Teaching the Civil War with Technology

Just a quick list of items that I’ll be adding to the wiki.  I hope to be doing these more frequently so stay tuned.

Harriet Tubman Interact Map from Harcourt School — A cute little interactive that allows students to learn more about Harriet Tubman.

Harriet Tubman Webhunt from Scholastic — A great resource that includes tons of links and resources related to Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad

Unraveling the Underground Railroad Webquest — Nice webquest where students  become individuals involved in the Underground Railroad (slaves, slave owners, conductors, Northerners) and will come together and discuss this important historical event.

Across Five Aprils Resources , Study Guide for Across Five Aprils and the Across Five Aprils Webquest — provides some good resources for those who use this book in their classroom

Free at Last: Slavery in Pittsburgh, Pa – The exhibit documents early slavery in Pennsylvania including slaves’ journeys from Africa, through the abolition movement and the aftermath of the Civil War. The website is divided into sections: the Middle Passage to Early America, The Freedom Papers, Fugitive Slave Laws and Escapes, Abolition, Civil War and Aftermath, and a Photo Gallery.

Lincoln:  Booth’s Last Days — great collection of videos and links to resources from the History channel on John Wilkes Booth

Posted under Miscellaneous, Websites

As you know, I love looking at Civil War era photographs and I have discussed the site Virtual Civil War before.  Mike Lynaugh is a professional photographer who has created a collection of photographs of Civil War battlefields and reenactments know as Virtual Civil War.

And on this the anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, I’d like to share one of my favorite collections.  Mike’s Gettysburg Gallery contains some incredible photographs of the battlefield as it looks today. What a great way for you to tour the battlefield with your students. Or art teachers can use the photographs to discuss some of the techniques the Mike uses to create these terrific photographs.

Here are two of my favorites:

This is a close up of the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (PVI) monument on Oak Ridge. This is Sallie Ann Jarrett, the mascot of the the 11th PVI who was present at Gettysburg and got left behind when the 11th fell back through the town. Sallie stayed on the field, behind enemy lives with the dead and wounded of the 11th. More on her for another post.

My other favorite is this one of an extreme close up of the Virginia Monument showing the details that go into creating such a magnificent monument.
Be sure to check out Mike’s other galleries such as Antietam, Harper’s Ferry and Manassas.

PS: I also have a special photo of the 11th PVI monument as my desktop wallpaper.

Posted under Websites

Today’s post will be used to list some blogs that talk about the Civil War and could be used within the classroom. These blogs allow you and your students to bring subject matter experts along with tons of primary and secondary source materials into your classroom.  You can view these blogs individually or add them to your RSS aggregator.

A Blog Divided: This blog from Dickinson College is “for anyone teaching or studying the House Divided Era, 1840 – 1880″

Civil War Memory: This blog contains the “reflections of a High School History Teacher and Civil War Historian” and was created by Kevin Levin. Kevin’s blog contains some great posts and links to various ways to teach about the Civil War.

Blog 4 History: This American History and Civil War History blog contains some great research articles that can be incorporated in numerous ways. I especially like the Demographics of the 11^th Wisconsin post and the Civil War in 90 Minutes or Less posts.

Civil War Librarian: This blog provides some very good reviews of books related to the Civil War as well as insights into authors and historians.

And last but certainly not least:

My Year of Living Rangerously: Ranger Mannie is a park ranger at Antietam National Battlefield and offers great insight and often behind the scene tours of that famous battlefield in Sharpsburg, MD.

Check out more of my favorite blogs on my Blog Roll on the left side of my home page.   If you know of one that I should add to my blog roll, leave me a comment and I’ll add them.

So, how will you be using blogs in your classroom? Let me know.

Posted under Websites

The following is by far one of the best Civil War related websites for educators that I have seen.
MrNussbaums.com’s Civil War Page contains a wealth of activities and resources including:

• Interactive Battle Maps
• Civil War Timeline
• Cause and Effects of the Civil War
• People of the Civil War
• Union and Confederacy
• Civil War Activities
• Civil War Clip Art
• Civil War Videos

Let’s take a look at a few of these pages in more detail.

The Interactive Battles Map allows students to click on the name of a battle and it will pop up a brief description of the battle on the right side of the page. The map also shows Union vs. Confederate states, which side won a particular battle and more.

The People of the Civil War page provides some great information on many of the major players of the war including Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Harriet Tubman and Matthew Brady.

The Civil War Activities page includes “reading comprehension exercises, cloze reading exercises, sentence surgeons, word searches, jigsaws, crossword puzzles and much more.”

Be sure to take some time to explore this site and I’m sure you will want to share it with your class.

Until next time…

Posted under Lesson Ideas, Websites

As you know, my daughter has her Civil War Sallie project that is traveling around teaching and learning about the Civil War.  Well, my son CJ has created his own project named Patriot Pete.  As the newest member of the Follow Me Project family, Patriot Pete was created to get kids to learn more about how we as Americans show our patriotism and support our armed forces while teaching about using technology.

Pete is traveling around  looking for classrooms, famous American landmarks, military bases, and other places around the country that are important to our history.  He would love to come visit you in order to learn more about patriotism while sharing his experiences on his blog and Flickr page.

Please go and check out Pete’s home page and if you teach about some aspect of patriotism, live or work on or near a famous American landmark, military base or museum I hope you can sign up to have Pete come visit you.

Posted under Lesson Ideas, Miscellaneous, Websites