Week 5 - March 1, 2012

http://www.sascurriculumpathways.com/portal/Launch?id=32&bhcp=1

     The link above is a link for an interactive document analyzer containing four documents on the Mexican-American War.  I'm currently creating a unit plan for another class on the Mexican-American war with the use of a primary source document reader; I think these documents in conjunction with the primary source document reader would provide a more interactive and entertaining experience for students.  Additionally, this SAS Curriculum Pathways resource provides a few videos providing background on the war as well as a video providing directions on how to analyze primary source documents.  I may even consider using this resource in conjunction with the unit plan I'm currently designing in order to give this idea a test run to see how effective it can actually be.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/timeline/index.cfm

     This link was a link I found through Thinkfinity; I found it rather interesting.  It's an interactive map of American History, provided by the National Museum of American History on behalf of the Smithsonian Institute.  It provides an interesting overlay of Cultural and Political elements of American History in an organized format by year and era.  I would use this in the social studies classroom; while I might not use this for a lesson, I think it would be a great resource at the beginning of the year for a U.S. History course for students to get a general idea of what they're going to be covering for the year.  It's also a good way to keep student interest in what they're learning; sometimes interactive materials can help to break up the monotony in the classroom.