My first update for this week was retweeting a statement from iCivics: with all of the news coverage of parents reacting to what is being taught (or not taught) in social studies classes across the country, they responded that they are committed to a diversity-inclusion model of teaching. I think this is especially important as social studies teachers are under fire for "indoctrinating" kids.
2. I saw a posting for a new game about the electoral college: it is more interactive and teaches students about how the EC helps determine elections in the United States. It is definitely something I want to try this year!
3. For my third update this week, I looked at a post by Dr. Farber, someone whom I already follow because he focuses on gamifying social studies. He made a post about 5 great digital games that can teach about civics that I think would be applicable to what I am teaching this year.
4. For my 4th post, I found a great resource being promoted by the archives at the LoC. It helps show teachers and students how they can find examples of famous newspapers for the purpose of research. Since I learned so much about the importance of finding digital sources for students during research, I thought this would be a great resource to pursue further.
5. For my final post, I had to end with Minecraft Edu: there was another post from their history and culture subject kit that will allow teachers to take students on recreated places from the ancient world. It is a great resource to allow students to immerse themselves in history and experience things from a first person view.
Reflection: I think the biggest takeaway from this week is that I have the start of a good collection of educational resources when it comes to technology. I would now like to take the time to sift through what I have and see what can directly translate to my classroom. At times during this class, I have felt overwhelmed because there are so many cool things other teachers are doing out there that take a degree of understanding to follow. So for me, I feel that the best thing to do at this point is to find a few things I would like to try in the classroom this year and begin to add things in one at a time so that I feel more comfortable with them.
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