To model the expectations, my explanation for the changing views of war was done with Docs Story Builder. I framed it as a fictional, yet plausible, dialogue among three of their favorite teachers.
Using Open Educational Resources (OER)
This idea all started when I realized that my students needed to build Web literacy skills, and I wasn't designing activities that supported this need. Since the next lesson was about World War I, I decided to use one of the Library of Congress exhibits that compiled firsthand accounts from soldiers in the trenches.
Students chose two memoirs and made a list of facts and opinions from the first page(s) of each. The notes were analyzed for similarities and differences to provide some inspiration for a fictional, plausible dialogue.
Here's my list of resources. If you know of any that you think should be on the list, add the link to the comments below and I'll check it out.
Like many Google Apps, Story Builder is intuitive and provides enough explanation to get in and out of trouble. As I mentioned above, the process can be frustrating. Planning the dialogue in advance is advised, which is a routine our students should practice, anyway.
The business end of the dialogue writing is shown below. When the "write story" button is selected, it takes you to a screen to add the dialogue. This is also where music can be added by selecting the appropriate button. Please note, however, that the "add music" button must be selected to complete the story. If you choose not to add music, an option will available.
Google Drive Classwork Flow
Our class uses Google Drive folders to share work. I like this way of organizing workflow because it reduces the amount of times we have to share documents. This file share folder is accessible through Google Classroom to make it even easier.
Students accessed a Google Doc to paste their link. If the link isn't saved somewhere, it's lost. The image below shows the doc with the links. I guess this could be shared via Padlet or something fancier than Docs, but I like to keep things simple and less shiny.
My students will probably never forget about the conditions soldiers endured in the WWI trenches. They will also remember that trenches were WWI, not WWII. I'm confident of this because of the balance of activity that occurred during this project.
They laughed and had fun writing the dialogues, which always means better learning – laughing is learning. But the best result was the routine of using the Library of Congress to access information. As the course progresses, more OER is used and more student choice and responsibility is exercised.
Lastly, from a tech integration point of view, this activity is quick and easy to execute in a Google Apps classroom. I love easy tools that don't require new accounts. Otherwise, the tech can distract from the learning process.
Click here (or the image below) to see some of the student work samples.