Prompt #10

Chapter #7 History Education in the Digital Classroom

   The foremost online resource I would use is the link to the standards website. When I explored the link, I saw that it further broke down the different standards, explaining each one thoroughly. I also noted that the additional breakdown included specific targets for grades 9-12. I feel like I could really use this to help design course content, assignments, and rubrics. I think this will be particularly useful in my first few years of teaching as I try and determine how to approach teaching different areas of history.
   Additionally, there were multiple sites in the online resources that gave lesson plans for different topics and I feel that these could be useful guidelines to use in my classroom. I use the term "guidelines" because I feel that outright using the lesson plans as they are could prove to be faulty. I think instead it would be best to pick the best parts of these provided lesson plans and then tailor them to fit my students and the standards and needs of my school/district. Another key idea here for me is that it would also allow me to adapt the lesson to whatever technology I have available to me. For instance, if the lesson plan calls for the students to do research and then present their findings in an essay, I could change it to have my students present their findings in a blog that incorporates multimedia.
   On the subject of research, I really enjoyed that some of the sites were essentially databases of useful, credible historical websites and resources. The besthistorysites.net, for example, is one I think I'll actually use in the future. The large subject area that it covers could allow me to give each student a different topic without worrying that they'll have trouble finding information if I can't give them immediate help. Meanwhile, the large network of links could also aide me in creating a thorough lesson plan myself. The fact that it includes primary and secondary sources is wonderful for discussion on historical perspective and how different organizations influenced our interpretation of history.