Xenite.org is a history forum broken up into three categories – prehistory, ancient history, and medieval history. The forums each have moderators and non topical questions are blocked out/deleted. I read through a large number of posts and questions each of which received an excellent answer that to me seemed simple and concise. The forum seemed an excellent spot for students to pose serious questions and get serious answers in return. However, the forums were limited to those three and it was laden with advertisements that might act as eye candy for the non-discerning student. The site also had a search engine built into it for history books or books dealing with history. To me that seemed like a pretty cool idea. I can honestly say that come the fall I will post a question or two on the forum site

This site is a real find! The site is a forum about books. You remember them right? They have pages and covers and pictures and were around allllloooong time before the net. This forum focuses on history books. This is an excellent site for students doing research papers. Not so they can cheat their way through the paper but by asking questions as to what the members of the forum think would be good books for the topics that the students picked! I spent at least thirty minutes looking at other people’s views of book. Good, bad, or ugly. The topics were varied and gave me a couple books to look for at Borders. Teachers in general need longer days this forum helps History teachers by giving them a good reference point from which to search for books – for the library or for their own desk without having to spend hours at the bookstore or online and Barnes and Noble .com

This project unites the USA with a variety of other countries – and has been ongoing since 1995. The purpose is to create ongoing dialogues dealing with a varity of issues in the Utopian state of mind- the have adjusted the project to include: Interpersonal Exchanges (e.g.Keypals, Electronic Mentors, etc.)
,Information collections (e.g. Scavenger hunts, electronic publishing, etc.), and Problem-based learning (e.g. Environmental studies, etc.). I think it is a pretty cool idea. The vision of perfection in one is not the same in another. I have started to think seriously about how I might adopt this in one if not both of my classes.

The use of primary and secondary sources is of great value in this project. 50 “eyewitness” accounts are used. I read through a few of them and was impressed with the flow of the accounts. I also like that the “eyewitness” accounts were so far ranging and on a variety of topics. I will definitely use this site in some regard or another. I think this site has something for every teacher at every grade level. The pictures and speeches are also powerful. This is an excellent site that I am glad I came across.

I picked download.com because I accidentally came across it looking for ways to improve my web quest…which I have…I decided to type “education” into the search engine and 400 educational software materials appeared before my eyes. A neat thing about download.com is that it also has users rate the materials. That seems extremely beneficial to me simply because if other teachers like the software than it must have some value. Download.com is also great because almost all the materials are free! Those that aren’t are samples to try and then buy. For example I downloaded “swish” which Mark initially brought up in class…and I bought in 5 minutes! I continued to type in words – high school, social studies, history – that related to my areas of focus…I found at least one or two things – within seconds – that I could use in some way or the other. Is this site beneficial for students? No. I see them going right to games or Britney Spears screen savers. Is it beneficial for the teacher in the classroom or at home to aid them with materials and tools that they could use in class? Yes.

Julen.net is a history search engine. I could live at this site. Beyond the engine contained within the site is an enormous link page – in alphabetical order no less – to every topic of history imaginable…as long as it does not deal with the far east. The search engine is very helpful but the links are limited when dealing with occidental history. Hopefully over time this situation will be rectified. Is this site useful for students? Yes! I have already linked it to my web page. It is of great use for any number of topics the students will meet in my freshmen class, US History on the sophomore level, European History on the Junior level, and World Today on the Senior level. There is also a ton of info for elementary and middle school grade levels! Another great thing about the site – similar to download.com – is that the sites once searched – if known by the engine are rated! This is a great user friendly engine – historically speaking – for both the educator and the educated.

The site is set up well. It smartly uses tables and good color combinations. The lesson plan link is the first one one the left hand side of the page. Since most teachers are looking for lesson plans it is the perfect spot to put it – seeing that the English language is read left to right. The categories also go down in order of “importance”. Personally I like alphabetical order. The presence of an exclamation point – as a background image - also reinforces what teachers are looking for. The lesson plan link is neatly set up but does not contain a great deal of secondary educational plans. The site would be better served by 1^st-8^th grade teachers. The purpose of this review was not to review the plans; however, the list of the plans immediately took them out of my realm of necessity. I though of some of the other teachers who attended class who could definitely use some of the plans. I couldn’t. I was also a little dismayed but the number of plans. I figured there would be more.

This site though very simple is also very effective. Easy to use and understand the site may lack the flash of teachnet but carries a serious punch. In 3 clicks I was face to face with 100 lesson plans with one sentence descriptions detailing what was contained within. You have to appreciate that. The site breaks lesson plans up into 5 categories and then into the three specific educational levels. Simple and effective this site is winner! Any teacher on any level would benefit from this site. I can’t say much more than that.

This site is weirdly cool. The databases contained on this site range from CIA information, burial sites of famous people,

To real audio of famous speeches. I typed in the word freedom and got 80 matches. Click on the link up comes the speech and a date, description, and overall tone of what is about to be heard. The CIA database is neat to. Type in the word and actual photocopies of CIA documents containing or about that word – with blackouts included – pop up. There are a total of 12 database - tools – on the site. I think 6 are worthwhile the others I would play with at midnite. High school social studies and English classes would greatly benefit from this site. Specifically from the speech and biography sections.