I teach World History and Oral Communication for a school district that was awarded a Race to the Top Grant to improve student achievement and drive education reform. One of the components of the grant for my district is the implementation of one on one technology in the form of Google Chromebooks. The grant was awarded in December 2013 and the technology upgrades began in the summer of 2014. Although I was excited to learn about the grant and the prospect of getting new computers, I was also apprehensive about how to use the Chromebooks in the classroom.
I have a Secondary Education license in Social Studies, Speech, English, and ESL. I consider myself computer savvy on a PC but don't really know much about using technology to teach. In order to get ahead of the game I began to work on a graduate degree in Education Technology. I also applied and was accepted into an eMINTS program that helps teachers integrate technology in the classroom.
eMINTS is an acronym for enhancing Missouri's Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies. The project began in Missouri but now trains educators in several states in the method of inquiry based learning. In addition to my eMINTS professional development training, which is interactive, I was allowed to sign up for one of the programs eLearning Courses for Educators. I chose Google Tools for Schools because I thought it would be the most beneficial at this point and I started the class last week.
The goal of my first assignment was to develop skills for conducting effective and efficient Google searches. After watching a tutorial and reading online material, I was asked to create a Google Search Challenge for my students. The challenge I came up with for the assignment is pretty basic and I have it listed below.
Name: Cat Peters
Grade Level: 9-10
Content Area: World History
Challenge 1
Search Question: How did the Treaty of Versailles contribute to the outbreak of WWII?
Suggested Search Terms: Treaty of Versailles, terms of the Treaty of Versailles, WWI Peace Treaty
Acceptable answers: Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to give up land, reduce their military, and pay billions of dollars in reparations. These conditions opened the way for the rise of Nazism and Hitler.
Wild Geese – None found for this topic.
Challenge 2
Search Question: Was the Cold War really cold?
Suggested Search Terms: Cold War, hot war
Acceptable Answers: Students will find conflicting answers: some sites state that the Cold War was cold because the United States and Soviet Union never fought, other sites will say it was hot because of the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
Wild Geese – There are quite a few discussion boards on the topic that cannot be used as a credible source.
I intend to use the first challenge next week at the end of our World War I unit, which also coincides with the end of our Google Search lesson. The second challenge will be used a few weeks later, after the students have more experience with searches.
I liked the assignment because it correlates to what we are doing in our Social Studies Professional Learning Community (PLC) at school. If you have any suggestions on how to improve it, or about other searches, feel free to email me at catpeters65@gmail.com.
I liked the assignment because it correlates to what we are doing in our Social Studies Professional Learning Community (PLC) at school. If you have any suggestions on how to improve it, or about other searches, feel free to email me at catpeters65@gmail.com.
