Memorizing locations on maps can be hard and time consuming, but I might have a solution that will make maps meaningful and fun for you.  Keep in mind, this is really just a preview and a test for what we might do later on this year, and right now only those of you who happen to have a google account can collaborate on this, but I thought sharing it would still be better than not sharing it.


Here's the deal: I've begun building "Map Mastery 2" in Google Maps and I've opened it up for collaboration.  If you would like to contribute to this group map, feel free.  If you would rather not contribute, but just look from a distance that's fine too.


To collaborate:

1. sign in to your google account
2. go to my Map Mastery 2 Map
3. click "Save to My Maps" in the upper left hand corner(ish)
4. click "Edit" in the upper left hand corner(ish)
5. click on the blue marker in the upper left hand corner of the map
6. start adding locations from Map Mastery 2 in your map book

Keep in mind, this is not your map.  It's our map.  If you purposefully mess this map up, it messes up everyone's.  If you write down the wrong locations, then everyone see's the wrong locations.  Feel free to make corrections if people add the wrong locations or to clean up the look of the map if others have added information sloppily.


Of, if you'd rather not deal with the rest of the class, you could just start your own.  I hope this is helpful.  Let me know how it works and feel free to comment on this post with suggestions for improvement.  


Most of all, have fun learning geography! 

The Requirements:

• All of the story arc must be present
• Your story must be told from the first person in the form of journal entries
• Your story must be at least ten entries long
• Must be set during WWII

The Options:

• Your journal entries may be poetry if you choose
• Your story can be as long as you like
• Think about including literary devices and symbolism to make your story more interesting

We're going to try another way of doing research today.  Your task is to gather information as a group and turn in one final product at the end of class.

One of the big challenges you will have today will be to decide how to share information with each other.  You might use email, google docs, talking to each other or something else.

Conflict History
A Map of when and where all the battles of WWII happened
FDR's Decisions
A timeline of FDR's key decisions during WWII
The Atomic Bomb
A timeline of the development and use of the atomic bomb

Since EtherPad is no longer allowing new pads to be created, here are a couple alternatives (clones) we might try as a class:

http://ietherpad.com/
http://typewith.me/

In the past, we've tried these two with no success:

http://titanpad.com/
http://primarypad.com/

If you like studying battle strategies, you should check out this website called Civil War Animated that outlines all the formations and tactics of both sides in a moving map format. 

Today in class, we looked (will look) at an interactive map of the United States that will show us the story of our country so far.  It can be seen here:

http://www.the-map-as-history.com/demos/tome07/index.php

By the way, parents, a year subscription for the entire set of US History interactive maps is available for $12.50.  If you would like to help out our class with this subscription let me know.  Thanks!

Head Magnet is a very simple flash card web application that allows you to study anything from facts about the American Revolution to spelling vocabulary words.  

Head Magnet automatically figures out which questions you need more help with and focuses on those.  You can also save and share your flashcards with friends.

It does require an email address and password to sign up.  There will be a link to it from now on in the Helpful Tools section.

 A new "Going Deeper" question has been posted!  Make sure to respond by 7:45am Wednesday morning.  Good luck!