Encounters & Exchanges in U.S. History

History Connected: A New Teaching American History Grant

2009-07-27T10:43:00.003-04:00

The Reading Public Schools is pleased to announce that it is one of ten Massachusetts school districts and one out of 123 school districts across the country who have received a United States Department of Education Teaching American History grant to improve the quality of American history education. The Reading Public Schools in partnership with the Danvers, Dracut, Haverhill, Lowell, North Reading, Stoneham, Wakefield, and Wilmington Public Schools received a grant totaling $999,818 over three years for the History Connected project.

As part of the new History Connected project, the Reading Public Schools will develop activities in partnership with the Department of History at Boston College, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell Graduate School of Education, the Tsongas Center for Industrial History, and Primary Source, a nonprofit history and humanities organization based in Watertown.

History Connected will draw connections across time and place to the enduring themes and issues of U.S. history. Global connections between the United States and the world are an important feature of the program. So too are connections between ideas, individuals, documents and events as they developed on the local, national, and international levels. Over the course of three years, program participants will explore the connections that have shaped American history through three themes:
Year One: Equality, Citizenship, and the Law
Year Two: War and Society: The Civil War to Vietnam
Year Three: American Encounters: Movements of People and Ideas

The goal of this program is to demonstrate how school districts and institutions with expertise in American history can collaborate over a three-year period to ensure that teachers develop the knowledge and skills necessary to teach American history in an exciting and engaging way. “This project will greatly assist teachers in providing students with the knowledge and skills necessary to acquire a deep understanding of the history of United States so that they may develop a strong sense of civic and community awareness and involvement” said Patrick A. Schettini, Jr., J.D., Superintendent of the Reading Public Schools.

School day seminars, history book discussion study groups, historic site visits, and summer institutes will be offered over the course of the project.

Hollywood Films in the History Classroom

2009-06-19T10:52:00.000-04:00

Some would scoff at the idea of using Hollywood films in the US History classroom. However, if used correctly, these films can be used to engage students in a wide range of critical thinking. In researching this idea for my presentation at the Encounters and Exchanges 3^rd Annual Conference, I found a significant amount of information produced in the 1960s and the past ten years. I thought it interesting that using Hollywood films is not a modern trend, but a time-honored, effective classroom tool. I was inspired to pursue this topic further as my high school recently added a History in Film class to its course of studies as well as several graduate classes I’ve taken that have focused on the integration and impact of film and history. Here’s a brief summary of what I’ve found.

There’s no escaping it! The exponential growth of visual and media literacy consumes the present and the future. Whether the media is for entertainment or education, as teachers, we need to help our students navigate it.

In addition to providing an understanding of background and context, films should be used to teach students strategies for evaluating media sources. With the appropriate scaffolding and modeling, students can be challenged to analyze the content of the film and evaluate the director’s interpretation of the history. Pairing primary sources with film is a great way to have students evaluate the authenticity of the history in the film as well as identifying the director’s interpretation of sources by comparing how the source is portrayed in the film and how it is understood in reality.

I recommend the following website as a database for tools for using historical films in the classroom: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pgc.asp?page=mod/modsbookmovies.html. This site provides basically all one would need to successfully use film to teach content and skills in your classroom. Though the sites requires a bit of exploring, it is organized by historical era. Each historical era has links to secondary sources, which provide background on the historical topic. This information is essential in establishing the background context that students, as well as teachers, might need to get the most educational value out of a film. It also provides links to primary sources that help students connect the Hollywood history to actual sources, preparing them to critique the authenticity and interpretation of the film.

Though Hollywood films provide excellent opportunity to challenges students on a variety of levels, students must recognize certain inherent weaknesses in Hollywood films that can adversely impact their understanding of history. Encourage students to identify the audience and purpose of the film. These two items can significantly compromise the value of the film. However, if students are aware of what to look out for before they watch the film, it will, most often, result in a happy, and of course, educational, ending!

Too Funny, to pass up

2009-06-17T16:27:00.003-04:00

Today friendly educators is an important date in American History- It's Bunker Hill Day! A day to celebrate and remember the second major battle of the revolution that happened here in our backyard, which may have been an American loss, but with huge loss of life to the British.

