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NHD Class Reflection

Write a reflection piece for the class.

*How do you plan to implement NHD in your school next year? (Share your ideal vision.)
*What skills did you learn in this year's NHD class?
*Do you find the technology doable? Or would you like more support and training?

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Replies

  • I will be using this next year. The challenge will be to get with my principal and make a proposal to modify the curriculum before the school year starts. I do not think this will be a problem.



    What I need to do is go into the Blackboard system and choose a class that I want to embed NHD into. The classes will likely be US history and government.

    At that point I will have to choose where the NHD content will fit in best. I am think I may try a few different approaches. For one class, I may just utilize the discussion board and and post instructions for NHD on there. I will also post my Elluminate address where I will keep office hours to clarify the directions on the DB.



    THE second thing is that I may try to integrate the content for NHD into the actual online curriculum. That would mean using Softchalk to create the content, including links, and then uploading it to Blackboard.



    Because this will be taught in an online environment, I will have to be sure I test the curriculum from a students perspective to be sure they are geting what they need to participate in NHD.



    Now that I have a better idea of what NHD is and have seen a lot of NHD projects, I have confidence that I can teach it to students who are motivated to participate.



    Of course I will link the NHD web site (www.nhd.org) as often as I can.



    Thanks,

    very valuable info and I plan to use it.
  • I teach third grade in a Title One School.  Our population is mostly ELL students.  I plan to implement National History Day in the spring semester of next year after the SBA's.  We will do topics that involve Alaska Native Cultures.  This is the curriculum for third grade Social Studies.  In the fall, the students are really second graders and are learning about sentences, paragraphs, etc.  The concept of research is introduced in the second semester.  I will teach the students the various ways to present research such as paper, exhibit, documentary, performance or web site catagory.  I will also invite judges to judge the projects using the judging criteria.  It will be a competition within my third grade team.

         I learned what National History Day is all about.  I did not realize all of the different ways that the students can present research projects.  I am excited in presenting these ideas to my students and actually guiding the students threw their projects.  It will be a cross curricular project using various media.  I will also ask our librarian for help.

         I have learned how to do all of the projects.  I really enjoyed the performance and the web site catagory.  The various ways will appeal to the different learning styles of the students. 

         I found the technology douable.  I will need to practice and explore the sites.  I will also need to learn iPhoto and iMovie.  I plan to practice this summer.  I would like some more support and training in technology.  That is the one thing we are lacking at our school.  We have the computers and but not the training we need to teach the students technology.

         I really enjoyed the class and learned a lot about National History Day and the technology envolved.  Have a wonderful summer!

  • I do not plan to implement nhd this year.  I will be new to my grade and want to learn the curriculum first.  I learned some of the tech.  I had a hard time with the tech.  I would like to have more support and training.
  • I would like to do some sort of research with my students this year. It is very interesting to do this type of research, because integrates several activities useful for students: reading, writing, vocabulary, research skills and effective writing.

    I learned that using the history website you can use the technology available to make history interesting for kids to learn.

     

  • I found part of the technology pretty frustrating but I think that it will still be doable.  I plan to use the information from this workshop to help the sixth grade teachers in my building begin to think about doing a school NHD activity.  The information from the workshop was very valuable and I will be able to use it immediately with my students and teachers.  I can't wait to get back to College Gate and begin the process.  Thanks!!
  • I would like to implement National History Day in my school net year.  However, I will have to work with my curriculum to do so.  Our classes only run for only one semester, so we do not have a "good fit" with one semester being over, and the new semester beginning.  Nonetheless, I will do my best to educate our students about the opportunities available through NHD and I will try to create momentum for the program within the Social Studies Dept. as well as our English, Art, Drama, and technology departments.  I will be teaching Alaska, US, and World History this year; so, I have multiple options for implementation.

     

    I became aware and familiar with the National History Day website, the purpose and execution of the project.  I also learned more about iMovie, which I am very excited about using more fully with my students.  I also learned about Weebly, which is a website building site.  This is connected to NHD and also a general history / technology tool with many classrooms applications.

     

    Yes, this technology is doable.  I know that I will need to work on it more before I can best utilize it; but I am looking forward to doing so. 

     

    Yes!  I would love more support and training in iMovie, Weebly, as well as more advanced video editing and website design tools.

     

    Working with a bunch of social studies and other motivated teaching professionals is a pleasure and I appreciate ASDSA, John Trampush as well as Elaina's efforts on our behalf as well as on behalf of our profession.

     

    Thanks!

  • *How do you plan to implement NHD in your school next year?
    I really appreciate seeing what National History Day is all about. I have heard about it many times but never approached it. I have not seen my peers take it on. But what pleases me is that it is very much like the history project I love my students to work on. The battles I have waged through the process of a research project to the thrill of successes the students experience after their long struggle is mirrored in the NHD Project. As I now adopt this project, which I will, some of my battles will be fortified by this National Program and the cadre of peers. (Guys, stay in touch...safety in numbers)

    As before, I will be developing the process skills that this project demands in the first and second quarters and jump into the project 2nd semester. At the start of the year I will let the kids know that they will be doing this to build and build on it. We will see how the 3rd Qtr shapes up.

    *What skills did you learn in this year's NHD class? *Do you find the technology doable? Or would you like more support and training?
    I got to revisit old programs I haven’t touched in a while such as iMovie and Weeble. It was great seeing what the NHD kids are capable in producing.  The technology is doable. The challenge will be if my students are all over the place on different styles of NHD Presentations. I am good at the Poster Board and Voiced over Slide Show. The acting, movie documentary, and the website will need some more work to guide each student.

     

  • I enjoyed this intro to NHD.  I look forward to trying NHD this year.  I can tell I will need to take some time and play with Weebly.  It is similar to other presentation programs that I have used.  I think I will try to get my Librarian and fellow 6th grade teachers to get on board with this.  Take a year and figure out what works and what doesn't.  Overall, NHD will be a great tool to use to cross Social Studies with Lang. Arts.

     

    Thanks for your help!

  • I do not know if I will be using NHD in my school next year. At Central all students are required to do a science project and I will have to look at our team calendar to check the dates for conflicts. I will use the NHD template to have my students do an inquiry based project, but may not follow through to the competition.

     

    I learned a lot about Imovie and weebly. I also learned more than I had hoped for about the organization and planning required to teach a project like this.

     

    I always want more support and training. It seems like as soon as I learn something new it is outdated and I have to relearn everything. The timing of the training never seems to work for me. There is always a gap between the training and the first time that I can use it in my class. Has there ever been an academy in the fall? What was the attendance like?

  • Next year I am team teaching and we're planning on using National History Day as part of our Social Studies & Language Arts curriculum. My ideal vision would be that every child will create, either individually or small group, a project during school time.  50% of our class is stacked with resource & Tier II students & I can see them being able to create the webpage or documentary easier, but more importantly, more interactive & keeping them focused.  I think it will be fun in our classroom to have the kids explore different areas of interest & then allow them freedom to create projects.  I think the hardest part will be for the students to narrow down their topic & then focus on the research.

     

    Skills I learned were the weebly, which was really cool & easy to use to create a webpage. First time I've ever tried this & it was quick & not too frustrating.  I've helped with the poster boards in the past, so I feel comfortable with that category. 

     

    Yes, the technology was doable when I brought my own laptop.  I'm sure I'll have a dozen questions when we attempt this project, but for now, I'm feeling comfortable.  I would appreciate an email with all the topic ideas we thought of the first day of class.  I think that would be a great resource for the kids who might not really know many topics in history or have a direction. 

     

    Thanks!  I enjoyed the class & am excited to attempt this!!!

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