Rich Parker’s Web Page Index
John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath is presented to sophomore students at the honors level. Before reading the book, it’s a good idea to familiarize students with The Great Depression and The Dust Bowl. This bibliography is a list of useful web addresses for both students and teachers on topics relevant to a study of The Grapes of Wrath. Through these sites students and teachers can access text, images and music from the era. http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/DustBowllinks.htm
Civil War history has, for a long time, been a passion of mine. Maryland was at the center of the Civil War, and important sites of this defining event in American history are all around us. This activity introduces, through text and images, many of these important locations in Maryland.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/TourCWMD.htm
Students with special needs should not be at a disadvantage at any time during classroom instruction. This should extend, of course, to any instruction which aims to make students more comfortable and skilled in using the Internet. These accommodations, adapted from the same kind of accommodations utilized by classroom teachers teaching special needs students in any subject area, should provide some level of support for students with special needs when approaching electronic academics.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/accommodations.htm
One of the fastest growing uses for the Internet among the general public is the use of online shopping opportunities. A wide variety of such opportunities exist from straight retail shopping to auction action. Whatever method of shopping one prefers there exists a need for consumer to be cautious about e-commerce. Here are some comparisons of the various kinds of Internet shopping and advice on how to make it work for you. http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/eshopping.htm
Looking for something on the Internet? There’s a mind-boggling number of websites devoted to almost any topic under the sun. How do you narrow your search and save time? A good search engine can be the beginning, acting as both conduit and filter. Here are some favorite search engines.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/searchengines.htm
What services should a well-organized media center offer its students? Here are some examples of the kind of services and links offered by a few of the more impressive school media centers visited during the course of this activity.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/MCWebsite.htm
It’s never been demanded that teachers re-invent the wheel every time they teach a new unit. Within departments or among grade-level teachers there has always been a good deal of sharing and peer support. Now, with the Internet, that sharing can include teachers from all corners of the academic world without ever the need to be in the same room together. Here are some website devoted to teachers sharing lesson plans with other teachers.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/TeacherWebsite.htm
As with the site above, some wonderful teacher aids can be found at websites devoted to collecting and organizing lesson plans and making them available for teachers.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/LessonPlans.htm
Got a few moments to kill? Oh, sure! Don’t we all? But just in case there’s a little bit of your day when you can sit down and play, here’s some thoughts on online gaming.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/OnlineGames.htm
Any time a student uses the Internet in research, he or she must cite the source of that information just as would be required if the information had been gathered from books or magazines. There are, of course, a number of style books describing a variety of citation styles and formats. Here’s a recommendation on one particular style that might be easiest for students to use.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/CitingSources.htm
One of the fun things about the Internet is the ability of the user to access more than just text. There are a lot of sounds to be experienced as well. Here, in connection with a sophomore unit on speech, is a collection of sites that offer complete audio of well-respected speeches.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/Sounds.htm
Sophomores study the pros and cons of free access to knowledge and, as a part of the unit, debate the necessity for restrictions on knowledge particularly within certain age groups. Here’s an activity that has students uncovering the history and intent and effectiveness of the movie ratings system.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/DI1Ratings.htm
Again, in the knowledge unit: What art is appropriate for children and young adults or for the general public. In part, the National Endowment for the Arts determines to what art Americans are exposed. By deciding which artists to support with U. S. tax dollars, the NEA can inspire an artist or put an end to a struggling career. What has the NEA done with this kind of power. Here’s an activity that leads students to answers to these questions and has them asking questions of their own.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/DI2NEA.htm
Shakespeare has never been confined to Elizabethan England; his characters never tied down to the time period in which Shakespeare set or wrote his plays. This activity asks seniors to examine three different images of Shakespeare’s great tragic king King Lear: Shakespeare’s original medieval British monarch, his incarnation as a wealthy Texas landowner in the 1800’s and his transformation to an aging Samurai warlord in 16th Century Japan.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/DI3Lear.htm
High school sophomores are only a very few years away from being granted the vote. It’s a good time to begin to awaken sophomores to the qualities that have shown themselves, over time, to be essential in effective leadership. It’s a time for sophomores to begin synthesizing their own expectations for effective leadership. This activity may be a start in that process.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/DI4Leader.htm
Part of the sophomore expressions unit deals with a study of how much is revealed in a non-verbal ways during the communications process. This activity asks students to examine gestures and their subtle or not-so-subtle meanings.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/DI5Expressions.htm
In conjunction with a film unit in second semester senior English, the students are asked to take charge of their own curriculum. Study is directed on a “film of choice” from a highly selective list of films with historical, artistic or social significance. Here’s the activity that should lead to a fine presentation and class discussion.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/WebQuest.htm
To be used only when all course work is done: This is a course module that invites a student to learn how to plan a day or weekend getaway using Internet resources. Pick a destination, find hotel accommodations, find daily and evening activities, locate a good restaurant, use one of the many map services available on the web to plan out your travel itinerary. Leave nothing to chance; know that this is the perfect getaway before you ever feed the cats, turn off the stove and lock up the house. (You did turn off the stove didn’t you?)
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/slm/student/parkerr/ModuleTrip.htm