History Tech

I have been subscribing to educational blogs left and right lately and my favorite, so far, is History Tech. As a future social studies teacher this blog is full of inventive and creative ways to get kids connected with history and to get them writing. The man behind the blog is Glenn W., no actual last name was given, and he goes by Virtual Glenn on the blog, the man behind the technology. He is currently employed by the Educational Service and Staff Development Association of Central Kansas, but prior to working there he was a professor at a small Kansas college and before that as a middle school social studies teacher. (He also has a masters degree in American History, so the nerd in me loves that he is well heeled in history.)

There were two things that I immediately gravitated towards when reading Mr. Glenn's blog, the first thing was his willingness to try new technology and apply it to social studies/history, which many consider old and stodgy, and the second was his love of getting social studies students to write, and write a lot.

I love that he gives a nod to PBS on his blog and the fabulous job they have done consolidating a lot of historical information onto their website. His example of the story of the Freedom Riders is case in point, PBS has a teachers website with news footage, time-lines, biographies on many of the riders, and even maintains the Freedom Riders site. Valuable resources for any history or social studies teacher, middle school up to high school. His next suggestion of teaching through video games caught me off guard, but a new book "Gaming the Past" by Jeremiah McCall lists 26 games that are historical "simulations" that would be perfect for classroom use; how cool is that?

My favorite thing about Mr. Glenn is his passion to get kids writing about history and with new tools to help it is easier than ever. One program called Writing It, made by Scholastic, gives students organizational tools that help them write papers, get help with ideas and even grow their portfolio and possibly publish their work. Another idea he suggested combined reading fictional works or poetry books, like the ones he had his middle school students read, and then tie into current lessons in history. His model dealt with a book of poetry written about the dust bowl in the 1930's and the other, a historical fiction book, about Kansas prairie life in the 1800's. Both examples, the website and poetry books, are fantastic tools and ideas to get kids reading, thinking critically and most importantly getting them writing about what they are learning.

Another great idea was