Presidential Trivia Assignment

For fun, bonus, alternative assignment or web search, create a trivia quiz for President’s Day. This is a great way to focus on our nation’s leaders, and bring a little fun to an online or face-to-face classroom. As a web search, I know students will learn more than these basic facts about the Presidents. Here are some questions to get you started.

1. Which President could write both Greek and Latin with either hand at the same time?
2. Which President said, “If you expect people to be ignorant and free, then you expect something that never was nor never will be?”
3. Which President was a prisoner of war and the first to ride on a train?
4. Who made the longest inaugural speech but served the shortest term?
5. Which President said, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt?”
6. Which President was married at the White House?
7. Who served as vice-president and president but was not elected to either?
8. Which President received a patent for lifting vessels over shoals by inflating air chambers near the water line?
9. Which President introduced spaghetti and ice cream to this country?
10. Which President was the shortest at 5ft 4inches?

One alternative would be to have students create the trivia questions and see who can stump their classmates. Visit this use web source for more trivia or this site has some fun ones but beware of the extra ads. A great place to start research is Whitehouse.gov or this fact filled site. One other great resource on the web is the National Archives page on Presidents.

So I know you'ree wondering if I'll give you the answers... here they are:
1. Garfield, 2. Jefferson, 3. Jackson, 4. Harrison, 5. Lincoln, 6. Cleveland, 7. Ford, 8. Lincoln, 9. Jefferson, 10. Madison

History of Science

While working with my daughter on her science fair project, I began to reflect on the history of science and inventions in the United States. Too often, we narrow the study of history for students to some key political and social events. In reality, our lives and story are intertwined with economics, science, religion and other disciplines. I also have many students tell me they are not good at history and not looking forward to the upcoming semester. However, these students major in other disciplines that they are interested in and intend to pursue careers in other fields. To make history relevant to the budding scientist or inventor, why not provide the opportunity to study the history of that subject and long term effects these fields had on our past?

In honor of my daughter’s science project, here are a few sites worth checking out on the history of science. The list includes web sources that would take you on a research journey…

Internet History of Science Sourcebook Altius Directory
Altius Directory
History of Biology
History of Science
Famous Scientists

"What If" Assignment

Some events happen so quickly but have a tremendous significance at the time and later. For the “What If” Assignment, students reflect on a quick moment in time like an assassination or even a near miss of a key historical figure. Then based on their knowledge of the event, that person’s role in history prior to the assassination attempt, and the impact of their loss on history, students predict what might be different in history and today had the attempt failed or succeeded.

1. Pose this question to students “What if Booth missed?” or “What if Lincoln had survived the assassination attempt?” Then ask them to brainstorm all the thought that come to mind in 5 minutes.

2. Conduct a discussion in the class around the Lincoln assassination as this is already a popular topic. Even at one medical convention they discussed what if medicine could have saved him.

3. Student picks a key historical figure’s assignation or attempted assassination. Here are a few to suggest for US History: Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Robert F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, James Garfield, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, Richard M. Nixon, John F Kennedy, John Lennon (If you conduct the Lincoln Discussion, you probably won’t offer this one to students)

4. Student researches biography of key historical figure, events prior to the assassination, the assassination, the biography of the assassinator, and the outcome and effect of that attempt.

5. Based on their understanding of the person, events surrounding the assassination, and later the outcomes, the student writes a paper or presentation predicting what might have occurred differently then and now had the result of the assassination had been changed.

Be sure to specify length and other expectations to your students. What would be required of a grade school student would be different than that of a college student. Encourage students to not just day dream or include lots of wishful thinking, but base predictions on facts and details.

Save Time and Communicating with your students

Sometimes we lose focus on the basic teaching skills that we need to be effective online instructors, and sometimes we just need to use tools to help ourselves be more efficient. While you are preparing your courses for the spring semester, consider what areas in the past that students got frustrated, confused, or lost. Here is a little checklist to go through as you prepare for the spring semester.

-Reread and rethink all your instructions for assignments. Could you add resources that would help students get off on the right foot? Do you outline your expectations for the assignment clearly? If you are using a new technology, do you explain how to use it and why it may be a valuable tool?

-Review your assessments, quizzes, and study aides for accuracy and clarity. For essay questions, create a list of facts, terms, ect that should be included for an A to compare to students papers.

-Look over your rubrics to be sure they are clear and seem appropriate. Are the rubrics easy to understand from the student perspective? Would a checklist or other format better suit your students?

-Add spring due dates to your schedule.

-Prepare a welcome announcement or news item that gets students started in the right place in the course. You should also include this as a welcome email. Compose a bank of news items that you use each semester to remind students of upcoming due dates and expectations.

-Compose a welcome discussion post that introduces you to the students. Think ahead and compose a bank of additional questions and summary posts for discussion topics and save them in a file, so that you don’t have to create them on the fly during the semester.

-Outline your expectations for behavior, timeliness, and work load.

-Check all links in the course to be sure they work and take students to web sites and locations in the course that you expect.

-Create an FAQs page or Tips and Tricks to help answer redundant questions you get each semester. You could have them for each assignment, unit, or the course in general.

- Be prepared to point students to the information they need and be prepared to restate information in new ways for your students.

Above all for online classrooms, remember the format can be new to many students and your patience, kindness, and understanding may be especially important the first few weeks of class. Conveying your interest in the students’ success these first couple of weeks can set the tone the rest of the year.

What methods do you use to be more efficient and still communicate with your students regularly and effectively?

Turn your class into a Museum

As I’ve said before, group projects were my least favorite type of assignment as a student, and therefore, I am reluctant to use them in my own classes. However, I think if you set parameters, provide time and a work space for the groups, and ultimately judge the students on their performance the projects can be a positive learning experience for all.

Turn your classroom, online discussion, blog, or second life space into a museum exhibit on a particular topic related to the course. For this assignment, the class will work as a whole, but be broken into teams to handle different topics of the exhibit. Each member of the teams would be responsible for a part of their section. Have the class brainstorm what should be included in the exhibit and let students sign up for the team that most interests them. For example, an exhibit on Gettysburg might include a sections on clothing, weapons, strategy, generals, soldier life, medicine, the Gettysburg Address ect. The smaller groups or teams would brainstorm and divide up even more detailed topics and develop how they will present that content to a museum audience for an interactive experience.

A face to face class might include small replicas, people dressed in the appropriate attire, posters, ect. An online classroom might have some similar products but might also include technology like blogs, wikis, U-Tube, Web 2.0 tools, ect. Encourage students to be creative and remember they are engaging all ages and knowledge levels. As a class, they organize the material, put it together, and open their exhibit to others in the school or public. One way to help prevent chaos is to assign or vote on a leader for each team that would then form a committee to be the main organizing body of the exhibit.

Before getting started select the main topic for the exhibit, find resources to get the teams started, and consider how each individual and team will be evaluated and provide that rubric to each class member. Ultimately, you maintain the role of master curator and the success or failure of the exhibit lies with you, the instructor.

What experiences have you had with group work in your history courses? Please share with us your successes and failures.