5 Technology Resources A History Teacher Should Try

This will be my last blog post so I thought I would end with a handful of technology resources that I have found engaging for my curriculum along with one I am eager to try.

 

1. Word Clouds*- To get students familiar with vocabulary or to begin a class discussion word clouds are a great tool to utilize. There are several online word cloud generators. The two I use most are Wordle and ABCya . For my Industrial Revolution unit I had my students create words clouds listing 10 positives and 10 negatives of the Gilded Age. Click the link to see the handout that accompanied this assignment. For other ideas on how to incorporate Word Clouds in your classroom click this link. 

2. DocsTeach*- DocTeach is a website that branched off from archives.gov. DocsTeach is a History teachers dream! The great thing about DocsTeach is that there are interactive multimedia games and activities for students to play based off primary source documents. Teachers can even personalize activities and make their own for students to complete. Click here to see one of the activities I made for Civil Rights Activists.

3. Prezi*- Instead of having students make a PowerPoint presentation encourage them to make a Prezi instead. Even though most of my students had never even heard of aPrezi before they were able to quickly figure out how to create one. I was very pleased with their presentations and problem solving abilities. Click the link to see a sample Prezi that a group of my students made for the Civil War.

4. Quia*- Quia is a website that allows the teacher to make an assortment of interactive games for their students. Games and activities include matching, jeopardy, hangman, battleship, etc… The downside of this site is there is a fee to create the games. To get around the fee you can usually find other teachers who already created activities. Students can access them for free. I have taken my students to the computer lab a few times to review for their tests using Quia activities. One of the review games I like best is Jeopardy. A teacher named Mr. Kotcher created an entire jeopardy review of US History. Students can play individually or with a partner.

5. Xtimeline- Students can create their own multimedia timelines that can incorporate videos, pictures, and text. I am thinking of using this for an end of the semester assignment.

*= Resources that I have used in with my students.

One last thing… Click on the Google Doc which contains an variety of US History links which I collected over the years. Many of the links are articles, pictures, and videos that you can embed into your PowerPoints.

Make sure you check these two out:

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