We all know that our comrades-in-arms who teach in Sufffolk County enjoy this day off (along with March 17th- no, no, not St. Patrick's Day, but Evactuation Day), but the State House and Senate are currently embroiled in a debate about whether we should keep these holidays, or whether they are a waste of money.

Apparently- Mayor Tom Menino believes in the importance of today. He said so today in a speech- "These youngsters over here aren’t taught that in school any more," Menino said as he gestured toward a group 80 children from two nearby Boston public grammar schools. "And so we are losing part of that American history."

It seems that Tom may not be familiar with the Massachusetts State Frameworks.

I'm not saying I would expect that he would have all of our curriculum memorized.
Our third graders are expected to....3.5 Explain important political, economic, and military developments leading to and during the American Revolution. (H, C) -d. the Battle of Bunker Hill. While our fifth graders should - 5.17 Describe the major battles of the Revolution and explain the factors leading to American victory and British defeat. (H) -B. Bunker Hill (1775)

I would think a staffer may have looked this up for him today:) What's even funnier......"Officials at Boston Public Schools could not be immediately reached this afternoon for comment. They took the day off to observe Bunker Hill Day."

What a great debate to pose to my students as I try to engage them tomorrow morning before Field Day! Should some people get to have this off as a holiday?

Check it out for yourself- Click here!

Phenomenal Jim Crow Websites

2009-06-15T19:07:00.003-04:00

The reality of history is often difficult to present to high school students, yet it is essential to the classroom because of its ability to ignite intrinsic interest and motive civic action. With the technology available to teachers via the internet, we are better able to present history’s reality to our students.

The struggle for civil rights is an extensive and important theme that runs through US History I and US History II curriculums because it is an ongoing struggle that strives to fulfill an American vision of freedom and equality. The Encounters and Exchanges history book discussion group brought the great depth of the univeral nature of this struggle to my attention. Covering the struggles of Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and African Americans, one of the books we studied was Kevin Boyle’s Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder During the Jazz Age. In searching the internet for sources to bring the reality of African Americans and civil rights to my students, especially the oft-overlooked presence of Northern discrimination, I found two gems:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/
http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/

I’d like to highlight several pieces of the sites that could be beneficial to your classroom. Both sites include narratives, personal voices detailing life in Jim Crow America. These narratives include written testimonies, audio clips, and videos, as well as photographs that bring words to life. Both sites include interactive maps that chart a wealth and variety of information in a quick and easy format for students to interpret. The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow site has maps that indicate the changing population of whites and blacks for each state and each decade. Other maps include the chilling number of white and black lynching victims. The maps on The History of Jim Crow highlight sports in Jim Crow America. By clicking on a state, you can read about the different accomplishments of African American athletes. There is also a “Jim Crow and the Supreme Court” map that indicates states (in)famous for Jim Crow judicial interpretations. By clicking on each state, a pop-up details the highlights of the case. Both sites have teacher resources that offer different activities and lesson plans.

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow includes an interactive timeline. Students can click on an event and a description provides information. The site provides a student blog that is great for students to see what students outside their classroom are thinking. The site also includes interactive activities such as, “Voting, Then and Now,” which takes students through the various obstacles that prevent African Americans from voting, “Racial Realities,” which include real scenarios with audio clips of racial injustices with the law, and “Ways of Seeing,” which leads students in the analysis of controversial images.

The History of Jim Crow includes four different series of modules that are SO COOL! Students can select from “simulation,” in which students are led through a series of historically based decisions, a “cognitive organizer” in which students select terms to complete sentences, “document analysis,” in which students analyze primary sources, a “writing workshop,” which provides students with a graphic writing organizer, a “prediction center,” and a “quiz.” This site also includes a wealth of scholarly essays that are accessible to high school students. Furthermore, the site includes a list of American literature related to Jim Crow America, helpful for connecting English and history curriculums and offering enrichment reading for students.

I hope you enjoy, I certainly have!

Encounters and Exchanges TAH Grant --- Three Years, But Not Finished!

2009-06-10T10:05:00.002-04:00

I am truly saddened as the third year of the TAH Grant comes to a close. Being a full-time participant for all three years, I was able to attend many of the amazing offerings. I hope that Kara secures an extension of the Grant and another for the Elementary level; both teachers and students would benefit!

