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Best of History Web Sites was created in 2001 by Tom Daccord, 15-year history teacher and co-director of EdTechTeacher, Inc. Tom is an educational technology specialist and author of Best Ideas for Teaching with Technology: A Practical Guide for Teachers by Teachers and The Best of History Web Sites. A veteran "laptop teacher" who instructed in a wireless laptop environment for seven years, Tom has been featured in the Boston Globe ("Making Tech Connect," December 29, 2003) for his contributions to teaching with technology. He has also presented on educational technology topics at various national and regional other conferences and runs workshops at schools across the country. Tom is co-director of The Center for Teaching History with Technology, an organization with 2400 subscribers, whose mission is to help K-12 history and social studies teachers incorporate technology effectively into their courses. Tom currently serves on the technology committee for the National Council of Social Studies and created its online social network, the NCSS Community Network. In addition, Tom is the creator and webmaster of Teaching Literature & Writing With Technology, designed to help English and Language Arts teachers incorporate technology effectively into their courses. A graduate of Princeton University and the University of Montreal, Tom has taught in Quebec, France, Switzerland, and the United States.

Best of History Web Sites is maintained by Justin Reich (B.A., M.A. University of Virginia ). Justin is currently a doctoral candidate at the Harvard University School of Education and co-director of EdTechTeacher, Inc. Justin taught World History and Topics in Modern History at the Noble & Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts and developed a variety of new curriculum and lesson plans around chatting, blogging, and other projects involving new and emerging technologies. He has written several articles on technology integration that have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, and other publications. Justin is co-webmaster of Best of History Web Sites and co-director of The Center for Teaching History with Technology, along with Tom. Justin is also an avid traveler, and is pictured here with some of his friends from the Mramba Primary School in Mwanga, Tanzania.

Best of History Web Sites aims to provide quick, convenient, and reliable access to the best history-oriented resources online in a wide range of categories. BOHWS has been designed to benefit history teachers and their students, but general history enthusiasts will benefit from the site as well. Best of History Web Sites is ranked #1 by Google for "history web sites" and receives upwards of 140,000 visitors per month.

Best of History Web Sites contains links to over 1200 history-related web sites that have been reviewed for quality, accuracy, and usefulness. Included are links to K-12 history lesson plans, teacher guides, activities, games, quizzes, and more. Sites with engaging educational content and stimulating and useful multimedia technologies are most likely to be included in these pages. However, useful general resources and research-oriented sites have been included as well.

Suggestions are welcome and appreciated. (BOHWS receives many suggestions, so please understand that it may be months until your recommendation is reviewed.) To make any suggestions, comments, questions, or to be notified of updates to the BOHWS Newsletter, please fill in the form located in the contact section. BOHWS respects your privacy and will not provide any information regarding you to a third party.

Best of History Web Sites has won many awards and recognition, including: Blue Web'n Blue-Ribbon Web Site Award from the Pacific Bell Knowledge Network, Yahoo Pick (July 15, 2002) by Yahoo.com, The Editor's Choice Award ("Top 5% Site in K-12 Education") from Awesome Library, History News Network Website of the Week, USA Today Education Best Bet Award, Education World Award for October 2002, 4Teachers Site of the Week, New York Public Library "Best of Reference", UK Department of Education for Education and Skills "Useful External Web Sites", National University of Ireland Web Site of the Month , Schoolhouse Site of the Week, and Schools Library Journal Site of the Week.

BOHWS has also been recommended by: The National Council for the Social Studies, Princeton University, The British Library Net, The Detroit Free Press, History on the Net, The Denver Post, The Washington Library Media Association, ABC News Radio, Teaching History Magazine, UNESCO, Academic Info, the United States government, Landmark for Schools, Merlot, MIT Libraries, Pacific Bell's Great Links to U.S. History, City University of New York, HistoryTeacher.net, WWW Virtual Library, Babson College Horn Library, teachersfirst.com, Philadelphia University, Teaching History Online, California State University at Northridge, University of Queensland (Australia), University of Houston-Downtown, Herriot Watt University (Scotland), ISI Web of Knowledge, Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction, The Scout Report, Kingswood College Library, Teachnology, and others.

This site was redesigned in 2009 by Caroline Davidson Garvin of CMD Design in San Diego, California.

We hope you enjoy the site!

Teaching History with Technology Tom Daccord July 13-15, in Boston (sold out 2007, 2008) Teaching English and Language Arts with Technology Carla Beard July 6-8, Boston (sold out in 2007) Teaching the "Flat Classroom" Vicki Davis June 25-26, Boston Google Tools for Schools Carol LaRow August 3-5, Boston Creative Teaching with Interactive Whiteboards Darren Kuropatwa July 16-17 Free and Open Source Applications for Educators Alex Inman June 9-10 21st Century Leadership Symposium Dennis Richards, Tom Daccord, Justin Reich August 6-7 Enhanced Podcasting for Educators Douglas Kiang July 1-2 Digital Storytelling & Portfolios Alycia Scott-Hiser June 23-24 and more... REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

"The most hands-on, practical, and cutting-edge workshop I have ever attended."

Carlo Palusci
Zurich International School

"The most effective professional development class I have ever attended."

Robert Morrison
Fenn School, Concord MA