Mr.Meyer's Blog

Educational Podcasts Revisionist History Podcast by: Malcolm Gladwell and Panoply Media      Since I am a history education major, I decided to do my Extra Credit post on a podcast dealing with history. It just so happens that one of the recomendations was for a podcast called "Revisionist History." This podcast is aimed at going back in history and taking a second look at an event to see if how we look at an event today has changed from what it was back then. As Gladwell says, "Because sometimes the past deserves a second change." This podcast does just the thing. Below is the link to the homepage of the podcast.  http://revisionisthistory.com/      One of my interests in the field of history is foreign relations with the Middle-East. Since the culture of the United States differs so much with that of the Middle-East, it has always been a deep interest of mine to explore a culture that is different from the one I live in. This podcast...

Online Review for Students Both Kahoot and Quizlet are fabulous online materials for students to use in the classroom. Thinking as a future educator both Kahoot and Quizlet can be used to help students review for an upcoming test. Kahoot is an online source that the teacher can create. The teacher can import review questions into Kahoot and have it set up as a review game. In this game, there are badges and places. By answering questions correctly and quickly you receive points. This is a great idea for a competitive based game in the classroom that is fun and easy. The students will enjoy it as well. Quizlet on the other hand is a resource that can be used for students to study for a test. Quizlet has tools such as flashcards, practice test, and review games that make studying easy. Quizlet can be used for all age groups. As a teacher, you can make the Quizlet and share it with all of your students. This is a great way to use technology in creating a study guide. These are just two...

Video Technology      Wouldn't that be awesome to learn about another culture from people of that culture. Teachers are always looking for new ways to make their lesson plans more memorable for their students. As a future educator, I was thinking about how I could make learning history more interesting. One thing I had in mind is learning about another state or country's history from their point of view. The best way to do this is having students from one culture teach the other students from another culture about their own culture. How cool would it be, as a teacher, to watch your students teach others about their country's history. One way I think this could be made possible is through the use of video chatting. Through an application like Google hangout, Skype, or even Facebook messenger this could be done. The first step would be making a connection with someone in a different state, country, or even a different continent. Once you have a connection with another te...

Personal Learning Network (PLN) On the first day of my Education Technology class, the teacher instructed us to all get out a piece of paper and create a diagram that illustrates how we learn. We were told to brainstorm and think about all of the different types of media, technology, and other tools we used to learn, share information, and make connections with the outside world. After brainstorming for a little while, this is what I came up with. Pre-Map of my PLN  Made on January 17th, 2018 As you can see, the ways I learned were the stereotypical ways most people learn and explore new information. I learned mostly from my parents, teachers, and google. While I was able to share and or experience the outside world though twitter, Facebook, and podcasts. While the tools I listed on my PLN here have endless roads to information, as I went through the semester, I was able to expand my PLN to find so many more useful resources I either didn't know existed or neglected...

What is iCivics? iCivics is a website that I came across while searching for content to teach in my Level I course during the fall of 2017. iCivics offers a wide variety of resources that teachers can use inside of the classroom. As the importance for U.S. Citizens engaging in civil duties withing their local community grows, what better way to teach them at a young age. iCivics provides important topics that every single U.S. citizen should know about their government. As an educator, I find this resource very useful because it is a new approach to teaching civics to students. There are fun games, activities, and discussions that are covered through this website. The games that iCivics has to offer are aligned with the Common Core standards which make it easier for the teacher teaching the unit. This is by far what I find most valubale about this source as a future educator. There are many sites out there that offer free educational tools but you have to go through them and see if i...

Virtual Reality Field Trips As a history teacher in the making, new ideas flow through my head every single day. During my Educational Technology class, we took a tour through virtual reality. Here, we got to see the ocean floor, inside the human body, and even on a ship during World War II! I thought this was amazing. Walking out of that classroom, my mind was racing with different ideas on how to implement this into the classroom.  It is very unlikely that a first year history teacher can take a group of high school students to Rome to visit the Colosseum, or maybe to Washington D.C. to tour the top federal government buildings. Unfortunately there isn't enough time and money for the students to experience that on a daily basis. However, with the new technology of virtual reality, students can have a virtual tour of almost any place around the world. They can tour the White House, the Taj Mahal, and even places throughout history like the beaches of Normandy France. Th...

This may seem like old news to some but while I was exploring the internet, I came across a website listing all 50 states and ranking them on which state is the best. According to usnews.com, they ranked Iowa as the number one state in the United States. They point out the importance of the presidential caucus tour originating every 4 years in Iowa. They also point out that Iowa raises more hogs than any other state. We have a 91.8 % graduation rate. In 2016, we produced 20 percent of the nations corn and we are also a leader in soybean production. While agriculture stands out when thinking about Iowa, I think there are many other features that Iowa should be recognized in. I remember when I was in elementary school we had a unit about learning about different states in the United States. We did this by examining the backs of state quarters. I had the opportunity to examine Iowa. On the back of the Iowa quarter, you can see a schoolhouse and a teacher outside instructing students while...