Chronicling America - Using Digitized Historic Newspapers

Using the Chronicling America site has been great fun. I discovered that the Weather Service has already celebrated 150 years. I learned how maps were made in previous years. I also learned that in 1888 dogs had to be licensed in Miles City, MT, my hometown. While talking to a friend about this site I learned that she has an original copy of the Daily Yellowstone Journal that once belonged to her mother-in-law. I hope your research uncovers equally interesting finds.

You can read historic Montana newspapers by going to the Montana Memory Project and linking to the Chronicling America Project. The Chronicling America Newspaper Project is a joint partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress National Digital Newspaper Program. The Library of Congress site has digitized newspapers from every state.

One way to access Montana newspapers is to go to the Montana Memory Project. Once there, scroll to the bottom of the page. You can then choose which papers and dates you want to search.

http://montanahistoricalsociety.org/research/MTMemoryProj.asp

There is also a link to the Chronicling America site. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

This is a great place to jump in and explore. If you are like me this is also where you will start to get very frustrated. I would enter a search term and up would pop a number of newspapers. That was good. When I finished looking at the first one I tried to find the other potential newspapers. I couldn’t just click on the next one. That was bad.

I requested help from Martha at the MT Historical Society. She told me to open two windows in my browser and work back and forth. Great advise! Shortly after that she forwarded an email from the Library of Congress - they had just put their beta version online. Much easier to work with!

You can get your search results either as newspaper thumbnails or in list format. I used the list format and printed out the list. It made it easier for me to take notes and make comments about the newspapers as I searched. It gave me a thorough record of my searches.

List format

Thumbnail format

I also played with the browsing tool. Click on the browsing button. It brings up a calendar and a way to look at specific newspapers by date. You can search by state or individual paper. Under the column – browse issues is a calendar icon. You can click on the icon to fine tune your search by individual copies.

I would be interested in all comments after you peruse this site. Please let me know about problems you encounter. I would also like ideas for making this tutorial more meaningful. I enjoy reading all comments.

Browsing in the morgue: The best from Montana's early newspapers

Internet Use and Cyberspace: Opening Pandora’s Box

I was reading back posts from ilearntechnology her blog always has great information. I wanted to share some of the sites I found about internet safety to use with students. Some are completely free. Several of the sites are partially free. Many of these sites are from the United Kingdom.

1. Disney’s Surfswell Island http:home.disney.com.au/activities/surfswellisland

a. This site is from Australia. The format is designed for kids to learn by playing games. There are parent and teacher components. Another feature is the glossary.

2. Internet Safety
http://www.internetsafety.com/

Is a commercial site that features some good resources and printables for parents to use with their children.


3. Safe Surfing With Dongle
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/help/web/besmart.shtml

This site covers cyber issues like email and internet safety. It is in a game format. There are recommended links as well as a “grown-up” section.

4. The Carnegie Cyber Academy
http://www.carnegiecyberacademy.com/

This site has a downloadable game called “Carnegie Cadets: The MySecureCyberspace Game

In this game students make learn how to stay safe on the web. There is also a teacher’s packet.

5. Think U Know Cyber Café http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/8_10/cybercafe/Cyber-Cafe-Base/

Game format – students help “Griff and his friends” stay safe while using email, chat areas and mobile devices. There is a teacher section.

6. Internet Safety with Professor Garfield http://www.infinitelearninglab.org/

“The Virginia Department of Education teamed up with the Professor Garfield Foundation and the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia to provide guidance for students, teachers, and parents to help students protect themselves online.”

7. Illinois State Board of Education http://www.isbe.state.il.us/curriculum/html/internet_safety.htm

Informative links about Cyberbullying


8. Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/cyberethics.htm

This site talks about cyberethics and cybercitizenship. It is a Department of Justice site.

9. Childnet International www.childnet.com/
This site is more adult centered. Features news, how to report abuse, teacher and parent components, and connected links.

Elementary teachers might want to check out www.childnet.com/kia/primary for more resources.

10. Welcome to the Web
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/welcome/start.htm

This site makes me think of a webquest – students read and answer questions. Very good teaching module. It even comes with a Challenge. Students must go through the other sections and save their secret codes to participate in the challenge.

Cybersafety is very important. As parents and teachers we often feel overwhelmed by the scope of the problems that have jumped out of this pandora’s box. In the story Pandora found hope in the bottom of the box.

Many people have designed wonderful sites to help us keep our students safe. We teach children how to cross streets safely. Now we need to teach them how to be safe in cyberspace.

Small Town USA Database

e-Podunk   www.epodunk.com is a fun database for looking at communities across the nation.  I found information about small communities in Montana.  They showed pictures when available.  The viewer was invited to share pictures if they had them.

This would be a great place for looking at local history.  They feature community attractions such as museums and other places of interest. Some even tell how the community got it’s name. 

I can see using it with many sites developed in partnership with State Historical Museums.

Montana Memory Project (http://cdm15018.contentdm.oclc.org/ )

American Memory Project (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html )

Montana Place Names Companion Website (http://mtplacenames.org/ )

Montana Historical Society http://montanahistoricalsociety.org/

Nation Wide Links for State Historical Societies http://www.stenseth.org/us/statehs.html

Makeuseof.com has a great post featuring three historical maps mashup that would add to the historical element: History Pin; LookBackMap; SepiaTown

Popplet - Request an invitation

BrainBoltz visual review.

I am taking a new technology class and we explored some great tools that many of you already know: Glogster, Smilebox, Dropbox, WallWisher and Storybird.  We also looked at a brand new tool still in Beta but with great potential Popplet  http://www.popplet.com .

You can stop by the site and request an invitation.  I am really excited about it.  It is collaborative.  I can see using it in the classroom to connect reading, writing and images.  What a powerful tool!

Lesson I am working on:  Books - Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson, If You're Not From the Prairie by David Bouchard, and Mama, Where Are You From by Marie Bradby.  Having the students reflect on what connects these stories and how it connects to their life.

Popplet is a fluid program so when changes are made your link reflects current changes.  No going back to edit what has already been published.  I think this has so much potential.  The review at BrainBoltz says it well.

Making Movies in the Mind

One of my greatest "Aha Moments" as a teacher happened early in my career.  I had a student who was reading a book and listening to the story on a "Walkman" at the same time. For you youngsters out there a Walkman was an individual cassette player with headphones.  I was teaching in a juvenile detention center and this student was about 16 and a struggling reader.

When "Sam" finished the book he looked at me with a very satisfied smile.  Then shared "Wow, that was a great book.  That was the first time I could see a movie in my mind when I read."

I looked at him with total surprise.  I had no idea that there were readers who didn't see the movies in their mind.  For me this conversation was a "Touchstone Moment".  Since then I have learned that many students can't make pictures in their mind as they read.  This conversation with "Sam" has influenced how I teach and one of my major goals - letting kids discover the movies in their minds.

Ralph Fletcher is a terrific writer.  I love his writing for the wonderful words and rhythm.  His books are great for "seeing" pictures in your mind.  I read "Hello, Harvest Moon" to my students.  It has great illustrations and rich vocabulary.  I am a big fan of Ralph Fletcher, and have learned a lot from reading the professional literature he has written.

     

Games for Learning

I was reading the blog K-12 Techsters. I surfed in on the review of East of the Web . I was intrigued by the description and decided to investigate. I followed the directions and built a study room.
You can use pre-made lists or you can use your own lists and content. I tested it out with some content vocabulary “Parts of a Book”. I think the games make great learning tools. Here are the links to my study room at EastoftheWeb.
Study Room Register URL:
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/games/studyrooms/?p=user/register&studyroom=Book Nook
This link allows users to register for my study room the Book Nook.
Study Room Login URL:
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/games/studyrooms/?studyroom=Book Nook
This is the link for users to log in to my study room the Book Nook once you are registered.

East of the Web also has lots of stories for students to read. I think it is a quiet gem, waiting to be enjoyed.

Applying Technology Tools

I have been playing with new pieces of technology and how it would look from my perspective as a librarian. One of our 6th grade teachers asked me to come and go over the research process with the 6th graders. This was a piece of collaboration on their Famous Scientist Project.


I went to http://www.weebly.com after seeing one of the 1st Grade teachers' site. She assured me that it was easy! It was and I was able to put together a page that works. http://milesave.weebly.com


On the home page I put buttons with live links on some resources that would be beneficial for home and school.

The 6th grade page is a specific page devoted to using the Big6 approach and applying their assignment. I have linked specific resources to this page that would help them in their research. I used two tools that are fast becoming favorites - Web Poster Wizard http://poster.4teachers.org part of http://4teachers.org and http://simplybox.com that Kathi shared with us Saturday.


The teachers page are a couple of links that I liked and could see as being valuable to others. One of my favorite finds this week is the Fletcher Elementary Web site with links to many educational games. So I started a game page. I would encourage you to go through the games and bookmark the ones you like directly.

An Art Mystery

Eduweb is a company that utilizes todays technology in optimal ways to make learning memorable. I think this quote from their website says it all.

"At eduweb, our goal is to develop the most engaging and effective online learning experiences possible. To this end, we engage in research to better understand learning theory, learner preferences and engagement, and educational outcomes."