Even though this grant is ending, it isn't really over! It is my understanding that the "Encounters and Exchanges" website will continue to be hosted by the University of Lowell. I will admit that I have not really browsed through many of my peers' lessons and other resources packed onto this site. I am usually scrounging around trying to finish my own!

The fact that this site will remain on the Web is, of course, a continuation of the effective pedagogy, materials, and great resources received through this grant. I have shared this site with my department members and have encouraged all to bookmark it for future reference.

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for any future TAH Grants...

Hope everyone has a wonderful summer. It's been a pleasure meeting and working with so many exceptional educators!

How to keep students engaged in the last month of school....

2009-06-06T20:21:00.007-04:00

As the weather turns warmer and student's thoughts turn to permanent recess, it can be harder and harder to engage them in actually learning. I'm sure many of my colleagues thought I was crazy when I started a fairly major project a couple weeks ago. The idea for this project came from my TAH Elementary Book Club. Our leader, UMass Lowell professor Pat Fontaine shared a great project that had been previously used by third grade teachers in Lowell. The project called for children to research famous people and then to create life-size versions of these people. For specific parts of the people's bodies, the students would discuss what their famous people "saw with their eyes", "heard with their ears", "believed in their heart", etc.

I was immediately excited by this project and I knew right away what I wanted to do with it. For awhile I had been trying to think of some kind of engaging project to go with the standard in our Massachusetts Frameworks about Revolutionary War figures. I was an Art History minor in college and previously taught Art at summer camps and thought this would be a perfect combination of history and art. ( I somewhat knew what I was getting myself into as I had done slightly similar project when teacing about ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses in fourth grade.) I spent much of my April vacation hunting for a giant roll of paper. (not easy to come by at all) Lucked out when a friend who teachers Art said that she could hook me up. With paper in hand, I started to make my plan on how this project

My fabulous Library Media Specialist, who was coincidentally also a member of this book group, helped me make a plan on how we would execute this project at a fifth grade level. We wanted to upgrade a little to make more challenging. We added some aspects like "Legacy" and "Character Traits". I told the kids some limited information about the project to get them started. (I wanted to make some of it a surprise.) They were assigned in groups of three or four to a specific figure. We emphasized that they were responisble for doing their own research, and would be working together as a group on the final part of the project.

For about three to four classes, students worked on their research. I think research can be a difficult skill for students of most ages. For this project, research did prove to be tricky but it seemed that the second major step was the most difficult for many of the groups. When groups finished researching, they worked together to see if together they had answers to all the questions. Their next step was to use their research to write two to three really good answers in complete sentences. These answers would go in the speech bubbles that would be placed near the different parts of the body. The sentences that the students wrote showed me a great deal about what they ascertained from their research and where their writing skills are by the end of fifth grade. Some groups did a great job on this, but it was pretty clear that some groups missed the boat on the importance of some of these gentlemen. (Although it was frustrating, it was an opportunity to go back and help guide the kids with how to pick out the most important information.)

After the writing portion was okayed, some of the teammates worked on typing the responses in to speech bubbles while others worked on the art work. The kids were totally jazzed to make these people. The first step was to choose one of the students to be traced. ( I encouraged them not to pick the shortest, skinniest person in the group since these people were supposed to look like adults.) The funniest part of this whole process happened during this tracing step. Girls apparently didn't want to trace boys, and boys didn't want to trace girls. Puts it in perspective, doesn't it. I forget how little they are sometimes......I had also been thinking about how we could make these figures very recognizable to our Killam School audience. I knew that for the kids drawing the faces of these figures would be difficult. I decided to try blowing up recognized faces using the copy machine. (Alexander Hamilton's face actually came right off a 10 dollar bill.) I thought it kind of gave it a very artistic quality to have the real black and white faces on top of the drawn bodies.

They've been dilligently working away on the artistic construction of these people. I've assisted with the broadening of some shoulders and the thickening of some arms, but other than that they've done it all themselves. Here are some shots of them hard at work....

We've been working on these ALL over the building- library, random hallways, and so many students have seen us. My goal was fufilled when some first graders walked by us and said, "hey look, it's George Washington", which I know made that group feel really good.

We aren't quite finished yet, but I do have one group that finished on Thursday and I thought I would share some pictures to show you their finished product of James Madison. You'll notice that at the bottom of this paper is a copy of Madison's actual signature. The kid's thought this was a really cool touch. As more groups finish, I will try to add a group shot of all of these "Revolutionary" gentlemen together.

We Shall Remain

2009-06-01T14:27:00.004-04:00

PBS has many valuable curriculum materials that connect directly to all three years of the Encounters and Exchanges in US History themes. Many of the grant participants have already utilized the series The American Experience, especially the episodes revolving around Kit Carson. The first year of the grant focused on the Colonial Era in US History and as part of the Primary Source Summer Institute, many of us were privileged to hear from Marge Bruchac, an Abenaki Indian, author, educator and scholar. In her presentation, she directly confronted the myth that Natives and their culture became extinct during the nineteenth century. In her presentation, she utilized many obituaries from that era that listed a member of a native group as the 'Last of the (insert native group name here)" that also, ironically, listed many family members for the deceased.

A great new resource, one to also confront this myth, is the new PBS documentary entitled We Shall Remain. Also part of the American Experience series, it focuses on the impact of Native Americans on US History and, as the title implies, blows to smithereens the myths that movies like The Last of the Mohegans perpetuate and Bruchac debunked in her presentation. Not only does this series demonstrate Native American History, but how this history is one of resilience, strength, and perseverance; not of Native Americans as supporting characters in their own stories, as too often is portrayed by textbooks. This series covers curriculum for all grade levels- from the first Thanksgiving to the Trail of Tears and the Long Walk to Wounded Knee. The companion website to the series (found at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/) is excellent; providing both full length online episodes and behind the scenes information. I am looking forward to utilizing this series in my classroom for next year, and hope that you will consider it as well.

NYC- A 'trip' back in time!

2009-05-11T13:15:00.003-04:00

The Encounters and Exchanges TAH Grant recently sponsored a trip into New York City over April vacation. It was a time to interact and share with other teachers while visiting some of the top destinations for history in the city: Central Park, Chinatown, the New York Historical Society, Little Italy, Harlem, and Ellis Island to name only a few. All were top notch; we gained valuable insight, got some great teaching materials and expanded our content knowledge.

One of the common groans heard throughout the trip was "I wish I could bring my students here!" Field trips, in this era of budget cuts and restrictive spending, have become almost extinct. Unfortunately, some historical sites need to be experienced first hand to truly have an impact.

While it may not be possible to bring 150 students down to New York to experience Ellis Island or the grandiose Central Park, one viable option is to plan a 'virtual field trip'. You could do this on your own with the wonderful "Google Earth" or utilize virtual tours provided by many museums. The Tenement Museum, which was the (almost) unanimous favorite of the group in NYC, provides an excellent virtual tour at their website http://www.tenement.org/.

Opened in 1992, the Tenement Museum is located at 97 Orchard St on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Built in 1863, the top 5 floors of the building were condemned in the 1930's while store fronts still operated on the bottom floors. Shuttered from use and left to decay, the top floors were (and continue to be) renovated by the museum to offer a glimpse into immigrant history. Each apartment has been or is being restored to represent the time that one immigrant family lived in it; we visited the Confino family's apartment and stepped back in time to 1917. We met Victoria, the Confino's youngest daughter, who welcomed us as a new immigrant group. She explained her family's story, why they came to America, what the difference was between her life in the 'old country' and her life in America.

To access virtual tours, click on 'play' then 'virtual tours'. You- and your students- won't be disappointed!

DBQs in the US History Classroom Can Be Addictive

2009-05-06T20:05:00.001-04:00

The DBQ Project is a series of US and World History projects for high school students. The effective component of these projects is that they are based on an over-arching question that students are challenged to research and answer in a five paragraph essay. The primary source/document material for the project is provided for the students to read, and has been thoughtfully excerpted for accessibility to a variety high school students. Additionally, the program offers a very effective Writers’ Workshop, background readings for each unit, and (within the Mini-Q projects) comprehension questions which effectively guide the students to the overarching question, and guiding them through the components of their essay.

The first DBQ I tackled with my classes was the Mini-Q on the Mexican War. The Mini-Q is similar to the full DBQ, however these projects include fewer documents and can be completed in a shorter period of time. The Mini-Qs offer two elements that I’ve found extremely useful. These include comprehension questions following each primary source, and the Writers’ Workshop at the end of each unit.

