WELCOME TO THE INDEX PAGE OF

AMANDA BANNIGAN!!

The activities you are about to see were all created during the FALL of 2004 for SLM 521 at McDaniel College! They all address social studies topics and range from middle to highschool. ENJOY!

JOURNAL ARTICLES: These links will take you to the journal article I read and reviewed.

#1- Teaching Social Studies with the Internet: This article offers ideas for social studies teachers on how they can incorporate the internet into their classrooms. It encourages teachers to use the internet to enrich learning, but it does not downplay the importance of teaching. The internet is a tool not a replacement for teachers!

http://www.eduref.org/plweb-cgi/obtian.pl

#2-Mapping Out Solutions: This article, from the American School Board Journal, discusses the use of an internet assessment program by a South Carolina school district in order to determine how well students were meeting curriculum standards. The article gives a lot of positive evidence and advocates the expanded use of the program.

http://asbj.com/2004/07/0704technologyfocus.html

#3- Education 21st Century Style: MSN posted this article which addresses the issue of virtual classrooms. The article discusses pros and cons of online classrooms and discusses areas in which this teaching method has been tested. The article demonstrated how the influence of technology in schools in increasing.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4633126

#4- Schools & Colleges Flock to Internet 2: (A free membership to eschoolnews is required to read this article) The speed of the internet continues to increase! The newest, fastest connection is known as the Internet 2 and proclaims to be faster than the fastest T1 line that exists today. With this newer, faster internet in place in schools, students and teachers will be able to have access to better images, programs, and educational opportunities. Some of the traditional problems that exist with current internet providers still exist, but researchers are hoping to overcome this issue.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?articleID=5324.

#5- Safe and Sound: The American School Board Journal posted this article which discusses the dangers of school systems that rely on networks. In this article, a Colorado school district’s power is wiped out by a severe tornado. The article discusses various methods to back-up information to prevent its loss.

http://www.asbj.com/2004/07/0704technologyfocus2.html

#6- Laptop Learning: Laptops for every student and teacher! That is the experiment that one school district outside of Richmond experienced. The article discusses the pros and cons of this experiment as well as costs! A laptop for every student really enforces the use of technology in a classroom!

http://www.asbj.com/2002/07/0702coverstory.html

#7- The Perils of E-Mail: We have all experienced the horror of writing an e-mail that we wish we hadn’t or sending something to the wrong person. When this happens in our personal lives, there are few consequences, but what about when the school board makes e-mail errors! This article discusses the problems that have been experienced by various school boards all over the country. The article lists some e-mail suggestions and tips on how to avoid this potential job costing mistake.

http://www.asbj.com/2002/07/0702coverstory2.html

WEB DROP-Ins: The following links will take you to web based activities that are designed for one or two days of instruction.

Drop In #1: Pearl Harbor is the topic of this web-based assignment. Students will read two first hand accounts of the attack on Pearl Harbor, one from the American point-of-view and one from the Japanese point-of-view, and then answer questions and do an analysis of the information.

http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/bannigana/WebDropIn1.htm

Drop In #2: This activity is related to the French and Indian War. Students use first hand accounts of violence by the Indians onto the British to answer questions dealing with the concept of savageness. The activity is the beginning of research for a paper that will be written later.

http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/bannigana/WebDropIn2.htm

Drop In #3: This site deals with the Salem Witch trials. Students will read some background information and then view an interactive map that shows locations of the trials and hangings in Salem.

http://wwws.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/bannigana/WebDropIn3.htm

Drop In #4: This assignment pairs up students and allows them to research a country of their choice using the CIA Factbook. They will analyze the two countries in terms of similarities and differences and then create a display in order to teach what they have learned to their fellow classmates.

http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/bannigana/WebDropIn4.htm

Drop In #5: This page allows students to evaluate the role of women during the Civil War and World War I. They will create a chart to compare the roles of women in the two wars. The selected sites for analysis will allow students to see images from both wars to enrich their learning experience.

http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/bannigana/WebDropIn5.htm

REQUIRED ACTIVITES:

Search Engines: There are many, many search engines available on the Web, but not everyone will give you the information you really want. This link offers a list of the best two search engines I found for the following topics: Meta-Search, news, travel, kids, and images.

http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/bannigana/searchengines.htm

Web Link Bibliography: This site links the user to twenty web sites that address the Revolutionary War. The sites are divided into three different categories: Instructional Resources, for teacher research; Educational Resources, for teachers to use for classroom assignments; and Fun & Educational, for sites where students can complete fun activities that will still allow them to learn!

http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/bannigana/WebLinkBiblio.htm

Course Module 1: Using the internet is crucial to communication today! Teachers are not exempt from this new rule. This site instructs teachers to create their own home pages. The idea is to provide a method for students and their parents to be able to communicate with teachers and discover information on their (or their student’s) class.

http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/bannigana/CourseMod1.htm

WebQuest: This multi-day group activity turns everyday students into reporters and starts them on a mission to create a newspaper detailed the events of one year of World War I. The assignment is posted on the internet along with expectations, recommended sites, and the grading scale. This activity allows student to teach themselves and their classmates with only the aid of the teacher.

http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/bannigana/WebQuest.htm

ELECTIVES!

Lesson Plans: Every teacher needs a little help every now and then (even if we don’t want to admit it)! This site will lead you to a variety of sites I have found that would be helpful for middle school social studies teachers who are looking for new ways to teach their material.

http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/bannigana/lessonplans.htm

Web Page Evaluation: This page is designed to be used by teachers to instruct their students on how to properly evaluate a website in order to determine the validity of information given on the site. The teacher would go over the form orally with the class and then distribute a copy of the guidelines to each student to have on hand whenever using the internet for research.

http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/bannigana/WebEval.htm

Online Shopping: Online shopping is the newest way to shop, but what are some of its uses? This site provides five types of shopping that can be successfully done on the internet and two example sites for each type. It also gives two tips for keeping account information safe.

http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/bannigana/OnlineShopping.htm

Worksheets: As teachers, we have enough to do without trying to reinvent the worksheet! That is why the sites found on this link are helpful. Many help teachers create unique worksheets or rubrics. There are also links to useful map websites. A beginning or an experienced teacher could use these sites and find plenty of ideas for their classrooms!

http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/bannigana/worksheets.htm

Safety on the Internet Letter: This page is two letters about safely using the internet while in school. One letter is addressed to parents and outlines the rules for internet usage that their students will be subjected to. The second letter is addressed to students. It outlines the rules that they will have to follow and includes a contract that they and their parents must sign. The best way to keep students safe on the internet is to monitor their behavior and the sites that visit and punish violations.

http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/bannigana/safety.htm

E-mail Tips: