in joining this 3-D classroom and training for teachers where I can even earn badges! I am considering the possibilities of this for my classroom.  
 Here is more information on their site! 3D Game Lab