Making History Alive 

Sometimes teachers may find it difficult to keep students engaged during a history lesson. Utilizing all that the internet has to offer is important in order to make history more enjoyable for students. 

History in the Raw 

     Primary sources such as drawings, diaries, and letters are important to show students as they show a different perspective than a textbook or other secondary sources. Primary sources also allow for students to connect with the author and feel closer to that part of history. They also develop key analytical skills when given primary sources. Utilizing these sources in the classroom can help keep students interested in a lesson rather than memorizing facts and dates. Primary sources allow for them to personally connect with history. 

Biography Maker 

     This was an interesting tool in order to make students experts on one particular person. Often during a history lesson students learn about multiple people who have impacted the world but the life and accomplishments of each person may not go into much depth. By each student creating a biography on a specific person, they can make in-depth discoveries about them and then share withe the rest of the class. Once completed, the biographies can be shared with the class, allowing for the activity to turn into a Jigsaw activity as well. Then, each member of the class with know more about each person in history that the students researched. Questions such as "What human qualities were most influential in shaping the way this person lived and influenced his or her times?" allow for a more in depth look at each person rather than simply "what did they do?"

QR Treasure Hunt Generator 

      This treasure hunt game was used in class on Thursday. This is a great tool to use with students as an indirect instruction lesson. The game can be played with multiple grade levels depending on the difficulty of the questions. Students will be interested in the game because it is an exciting treasure hunt, yet they will be answering questions pertaining to the lesson along the way and therefore furthering their knowledge. Using the treasure hunt as a cooperative lesson is great way to get students to work together as it takes individual input and patience in order to find multiple questions and answer them as a group. In class the activity was fun and was a great review of different Native American Tribes. If it worked in a college classroom it would only be even more effective in an elementary classtoom to be used as a review.