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Who
*IS* This Guy, Anyway
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Special
Honors: Arnold Pulda was a National Semi-finalist in the Technology
& Learning Tech Leaders of the Year Competition!
Arnold Pulda doctorgus@earthlink.net
is director of Gifted and Talented student programs for the public
schools in Worcester, MA. Until recently he taught U.S.
History at a high school in Worcester. He went to Bard College
for his B.A. and then the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
where he got his Ph.D. in U.S. History. He has been an active
user and explorer of the internet since 1993. Since then he has
spread his enthusiasm for using the internet in the classroom among
many students and fellow teachers.
In 1998 Arnold spent a week in Washington, DC, as a fellow of the
Library of Congress. Since then he has continued his active
involvement with the Library and its site, American Memory. This
past summer he was a leader/facilitator of the Library's American
Memory Institute. He has written a lesson plan on
Jackie Robinson that appears among the LOC's collection
of teacher resources (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/98/robinson/intro.html).
He is also closely associated with the New Media Classroom project (http://www.cuny.edu/~ashp/aboutnmc.shtml),
which is funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the
Humanities. In the summer Arnold leads a week-long workshop
for teachers on integrating the internet into education, at Assumption
College in Worcester. He is writing lesson plans for
Assumption's "E Pluribus Unum" web site, also funded by a
grant from the NEH; the site is up and running while under
development, at www.assumption.edu/ahc.
He has recently published articles on technology and teaching in Meridian
http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian/sum2001/lesson_plans/2.html),
the Library of Congress Newsletter (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/learn/educators/newsletter/august01/TIifSept.html),
and Classroom Connect (www.classroom.com).
As editor at MidLink, Arnold hopes to help the magazine "grow
up" a little bit chronologically, stretching its content from its
traditional middle school focus to include, as well, exemplary work of
students in high schools. He welcomes students and teachers to
submit their excellent work in all subjects using any software and
media; the best of these will be placed in MidLink's newly-minted HOTS
(Higher-Order Thinking Skills) corner.
Arnold was a computer geek even before he started using
the internet, and as such learned early on how to use a spreadsheet.
He still favors this application above all others, and has been able
to make many converts among his students. He and his students
have found that the spreadsheet, used alone or together with other
applications and research in the internet, is a powerful tool for
learning and reporting about almost any subject or theme, whether
current or historical.
This year his projects will focus on using those computer skills for
an in-depth study of Critical Decisions throughout history.
Students will explore the history and culture behind some decisions
that changed the world, including the decision to drop the atomic bomb
in August, 1945.
Back
to MidLink Editors' Page
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