After reading the background essay to the class, I gave the class the Hook assignment which we read and worked on until the end of class. For homework, the first two of six documents were assigned as well as each of these two documents’ guiding comprehension questions.

On the second day of the project, I went over the questions on the first two documents on the overhead projector. Then, I read the next two documents to the class and assigned the questions for these two readings for homework. The third day was similar to the second day’s structure. However, after I went over the questions in class on the third day, we began to bucket them into categories.

On the fourth day of the project, we went over the buckets again and began to incorporate the Writer’s Workshop Essay Template with our bucket categories. Additionally, I highlighted the other body paragraph structures of the template on the overhead as well. For homework, the students were assigned to design their essays on a blank Essay Template.

Finally, on the fifth day, we went over a number of templates on the overhead and I assigned the essay. As I had previously arranged to have the computer room for two days, the students had two days to complete their essays in class.

The Mini-Q on the Mexican War was an unmitigated success. When I read my students’ essays, I found that an overwhelming number of them included all of the elements that I was looking for from the Writers’ Workshop Template. They structured their body paragraphs so that each offered a thesis and provided evidence on how their thesis ultimately answered the guiding question of the paper. I was very pleased with the results. The structure of the overall DBQ project not only provided my students guidance on how to express their understanding, but guided them to understand the subject matter.

Lastly, I was surprised how long this shorter version of the DBQ took to complete with my college level sophomores. Seven days in total, two of which were in the computer room for writing. Was it a good investment in time considering the product that the students produced? Absolutely, it was one of the most successful writing and research assignments I have ever given.

Teaching U.S. History – “Warts and All”, but not ALL Warts!

2009-05-01T13:58:00.002-04:00

As a TAH Fellow, I was fortunate to attend this year’s NERC conference. Dr. William Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education was a guest speaker at one of the sessions. I was looking forward to hearing him speak, and I was not disappointed; he was a dynamic orator. It turns out he was shamelessly promoting his new U.S. history book set and online curriculum titled: America: The Last Best Hope – A New Roadmap for Teaching History. When he introduced his approach to teaching U.S. history, he advocated teaching “warts and all”, but not ALL warts. This sentiment hit home with me. I have not read Dr. Bennett’s book, (I’m posting a link at the end of the blog), but I agree with at least that basic sentiment.

During these three years of excellent TAH programming, there has been a huge emphasis on the “warts” of U.S. History. The film series and book topics have largely focused on some of the most shameful aspects of our history. It is imperative, of course, that our students need to recognize and understand the evils of slavery, the genocide of Native Americans, the racist and erroneous ideas of social Darwinism, the economic inequities and the plight of immigrants and workers, etc. But it is also imperative that they understand the core values of our nation’s founding, namely the ideals of liberty and equality.

Sometimes I fear that if it’s all warts, and teachers aren’t also acknowledging the ideals and accomplishments of this great nation, students will not be inspired to become active citizens and make positive changes to enhance society. While at the NERC conference I was also fortunate to be able to see a colleague from Reading Public Schools, Jeffrey R. Ryan, receive the prestigious Kidger Award. After accepting the award, Jeffrey’s remarks eloquently addressed my concern regarding how to use the warts of the past and present to promote the ideals our nation. On teaching his students, Jeffrey said: “We must charge them with the vital, essential desperate task of ending racism, poverty, sexism, homophobia, nativism, inadequate medical coverage and the threat of global thermonuclear war. Are these gargantuan tasks? Of course they are! But so was independence from Great Britain. Are idealistic? Of course, but so was the Declaration of Independence. Are they revolutionary? Certainly! Are they utopian? Of course, but so is “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Americans are, in the final analysis, a utopian people, and that is what makes our country such a magnificent one. We conceive bold visions. Sometimes we enliven them; often we fail, but eventually our visions become reality.”

Bravo to Jeffrey! Using the warts of the past and present to preserve and better our country.

How do you balance the warts in your teaching? Comments?

http://www.roadmaptolastbesthope.com/home Dr. William Bennett’s book site (this is NOT a plug! I haven’t read the books)

Legacy of Silence: Reconciling Past and Present With Better Questions

2009-03-30T09:49:00.004-04:00

The book read for the April History Book Discussion Study Group was part of the Historians at Work series, What Did the Internment of Japanese Americans Mean? edited by Alice Yang Murray. The collection of essays regarding the internment of Japanese Americans provided a heavy analysis that revealed an evolving and painful history. As the book exposes as much about historiography as it does the history, I recommend the book to teachers whose curriculums include this topic. Though historiography can be as difficult to study as it is to say, I believe, in moderation, it is important to the high school classroom. Though there is seldom time to get through a year’s curriculum, let alone, teach several interpretations of one event, there is still value in teaching students the impact that source availability and public opinion has on history.

