Author: patriciaabney

Huge Changes for my Classroom: Using Technology to Flip the Classroom

The idea of flipping the classroom is becoming more popular as teachers learn about the technique through conversation, web searches, conferences, and other sources.  Last year I embraced the technique and so far it appears to be a rewarding experience for myself and students.

Flipping the classroom is not as easy as some make it seem.  I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent in front of the computer working on this new approach.  It has been exhausting.

The first page I created using myhaikuclass.com was an instant success.  I had no idea how much the kids liked using this approach until a student asked me if I’ve read the personal comments by the students which could be found at the bottom of the webpage. The following are just a few of the fifty-one comments I received during the first week of the site:

Thanks for setting up this blog Mrs. Abney.(: It is awesome!

 i agree this way we say what we feel and what we think should have happenedÐ

i agree as well its the best thing yet;)

yup, i like the vids cuz they educational and funny

This is a great idea and it is really helpful in many ways. I can also listen to music while I write comments (Music helps me concentrate). 🙂 Love the website.

Itz good cuz we can discuss wut was nd wut we think wut should nd shouln’t do , itz just plain fun 4 everyone.

Cool website Mrs.Abney!! When will you update again? Can’t wait!

I’m finally on this website and it is awesome thanks for setting it up

Below you will find a link to a “page” I’m working on for next year (it is under construction):

https://www.myhaikuclass.com/do/share/page/1779643?k=93ac3089d1aef9e793908a8592718bfff896b008

I use myhaikuclass.com.  I do pay for the site, but the principal of my school site has decided to pay for the website next year as he sees the value in the technology.  I actually had him enroll in the class as a parent and student.  He was impressed with the work the students produced, as well as the website.  Check it out…I’m definitely an advocate.

21^st Century Brings About Changes in the Study of History:

(A Brief synopsis of an Internal Struggle 😉

A little more than a century ago women were viewed by society as a whole as inferior, this fact is known throughout the world.  I was raised knowing this, but yet little do I recall learning about famous women in history.  There were short topics throughout my primary and secondary grade schools where an instructor spoke of Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, and of course Sacajawea.  This may have been a good founding for a young woman growing up in the 20^th century, but not good enough in the history classes of today. History has been, and seems to continue to be, a theatre of the story of man not the story of humanity. What is the difference? The difference is humanity encompasses all gender, race, religion, and culture. The history we have been taught is often one sided.  One only needs to view one portion of American history to see this statement as true.

Only in the last few decades have we witnessed historians increasing the need to gather more knowledge of the roles and views of women, religion, and race throughout history.There is no doubt this has come about in large part, if not solely, from the ability to share information worldwide through the Internet.  Without such advances in technology the role of women in American history would still be limited.

Beginning in the 1990s women studies was a part of many colleges throughout the United States. At least for me, the class was more or less about the role of women from the 1960s and beyond. It may not have been the ideal class, but it was a start on my journey to find equality in history. The Internet of the time was not nearly as helpful as it is today in its use as a discovery tool to our past.

Students and scholars are able to conduct research like never before.  In the last decade, the history of the United States has taken on a new perspective.  Use of terms such as historiography and presentism are now common within the discussions amongst history teachers. Pedagogy has changed. The role of women in history has changed.  We now know the opinions, roles, and thoughts of women of the Civil War.  This information has always been in existence, but it was unattainable to the majority of the population. Students who want to study the role of women in the American Civil War are now able to do so without the limitations that existed in the past.

There still remains a problem though; information is limited to what historians, biographers, and eyewitnesses have written.  Much of the information is fragmented at best and discovery is difficult and time consuming.  And, when we really evaluate the information, one must ask, how much of the information was written with a white male perspective? The best lens into the lives of women in the past is through their writings, and as the study of humanity continues and the use of the Internet continues to foster websites devoted to primary resources (research engines opposed to search engines), history will be understood in a broader perspective and with a deeper understanding of humanity of the past.

(Thanks to John Stuart Mill and his book co-written with his wife Harriet Taylor Mill entitled The Subjugation of Women and a certain professor who once expressed that he did not realize my potential)