Having Youth Division Fun
On this beautiful Friday in central Ohio, I had a short trip to visit Winterset Elementary School in Columbus. This is the second year that National History Day in Ohio has offered the youth division for 4th and 5th grades. Students can do a three foot exhibit or a seven minute performance and are invited to Ohio History Day on April 25th at Columbus State Community College. The youth division is a lot of fun and a celebration of history!
The students at Winterset are considering History Day projects. I got a chance to listen to the students share and one student had a really cool primary source, a copy of the Washington Post from inauguration day!
The students had some great ideas for topics, especially different scientists or inventors and their contributions to history. When looking at an American inventor, don't forgot to check out the US Patent Office online. If you know the patent #, you can look it up in their online database and be able to download and print images of the original patent request. Patent requests are only a few pages and have interesting drawings of the patented invention.
Thanks to the students at Winterset for a fun session on a Friday! Maybe I'll see you all at OHS for some research fun!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
A Historic Day in Delta, OH
Yesterday I listened to the 44th president being sworn in while I traveled to Pike Delta York Middle School. I entered the school as President Obama was giving his inaugural address and while I walked down the hallways the school was very quiet and I could hear the President's voice booming from each classroom. I'm sure it was similar to the environment in many schools.
The students in grades 6-8 at Pike-Delta-York Middle School were gearing up with their projects. We discussed the difference between primary and secondary sources as well as narrowing their topics.
Some interesting individuals we talked about were Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anne Frank, Alexander the Great and John F. Kennedy. As I've mentioned before, with this year's theme, students not only select an individual, but an important impact that he or she had on history.
Remember this question:
How did [the selected individual] impact/change/influence [a part of history/event/law/ideology]?
We also spent some time talking about contacting people to interview for projects. A great way is just to start with a general Internet search. You'll be surprised who you can find in the yellow pages! If that doesn't work, look at websites that have information or personal interviews with the individual and contact that organization. They may be able to get you in touch. If there is a reporter, a newspaper or a magazine that interviewed the individual, getting in touch with that publication may lead you to an interview. Remember the power of stating that you're a student doing a school project; doors will open for you.
Thanks to the everyone in Delta yesterday! Send me your stories about watching yesterday's piece of history!
Yesterday I listened to the 44th president being sworn in while I traveled to Pike Delta York Middle School. I entered the school as President Obama was giving his inaugural address and while I walked down the hallways the school was very quiet and I could hear the President's voice booming from each classroom. I'm sure it was similar to the environment in many schools.
The students in grades 6-8 at Pike-Delta-York Middle School were gearing up with their projects. We discussed the difference between primary and secondary sources as well as narrowing their topics.
Some interesting individuals we talked about were Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anne Frank, Alexander the Great and John F. Kennedy. As I've mentioned before, with this year's theme, students not only select an individual, but an important impact that he or she had on history.
Remember this question:
How did [the selected individual] impact/change/influence [a part of history/event/law/ideology]?
We also spent some time talking about contacting people to interview for projects. A great way is just to start with a general Internet search. You'll be surprised who you can find in the yellow pages! If that doesn't work, look at websites that have information or personal interviews with the individual and contact that organization. They may be able to get you in touch. If there is a reporter, a newspaper or a magazine that interviewed the individual, getting in touch with that publication may lead you to an interview. Remember the power of stating that you're a student doing a school project; doors will open for you.
Thanks to the everyone in Delta yesterday! Send me your stories about watching yesterday's piece of history!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Back on the Road, Holidays are Over!
Yesterday I visited the students at Faircrest Memorial Middle School to talk about primary sources and their topics for History Day. While it was an activity day in the building, with a lot going on, the students were really focused on their task.
With our new project working with the Library of Congress's Teaching with Primary Sources program, we walked through the great online sources like American Memory, the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog and Chronicling American: Historic American Newspapers.
One of the lessons that the students were surprised to learn is the amount of bibliographic information that needs to be collected on electronic sources. The Library of Congress's Learning Page has a really great guide (click here!) on citing different types of primary or secondary sources found online.
We also spent some time talking about photographs and images and what they can add to a History Day project. Remember, especially with exhibits, that students only have 500 of their own words, so using the powerful images and photos can help tell the story.
Some ideas:
Yesterday I visited the students at Faircrest Memorial Middle School to talk about primary sources and their topics for History Day. While it was an activity day in the building, with a lot going on, the students were really focused on their task.
With our new project working with the Library of Congress's Teaching with Primary Sources program, we walked through the great online sources like American Memory, the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog and Chronicling American: Historic American Newspapers.
One of the lessons that the students were surprised to learn is the amount of bibliographic information that needs to be collected on electronic sources. The Library of Congress's Learning Page has a really great guide (click here!) on citing different types of primary or secondary sources found online.
We also spent some time talking about photographs and images and what they can add to a History Day project. Remember, especially with exhibits, that students only have 500 of their own words, so using the powerful images and photos can help tell the story.
Some ideas:
- Use images for time lines, it bring visual interest
- When you have the choice of several images, select the image that best fits your project
- Make sure to use high resolution images so they don't look fuzzy
- Use images and photos from reliable sources. Be careful of Google Images, you need to go to the website (instead of just clicking full size image) and make sure its reliable before using it.
Thanks to everyone at FMMS! Enjoy your three day weekend!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Working with the Library of Congress
National History Day in Ohio is happy to announce a new classroom outreach series and two workshops for teachers.
The outreach activities will focus on Library of Congress resources. Teachers and students must fill out a brief pre-survey before the outreach visit and post survey at the end of the school year. Teachers will receive a CD of activities related to the Library of Congress resources and aligned with Ohio Academic Content Standards. Download the request form here!
Topics covered include:
Introduction to the National History Day Program
Finding primary sources
Interpreting primary sources
Understanding historical context in the creation of research projects
Creating thesis statements
There are two teacher workshops focused on the Teaching with Primary Sources program from the Library of Congress:
Saturday, May 9th at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland from 8:30am-3:00pm. Download the registration form.
Wednesday, May 13th at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus from 8:30am-3:00pm. Download the registration form.
National History Day in Ohio is happy to announce a new classroom outreach series and two workshops for teachers.
The outreach activities will focus on Library of Congress resources. Teachers and students must fill out a brief pre-survey before the outreach visit and post survey at the end of the school year. Teachers will receive a CD of activities related to the Library of Congress resources and aligned with Ohio Academic Content Standards. Download the request form here!
Topics covered include:
Introduction to the National History Day Program
Finding primary sources
Interpreting primary sources
Understanding historical context in the creation of research projects
Creating thesis statements
There are two teacher workshops focused on the Teaching with Primary Sources program from the Library of Congress:
Saturday, May 9th at the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland from 8:30am-3:00pm. Download the registration form.
Wednesday, May 13th at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus from 8:30am-3:00pm. Download the registration form.
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