Product Review of Today’s Document

educators may want to use Today’s Document in the classroom. It can be used as part of a daily or weekly activity in United States history courses. Teachers could project the daily document and have learners make connections to current issues or topics from the curriculum. In BYOD or 1-to-1 classrooms, learners could do regular reflections on documents as a kind of warm-up or conversation starter. Today’s Document might also spur some research; even though it doesn’t have tremendous depth and is in need of updating, the links provided could be helpful to learners as they’re learning about a particular topic. In addition, educators can search for documents to integrate into an assignment to develop critical-thinking and writing skills.

The integration of primary documents into the curriculum is a big part of Common Core, and Today’s Document is a simple tool that helps educators find relevant materials. Since it’s a pretty cut-and-dried experience, the value here hinges on how the app is used by classroom educators. History buffs will certainly enjoy a daily window into the past by allowing them exposure to key documents that shaped America. For most learners, it will be necessary to supplement and provide background information to help learners make connections between the documents and the class content and to prompt daily usage and exploration. Many of the documents are written at a high reading level and must be edited and/or accompanied by a guided assignment. The links provided with each document will be useful for both learners and educators who want to further understand either the document or the topic. There are some visual documents that would be useful for struggling readers and English language learners.

Website: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.accella.nationalarchives

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id412969819?uo=4&at=10laCG&ct=website

Overall User Consensus About the App

Student Engagement

The stripped-down design means student interest in daily documents will depend on the topic and instructional strategy. Teachers will need to provide context for learners to see relevance.

Curriculum and Instruction

The variety of documents and topics covered will be useful to educators. Text-based documents will be difficult for English language learners and struggling readers. Images will be good for visual learners.

Customer Support

The app is simple and easy to navigate. Users can search by topic or date. Some of the features don’t work, and the app randomly freezes.