When Old Meets New

Being a teacher in a social studies department can easily mean you're teaching in isolation. Sure, there are other social studies teachers in my K-12 school but they're almost all elementary teachers, busy with teaching many subjects. Really, my department is a department of two, the brand new high school history teacher who only started teaching (for the first time ever) in January, and me. In this environment, I often feel alone and unsupported. When I don't know what I'm going to do to help my students connect with cultures and ideas from long ago, when I'm stumped about how to help my students who struggle with reading understand the Declaration of Independence, who can help me? Basically no one.

So, I find myself searching, grasping for any resources that I can use in my classroom. I just read the article What Would Abe Lincoln’s Social Media Campaign Look Like? A New Classroom Use For Twitter and Facebook by Glenn Wiebe and couldn't be more thrilled to try these activities!

Wiebe first begins by explaining the connection between recent politicians and social media. He points out that Barack Obama was the first politician to connect with people through social media, during his campaign for the 2008 presidential election. "It’s easy to forget," he explains, "given how commonplace the use of social media is today, that back in 2008. sending out reminders and raising money on Twitter while interacting with people on Facebook was a huge deal. Both Twitter and the iPhone were less than a year old. But Obama’s use of mobile devices and social media changed political campaigns forever."

Seeing politicians on social media now is common. I myself follow a variety of politicians from the national government and the state of Illinois on Facebook. Many post anything from their views on gun reform to information about the biggest Starbucks opening on Michigan Avenue.

I will take all the coffee you have, please.

Many of us know all about what politicians post now, whether on Facebook or Twitter, but what would past presidents have posted? That's the question Wiebe asks and challenges teachers to ask their students.

What Would Abe Lincoln's Social Media Campaign Look Like?

This lesson idea would not only help my students connect with historical figures in a familiar way, it would challenge them to summarize issues from history. At the same time, this activity would provide me the opportunity to teach my students about digital literacy, for example understanding someone's branding online. I plan to use this activity in my classes as soon as possible. I'd also like to push my students by adding comments on posts from other historical figures. Maybe my students could even pass their original post to other students and have those students pretend to be other historical figures who add comments. 

I'd like to have my students create memes about historical figures, too. 

Famous Lincoln Quotation

Finding resources like Wiebe's article help me understand simple, fun ways to bring technology and history together are always so exciting! I can't wait to try these activities with my classes!