I was able to use two apps in creation of a movie about a special community and its ties to history.  I went to grounds of the Eisenhower Presidential home, museum and library to take still photos and video.  Then using iMovie was able to easily put the images together to form my movie.  With the microphone in the iMovie app I was able to do my voiceover and tell the story of Abilene’s effect on a young man who became admired not only as a general but as a President.

In the beginning I tell of Eisenhower’s homecoming speech and the warm regards he holds for Abilene.  I then tell how his family moved into the area and the power of one young man’s suggestion had on the history of the entire world.  All together it is a three and half minute video that gives a very impactful lesson of power a community can hold in the lives of everyone.  I hope you enjoy the movie as much as did putting it together.

When taking a history class on any level the majority of the work seems to be centered on reading and writing.  For many students the writing process can be a challenge as they learn to gather thoughts and try to put pen to paper.  The iTunes U book titled Quality Writing Through Quality Talk: Verbalization to Improve Writing gives ideas on how tech can come in handy when trying to express our thoughts.  The book talks about using an assessment tool such as nearpod to gauge where the students are starting out at in the writing process.  Students can also put rough drafts into cloudart to visually see what words they may be using too much of.  Finally by using iMovie they are able to get creative with their writing and bring it to life with narration.  iMovie allows them to hear the words they have written and make adjustments if needed.

As you can see below there are several options for ideas to use apps in the classroom.  I am interested in looking into Stop Motion and Explain everything.  I believe the lessons provided have many ways to expand learning in the classrooms.

For this assignment I read Photographing History: Archiving with Apps.  This book features a fun and exciting way to interact with primary sources pictures and images. Lots of potential to apply these ideas in other classes and content areas. This is an awesome resource for any educator.  It focuses on using the time period of the New Deal and WPA to find local projects which exist in almost every community.  By using historical buildings students can research and put together their own research of these buildings from our past.  It also gives a link to The Living New Deal which is a treasure trove of resources about WPA projects including maps.  This is a great resource to help get kids out of the classroom and make history real and at the same time learning more about their own community.  This book will make an excellent asset to any learning plan.