Resources – Lakota
Rather than using technology as a tool to instruct directly, teachers can use it as a tool to facilitate conversation. This conversation should allow for more personal student experiences that allow them to draw upon a wider base of experiences. This works particularly well when exploring multiple interpretations of a historical event. The Lakota Teaching Project contains a representative curriculum. This curriculum can easily be adapted to teaching other lessons of history, particularly those involving culture. The structure of a simple curriculum for this might be:
- Provide students an overview of a simple web authoring tool such as Microsoft’s FrontPage
- Segment the history topic into modules. (The modules on the Lakota site are indicated at the bottom of their homepage).
- For each module, create activities for students that allow them to explore their understanding of your topic area. For example, students might explore the impact that war has had on their family to understand the impact of war on a community.
- Students should contribute to a web page that reflects their view of the specific activity. This can be thought of the equivalent of an enhanced ‘electronic journal.’
- Once several sites have begun, teachers should encourage students to review the work of others, within their class and outside of it, and discuss the differences in the various projects.
- In-class projects should focus on exploring the differences between the students. Students should be encouraged to publish paper and interpretations to their sites.
© 1998-2008 Funderstanding. All rights reserved.
Leave a reply