CriticalPast has the cool videos

Yeah . . . you might able to track them down and, yeah, you might even be able to view and download them for classroom use. But it’s unlikely that you will be able to find an easier way to browse, view and download U.S. government public domain videos than you can at CriticalPast.

CriticalPast is

one of the largest privately held online archival footage sources in the world. The collection spans thousands of hours of video, millions of still photos, and continues to grow. It is easily searched by professionals and non-professionals alike, and placing an order for footage or photos is simple and straight-forward.

The interface is pretty simple – you can browse for video clips via a timeline or search by keywords. It’s also easy to refine your search results by date, place, color v. black/white and sound. CriticalPast’s goal is pretty simple. Have users pay for the video download, usually around $3-4. But it is possible to watch the video clips without purchasing.

And I’ve just started playing with the site but it seems like you can view entire video clips. The downside is that you can’t watch full screen. You should be able to make the smaller screen work for you if there’s a clip that’s aligned to your content. There’s almost 575,000 video clips going back to the 1890s so you should be able find something you can use.

And if you really like the clip, I’m pretty sure CriticalPast would take your money!

Five great ways to start the school year

With many teachers heading back to the classroom this week, several recent conversations seem appropriate here. I spent some time talking with secondary social studies teachers and a few elementary teachers about the kinds of things they plan on doing during the first few days of school.

I’ve posted five of those ideas below.

1. Use Wordle to have kids generate their own personal word clouds. Have them enter words that describe their physical traits, personality, hobbies, interests, books, video games . . . really anything that would help someone else get a clear picture of who they are. Don’t forget to create one of your own.

Later during the school year, have kids use Wordle to do the same thing by describing historical characters.

2. Create a short tech survey for kids to complete. The quickest way to gather data would be to use Google Docs to create an online survey but paper and pencil work too. This gives you data that can help you plan instruction. Questions should include such things as:

• do you have a computer at home?
• do you have a cell phone?
• what is your text plan?
• other mobile devices?
• internet speed at home?
• printer?
• digital camera?

3. We’re never too old to go back and read the classics. During the first few weeks of school, review Harry Wong’s – The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher

4. Head over to the web site titled: 101 Things You Can Do During the First Three Weeks of School. It’s written from a higher ed perspective but has some insight and ideas for dealing with students. One of my new favorites is to take lots of pictures early on and post them around the room and online. It’s a quick and easy way to generate a “family” feel in your room.

5. All of us should be asking students to complete at least one learning styles or multiple intelligences survey early on in the school year. The more we know about how they learn, the better our instruction and their learning become.

You can find a collection of several different types of surveys that I’ve put together over at Social Studies Central.

Have a great week!

Technology integration – it’s both/and

I spent today with a small group of teachers discussing ways to integrate technology as part of their differentiated instruction design. It was a fun day!

But I was struck by the conversation that developed around the room about working to find a balance between too much technology and too much traditional method. And for a while, it seemed as if we weren’t going to be able to agree.

One group suggested that basically technology was a solution in search of a problem. Like crows bringing shiny objects back to the nest . . . not because the objects are useful, just because they’re shiny. Others insisted that technology integration is essential to 21st century learners and to think otherwise is simply ignoring the facts.

It was a friendly discussion but one that I think happens a lot.

What is the balance between too much or too little?

And the discussion was especially interesting because of a series of events that happened last night at my house. We had just gotten back home and settled in for the weekly fix of Pysch when the electricity went out. The Pysch lovers were not pleased.

So like everyone else in town, the kids and I jumped in the truck and drove around. You know, just to see what was going on, cause . . . that’s what you do when the lights go out. We discovered that the outage was pretty widespread. But an interesting thing happened when the three of us jumped out of the truck back at our street.

The stars were . . . amazing. Bright, clear, no moon.

We soon found ourselves lying on the grass, hands behind our heads, just gawking. I mean, it was old school. And very cool. The problem was that we soon ran out of constellation knowledge and we were left simply looking. Nothing wrong with that but we wanted to finish the constellation search. A problem in need of  a solution.

My daughter soon remembered an iPod app I had showed her several months ago called Planets. I remembered that I had synced that app to an iPad and she ran to get it. And all of sudden we had old school and new school.

A very cool evening just became cooler because we could lie in the grass with the iPad above our heads and the app could highlight constellations and show us where they should appear. Soon, with the memory kick start of the app, we (okay . . . my daughter) were able to begin dragging different constellations out of our heads and find them. We even learned some new ones.

A nice balance between traditional kinds of learning and new tools.

Eventually the teachers in today’s conversation saw the same thing. It’s not either/or,  it’s both/and. Finding the best bits of each gives kids more of what they need.

