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

Four Ways Quick Ways to Promote Understanding of Place

Through the Use of Primary Sources and Instagram

Have you found a neat primary source somewhere in your travels? Have you snapped a photo of it and said “I’ll use that later in the classroom?” Well here is a way to put those Instagram photos to work in the classroom (and gain a larger understanding about historic places and primary sources to boot!)

First: Access Resources Normally Unavailable. Have you ever wished you had a copy of a really great artifact? Or you are able to take one yourself without a flash so that you have it for use in the classroom? Be brave! Ask for permission (PLEASE check with your museum professionals about that requirement!)  and then shoot away and bring those resources into the classroom. Not only can you print or digitally share the resource to use in the classroom, but you can connect with your students through Instagram and let them review a series of artifacts to start an inquiry lesson.  You know the flipped classroom idea? Here is a way to have your students access them by:

·       #Hashtag a series of photos to have them analyze a group of artifacts or photos from a historic location to think about what they are seeing. Need a quick analyzation resource? Check out the Library of Congress resources located at http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/guides.html

·       Have them review an Instagram pic on a #hashtag with a key question in preparation for a classroom discussion the next day.

·       Are you travelling? Is a colleague or family member? #Hashtag a series of artifact or place photos to share with a team of colleagues. No need to print the pics ~ instead just share the #hashtag and encourage collaboration across schools on a common topic of study and share resources at the same time.

                                        

Second: Challenge students to investigate places they are unfamiliar with, a historic site, a connection to a place they have read about in a book, etc. by:

·        Following #hashtags on Instagram to see photos about events and people visiting the location at different times and sometimes in different eras!

·       Go to the site and snap a picture and share a description with other students on a common #hashtag. Better yet, put yourself in the shoes of someone else who has been there and tell a story about that place from THEIR perspective using Instagram photos.  Succinct writing about non-fiction, and evidence-based learning activities are tied to National Common Core, but more importantly to plain good practice!

·       Are you at a museum that has a collaborative #hashtag? Have students add their photos to that organization’s stream of photos if allowed. To extend the partnership, have students collaborate with a small museum, historic house, non-profit, or other agency and let students take the lead on filling their photo stream on Instagram with photos from their perspective which highlight their connections to a place. They will see things differently than an adult or historian and it will help provide capacity to that local site.

 Third: Change it up! Use Instagram as an editing tool for altering photographs to use in the classroom. Instagram can help you differentiate instruction by:

·       Instagram has great filters that spark creativity. Let students use them to their advantage and present photos in a different way to their friends and in presentations to spark engagement and interest and support creativity.

·       Consider shooting a picture of a map or other item dependent on color and filter it block and white. By removing color, the inquiry level is often raised and it will spark new and different conversations.

·       Use Instagram to as an impromptu cropping tool to take unwanted items out of a photo to help reduce learning distractions for students.

·       Use the crop tool to pull out sections of text from a primary source so that students can focus on it while reading instead of being overwhelmed by too much text on the document, or difficult vocabulary.

         

Fourth: Engage Others to Promote Learning ! The best learning comes from engaging others with the topic at hand. Although the above ideas tie into this idea because of the natural uses of social media, here are some extended activities:

·       Create a classroom #hashtag for your Flat Stanley project and share where he has been in addition to the traditional snail mail version of artifact collection! Create his own collection of primary sources that can later be used in the classroom but also are shared on Instagram in a public or private account.

·       Challenge students to post an Instagram photo to a common #hashtag and ask the question and answer it to using  “what is this?” Designs in architecture, bugs, historic sites, environmental challenges… the list is endless and let their imaginations run wild.

·       In the classroom, bring up the #hashtag images and use them as creative writing prompts, or map them on a wall map, Google or other social media sites for all to see!

·       Use re-photography and compare the then and now of a place. Print out a historic photo and take it to a place. Shoot a new one and compare! Take a look at examples at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/edrabbit/galleries/72157623103181304 Try it out! 

Pecha Kucha

I first became acquainted with this presentation format at the Denver Nature and Science Inquiry Academy last summer.  It is a week long immersion into inquiry and I came away a changed being.  We have Inquiry Days in my 21st Century Learning Classes and my students often tell me that those are their favorite days!  We have examined ice blocks, I mean really examined with flashlights and probes and adding salt and food coloring and asking questions and trying other things.  It is amazing what you can see in a block of ice.  We have gone into a dark room and used static electricity to light a light bulb.  Inquiry is engaging and magical! As a teacher you have to give up some control and let the questions guide the journey and the lesson.  Your work is to come prepared with something to ask questions about. Pecha Kucha is a way to present all of your learning and can be a wonderful, concise assessment tool.  Students should be learning how and becoming comfortable with presenting.  20 slides at 20 seconds each lets them do that.  You could even start smaller if you wanted depending on the age of your students.  How about 6 slides at 20 seconds each? Or give each student one slide in a collaborative presentation. Set the timer in the powerpoint presentation and then focus on the content and turn it over to the kids to demonstrate their learning.  Here is a video tutorial about how to use Pecha Kucha! And it is fun to say!!!

Avatars! Avatars! Avatars!

Laura's Doppleme!

We utilize edmodo for classroom organization and after a recent conference, we are looking at schoology but not sure we want to make the switch. We always start by having the kids sign up and create an avatar. There are some avatars in edmodo but not a huge choice. Our favorite is Doppleme. We don't even create an account, just create your doppleme and then use the snipping tool or right click and save the image to your computer. Then you can upload it into edmodo as your avatar! Click on Laura's face for a link to Doppleme or check out this link to a site with many other options for creating free avatars!!  http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/11-sites-to-create-cartoon-characters-of-yourself/

Tech Tools for the Elementary Classroom

#1 – Livebinders

Ok, Livebinders is kind of amazing!!!  So think about the binders you have in your classroom that hold all of your resources.  It’s just like that, but web based!!  You can access those resources from any computer, anywhere!  You need to create an account, but it’s F-R-E-E!    You can view other people’s binders as well!  

#2 Class Pager

Have you ever been to a restaurant or a store and seen those signs that say “Text ‘blahblahblah’ to 55552 to receive coupon codes”?  Well this is just like that!!  You can give your parents a code to text to a number and then you can send them updates via text message!  A good example of this would be to remind them of upcoming tests, parent conference reminders, school event reminders, etc.  SO COOL, right?  Check it out!

#3 Kerpoof

It is a bright, colorful website where you can create movies, cards, drawings, and little books/stories!  This would be awesome to have students use this to create a drawing and/or picture to go with a story they wrote!

#4 Zooburst

“ZooBurst is a digital storytelling tool that lets anyone easily create his or her own 3D pop-up books.”  This is similar to Kerpoof, but it’s a tad bit more user friendly (in my opinion).  So this would probably be great to use in primary classrooms.  This is also available as an app so you can have it on you iPad!

#5 Symbaloo

 It’s like all your bookmarks on one screen!  It creates little “tiles” for you.  You can also create different “webmixes”.  You can have a “webmix” for math and bookmark all your favorite math sites there.  You can create one for language arts, and have all of your favorite online language arts resources right there.  You can also search for other people’s tiles and add them to your “webmix”.  And they tiles are cute little icons, which is great if you are a visual person like me!  It might sound a little confusing now, but go check out the website and play around on it and you will see what I’m talking about!!  You MUST check this one out!!  It’s amazing!  Here is a symbaloo that I have posted on my library website: