Creating Cartoons: Pixton & ToonDoo

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What is it?

Pixton and ToonDoo are cartoon/comic making tools that encourages students to think creatively and apply learning in the history classroom to their original creations. These tools eliminate some of the frustrations students can face when asked to draw characters, allowing them instead to focus on the creative and content aspects of an assignment. For teachers, ToonDoo and Pixton allow students to apply content knowledge and generate new forms of analysis. Students can imagine new scenarios for historical characters, recreate past events visually, and interpret primary sources through a comic strip.

These tools eliminate some of the frustrations students can face when asked to draw characters.

Both sites offer free individual plans and paid subscriptions for educator plans. Although the free plans are useful for teachers wanting to try these tools out for classroom use, it is unfortunate that these sites do not offer a free, basic plan for classroom use. However, for those schools with funds to purchase a school license, the cost is relatively inexpensive at a school level. The paid educator plans also offer classroom management, class homepages, customization, and privacy options to keep student work safe. For teachers lacking funds to purchase educator licenses, the individual free plans at least offer each student who enrolls a way to create cartoons and comics for free.

Getting Started

Pixton allows students to create a "Pixture" (or avatar) and custom characters by editing the various available templates. Once the Pixture is created, users can then choose a desired panel layout to create their own comic. Not all features are available with the free plan. For example, users can edit the look and appearance of a character, but not proportion. Another limitation is that once a panel layout is selected, there is no easy way to change to a different panel layout (other than deleting panels that are not needed). The limitations of the free Pixton program are frustrating. Even simple tasks such as making a comic private or public (or providing your comic a description under the title) are only available for paying customers. Nonetheless, Pixton is easy to use and offers high-quality images that could be fun and appealing for students. For a free, basic plan it is worth taking some time to explore its possibilities.

ToonDoo's features also make it a fairly easy-to-use tool. Users simply click on "Create" and select the layout of the comic strip. A variety of character, background, and "props" options are found across the top menu. In addition, the "DoodleR" and "TraitR" tools allow users to create their own drawings or characters. The ability to edit your own TraitR character offers many options that make it easy to customize any character; likewise, the "DoodleR" tool allows users to control brushes logo for TooDooby line thickness, transparency, and smoothness. Other features include the image upload tool (images can be uploaded from a URL or from a saved file), a variety of text balloon options, and a collection of clip art. Once each image or character is edited, they are saved in the "My Gallery" folder. At this point, users can begin populating their comic strip. For both Pixton and ToonDoo, students can use these tools to either brainstorm their projects or skits (like a drawing board) or as the final product. Being able to learn history, synthesize information, and then generate a new analysis or opinion is a wonderful skill that cartoon-making empowers students to further develop.

Examples

In this mock-up (which took about an hour to finalize in Pixton), we created a teacher-narrator who introduces us to a young Thomas Jefferson. At only four panels, a comic strip like this can encourage other students to pick up the story. Pixton offers a good variety of images to work with, but in this example we lacked a White House for the background (the Capitol stood in as a symbol of Washington, DC). It is important for students to work within limits and think of creative solutions.

Each one has its own merits, but they both offer teachers the ability to bring some creativity and fun into a history lesson or project.

Other limitations, however, make less sense due to the pricing restrictions. For example, we wanted a thought balloon for the last panel, but that is only available for pay-plans. So we moved the teacher out of the panel and shifted the attention solely to young TJ. It's a minor quibble, perhaps, but also a needless complication. While ToonDoo has a similar function to Pixton, customizing characters is a bit easier and ToonDoo offers several features for free that are priced in Pixton. Our recommendation is to try both tools. Each one has its own merits, but they both offer teachers the ability to bring some creativity and fun into a history lesson or project. Some examples show that ToonDoo and Pixton cartoons can be informative, created by teachers in order to assign student projects, a snapshot of a moment in history, or thematic, just to draw on a few examples. One user even used ToonDoo to introduce professional development training dealing with new media tools.

For more information

Check out a teacher-created tutorial on using ToonDoo and evaluating student cartoons.

Glogster

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What is it?

Unlike posterboards commonly exhibited in classroom presentations, Glogster allows students (and teachers) to add sounds, videos, and graphics to text and images. These digital posters can then be shared with classmates and teachers via email, posted on class blogs, or simply accessed through the poster's URL address. There is a $5 30 day trial, and educators can also subscribe to an educator's plan that offers a variety of options depending on the specific needs of the course. A "teacher" plan accesses added features and the ability to enroll up to 200 students while a "school" plan allows an unlimited number of enrollees.

Getting Started

Signing up for Glogster (and its educator's plan) is fairly simple and takes only a few minutes. When users click on "create a Glog" they are directed to a sample poster whose elements can be edited and deleted at will.

Although many students can quickly find multimedia sources online, teachers should emphasize that the quality of these images, videos, and sounds will determine the effectiveness of the poster presentation

Before allowing students to begin a Glog, teachers should allow for some time (either at home or at school) for students to gather images, sounds, and video clips into a specific folder and save them on a computer or flash drive. Although many students can quickly find multimedia sources online, teachers should emphasize that the quality of these images, videos, and sounds will determine the effectiveness of the poster presentation. It would also be wise for students to draft the text that will appear on the poster before beginning a Glog. Elementary teachers, especially, should be prepared to assist students in finding sources and saving them in a folder. Students in grades K–3 may struggle with uploading their sources onto the poster but will find that entering text and personalizing the Glog is fairly simple. Once all the images, sounds, and videos are saved onto a folder, students can begin a Glog with either a blank template or by deleting and editing the default poster. To insert files, users have several options. In the top left corner, the "upload" button allows users to select all the files needed for the poster and save them to their Glogster account. Users can also click on the "link" button if they know the URL of their desired media sources. A third option is to simply record a video, audio, or image using the computer's WebCam and/or microphone by clicking on the "grab" button. Each time a file is uploaded a flashing star will appear next to the category in the media toolbox. Users can also upload sources specifically by toolbox category. Editing the poster is fairly simple as well. In order to change the background, select the "wall" tool and choose from the various background designs found in the different categories. The "graphics" tool also allows users to select from various categories, and the animated characters might prove popular with younger ages. Color, font, and size options in the "text" tool help students format the perfect text for the poster presentation. The only tools unavailable under the free education plan are the "data" and "drawing" tools. Once finished, students can save and publish—selecting whether the final product will be publicly visible or kept private. Even if a poster is finalized, it can still undergo editing—a nice feature.

Examples

Effective posters employee a particular theme applied in a consistent manner through the wallpaper design, font selection, and graphics. Teachers and students can begin thinking about glog design by browsing sample glogs from the site's collection of history posters (in the "Education" category).

One particularly effective poster is a cultural history of the Blues, with a rustic style and video samples of two different eras of the genre. Glogs can also be used to post assignments for students, such as this field trip to Cowpens Battlefield. Its novel use of drawing, as well as making each element a link to more expansive page, is noteworthy for demonstrating how Glogs can be given interactive touches.

History teachers will find the quality of Glogster projects will largely depend on instructions, rubrics, and exemplars that all focus on the targeted objectives of the lesson. In other words, what can students accomplish on Glogster that they could not do otherwise? More importantly, how can a digital poster enhance the learning and presentation of history? Answering these questions, and planning well ahead of time, will help teachers and students to maximize the potential of Glogster in the history classroom. In one example of Glogster in action, Amy Trenkle, a DC educator, used glogging to wrap up her 8th-grade class's school year in a unique fashion.

In terms of visual and digital literacy, Glogster can help students apply content knowledge as they create an original product that demonstrates levels of analysis and evaluation. Generating an exciting and thoughtful poster promotes the higher-level thinking teachers seek in the history classroom.

For more information

National Constitution Center: Explore the Constitution

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Understanding the significance of the U.S. Constitution requires more than simply reading its text. This website provides context and tools designed to historically contextualize the U.S. Constitution and help users assess its lasting impact. An interactive Constitution lies at the heart of the website, providing line-by-line commentary by current scholars alongside excerpts from contemporary primary sources. Users can also search the Constitution in connection with specific court cases, topics, and keywords.

An interactive timeline in the exhibit "Centuries of Citizenship" provides useful background information. Additional contextual information is available in the form of a set of "fast facts"; descriptions of "basic governing principles," such as the rule of law, Federalism, and judicial review; detailed biographical information on all delegates to the Constitutional Convention; and audio discussions with scholars and pundits on topics ranging from voting to prominent court cases to women in the Early Republic. Three scholarly essays provide different "perspectives on the Constitution," reminding users that the success of the Constitution in uniting a group of diverse territories was far from assured in the late 1700s. Related primary sources in the "Founding Documents" section allow users to trace the relationship between the U.S. Constitution and the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, and the Virginia Declaration of Rights.

New editions include the interactive experience "Lincoln's Crossroads," in which students face some of the choices Lincoln faced during his presidency; "A More Perfect Union," an exhibit on Barack Obama's 2008 speech on race at the Constitution Center; " and "Seize the Vote," a 4-player game testing voting rights' knowledge.

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What Really Happened? Comparing Stories of the First Thanksgiving

Teaser

Take a variety of perspectives into account before moving past the first Thanksgiving.

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Website
The Learning Network
Description

Students read several versions of the story of the first Thanksgiving. They analyze the source and perspective of each version, and discuss the reasons that the story of the first Thanksgiving might generate so much controversy.

Article Body

This lesson does a good job of positioning students to understand and evaluate the perspectives of secondary sources on the First Thanksgiving. Students begin by establishing a common understanding of the "mainstream narrative" of the First Thanksgiving, either from their own experience, books on Thanksgiving written for young children, or a website like this one from National Geographic Kids. (Other, similar sites are also linked near the bottom of the lesson).

In groups, students then read accounts of the first Thanksgiving from one of four points of view: mainstream accounts, Native American educators and public school leaders, conservative and Tea Party activists, and Native Americans critical of the holiday. Multiple articles are provided for each category so teachers may choose the articles most appropriate for their students. After analyzing each category of sources in small groups, students come together as a class to discuss the various perspectives of the accounts they read. This is an ideal opportunity for teachers to highlight the importance of paying attention to source information and reading historical accounts with a critical eye.

Some modifications may be necessary depending on your students' ages, abilities, and background knowledge. Students may need additional background information on the sources depending on their familiarity with the different point-of-view groups. You may also need to modify some of the texts depending on students' reading levels. Also, see the rubric below for more background information and historically accurate information about the first Thanksgiving.

The lesson concludes with a series of discussion questions that do a good job of helping students to think more carefully about the social and political impact of accepted historical narratives. For example, "What's at stake in interpreting the story [of the First Thanksgiving]?" These questions help students start digging into why we remember the past in particular ways and compare stories about the past generated by collective memory with evidence-based accounts of the past.

Topic
Colonial history
Time Estimate
One-two class sessions
flexibility_scale
4
Rubric_Content_Accurate_Scholarship

Yes. One of the highlights of this lesson is that it requires students to compare accounts and judge the quality of evidence used in those accounts.

Rubric_Content_Historical_Background

No. Teachers may want to explore the sites listed here. Among the sites listed, some of the most useful and easily accessed background information can be found here and here.

Rubric_Content_Read_Write

Yes. The lesson requires only minimal writing, but does include some discussion questions that could be used as writing prompts.

Rubric_Analytical_Construct_Interpretations

Yes.

Rubric_Analytical_Close_Reading_Sourcing

Yes. Teachers will want to provide some background information on the various sources of the story, as understanding the perspective of each source is crucial to this lesson.

Rubric_Scaffolding_Appropriate

Yes. Teachers may want to adapt some of the text for younger students or for English Language Learners.

Rubric_Scaffolding_Supports_Historical_Thinking

Yes. The Thanksgiving Interpretations Handout will help students organize and analyze source information for the accounts they read.

Rubric_Structure_Assessment

No, but the discussion questions could be used as writing prompts and an assessment. This approach would provide a way for teachers to assess how well students have grasped the varying perspectives and supporting reasons discussed in the lesson.

Rubric_Structure_Realistic

Yes.

Rubric_Structure_Learning_Goals

Yes.

SurveyMonkey

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What is it?

SurveyMonkey is an online survey builder. Its ability to analyze data through various graphs is a useful way to engage students in how historians construct questions and use data to inform historical thinking.

Getting Started

To start creating a survey, users can sign up for free (basic plan) through the SurveyMonkey site, or through their existing Google or Facebook account. Once enrolled, users can begin developing their first survey by choosing a theme/template, creating a name for the survey and choosing its category, or by simply choosing an established “expert” survey template. Next, users can edit the look of the survey and begin establishing questions. Throughout the creation of the survey, users can preview at any time. The basic, free plan is limiting and users would need to subscribe to a priced plan in order to customize surveys (which is appealing at an institutional level—school district, school, athletics department, PTA, marching band—but not for individual teachers in the classroom).

In order to add a question, users can click on the appropriate box which then opens into a new window where the type of question can be selected (i.e. multiple-choice, rating, matrix of choices, comment/essay). The first step is to develop the question, which is then followed by a prompt to provide choices based on the “question type.” For example, if "multiple-choice (only one answer)” is selected, each answer option is entered in a text box on separate lines. However, if a “matrix of choices” is the preferred format, then users will have rows where they can enter secondary questions, followed by fields where column headings can be entered in relation to the weight of the option. In other words, will “Excellent” rank as a “5” or a “1” on a 1 to 5 scale?

In addition to writing new questions, users can select questions from an appropriate databank, such as "education." Once the survey is complete, users can print a copy and send the survey electronically via email. One of the best features of Survey Monkey is the visualization tool, based on the type of feedback provided. Visualization options allow users to view data from many perspectives (bar, graph, area, line.) In addition, responses can be browsed, filtered, cross-tabbed, downloaded, and shared.

Examples

So, why use SurveyMonkey in the history classroom? Teachers can use surveys not only to gauge student learning, but also to walk students through how to ask questions. Understanding how historians pose questions is an essential skill in the social studies classroom; teachers can use Survey Monkey to help students understand cognitive levels of thinking and questioning (from fact recall to analytical or evaluative). If teachers model how to construct thoughtful surveys that will yield useful results, students are one step closer to answering their own questions with well-designed data collection tools.

...Students can develop surveys that critically reflect on a previous unit, in order to collectively discuss what they learned and what material still requires attention. This can be valuable ahead of AP exams, midterms, and final exams.

Using SurveyMonkey as an instructional tool is a great way to engage students in curriculum development. In this example, a teacher instructs her students to construct a survey on immigration. In the comments section, you can browse through the student-created surveys to see some examples. Unfortunately, most online examples are not produced by students. Most teacher-produced surveys tend to ask students to assess their teacher's instruction or are geared towards colleagues in the field of teaching. Hopefully, as survey-building tools become more commonplace, more student-produced surveys will appear online. On a final note, teachers should be aware that learning how to construct surveys is a valuable lesson for students, but learning how to construct questions that yield valuable data is even more important . . . but not easy. Wording of questions, understanding the target audience, and minimizing bias are all concerns students should be thinking about in constructing poll questions. But introducing students to these challenges can help them begin to understand why historians must think about these concerns in the process of analyzing historical events. One Teacher's Experience: Bridget Federspiel, Teachinghistory.org Teacher Representative Bridget Federspiel I have used SurveyMonkey for numerous projects. While completing a Teaching American History (TAH) grant proposal, I needed to collect information about the education background and professional development activities of my colleagues. I created a 10-question survey and sent the link in an email. My students have used SurveyMonkey to collect data for use in a National History Day project. The students created a survey and posted the link on their Facebook page. First the students made a list of questions for their survey. They wanted to gather information about how often students use particular Internet sites for research. The students created 10 multiple-choice questions for their survey. (Multiple-choice questions worked best due to the fact that it didn’t take too much time for people to answer the questions.) The questions ranged from the vague (how often do you use the Internet for research?) to the specific (how often have you used the Library of Congress site to search for information?). Each student then linked to the survey on their Facebook page, asking their friends to answer the survey. The students collected over 500 hits on their survey. SurveyMonkey tallied the answers for them, and the students used the information to create graphs of their results, indicating the most popular Internet sites used by the students.

For more information

SurveyMonkey's free basic plans provides users with unlimited questions and responses, custom survey design and URLs, security features, and the ability to create an Excel export and printable PDF. Additional pay plans add random assignments for A/B testing, question and answer piping, question randomization or flipping, and text analysis for open responses; the advanced plan also offers survey URLs, logo and branding, and the ability to decide where your respondents go after they complete your survey. Users should also note that other survey-building tools are quite popular online, such as Polldaddy.com and Zoomerang. In this brief article, a comparison is made between SurveyMonkey, MySurveyLab, Zoomerang, and FluidSurveys. Because each one of these programs adds features on a fairly regular basis, it is best to examine the various programs' websites for a more up-to-date comparison. One teacher reflects on the use of Polldaddy and SurveyMonkey as a useful tool for class presentations.

YouTube

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What is it?

YouTube is a popular video hosting tool that allows users to create and upload videos as well as browse submissions by other users. At more than 1 billion views per day, it is the most accessed video hosting site on the Web, producing both challenges and rewards for educators.

Getting Started

The YouTube video hosting site, like the Google search engine, has so utterly dominated the market that there are probably few people who haven't heard of it—amazing for a company only six years old! With success, however, comes obstacles for educators. The content on YouTube is diverse and many school system administrators have blocked YouTube for that very reason: just as students can find interesting and educational videos to better understand history, they can also be distracted by non-educational content (some of which might be inappropriate). Regardless of school system filters and restrictions, YouTube can enhance the teaching of history. Here are some tips and considerations to keep in mind. One strategy is to use YouTube for planning purposes at home or at work. Whether you sign up for an account or simply browse, begin by looking through available YouTube channels. YouTube EDU (youtube.com.edu) offers videos aimed at educators from many institutions of higher learning. A quick search for "civil war" within the YouTube EDU portal yields a variety of engaging videos that provide usable content (note: many of the videos in this search are lectures, but others include vodcasts—such as an examination of Winslow Homer by Duke professor Peter Wood).

Examples

Here are a few suggestions on how to best search for educational videos in the classroom:

Teach students how to search online wisely.
  1. Set up your own channel. This approach requires a bit of work up front, but it provides a resource that can be used repeatedly. And once searching for history videos becomes second nature, it becomes easier to teach students how to search for quality content on YouTube. As you find course-appropriate videos, click on the down arrow button next to "Add." Here, you have two choices: either add the video to "favorites" or create your own playlist. "Favorites" automatically displays in your course YouTube channel. In order to display a personalized playlist, however, you must be logged onto your YouTube account and in your specific channel. There, you will find a user menu at the top and be able to select "Videos and Playlists." Check the playlist box, and then check the specific title of your desired playlist. Your channel will refresh and display the specific playlist underneath "favorites." Once you collect a number of videos in the course channel's "Favorites" category, or add them to a specific playlist, students can select from videos approved for the course.
  2. Teach students how to set up their own "History" channels. After setting up a course-specific channel with favorite videos and user-generated playlists teach students how to create their own channels and playlists. This is ideal for long-term projects. Students can also add videos to the course YouTube channel by emailing you the link to a particular video, or if you have created a student-accessible account, students can add videos directly. Specific guidelines and monitoring, though, are highly recommend to avoid unwanted videos on a course channel.
  3. Search for reputable organizations on YouTube. Find channels created by educational organizations such as the Library of Congress, National Archives, TimeLife, or the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
  4. Use existing channels as a gateway to other sites. For example, TED.com offers videos from TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) talks around the world. It hosts videos both on its own site and on YouTube. Arrangements like this provide educators some flexibility by using YouTube as a "gateway" to other video sites. For example, a quick exploration of TED videos via the tags page leads users to talks on history that can be used to generate discussion in class.
  5. Teach students how to search online wisely. Teaching students how to become digitally-literate is now part of many social studies teachers' job descriptions. Too often, we expect students to be more savvy than their elders in using new-media technologies . . . and sometimes they are. Social studies teachers, however, can teach students how to maximize the use of online tools for the research, writing, and production of history. Searching for "Civil War" or "Jefferson" is unlikely to yield desired results (unless students want to watch Jefferson Airplane and Guns N' Roses music videos). Encourage students to use specific search terms and broaden from there if necessary. For example, specifying the "American Civil War" will provide better search results than simply searching for "Civil War." "U.S. Civil War battles in western North Carolina," however, may be too specific to generate good results. Search for a particular event ("Battle of Bull Run") will help, as will using first and last names when searching for YouTube videos on famous personalities in history—such as "Thomas Jefferson."

"Wait! YouTube is blocked at my school!"

Here are a few options that might work:

  • If YouTube is blocked at your school, use write-ups like this Tech for Teachers entry (as well as other education articles) to see if school system IT personnel can allow password-protected access to YouTube.
  • Ask the school system's IT personnel to unblock your teacher-generated course (or teacher) channel on YouTube. You may want to add to this list any organizational YouTube channels of importance to your teaching, such as the Library of Congress or the JFK Library. Providing a particular list of URLs for content-specific YouTube channels will increase your chances of accessing valuable videos. This is a much easier request than providing hundreds of URLs for individual video clips.
  • If all else fails, you may be able to download YouTube videos at home for use in the classroom. Many free sites can convert YouTube videos into files that can be played on QuickTime, Real Media Player, or Windows Media Player. Sites like Convert Direct or Media Converter will convert YouTube videos into an .mp3, .wmv, .avi, or .mov file. Pay close attention to copyright restrictions before copying online content.
  • TubeChop is an online tool to cut, or chop, a particular portion of a YouTube video—perfect for showing a specific clip for classroom instruction. Users drag the beginning and end cursors to desired location, chop, and TubeChop provides a URL address via their site and an embed code.

In short, YouTube offers teachers a wide variety of materials to use in the classroom. As with any online tool, careful consideration is necessary before students begin using YouTube for historical research and projects. Videos are not a solution to ineffective lessons, but when used in a specific—and targeted way—they can enhance well-designed lesson plans, engage visual learners, and help make history come alive for students.

For more information
  1. Baker, Richard Beach & Frank W. “Why Core Standards Must Embrace Media Literacy.” Education Week, June 22, 2011. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/06/22/36baker.h30.html
  2. Hammond, T. C., & Lee, J. K. (2010). "Editorial: Digital video and social studies." Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 10(1). http://www.citejournal.org/vol10/iss1/socialstudies/article1.cfm
  3. Lesson Plan Idea: Using YouTube in a social studies/geography lesson.
  4. A small but helpful list of links to history-focused YouTube videos.

What Do You Mean?: How Language Changes Over Time

Teaser

This creative lesson transforms language into a historic artifact and enables students to analyze how language changes over time.

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Website
Historic Jamestowne
Description

Students create sentences using words whose meanings have changed since the 17th century. They then discover how their sentences change meaning when the words’ 17th century meanings are used.

Article Body

This lesson provides students with a simple introduction to a fundamental and often elusive component of historical thinking—placing the prose of an historical document in its appropriate context. Students begin with a list of words from 17th-century English that are still in use in the 21st century. Students create sentences using these words based on their modern meanings, then note how their sentences change in meaning with the 17th-century usage of the words. The short follow-up discussion focuses on how such changes in the meanings of words make the historian’s task of analyzing primary sources challenging.

Contextualization, or placing a historical text in its appropriate social, political, cultural, and even linguistic context, is a challenging task even for collegiate students of history. Because contextual influences are often subtle and linked to extensive background knowledge, younger students can have difficulty noticing them, and teaching younger students to recognize the historical context of a document can be a daunting task when students are already dealing with challenging texts. This lesson introduces the idea of context through the changing meaning of words. Rather than dealing with the meanings of entire texts, students are focusing on the meanings of individual words. Thus, this lesson provides a useful starting point in laying the foundation for historical thinking skills like contextualization and the close reading of documents, while clearly showing that language changes over time.

Topic
Daily Life, Southern States
Time Estimate
1 class session
flexibility_scale
4
Rubric_Content_Accurate_Scholarship

Yes

Rubric_Content_Historical_Background

Yes
In addition to information on the historical usage of words featured in the lesson, the site also includes a brief article on the history of the Jamestown settlement, and a variety of other resources for teachers and students.

Rubric_Content_Read_Write

No
The amount of writing required is minimal, but teachers may easily adapt and extend that part of the lesson.

Rubric_Analytical_Construct_Interpretations

No

Rubric_Analytical_Close_Reading_Sourcing

No
Although the lesson itself does not require close reading, it focuses on skills that will help students closely read and question other texts.

Rubric_Scaffolding_Appropriate

Yes
This lesson is easily adapted to the needs of a variety of students; while designed for elementary school, it could be adapted easily for a middle or high school classroom.

Rubric_Scaffolding_Supports_Historical_Thinking

No
Teachers may want to scaffold the lesson for younger students by providing 21st century definitions of the words.

Rubric_Structure_Assessment

No

Rubric_Structure_Realistic

Yes

Rubric_Structure_Learning_Goals

Yes
A simple, but elegant, plan.

Google Maps

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What is it?

Google Maps allows users to place markers, upload pictures of specific locales, draw lines and shapes, and provide descriptions—helpful for constructing historical maps or geography-based lessons.

Getting Started

Working with Google Maps is simple enough, but users will (of course) need to establish a Google account in order to create a map. After signing in, the first step is to provide the map with a title and description, as well as establish privacy and share settings; the map is already in edit mode. Text can be entered in plain or rich text—great for inserting links. Users will see three icons in the left corner of the map: a hand (navigation tool), a marker pin (with over 90 icons), and a jagged line (to draw lines and shapes). To create a marker, select the corresponding icon and select style and click on the desired location on the map. After entering a title, users can select the rich text format to not only insert hyperlinks but also add images to the marker by selecting the image's URL address. In addition, you can embed a Google Video or YouTube clip by copying the embed code and pasting it into the description field. To create a line, users can simply click at the beginning point, click at subsequent locales, and double click to finalize the desired route. Creating lines using existing roads may be a useful for tracing travel and trade routes.

Google Maps facilitates collaborative learning and helps teachers extend and refine their lessons through an interactive medium that promotes critical decision making.

Two more tool options are found at the top of the left bar, above the title of the map: "collaborate" and "import." The collaborate function—which allows users to invite others to help create and edit a map—is ideal for group projects. Teachers can also use this function to collaborate with colleagues teaching a similar course. Either way, Google Maps facilitates collaborative learning and helps teachers extend and refine their lessons through an interactive medium that promotes critical decision making. The import option allows users to add map data from a KML, KMZ, or GeoRSS file. This is a very useful tool if teachers are able to find good historical "overlays" for their maps. A brief search for historical KMZ files yielded several good imports, such as battles of the Civil War, significant cities of the Civil Rights Movement, and U.S. presidential elections (using search terms like "historical maps KMZ" or "KMZ historical places" is a good way to start . . . but the development of these types of files is still growing so it may take some searching). Google Maps does have some glitches. Creating routes using the "line drawing" tool is tricky. Starting points do not always appear where you click to select, and editing an existing route is difficult; the pointer on the screen does not always match the marker boxes designed to click and drag to a new point on the map. In creating our own map, we also ran across an interesting problem. We created a map with markers and descriptions, but when we accessed it at a later date, the information appeared but all the markers on the map disappeared. Furthermore, the links in the information panel were no longer active. We would recommend creating a database on an Excel spreadsheet first, using columns such as "latitude, "longitude," "name,", and "icon." Then you can convert the Excel document into a KML file by using an online site such as Earth Point, which does an excellent job of providing a step-by-step process on how to create a "KML-friendly" Excel spreadsheet, lists the various ways to enter longitude and latitude coordinates, provides the numbers for hundeds of different marker icons, and also has a feature where you can make the conversion on the Earth Point site. A new KML file will be downloaded onto your computer, which can then be imported in Google Maps. Voila! All the markers appear, with descriptions in place.

[Note: it is highly recommended to use the decimal format for coordinates. Excel spreadsheets only accept negative values in the decimal-coordinate format. Any location in the Western and Southern hemisphere is a negative coordinate.] Although such a process sounds tedious, we found that this extra step is useful if you want to continue editing a map, or, more importantly, if a glitch causes the information on Google Maps to disappear. You can import the KML file into your Google Map at any time and replace the old one. Consider the KML file a Google Maps "backup" file.

Examples

One good site to examine the potential of map overlays is Dave Rumsey's site. In an 1861 historical overlay, we see an old map of Washington, DC over a Google Map in Satellite View. By clicking on "Washington DC 1861" on the right, users can make the map come and go as they please. Likewise, by clicking on "transparent map", users can add and remove modern street names and locales.

Historypin is another good site to see what users can do with pin markers, photographs, and other information that can make history come alive.

Another good site to examine student-produced Google Maps projects is Google Historical Voyages and Events. By clicking on "historical events" on the left sidebar menu, several student-created projects are available for browsing. One useful starting point is to select "Major Events of the Civil War" and browse various class projects in Google Maps. "Major Events of the Civil War," a 5th-grade class project, also includes detailed for educators to gain ideas of how to use Google Maps in the classroom across grades 5-12.

For more information

Helpful tips and tutorial for users new to Google Maps.
A useful primer on KMZ and KML files.
10 minute video of how Google Apps work for the K-12 classroom.

Voki

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What is it?

Voki allows users to create personalized speaking avatars and use them to re-create historical actors, unique characters, or other figures. By controlling their voices, students can use their avatars for role play or to reenact famous speeches.

Getting Started

Luckily Voki allows users to practice creating an avatar without enrolling or creating a new account. You can choose characters from various categories and several obvious historical personas are available like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and modern-day political figures. Each avatar can be customized by head, clothing, accessories, and various voice options. Users can also select background images and resize the avatar in relation to the player window. After selecting the voice option, users can enter text and listen to the voice that is created. Likewise, if users want to record their own voice they can also playback their recording until satisfied.

Once the Voki avatar is created, users can publish their creation. By registering an account with Voki, all Avatar creations are saved under the user's account for continual access. If users forego the registrations, the finalized avatar does contain a unique URL link (which should be copied down for later access.) Users can also use the embed code to immediately post or bookmark the avatar in whichever social network site they prefer.

Whether users want to embed their avatar on their own site, in an email, or a course blog, these creations can liven up any history class.

Examples
By speaking through an avatar, students will not only maintain retain online privacy but will appreciate an innovative and safe platform for classroom presentations.

