video conference and virtual field trip

 

Video conferencing and virtual field trips are becoming more and more normal in class rooms across the nation.  Recently I had the opportunity to participate in a video conference.  I think I would use this activity in my classroom for various assignments.  I would definitely use it for my social studies assignments.  A cool thing I would like to do is set up video conferences around the United States at all the different civil rights hot spots.  I would like to have a weekly conference with Anderson Cooper or Morgan Freeman and have them meet us via video conference and give my eighth grade social studies class lessons and tours of different monuments and why they came to be.

There is a civil rights memorial at the Southern Poverty Law Center.  I would like to virtually take my students there on a field trip and have different law professors talk about the amendments made to the constitution during that time and collaborate with Anderson Cooper and Morgan Freeman to teach my students about all the things our country endured to get equal rights.  Anderson Cooper is my favorite journalist I love the compassion he shows when he’s broadcasting and Morgan Freeman is one of my favorite actors that would surely love the opportunity to be part of such a great lesson. I think I would want to set up the lesson in to a 6 part series like how the History Channel does their documentaries and have Morgan and Anderson take turns discussing different events in history during that time.  As the documentary continues I would use different professors to give their expertise in interviews and show different monuments and news clips from the civil rights movement.