Blog Project using Blogs.mu

I have created a project for my World History class. I am assigning them a event in WWII and they are going to create informational blogs about the event. To make this work well I am using Blogs.mu to host the students' blogs.

On my classroom site I have more information about the project. In a couple weeks I will post links to the finished results of the student work.

I really wish I would have found out about this site earlier. I can see so many uses for blogs.mu in a classroom or school.

School's Out for Summer - NOT HERE!
Since I have students until June 18th, it is almost crazy to say this (but I know others are getting out this week), but I will continue to blog all summer so if you need some ideas or are teaching summer school (like me), come by for a visit. Thanks, by the way for visiting in general as we had 14,000 hits last month.

Summer Assignments for AP World

I always find it a struggle to give the perfect assignment over the summer. So, if you are the same way, here are what others are doing:

• Book Report - this is one that can work for any book and has a lot of good questions
  
• Book: Guns, Germs and Steel - lengthy questions on the book
  
• Book Reviews: Guns, Germs and Steel and Traditions and Encounters
• Books: Guns, Germs and Steel, Catastrophe, Plagues and Peoples and King Leopold's Ghost
  
• Books: Guns, Germs and Steel and Traditions and Encounters
  
• Book: This Fleeting World with lots of thought provoking questions.
  
• Review of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley, Shang & Zhou China, Olmecs and Persians
  
• Book reviews: A Woman of Nazareth, Nervous Condition, Tree of Red Stars, Wild Swans, Monkey, Sundiata, Poisonwood Bible, Funny Boy, Tears of the Giraffe, Guns, etc, Genghis Khan, Kamala
  
• Book: Guns, etc. Epic of Gilgamesh, Biblical Account of Noah, Code of Hammurabi, Grily Assyrian Records of Torture and Death
  
• Vocabulary, maps and chart analysis
• Vocabulary (lengthy) and maps
  
• Vocab and review assignment
• Vocabulary
• more links to summer assignments
  

Online World History Newsletter
This has items such as DBQs, articles, book reviews, etc. and it is in a very easy to read format. It should prove a great resource for the classroom.

Twenty Part Movie on the Rise of China
The nice thing about this movie is that it is broken into 9 minute segments so you don't have to show the entire thing. It is on youtube.com so you might have to download it the night before if you can't access it at school. To do that go here.

So Many Blogs, So Little Time
There are a bunch of ways to follow your blogs. You can go to them every once in a while, have an e-mail sent to you or have a Google reader page set up for you which allows you to quickly see what has been updated, add as many pages as you want and to share the pages with others. Play the movie above to see it done - and it's very easy.

Dr. Seuss Went to War

Dr Seuss Went to War

Students see propaganda posters for WWII all the time. But this is a compilation of comics made by Dr. Seuss during WWII to raise support and money for the United States.

I would mention to students that a couple of the cartoons show racial stereotypes. However, Dr. Seuss' slant on raising support is very unique and worth checking out.

Geography Game
Do your students know where each of the countries are? This game above tests one's knowledge and is done under a time clock. Check it out.