We made the show! TAH grant app approved

I’m pretty pumped.

Back in 2003, we applied for and received one of the earliest Teaching American History grants and spent the next three years learning about the Brown v. Board case and its impact on race relations in the United States.

We’ve been trying to get back to the TAH big leagues ever since.

Last Friday, we made the show.

We knew the announcement from the feds was scheduled for early August and I spent much of the afternoon looking online for a news release. And finally there it was. Just us and the Olathe School District, the two lone Kansas projects.

Titled A Century of Progress: Thinking Historically Through the 1800s, we’ll work with forty middle school teachers from central Kansas covering, well . . . the 1800s. The project has some great partners – the National Archives in Kansas City, the Gilder Lehrman Institute, Washburn University, Kansas State and the Kansas Council for History Education.

I am jacked!

Primary sources, great history content, technology integration with iPods and iPads, awesome scholars like Elliot West, great professional conversations. What’s not to like?

We’ve got 14 open spots. Who’s in?

Election geeks unite

Matt, Arnold, Jed

One of the few New Year’s resolutions that I’ve managed to keep is a commitment to watch the West Wing television series from start to finish. With just a few episodes left, I’m now on my third presidential campaign. And today, in West Wing world it’s Election Day. Congressman Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) and Senator Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) are vying for the empty seat left by two-term president Jed Barlett (Martin Sheen).

It seems appropriate. Tuesday of this week was primary election day in Kansas and other primaries took place yesterday throughout the country. Which meant that I was up late into Wednesday morning browsing through all the election return sites, blogs and online newspapers.

As a confirmed election nerd, it was just about the perfect evening.

The strategies and the conversations about where to campaign and who to target, where to spend the money . . . trending data, polls, ad campaigns, poster design – all stuff I enjoy.

One of my earliest election memories involves staying at my great-uncle’s house during the 1972 presidential election. Uncle Jim was an interesting guy to a ten year old. An old flintlock musket hung over the front door, right next to the “Get Us Out of the UN” bumper sticker – a big John Birch Society kind of guy. Even at that age, I knew that any mention of the SE Asian Domino Theory would set him off.

Throughout the evening, most of what I remember is Uncle Jim lamenting the fact that George Wallace would have made a much better president than Nixon or McGovern.

I was hooked.

Where do I go to get my fix? Lots of places but a few I like:

• FairSpin
• PollingReport
• FiveThirtyEight

The good news? The fall general elections are already underway.

10 awesome iPad / iPod apps

I am becoming a big fan of the iPad. While there are some apps that are specific to the iPad, it really comes down to the bigger screen. Easier to read, easier to manipulate.

I’m still not convinced that in its present form that it is a good replacement for a netbook or laptop. No multitasking, lack of true productivity tools, crude interface with cloud apps like Google Docs and clunky keyboard.

But great for consuming, reading, browsing, viewing and playing games / apps. So together with “traditional” laptops, the iPad (and iPods) seems like a perfect addition to the classroom.

I’ve shared iPod favorites before so today . . . a few iPad apps. Many of these also work on the iPod and most focus on helping you collect and view information.

FlipBoard

Flipboard (Free)
This is a new app that displays blogs, Facebook info and Twitter feeds in a very cool magazine style. Great for keeping up with politics, news and updates on a variety of topics.

Pressreader (Free)
PressReader brings over 1,500 full-content newspapers from 90 countries. Nice way to browse a wide variety of perspectives on current events . . . a bit like the online Newseum.

AppBox Pro ($0.99)
Multiple apps in one. Flashlight, battery life, system info, alarms, translator, calculator, tons of Google apps. Just a handy utility.

StoryKit (free)
Creates an electronic story using images and text from students. Quick, easy way for kids to summarize information or generate mini-projects.

US Historical Documents ($0.99)
There are lots of document apps out there but this one I like. Over 200 documents, ability to create lots, save favorites, highlight text and email docs with embedded notes.

Google Earth (free)
The mobile version. Not as powerful but still very handy for making connections between content and geographic place.

2010 World Fact Book ($0.99)
The CIA stuff in mobile format. Handy and easy to use with tons of country data. Perfect for World Geography teachers.

GoodReader

GoodReader ($0.99)
There is a lite version but spring for the full app and get extra goodness. GoodReader is a file reading app designed to make viewing such files easier.

MyCongress (free)
Government teachers will love this handy app. MyCongress is a portal to detailed information about your elected U.S. Congressional officials. Track their news, video and Twitter feeds.

Dragon Dictation (free)
An easy-to-use voice recognition app that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your words in text format. Perfect for interviews, field trips or classroom notes.

Need more? Start at the Apple Store education page. And then head over to my iPad / iPod links.