However, I came across this video sometime back and with Thanksgiving just around the corner, I thought it had to be shared.

Way back when I was a student in university, every once in a while a prof would force us to go and read old newspapers on microfilm in order to do primary source research. While I really do love poking through old documents, I really do hate microfilm. It’s a pain and, like a cassette tape, it’s really hard to find just the bit you want.

Well, much of that has changed. There’s a staggering number of primary sources available on the web. My own collection on Delicious has 49 links to either primary sources, or links to the sources. It really open up possibilities for the classroom. I’ve stopped just shy of assigning my high school students mandatory research using primary sources, but I’ve certainly told them where to find them and encouraged them to start digging.

A few of my favorite sources:

1. Alberta Newspapers Collection. The format for searching is awkward, and everything seems to be a jpg, but there’s a ton of stuff here.
2. Manitobia.ca. There’s got to be a jillion all Manitoba newspapers here stretching way back into the 1800s. It’s beautifully searchable, but the server is terribly unreliable. If only the connection to Manitobia was better this would be a site beyond compare.
3. Portrait Gallery of Canada. I really haven’t figured out a great way to navigate this site, but it’s remarkable because it puts hundreds (and maybe thousands) of paintings and pictures of great and not so great Canadians at your finger tips.
4. Canadian Newspapers and the Second World War. This site, by Canada’s War Museum, is a great example of one where articles are easy to find because the site is searchable and the server is good and fast. It’s really a joy to work with.

This is another approach to teaching with videos. It definitely makes the point well. I’m not sure that it’s appropriate for high school kids, but the approach it takes could definitely be used in high school if you made sure to keep it clean.

I don’t know if music really does help you learn but that’s the theory behind the group Rockin’ The Standards. Their musical focus seems to be math, and they do have a few interesting approaches to get the kids to remember. Of the videos you can find on YouTube, this one below is (in my humble opinion) their best work.