Carol Briggs
Course Module: the Library
of Congress Website
Objective: Students will know about the resources available through the Library of Congress website.
Objective: Students will be able to access and use resources on the Library of Congress website to create a web drop-in lesson.
Introduction: The Library of Congress website is a massive resource. Teachers and librarians should know about what resources are available on the website, so that they can use these resources with their students. In this course module we will be locating and examining resources available through the Library of Congress website. We will also read a short article about using primary source documents. Finally, students will use the resources we've explored to create a web drop-in lesson.
Activity: Explore resources available through the Library of Congress website. Think how you might be able to use them with your classes. You will notice I am not giving you hyperlinks to all the pages I want you to view. I want you to notice that there is much more available than the places this activity is directing you. I want you to learn to navigate around the site and see all there is to see. I am highlighting certain parts of the Library of Congress website that might be especially helpful for you as an educator (and might help you complete this assignment!).
Visit the Library of Congress main page: http://www.loc.gov
1.) On the left side
of the main page click on kids, families
(located under "resources for").
Look at these links on the kids, families page:
2.) At the top of the webpage go to digital collections. Notice what digital collections are available: historic newspapers, performing arts, a huge collection of digital photographs, and more.
3.) Go back to the
main Library of Congress page. On the
left side of the page click on resources for teachers. Look under "classroom resources"
and see the lesson
plans link. Look around. Does that look helpful to you? On the teacher page, you will see a link to "collection
connections." When you are in "collection
connections" click on presentations
and activities. Do any of these look
useful to you?
Assignment: Now that you have had a chance to look at some of the resources available on the Library of Congress website, create a web drop-in activity using some of the resources that you have found there. Try to make your web drop-in activity useful to the age of students and the subject matter of the class you teach.
You will notice that one of the resources that we viewed were lesson plans. While you are free to use these as a "jumping-off point" don't just cut-n-paste them into your assignment. Make your own activity. Show that you have really looked at the Library of Congress website. Do not merely link to one of the pre-made Library of Congress activities.
It is probably easy for you to think of a million assignments by looking at the site if you teach American history, but with a careful eye you will notice there are many other subject matters that can use the resources on this site. For science lessons, you will recall the "everyday mysteries" section. If you are a science teacher doing a lesson on global warming it might be useful to look at photos of glaciers from 100 years ago. (Many of them are smaller now!) There are resources relevant to literature, geography, music, and many other subjects. Be creative! Explore!
Please make sure your web drop-in contains the following:
1.) State an introduction of the topic to your students. Make it interesting!
2.) The activity that your students must do should be clearly stated. What must they accomplish? What are your expectations?
3.) The web drop-in activity you create must use resource(s) available on the Library of Congress website.
Rubrics:
Introduction:
unacceptable: brief statement, not interesting, not relevant to topic
developing: some relevance to topic
accomplished: well written statement, interesting, relevant to topic
Activity:
unacceptible: not clear what student should do, not relevant to topic
developing: somewhat clear what student should do, some relevance to topic
accomplished: activity is clearly stated, student knows what they should accomplish, activity is relevant to topic being studied, activity is well-developed, activity uses ideas expressed in the article "Using Primary Source Documents"
Use Resource(s) from
Library of Congress Website:
unacceptable: no resources from Library of Congress website incorporated into lesson
developing: linking to an already-created activity on the Library of Congress website without putting it into a greater context of your lesson
accomplished: web drop-in activity links to one or more Library of Congress resources, resources are integral to the web drop-in activity
Submission: After you upload your activity, email the instructor the URL.