Artifact #6: Early American Wars Civil War Blog Assignment (Field)

Goal: 2
Standards: 1, 2, 4
This artifact is an assignment I created for my students in my Early American Wars class to complete. This
assignment tasks students with creating their own blog website, writing about a topic of their choosing and
responding to several of their classmates writings. I was motivated to create this assignment for my students by
the information I learned in my TE831 class and by witnessing how engage some of my students were when
they were allowed to interact with technology.
This artifact is significant because it represents how I have changed my teaching methods over time. It also
illustrates how I have incorporated information learned during my time in the MATC program and in the field. I
believe that adapting instruction to students interests and motivations is a hallmark of effective teaching and it
is why I have included this assignment in my portfolio and synthesis paper.
Upon being introduced to a new idea I always evaluate it and explore whether or not I can implement it in my
teaching in a meaningful way. In other words, I always ask myself; will this new idea positively impact my
students? If the answer is yes I find a way to incorporate it into my teaching. After reading the research on how
effective incorporating technology into classroom instruction can be, I determined that this would be a
worthwhile educational pursuit and I created this assignment.