To supplement April’s book, we each read a chapter from Last Witnesses: Reflections of the Wartime Internment of Japanese Americans edited by Erica Harth. I read “Legacy of Silence” by Mitsuye Yamada. In her reflection, Yamada reveals her present conflict and responsibility as a survivor of Japanese internment camps. With the hopes of protecting her children from racism, Yamada, as her parents before her, did not voluntarily share the experiences and emotions from her internment with her children. Through interactions with other victims, she soon realized that that burying the silence was a disservice, especially to her, but also to her children: “Our parents’ legacy of silence – “for the sake of the children” – had been a curse rather than a blessing.”

In efforts to rectify this wrong, Yamada offers great words of wisdom, to which teachers should pay close attention. Yamada suggests that, “We need to ask questions beyond “What was it like?” The assumption behind such questions is that as long as we are treated decently, we have nothing to complain about.” Asking superficial questions, such as “what was it like?” is important to begin a discussion, and often the easiest point of entry. However, these questions can lead students to compare suffering, which can lead them to conclude that the suffering wasn’t that bad. Yamada protests the danger in this by emphasizing that, “a wrong is still a wrong.” The way we present history can positively or negatively impact our students’ understanding of these wrongs.

The importance of her realization resonated within me. As teachers, we need to be conscious of how our questions could send unintentional messages to our students, impacting the way they view history, especially a sensitive history concerning victims. We need to deconstruct the meaning of the question and consider the purpose of this question. In considering what type of information it will provide and how we can and should process the information it provides, we can enrich our students’ historical understanding and restore the significance and value of people’s experiences.

Real Life Connections

2009-03-28T14:30:00.001-04:00

As History teachers, we struggle to find ways to make what we are teaching (whether it is 20 years ago, 200 years ago, or 2000 years ago) relevant for our students. It can be very exciting when an opportunity presents itself.

This past week, My fifth graders and I performed our rendition of the Boston Tea Party debate. (see my previous post detailing last year's performances. They come from an excellent curriculm from the Old SouthMeetinghouse of Boston) This kids love the drama and the dress-up. You can imagine my excitement when parousing Boston.com this week I discovered a very interesting real life protest in Boston- over bottle water no less. The kids loved it, loved seeing other people dressed up like them (some of them thought I was the one in red). We had a very interesting discussion about our society's obsession with bottled water. http://www.boston.com/video/viral_page/?/services/player/bcpid14094180001&bctid=17569090001

I'm not sure how long it will be up there, but it is humorous.

It's the Economy, Stupid!

2009-03-19T07:17:00.004-04:00

Although I usually can't stand educational jargon, we have truly had a 'teachable moment' in these past few months. With all of the focus on standardized curriculum and testing, we rarely have the opportunity to stop and ask our students what they want or need to know. There are times, however, when it is our duty to stop and do just that. I know that many adults have started to panic over the current economy, and I have to start to wonder, what are my students thinking? I know statistically that many of their parents have been recently laid off or have been talking about 'cutting back'. What does that mean to our students? Are they worried they might lose their homes? How can we, as their teachers, help alleviate some of these fears?

This is a terrible situation for adults and for kids, but for kids, it is complicated by a lack of experience and understanding. While we can't fix the economy for them, they can benefit by some understanding of what is going on, what the government, private companies and individuals are doing to fix it, as well as the understanding that this has happened before. A great resource that we can use is a weekly publication called the 'Good Sheet'. This fall, it started to appear at Starbucks locations and many back issues are available online. There is a great one called 'Its the Economy, Stupid!' from October that looks at 20th-21st century economic history. Its great for students, lots of graphics, not too complicated, and uses examples they can relate to- like charting the price of milk over 100 years.

