Google+ Hangouts In Action - World History

As the December 23rd post from Ken about Google + states, there is more and more collaboration happening between teachers using this Google tool.  (See the example  embedded in that post made by Wallace of Wallace and Gromit.)

One such example of collaboration was when a “Civil War Soldier” was whisked through time from December 13th, 1862 to December 13th, 2012, where he met with a class of High School students after his time travel, answered their questions, and added to their content understanding

Sometimes students pay more attention to a “Show.” They hear more when occasionally someone else shares information. Think of the benefit to students of:  

• Having  a member of a hunter-gatherer society visit with your classes
• Ask a Phoenician about their culture, and how they came up with the Alphabet
• Talk with someone from the early culture of Greece, China, Rome, or any other place being studied.
• Hear from a feudal lord or serf about what life is like for them
• Converse with Michelangelo and  Leonardo da Vinci
• Listen to a trader working  the commerce routes linking Europe with Asia and Africa
• Study the Reformation and Counter-reformation with John Wycliffe, John Calvin, Martin Luther, or an Inquisitor.......
• Sit in a room where the  Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact is discussed and signed
• Hear from  a simple member of The Hitler Youth
• Experience the story of a Holocaust Survivor, Liberator, Resistance Fighter, or even a Collaborationist

You get the idea. It IS necessary to “storyboard” this out, but you are capable, and we offer ourselves as “adjunct faculty” to help you develop a plan for this.