School Projects

I had a different blog post in mind, but after an arduous weekend that included tears and frustration of helping my first grader do a school project on Giant Pandas, I decided to change my plans. Last weekend I learned that in one week we had to write a paper, do an art project illustrating their animal, and be prepared to present information to the class. I say we, because a 7 year old is not capable of doing the research on their own even if they have strong writing and reading skills, and the supplies for an art project must be acquired and assembled with adult supervision.

What does this have to do with this history blog? Assignment relevancy and instructor leadership! Letting our students pick a topic that interests them most and creating assignment guidelines that students can meet are essential basics to an assignment. In this assignment, the parents became the teacher guiding our seven year old through the process of research, writing, editing, and creating a final project. While we are actively involved in our daughter’s education, I wondered about parents who simply did not have time this week to take that role. Should the teacher really have lead students through this process during the school day? Would this have given the teacher the opportunity to monitor student’s ability and witness their personal growth? Should teachers in high school and early college education assume that students have certain skills rather than leading them to the final quality product? Rather than assuming that it is the student’s responsibility to find help if they need it, should we offer that support in our courses. Doesn’t ignoring this basic need open the door to plagiarism and other academic dishonesty? Shouldn’t instructors provide examples and other support to help students be successful? Some would argue that this is handholding, but I would argue we are leading students to a product they can be proud of and meets our expectations.

As a kid, I remember these assignments and that feeling of dread of loosing play time and other family weekend time when they were assigned. As a teacher, I can guess which objectives might be the goals with an assignment like this, and yet as a parent, I argue that those are not the objectives met. My daughter did not learn research skills though we tried, nor did she learn composition writing or reading skills though we tried. However as a family, we pulled together to support her which emphasized learning and education. She learned about the value of spreading the work out over a week and finishing what she started even when it wasn’t fun anymore. This evening after completing all her hard work, she feels pride in herself and her work and enjoyed spending time with us. By not taking the initiative to provide support to our students in higher education and leaving it up to the student to find support a support system, don’t we leave this feeling of success and learning up to chance?

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is not just a long weekend for great sales at the stores. More important it is a day to honor soldiers who have fallen serving our nation. Congress declared the last Monday in May a national holiday in 1971. However, the celebration of Memorial Day dates back to Decoration Day, first widely observed on May 30, 1868 by General Orders No. 11 written by John A. Logan. Flowers and decorations were placed on the graves of fallen Civil War soldiers. Today numerous volunteers place small flags at each grave at Arlington National Cemetery and customarily the President delivers a speech at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and places a wreath there.

The political causes of war are often controversial, but remembering and honoring the men and women who fought and paid the ultimate price for our nation should not be. Below are a few sites about modern wars you might visit and incorporate in class discussions about US history.

List of National Memorials

Arlington Cemetery

Vietnam Memorial

Vietnam War Museum

Korean War Veterans Memorial

Korean War Museum

Women in Military Service

World War I Museum

World War II Memorial

World War II Museum

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Geo-mashups

One of my favorite presentations at the eLCC conference was a about educational use of Mashups. What’s a mashup? Wikipedia defines mash-ups as “a web application that combines data from one or more sources into a single integrated tool. The term Mashup implies easy, fast integration, frequently done by access to open APIs and data sources to produce results that were not the original reason for producing the raw source data.”

One of my favorite ideas during the presentation was the combination of Google Maps, a free web mapping tool, for a Business course that asked students research the location of a business and how this effected the possible success of a business. Real estate agents have already been using this tool to add a little information about properties to maps for home buyers.

Like you, I started brainstorming about how to apply this concept to a history course. An assignment might require students to identify key locations on a map such as various battles of the Civil War and then add brief notes about the significance of each. An assignment such as this would not only help students organize key events but also understand more about the significance of geography to history outcomes.

Regardless of whether you incorporate Web 2.0 technology, geography is too often neglected as we race to cover so many events in a short time. The National Commission on Social Studies in the Schools was formed in 1987 to study the state of social studies in the schools and to make recommendations for curricular change. At this site you will find recommendations and strategies for emphasizing history and geography in grades K-12. Additionally, there are many other useful resources to help us teach the impact of geography on historical events. Also, check out the National Geographic web site that has lessons plans that use geography to learn about history.

Questions to Ponder

In April, I attended the eLCC conference and presented with Alice Bedard-Voorhees on New Designs for Assessment. Alice is the person I credit most for giving me an opportunity to teach online and for inspiring me to try innovative teaching tools and concepts. At the conference, I am pleased to share that Alice won the eLCC Faculty of the Year award. You might visit Alice’s blog at for inspiration.

I would like to share two questions that Alice asks that always encourage me to think differently. We all have students who are more difficult to manage. Sometimes students have bad attitudes about the course or fellow classmates. Sometimes they are frustrated with us about the type of assignments given or the technology. Sometimes they plagiarize. The question that Alice always asked me as my Chair and later Academic Dean was “How can we get back to the learning?” Alice empowered me to find a way to have a successful outcome for the student and class rather than getting stuck and frustrated by what wasn’t working. Not only did this help me not take the student’s problems personally, but it also helped me brainstorm ways to avoid the same problems in the upcoming semesters. By always thinking about how to best facilitate learning among my current students, I find that each semester I am more effective and patient. The question reminds me that students are there to learn and its my job to help them.

In a CCCOnline training webinar and at our presentation at eLCC, Alice posed this question for students. “What could you do, use, or create to demonstrate your learning for outcome X?” This question opens a dialogue between the instructor and student to select the method of delivery to demonstrate their knowledge. Students might choose to do something in Second Life, use a Web 2.0 tool like audacity, create a slide show, or write a traditional paper. The question allows students to develop their own assignment to achieve an objective or competency. In correspondence and cooperation with the instructor, a rubric for evaluation of the assignment can be developed and gives the student ultimate ownership of their learning. Imagine developing assignments and rubrics through open communication between the students either one to one, instructor to group, or class to instructor. What a way to focus on the individual learning and outcomes in a course!

Progress versus Historical Preservation

This month we reviewed the history behind environment preservation, and today I conclude this brief look at conservation with a call for communities to preserve their history.

It may not surprise you to know that my family picked its hometown due to the historic and small hometown feel of Mainstreet. Ten years later Mainstreet remains, but it has changed in the name of “beautification” and progress. The town moved or tore down historic buildings significant to the community and approved big chain businesses to build on open land and former farms. Like most of America, I appreciate the convenience of a short drive to a store with everything. I also recognize the economic benefits to a community and reflect on a national outlook that does not put historic preservation first.

In our relatively short national history, the pioneers of this great land had little time or concern about building many permanent structures as they constantly moved toward progress. Today this spirit of growth and change for the better remains in many communities, especially recently as they try to survive economic hard times. The cost for the convenience of big stores, big chain restaurants, and more shopping centers is the loss of open space and historic landmarks.

Recognizing the importance of growth as part of our national heritage and as part of community survival, I urge communities to also plan for preservation of their history. Do not tear down our history, incorporate it and make it part of your town’s unique identity. If buildings must be moved, create history preservation parks like the one in Littleton, Colorado or 4 Mile Historic Park near the heart of Denver.

Finally, this summer make it a priority to take the family on some mini-vacations or day trips and visit national treasures near you. The National Parks Service web site and this map collection by the University of Texas are great resources about parks preserving the environment and history. Additionally, most states including my own, Colorado, have great web resources about historic landmarks and places of interest to visit. An important lesson I learned from my Grandfather Chatnick is that by exploring the past with our children we can make stronger connections to the past while looking to the future.