Hopefully, our students are just curious about the economy and we can satisfy student's desire to understand the situation. But if they are scared, an open dialogue in a safe environment can make the difference between being fearful and being informed and aware.

http://www.good.is/goodsheet

R.I.P. History and Social Science MCAS

2009-03-11T20:42:00.002-04:00

By now I'm sure that you've all heard the news; we social studies teachers are off the hook this year for MCAS. I have to admit, I have mixed feelings.

Since the redesign of the History and Social Science Curriculum Frameworks in 2003, there has been a marked level of stress and concern. The year 2003 saw a great shift in the frameworks. There was a huge switch to curriculum focused on U.S. History. It was a post-9/11 world and the frameworks reflected it. Districts spent thousands of dollars on new curriculums and teachers worked countless hours to develop new lessons to match with these changes. Fifth grade social studies was given 35 standards that covered pre-Columbian civilizations the causes of the Civil War. This is probably a freshmen year of college course in American history, but for ten year olds. The Department of Education let me know that my MCAS would be based on the material of fourth and fifth grade, and only up to standard 32 or so. No problem.......

It was my goal to meet this challenge head on. I tried not to think of how daunting it would be, I just tried every year to improve my teaching and see if it was really possible for me to cover all of these standards before MCAS. My greatest fear was that my students would encounter material on the test that I hadn't been able to cover. All the time, I wanted to make their learning of the material meaningful. (Being an active member of the TAH grant has certainly helped me with this!) I am proud to say that the majority of my students will tell you that social studies is FUN! And they do an amazing job at learning a great deal of material.

I felt like I was hitting my stride, and now they've cancelled the testing. According to the state, it is too expensive. Something has to go, and it's social studies. I have to wonder- we've only done trials of this test, and we've never received scaled scores, just raw scores. Time was running out before it was "to count" and be a graduation requirement. What does the state know that they aren't telling us? Were the students of Massachusetts bombing this test? Were the questions too picky? Why does it feel like social studies is the forgotten subject?

Resource Alert: Four Great Videos for Your Classroom!

2009-02-24T13:42:00.002-05:00

Kara, in a December blog, announced the film series offered this year titled Through a Different Lens: Immigration and Migration in U.S. History. She also shared the titles and links to each film. Now that the series has ended, I would like to urge any teacher from any district to check out one or all four movies. All four districts had participants, so these movies are most likely already in your buildings! Hunt them down and view them. They are all excellent.

Each movie offers an in-depth look at issues relating to migration, immigration and/or race relations. Since the movies are on DVD’s it’s so easy to show shorter and/or age level appropriate vignettes.

Prince Among Slaves would be an excellent addition to any curriculum dealing with the issue of slavery. Not only is it another personal slave experience, but it also introduces an interesting dynamic of the role of Islam and slavery in the Americas. Students would be fascinated by this true story of an African nobleman kidnapped and sold into slavery. His life in bondage and his ultimate freedom (and its cost) is very powerful.

The Long Walk: Tears of the Navajo would be a great addition to any curriculum dealing with the settlement of the American West, Manifest Destiny, Genocide, and/or Transnationalism. For anyone who read Hampton Sides’ Blood and Thunder last year, it would be a fabulous companion. Not only did the film discuss the Long Walk (forced relocation of the Navajo), but also the forced educational system and loss of traditional ways after the Navajos returned to their homelands.

Sacco and Vanzetti would be a useful addition to any course delving into immigration, justice/law, ethnicity, etc. While the case of Sacco and Vanzetti is set in the early 20th century, eerie comparisons can be made to justice in the 21st century regarding immigrants/terror suspects, etc.

Made in L.A. is a great example of how we are experiencing history today. This contemporary documentary follows the struggles of a Latino labor movement (led by women) to gain fair work practices. It is eye-opening for students and teachers alike to understand how the cost of goods effects the wages of the workers. Students might be shocked to see “sweatshops” still operating today. For those of us who just finished Jacob Riis’s How the Other Half Lives, it was especially powerful to see how little has changed for some laborers.

Each teacher participant created a lesson and will be submitting it by this Friday. Look for some of the lessons to appear on the Encounters and Exchanges site to help you incorporate these films into your curriculum. Scroll down to Kara’s earlier blog to see the covers and get the links to the sites promoting each film. Check them out. If you’re unsure if someone in your building participated, I’m sure Kara could let you know. It’s worth a little detective work.

