Topic 14: USHMM--Open Post

This past week, I have been attending a conference called, "Teaching the Holocaust." This was put on by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). It was a great learning environment on what I can do as a teacher, but it also offers a lot of technology aspects to bring into the classroom. The USHMM website has a lot of really cool aspects, but I will list my top five below.

1. Animated Maps

The Animated Maps are short video clips that allow for the teacher to not only show the students where something happened, but also give basic background information behind the event. One of the new items that I learned at the training was about the voyage of the St. Louis. Below is the link that will show you how an animated map works.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/media_nm.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005267&MediaId=3544

I would use this in my classroom as a starting point and then move on with our teaching lesson.

2. Encyclopedia

One of the best parts about the Encyclopedia is that it can be translated into mulitple languages, which will allow you to help your students that do not speak English as their first language. Each article also has pictures, artifacts, videos (if available), and links within the article if there are items you might not be aware of. I will use this in my webquest for my lesson plan for this class.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005130

3. Artifacts

Primary documents and artifacts from the time period are so important for our students to see. There are a lot of artifacts that are found in the Encyclopedia that can be useful for starts of conversations. Below is a link to the artifact.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/media_da.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005142&MediaId=113

4. Online Exhibitions

The Online Exhibits are a way to take your students on a virtual field trip. As part of my curriculum, I am supposed to talk about the importance of persuasion in writing and pictures. There is an oline exhibit on propoganda that will be beneficial to my studetns to see.

http://www.ushmm.org/propaganda/

5. Personal Histories

This is one of the items that will become more crucial as more of our Holocaust survivors pass away. The Personal histories are written stories and some videos that show the students the real person.

http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/phistories/

I am looking forward to next semester when I can add this wonderful piece of technology into my classroom.