One of their interactive experiences is the "Case of Grandpa's Painting". It uses a playful way to compare artists and talk about color, composition, and perspective in relationship to specific artists.

I am going to use this piece when I talk to some of my students about the Dewey Decimal Section - 700-799 Art & Recreation.

Some More New Tools

While searching on the web for some tools for my classroom I found some real treasures for both tools, blogs and websites. They are all great reads filled with information to stimulate the creativeness of all the awesome readers out there.

One of the blogs I came across is Choosy Homeschooler. At her site I learned about Web Poster Wizard You can build a page with links and images for a class project or assignment. Lots of flexibility. The one I built is Teacher Tools all the links are live. http://poster.4teachers.org/worksheet/view.php?id=145624

Alexander Street Press is Show casing their collection of resources in honor of Women's History for the month of March. Usually access to their resources is by subscription only.

The American Indian Education site maintains a phenomenal hotlist of links to resources.

Integrating Technology in the Classroom focuses on tools and technology. Another site with lots of educational games is ABCreative Teacher Resources I really liked the game Ghost Blaster.

One of my favorite blogs is Two Writing Teachers They challenged everybody to write a slice of life, each day for the month of March. What an amazing challenge. I am working on meeting that challenge by writing about my life with our dogs at Gather.com One of the challenges they extended was using the slice of life writing in the classroom. As luck would have it Upstart is featuring bookmarks called My Life. My story. They also have a free activity guide to download.

Adding Tools to Your Classroom Tool Chest

I was searching for additional sites with random name selectors when I came across Free Technology Toolkit for UDL Universal Design Learning focuses on the need for multiple approaches to meet the needs of diverse learners.

Many students struggle to learn in the classroom for a number of reasons. Countless teachers, parents, and medical technologists have worked to find and develop tools, machines and strategies to help these learners succeed in the classroom. The down side is often these solutions are expensive or complicated. The Free Technology Toolkit for UDL has found some great resources that can be used to benefit many students.

Another fabulous site that I found by accident is I Learn Technology an edublog about integrating technology into the classroom. So many great posts about things and sites that can be used in the classroom. I loved many of the science and math sites that they suggested readers explore.

The third site I found is a ning called Classroom 2.0. It is a community for educators using web 2.0 and collaborative technologies. They make a point of welcoming and supporting beginners in this learning journey.

These three sites have a wide selection of great tools. I hope you will add many new tools to your classroom tool chest. I really enjoyed exploring them.

Opening a Treasure Chest

I recently ran across a website for English as a Foreign Language Classroom 2.0. What a treasure! There are many resources that can be adapted for other classes. In the resource section is a collection of learning games. I really liked the BAMM game, a power-point game that could easily be adapted.

This site is actually part of a ning. Registration is free and the members are truly from around the world.

Contemporary Native American News Part 2

Another website you might want to explore is The Circle Native News and Arts. You will find current news, blogs, education, the arts. Currently in the education link they have included essays from high school students studying the Indian Boarding School period. Very interesting reading.

Native Web has Resources for Indigenous Cultures around the world, they also have a wiki set up.

Index of Native American Resources on the web is a virtual library. Use common sense when viewing individual links for accuracy and authenticness. The website does a great job of including such a diverse collection of links. It is a great starting place.

Bureau of Indian Affairs website. This site has some good information that you might want to compare and contrast to as you and your students explore current news found in other locations.

The Native American Radio service is a resource worth exploring.

The Native American Voices Radio Program great resource for audio learning.

The Native Voice is a newspaper out of Colorado. You can currently register free to read the newspaper.

How to Find Accurate & Authentic Stories

Integrating authentic materials is a critical piece to integrating Indian Education For All into the classroom. There are thousands of books and websites claiming to be Native American stories. A question that most educators ask is "Which ones can I rely on?" Here is an introductory list to help you decide on your selections.

The first site I would like to share with you is Oyate. Their books and resources are authentic and most are written by tribal members. I would like to highlight one of their books in particular: "A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children, edited by Doris Seale and Beverly Slapin, AltaMira Press and Oyate, 2005. This book deals with the issue of cultural accuracy in books for children and evaluates hundreds of books for children and teenagers published from the early 1900s through 2004." - from Montana Office of Public Instruction, materials sent to school libraries.

This is a great resource for reviewing books that you currently use. They often recommend other books that might meet your curriculum goals.

Strengths of the website - Authentic, stories specific to individual tribes, resources to evaluate materials.

Weakness of the website - This site is a little cumbersome. There is no"shopping cart" to easily keep track of purchases. Note-they are hoping to upgrade their current site.