Archiving Early America

I went on the site eduTecher.net and clicked on the links tab hoping to find not only useful history sites, but sites that would be easy to navigate and interesting for students to read. One of this first sites I came across was Archiving Early America. This website was loaded with quality information on early America. Anything from the Boston Tea Party to the first-hand narrative of Daniel Boone's adventures through the Cumberland Gap can be found on this website. The website also has different forms of information in terms of primary and secondary information. Sometimes it can be hard to find good primary information on topics, and this site offers plenty of that. As I already mentioned the site discusses Daniel Boone's own narration of his journey's from his journal that he kept. The site also has primary documents that can be viewed right on the website. These documents include the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the U.S. Constitution. The cool thing about these documents are that they are shown exactly how they appeared in the papers during that time. Along with the primary and secondary information which is mostly in written articles on the site, there is other ways to obtain that information. The site offers maps, portraits, games, music, and videos all with relevant information.
Archiving Early America certainly offers the interesting information I was looking for, but it also made it easy to find the information. The left hand side of the website offers all of the tabs and links to click on to get to the information you are wanting to find. It is very easy to use and very informative. The last thing I like to think about when looking at a websites value is exactly how this site could be beneficial to my students. In other words how could this site be used in the classroom to supplement the material. I think the first thing is the fact that there is a plethora of information on the site that would most likely not be found in a text book. The thing about history is that there is so much information that it is hard to fit it all into a text book. This site would be good for a teacher to use to supplement the text book. It would also be a good place to have your students go in order to see an actual copy of the documents that were discussed in class, such as the Bill of Rights. One thing important to the study of history is understanding the information that you are looking at, and what kind of information it is. This site would offer teachers the chance to teach their students about primary and secondary information. One final thing this site could be used for is to have your students learn, but have one while doing that as well. Games are offered on this site, and are a fun way to keep your students involved and learning but enjoying themselves at the same time. Overall, this website was a very informative and would be a great site to use with your history students.