Instructional Challenge: Because I am a history teaching major, I am constantly looking for ways to make history fun and engaging for my students. One of the hardest things to help kids learn and remember are the battles in the wars. They can be fun to talk about but it's difficult for kids to really visualize what is going on when they can't see it. I decided I wanted to find a way for kids to see the battles play out.
Solution: I actually came up with a few different ideas for solutions to this problem. The first is a website I found at www.historyanimated.com where each of the major battles of the major wars is put on an animated map with sound effects and visuals of the movement of the troops and the locations of the big battles. This way the kids can really see what is happening in each battle. Another solution I researched is the smartboard. I didn't know a lot about this before so it was really fun to learn about. I discovered that having a smartboard in my classroom will enable me to make my own maps of battles or any type of event and allow the kids to come up to the front to help move things around themselves. They are not only seeing the troops move south, but they are actually touching the screen, moving the troops themselves. It is amazing technology.
Reflection: To learn about the website I just visited it and explored my way through all the battles it has listed. To learn about the smartboards I studied as much as I could online because I don't have access to an actual smartboard. However, I watched numerous demo videos on youtube and read from several different websites about how to use them and what they can do. They will be an extremely valuable asset to a history classroom!
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