Project #3: Digital Board: Glogster and the Bill of Rights

How can you use the Discovery Education Board Builder and/or Glogster in your classroom this school year to provide students the opportunity to develop their respectful and ethical minds?

Glogster/Discovery Education Board Builder can be used in the classroom in a variety of ways. It can be used as an instructional tool or you can have the students create a board on a topic all on their own. When I teach the Bill or Rights and the Constitution, I can use this for my students to learn why the Bill of Rights were developed, what inspired them and the debate over their adoption. The assessment summarizes the whole board and also allows the students to inject their own opinion and defend it.  This helps develop their ethical and respectful minds.  They learn how to defend AND support their own opinion with facts.  Being able to defend an opinion in a respectful way, gives students a skill they can use in the future.  Very few people respect someone who defends their opinions in a non respectful way. "A truly respectful individual offers the benefit of the doubt to all human beings" (Gardner, 2007).  Students that develop a respectful mind will be able to earn the respect of those around them.  They are able to express themselves appropriately, while also respecting the views of others.  Glogs can properly illustrate different points and perspectives for the students to examine.

On the other side, students can create their own digital boards using Discovery Education's Boardbuilder or Glogster.  They can easily express their on opinions on these boards.  They can organize their supporting facts in anyway they desire. They are again learning how to form an opinion and support their opinion using digital media.  They could also do this by writing a persuasive essay but the use of digital media ads a bit of flair to the lesson.  They can use pictures, images, websites, and videos as supporting sources and organize them in a creative way. Being able to organize and defend their own unique perspective, will allow students to properly respect another's opinion.  This does not mean they will casually accept any other perspective, but they can at least respect that someone else might think differently then them.  The only way to develop this mind is to allow students to express and defend their own opinions to everyone else, no matter their perspectives. " Rather than ignoring differences, being inflamed by them, or seeking to annihilate them through love or hate, I call on human beings to accept the differences, learn to live with them, and value those who belong to other cohorts" (Garnder, 2007). Digital media allows students to explore other perspectives as well as express their own. 

History is a great subject to use digital boards.  History is full of different perspectives and ideas. Political campaigns, 2 sides of a war, and debates over the passage of a bill are some examples of ideas that can be explored using digital media like Glogster. To teach history correctly, I have to present both sides of any argument or conflict.  Having an understanding of the multiple perspectives in an historical event is the only way gain full understanding of a topic. "I believe that these human-inflicted topics should be taught in light of a range of perspectives" (Gardner, 2007). History also plays a role in creating active citizens.  Learning our nation's history can allow students to respect our country and the role they should play in its continued development. One of my goals as a history teacher is to create well rounded citizens that understand the United States of America.  A student's interactions with their teachers and their peers are some of the most influential relationships in the student's life.  "They are in the presences of teachers more than in the company of parents; they are surrounded by schoolmates more than by siblings or children in the neighborhood. Formal educational institutions play a key role in determining whether an individual is proceeding on the road to wood work and active citizenship" (Gardner, 2007). In developing the ethical and respectful minds, we as educators can create well rounded individuals and citizens.  Digital media, like Glogster, can help students develop these minds. They can create unique boards that express their opinions respectfully. They can compare and contrast different perspectives on an event or topic and express their own thoughts. Glogster is a great (and fun) way for students to express themselves.

My Bill of Rights Glog




Gardner, H. (2007). Five Minds for the Future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Glog Works Cited Link

Vlog on developing minds...

The first time I recorded this blog, it was over 5 minutes... opps... re-wrote the script and got it down to 2:25 with transitions. Sorry if it is a little over!

Gardner, H. (2007). Five Minds for the Future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.