A Slideshow consists of 1-10 web pages that appear in sequence. Your first page (text only) introduces the slideshow. Each page after contains a primary document with text you write.
A completed slide show looks like this:
Why choose to make a Slideshow?
Depth. A Slideshow lets the author be more detailed in a story or essay, because each image has its own text caption, and there is an introduction at the beginning. Longer timeframe. Most students will require more than one class session to complete a slideshow. Because of this, users are asked to create a username and password as they begin a new slideshow. Historical and document analysis. The Gallery format is especially good for showing change over time, or for developing arguments.Teaching Suggestions
Have students find several contrasting images and write about what the contrast means to them now, and might have meant to Americans living at the turn of the century.
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Obvious contrasts for this time period in U.S. history include the social
experiences of wealthy vs. working class Americans, rural vs. urban
Americans, male and female, and black, white, native American and
Asian Americans. Regional contrasts, both environmental and
cultural, are also good candidates.
Tell students they are magazine journalists creating a photo essay for publication, or a lecturer creating a lantern slide-show they will tour with. This format allows them to survey a region, like the frontier, or a population, like Native Americans, or a topic like factory working conditions. Assign students different perspectives on the same topic - a muckraking journalist, a protestant minister, a wealthy industrialist, a labor organizer, a 'new woman', a domestic worker - and have them find and write about images from those vantage points.It is important to have students write down their username and password so they can return later to edit and view their work.