To use or not to use that is the question

This week I would like to address some of the pros and cons of the ever popular history tool wikipedia. When I came home from my mission in 07 my friends that knew I had an interest in history told me about this great online tool. They claimed wikipedia could tell me about any historical figure or event and was totally reliable. It is true that wikipedia does offer a lot of general information about a wide range of topics. I myself have crammed for a test last minute by looking up all the information about King Alfred or the Spanish Armada etc. It is also true that most wikipedia pages are policed by fellow users to correct falsehoods and wikipedia does label how firm information is based on citations. Nevertheless, I think that it is important that students that use this tool understand that they should do so with a skeptical eye. Anyone can post what they want and you can never be sure if someone is simply offering their opinion or if it is researched data. My little brother for example has tampered with several pages for fun. Granted most of them were quickly changed but still not everything on there is true. I have found several posts to be incorrect. I think that an important tool that historians develop is the ability to question and research their statements. It could be good for a teacher to have students look up a topic and question whether or not what is written is accurate or not. They could research and show why it is true and then cite the post or they could explain why they think that it is wrong. Students should not simply read a post and then quote it in a paper assuming that it is a hundred per cent accurate. The same could be said about textbooks or academic journals.

PLN assignment

On my twitter account I have begun following three accounts. The first is called explore history and it seems really cool. It is an account that connects students to several onlince exhibits and activities from the Smithsonian. I have not looked through all of them of course but the ones I checked out seemed interesting so far. The second twitter I chose was the museum of Tacoma, WA. Since Tacoma is one of the places my wife and I are considering moving to after graduation in a year we thought it would be cool to follow what the historical museum of Tacoma offered. I think it would be a great place to take students to on a field trip. The final twitter account that I am currently following is capitol history. It explains what is being discussed in politics today in the United States and could prove useful in a governments course in the future.

On my google reader doc I am subscribed to a number of different accounts. Some of these include: This Day in History, the White House, American History blogger, PBS teaching, the Journal of American History, and a few others includding our class website and Diigo group.

The white house follows what discussions were made in the white house that day. It seems a little dense to read but is seperated by topics and could be useful in a political science course or government.

American History blogger is just that it a blog set up by a grad student and a list of helpful sources he has gained while studying history

PBS teaching offers, among other things, a list of what people in the country are saying about our teaching program and how it can be modified.

The Journal of American History is a collection of publications by academic scholars on american history similar to JSTOR offered at BYU.

While most of these seem like they may be helpful the one that really caught my interest at first is This day in history. Each day it gives a series of posts explaining what key events have taken place on that particular day in antiquity. I think this would be interesting for students to use in a history course. My wife said that when she was in high school her history teacher used a similar site to show what happened each day and then had students connect what happened in the past to what was occuring in the present. She said it was a really successful exersize that did not take much time each day to draw out the interest of the students.

I'll keep you posted when I find anything else new to add to these accounts .

Why this design

On my blog you will notice a baseball theme. In the corner is a picture of US Cellular field which I visited this summer. I have become an increasingly more addicted white sox follower as I have gotten older. My wife is loving enough to put up with my constant rants about the White Sox and has even taken the time to memorize some of our starting roster. I have heard that those that love the game play, and those who can't play coach, and those that can't do either waste away their lives following the sport. I fit into the final category when it comes to baseball. I was able to change the background by visiting the site thecutestbloggerontheblock and following their step by step directions to add the field of dreams baseball background. On the side I was able to add a link to some of my favorite websites including my wife's blog and mlb.com. This was accomplished by going to design then clicking on the add a gadget. Once a list of possible actions pops up I was able to add a link list and then add the URL's of some favorite links.

The Super Awesome Me!!

My name is Chris Taylor and I hail from the great windy city of Chicago, IL. My parents were both raised in Utah but moved to Chicago while my mom was pregnant with my twin brother and yours truly. Four years later my little albino brother ...actually all my brothers are now taller than me : ( ... was born and two years later a final little brother. Four strapping young men. Growing up I loved sports and started out with baseball in little league. I was never an all star with a bat but played a pretty good second base. Even though I gave up baseball my freshman year I became an active follower of the Chicago White Sox and still am today. When I got to high school at an incredibly beefy 76 lbs and standing a whopping 4 ft 9 inches I felt like my aspirations of being a great athlete would never materialize. Then the wrestling coach approached me and told me in wrestling you only are faced by opponents your size. I joined and quickly fell in love with the sport. This year I will be assistant coaching at Mountain View and have coached wrestling for 3 years. When I graduated from highschool I moved by myself to Provo to attend BYU. I am a history teaching major and coaching/phys ed minor. After a year of BYU I went on an LDS mission to Brasilia, Brazil. When I got home I continued my studies at BYU and there I met my lovely wife Christina who also works in education teaching kindergarten. Three weeks ago the two of us had our first little baby, a little girl named Mariel Marie.