Webcrawling. Amazing Resources I've Seen Recently

No theme today—just information on a few cool websites I’ve come across.

Indian Country Today has a great link to photo galleries and hot topics. The galleries include everything from features on particular artists, photos of Idle No More protests, and “the art of the powwow.” Scroll to the bottom of the page and you’ll find links to three hot topics: the Washington Redskins, Climate Change, and the Elouise Cobell case—each of which collects links to Indian Country Today stories.

Elementary teachers: It’s not Montana history, but this one’s for you. Bringing History Home believes young historians need to practice five processes in order to develop their skills: reading for background and context, analyzing original sources, constructing timelines, mapping historic events, and synthesizing (or creating history accounts.) They’ve developed a variety of lesson plans, for kindergarten to fifth grade, to practice these skills.

I’d heard about Picturing America, an initiative from the National Endowment for the Humanities, but never took time to explore it until I saw this Teachinghistory.org review: Picturing America “contains a wealth of resources for using art in the classroom. The site contains links to four lesson plans that teach students how to analyze art, for example, teaching the basics of composition. The site contains over 20 pieces of art from various periods in U.S. history. A short essay with background information and analysis accompanies each piece of art. There are resource guides for using art, including a guide designed specifically for younger students.”