This is a picture of Monticello.  In the foreground is the famous Mulberry Row.  With just over 200 people living at Monticello, there was always something going on.

Virtual Field Trips are an outstanding way to integrate technology into your classroom.  They provide images that cannot be found in a textbook and engage students through several learning processes.  Since I fancy myself as a history buff, I chose to use the Monticello virtual field trip.  The link is  http://explorer.monticello.org/.  ( I also really liked http://www.monticello.org/)  I also chose this trip because I think that history is a subject area that can benefit greatly from field trips.  With the current financial crunch in education, virtual trips allow students the opportunity to “visit” locations from the comfort of their classrooms.

The site provided some wonderful pictures of Monticello as it might have looked during Jefferson’s time there.  I really liked the way you can move yourself around Monticello and the site provides a short commentary on each location.  The brief narrative includes some additional pictures and some background information.  One of the biggest challenges as a teacher is sparking an interest in the material from your students.  Virtual Field Trips, and this site in particular, are a great way to do that.

These trips to Monticello obviously tie into the American History curriculum.  They can be used to cover a wide variety of topics, including the presidency, slavery, independence, economic and social status, trade, and the manufacturing of goods.  However, teachers can also easily expand on Monticello to study the culture of the time.  For example, included on the two sites are pictures and discussions about the clothes and diets of the times.  Gender roles and the importance of education are also discussed.  The possibilities for different things to discuss are endless.  The trip to Monticello on this site is so detailed, allowing the teacher to use it to cover a multitude of topics. 

VFT’s are a great way to allow your students to experience many places and time periods in the world.  One challenge to the VFT that I was thinking of as I was viewing several sites was the logistical problem of including every student.  This is a case where I think each student should have a computer.  If that was possible, you could have each student visit a different part of Monticello and develop their own presentation to deliver to the class.