In a simple avatar that imagines a modern-day George Washington, students could apply Washington's guiding philosophies to modern issues such as health care, immigration, or foreign interventions. By speaking through an avatar, students will not only retain online privacy (great for teachers and parents!) but will appreciate an innovative and safe platform for classroom presentations.

Students can use their avatars to engage in debates and topic discussions—such as Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan engaging in issues of states rights and federalism. Likewise, students could use their avatar creations to address a homework question on a course blog or wiki page. Another good use of Voki avatars is to re-enact famous speeches such as the Gettysburg Address, or to summarize the President's State of the Union Speech in under two minutes by examining word clouds released after the speech.

Finally, a wonderful use for these avatars is to apply gained knowledge of philosophical views of historical figures into fictional scenarios. For example, students can create a fictional character that meets a certain demographic (i.e. middle-aged Hispanic female nurse). Then the entire class, made up of various American citizens, can conduct a town hall debate on the key issues of the past and present. A variation of this format is to conduct a town hall of famous American politicians and personalities—such as Barack Obama, Reagan, Washington, Lincoln, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and John Stewart.

For more information

Voki for Education has plenty of materials and suggestions that can help teachers gain inspiration for how to make the best use of the available technology. One helpful feature is the Teacher's Corner Message Forum—a quick browse through the posted messages is worth the time spent.

Voki also has a Lesson Plan site that can be searched through grade level and/or subject area. A useful FAQ section can also help users to orient themselves to the tool.

Padlet

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What is it?

In a nutshell, Padlet is an online bulletin board. History teachers, however, can use this tool in myriad ways. For example, Padlet users can pose open-ended questions and elicit multiple student responses—ideal for posing document-based questions using primary sources. Users can also create their own "post-it" notes in response to a directed question. Teachers can also use Padlet as an online posterboard—a natural fit for group projects. Padlet can also function as a "bell-ringer" or "ticket-out-the-door" activity, as well as a homework assignment.

Getting Started

Although registering is not required, it is free and easy to do via Padlet's own registration portal, or using a Google (or Open ID) account. Once users are registered, they can create their first bulletin board and (in the top left corner) edit the title and description of the "wall." Teachers can create a topic, or simply post a question for students to answer. Users can also edit the image associated with the wall, which functions as an identifying logo. (Students looking to create a World War II wall could use, for example, a propaganda poster like Rosie the Riveter as the logo.) Lastly, users can select the design template and set access privileges (which includes a custom URL ID).

After the wall is established, users can add a "post-it" note by double-clicking anywhere on the wall. Text, audio, video, and images can be posted to the wall (videos and images automatically display a Zoom picture when clicked on—a temporary pop-up window for viewing.)

[Note: Do not place any "sticky notes" too close to the wall title and description. If the top of the sticky note is hidden underneath the wall title and description, it can be hard to move the note.]

Examples

An easy way to experiment with Padlet is to give it a try with a simple question. Once users become more accustomed to how Padlet functions, they can construct walls that employ more Web tools. We posted a sample question on a 1960s U.S. advertisement for a non-coffee product so that readers of this Tech for Teachers entry can add their own thoughts. Try it out! Leave a "sticky" note and tell us how you would respond to the coffee question, ad, and TV commercials.

The use of various multimedia sources makes historical questions more complex, engages students, and goes beyond what is possible in a traditional worksheet/whiteboard approach.

Embedding an image for viewing and providing a directed question allow the coffee example to work like a document-based question (DBQ). Additionally, the coffee question can be expanded into other discussions. In this case, a YouTube clip on coffee advertisements opens up questions about gender relationships in 1950s-1960s America. The use of various multimedia sources makes historical questions more complex, engages students, and goes beyond what is possible in a traditional worksheet/whiteboard approach. By modeling specific uses for Padlet, teachers can also empower students to create their own effective walls for classroom use and history-based discussions.

A few technical issues are worth considering. Each sticky note is limited to 150 characters. Also, images heavy on text might not be legible, even in their zoom pop-windows. If this is the case, viewers can find larger images by either right-clicking the image and saving it to their desktop, or enlarging the zoom view on the computer screen. Lastly, and most problematically, the site tends to become tied up and non-responsive. We have encountered many instances when Padlet fails to load properly. However, the value of the tool should encourage users to be patient and hope for a more consistent service in the future. Padlet is a simple tool, but one that can accentuate the best teaching practices teachers employ on a day-to-day basis. For students, carefully posed questions will allow them to respond in many ways—which only helps classroom discussion.

For more information

Check out the Padlet Blog to see some other ideas for using Padlet.

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