Best+Practices

George Handel

When I taught fifth grade in New Jersey, part of our curriculum was just music history. We weren't given a particular composer or time to study, just do something in music history. One of the things I chose to teach to my fifth grade students was George Handel. In order to do this in a way that was more interesting than me just telling them about him, we did a drama activity. The first thing I did was give them some background information on the time in which Handel lived. - there was not running water, no electricity, no television, no radio, no computers, no cars, etc. We talked about what was not around back then and what was done/used in place of these things. We also looked at some pictures of life back then, including pictures (paintings) of Handel himself. After this introduction to the time in which he lived was completed, the students started working on who he was. I divided the class into 9 groups (usually of 3 or 4 students). Each group was given a piece of paper. Each paper contained two or three paragraphs about some part of Handel's life. Their job was to create a talk show or newscast in which they had to interview someone and present all of the information on their sheet though the interview. Creativity was just as much a part of what they did as the information. They had to decide who they were talking to - either go back in time and talk to Handel himself, a friend, a relative a neighbor, etc., bring someone back from the dead, talk to a music historian, or to someone who was somehow related to him but alive now. It was completely fictional, except for the information they were providing. They had to have a script and everyone in the group had to participate. It was always a high point in music for that year. The students really loved being so creative and everyone learned so much about what they had to present and about what the other groups had to present. In addition, while the students were watching each group give their presentations, they had questions that the group presenting had made that were important - things the audience needed to take away from the interview.

After learning more about blogs through our course, I am looking forward to using this technology in one of the online courses I teach for a high school. I really want the students to be more interactive with one another and discussion board postings are just not doing "the trick." I plan on asking the district for permission to use a blog site that has been deemed safe for educational use, however I am need to start the process now in order to have everything in order for the 2010-2011 school year. I think that this technology will add so much to the course and I look forward to watching as it takes new turns.
 * Blogging**

I found a very informative site about the place of RSS in education. It discusses many of the concerns and uses of this Web 2.0 tool in education. It's a must read for any educator looking at how to use RSS feeds in his or her classroom.
 * RSS**

[|RSS and Education]

I found a site that covers a lot ground where UDL is concerned. It actually contains links to a number of articles and informative sites for teachers looking to use UDL in their classrooms.
 * UDL**

[|Inclusive Schools Network]