Assignment #3

As a middle school teacher, I am always looking for new tactics, techniques, and anything else that can help my students. Because of this, I was excited to review the website http://wps.ablongman.com/long_carnes_an_11/3/979/250668.cw/index.html. This site, which accompanies the textbook The American Nation, eleventh edition, provides support for the text and a nice, but not ample, array of tools to assist both the student and teacher.

This site is exceptionally easy to use and find things on. It has a search function so anyone using it can easily find what they are looking for. The layout also makes it easy to find things. The home page identifies three sections: About the Book, Student Resources, and Instructor Resources. The Student Resources section has all the chapters in the book labeled so you can quickly find where you need to go. Clicking on a chapter will give you a summary of the events, practice tests and quizzes, primary sources to read, and most impressively, flashcards. These resources would greatly increase a struggling students’ chances of passing, and would serve as a good review for others as well. Instructor Resources include pre-made Powerpoint presentations for lecture notes, blank maps to use for quizzes, and graphs and tables.

The content of this website is astounding. The history presented is extremely complete and detailed. While taking some of the practice quizzes, I missed a question on Jacksonian Democracy, an era I have done considerable research on. While reviewing the flashcards on Jeffersonian Democracy, I came across the term Essex Junto, which I had never even heard of before. The charts visually make their point, even though there could be more of them. In spite of all of this, there are some drawbacks to this site. A major drawback to the content on this site, and the accompanying book, is that it focuses almost solely on political history. While political history is important (and I would consider myself a political historian), it should not and cannot exclusively be what is discussed in a history class, textbook, or website. Further, the reading level of the site is exceptionally high, clocking in at least an eleventh grade level. Struggling readers, who are the ones who would be needing more help and this website, would have a difficult time simply understanding the words. I don’t know whether or not this book would be for advanced students, but I know that many secondary students would not understand the written words. I would also like to see some more visuals on this site, whether they are political cartoons, charts, or pictures. Without removing anything that is already there, a few more visuals would tremendously add to this site.

The layout and presentation of this site is very straightforward and simplistic. As I said in a previous review of a different site, this may be a negative for other but I appreciate it. Too many colors, ads, and other miscellaneous items can distract students and instructors from the reason they came to the site in the first place. I will say that I am rare in this, though; other people would criticize the plainness. A major criticism is that it does not use a lot of new media, the Powerpoint presentations notwithstanding. This aspect of the site was disappointing. The site appears to be and older one, having an original copyright date in 1995. However, it also has a copyright through 2008, so newer media was available, but not used. Other websites that accompany other textbooks have more and better interactive features. The site that accompanies the middle school textbook I use, Creating America, has features that let students see how the cotton gin works or visually see the route the Cherokee Indians took on the Trail of Tears. http://wps.ablongman.com/long_carnes_an_11/3/979/250668.cw/index.html has none of this.

Still, any secondary teacher would understand the value of this website. For students that are absent (a frequent problem at my school, as well as many low income schools) they can review the Powerpoint presentations and summaries of chapters to get the information that they missed. Preparing for assessments would be where this site really would help students, though. Practice quizzes, complete with hints and an answer key, are a great way to study. Ditto the pre-made flashcards, which could be printed out or copied down. Teachers needing a brief review of the content can find it, or they could assign extension assignments with the primary sources.
In closing, this website is definitely helpful, and certainly is an acceptable add-on to the book The American Nation. However, it does have features that are rather mundane and it could employ some newer digital resources.