Resource from Merlot

For, for those in CEP 810, in CEP 811 we have been exploring Merlot, a great online source for lesson plans, materials, sources etc. I suggest you check it out. www.merlot.org You can start by either browsing the collection on the left, or go to the Learning Materials tab at the top. For 811, we are required to find and evaluate something that we found on Merlot that we could see ourselves using, and I have found www.eyewitnesstohistory.com. This site provides lots of first hand source material (as the title suggests) in written forms, pictures, video clips, and audio clips from ancient times to the 20th century, however I am SORELY disappointed by the lack of minority representation at the site...for instance, I can click on '20th century' and there is no trace of the African American Civil Rights movement. ?!?! So, I would not use this site as a way to see an 'overview' of time periods (because there are gaps) but a place to find source material to enrich something you are already presenting.

After playing around on the site for awhile it seems that everything is accurate in terms of historical detail, and I appreciate that they take the time to 'set the scene' explaining the background of the person writing and the activities which they are describing. At at the end of each section is the citation, showing students proper referencing. I like the idea of students using this site (directly or indirectly) because it is not history from someone else, it is the first-hand accounts, and I am a big fan of primary document evaluation. Students would best be able to use this site, or the material from it during the Explanation or Demonstration stages. As I mentioned above, primary documents are great because they can present history unedited.  What I really like  about students using primary documents is that they are not only able to see many perspectives on an event, but they can take what was initially documented and compare it to what is presented in their textbook and start asking questions there. They also have this area titled "snapshots" which presents a Powerpoint type overview of the era with photos and texts- a good introduction.
   For the written sources students will have to have a firm grasp on the English language, especially for the older entries, which are in there original language structure (think like reading Shakespeare), but beyond that, only basic point and click skills are needs to manipulate the site. The beauty of this website is that you could easily have students access it at school or home, or pull materials from it to print and distribute. This website really allows for flexibility in use (pull a journal entry for a bellringer for instance), but any thing that you pull from it, or have students access, is only going to make the topic more robust and real.
  The physical layout of the site is very user-friendly. Topics are organized into a menu at the top of the page, and that menu never disappears. As you enter a topic, a list of other sources appears on the left hand side allowing you to explore further if you wish without having to search blindly. Each section has small images that accompany it, not unlike a history textbook, and the writers of the pre-document, seem to stay to the point without getting bogged down in unnecessary detail that might cause a student to lost interest. My only complaint is the ads on the pages, but there are ways around that.
    So, while I would not give the site 5 stars due to the lack of breadth and depth of its' content, it is HIGHLY user-friendly and something that I would use within my own classroom.