Mayflower

2009-01-31T14:17:00.004-05:00

Having been a full time participant in this Encounters and Exchanges TAH Grant for the last three years I read some really excellent historical books. As mentioned in previous posts, I was indeed a History major in college (Ten years out this June- yikes!) As an elementary school teacher, I feel pretty far removed from my in depth study of history. Participating in the grant, and especially in the book clubs all three years, has really helped me to gain much knowledge that I happily bring back directly to my students.

I haven't found all of the books chosen for book club easy to read. Some of them were difficult due to the content of the book, and some were more difficult because of the style of the author.

In the elementary book club we read the excellent book Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick. I had heard about this book several years ago, in fact I believe the author may have spoken at the Parker Middle School in Reading within the last two years. I wish now that I had gone to see him speak.I was pleased to find that Mayflower had very interesting content and a narrative kind of style to the text. Mayflower goes far beyond the traditional "Pilgrim" stories of natives and thanksgiving. Philbrick begins his study with the people that most Americans know as Pilgrims, but who most often referred to themselves as Separatists and their humble beginnings in Scrooby, England. He gave very interesting details of the group's travails to Leiden in the Netherlands.

The part of this book that I found the most interesting was background information about Squanto. The basic story being that he was kidnapped by European fishermen who were visiting the coast of New England. He made his way from Spain to London, and eventually back to New England. ( I love sharing with the kids that, "he got a ride home"!) Philbrick sheds light on Squanto, and perhaps his ulterior motives to assisting the Separatists. There was a great deal of discussion about how helping the Pilgrims, ultimately would help Squanto.

Apparently, Nathaniel Philbrick is not a historian. To be honest, I may have enjoyed it this book more because of this. The books is written more as a narrative, and I really enjoyed the "story" feel to this. I love anecdotes, and I enjoy teaching the kids about "the smaller stories" in history (the people behind the people).

I think that any teacher of Social Studies, at any level, would really enjoy this book and find that it adds something to their teaching.

The Conflict of Present and Past Values in Studying History

2009-01-31T08:19:00.001-05:00

During the January book study group, much of our discussion focused on author Jacob Riis’s intentions in his book, How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York (1890). Our discussion proved immensely valuable as it went beyond the tenements and their situation, elevating to the level of surrounding influences, which helped to adjust my understanding of the book. As I read through Riis’s work, I questioned the overwhelming presence of negative stereotypes, which, from my twenty-first century point of view, would only perpetuate the plight subjects. My mini-revelation reminded me of the importance of utilizing the Historical Thinking Benchmarks as a guide in teaching historical understanding. I have found that they ground me in focusing a lesson in skills as well as content. When one uses the “perspective” benchmark, which reads: “understanding that although the past tends to be viewed in terms of present values, a proper perception of the past requires a serious examination of values of that time,” Riis’s work can be examined on deeper level.

The introduction by David Leviatin addresses the culture in which Riis developed his worldview. Riis’s point of publication was to awaken Americans, in particular New Yorkers, to the troubles that brew in the horrid conditions of the tenements. He hoped to inspire and provoke change, as he asks in his introduction, “What are you going to do about it?” If you choose to use Riis’s book in to teach tenement life and progressive reform, I suggest that you use the book on two levels. The wealth and variety of pictures as well as descriptions that awaken all senses create awareness of tenement living. By dividing your class into small groups, assign each group a particular ethnic group. Have students assess their section with basic questions that address the tenement living. If time allows, advance your students to the “next level,” and direct them to explore his intentions and the culture in which his work was produced in a debate that asks if Riis’s work did more harm than good.

The historical thinking benchmarks can be found at http://www.historians.org/teaching/policy/benchmarks.htm.

Resource Alert: Making Freedom- Primary Source

2009-01-30T08:29:00.006-05:00

As teachers, we know that one of our most difficult tasks is often researching primary sources that will be readable and understandable for our students. It can often take hours to find one or two workable documents, and then more time to cut them down or create a vocabulary list for our students to be able to analyze them in the short class period. This set of books, created and compiled by Primary Source, are excellent time savers and resources that can expose teacher and student to primary sources that might be hard to find or put into context. Each lesson has a narrative, suggested activities and worksheets, and of course, primary sources including text, images and maps. This set focuses on African Americans in the United States, and, as the title of the series implies, freedom from the 'bottom up'. These books are a great way to approach American history through a light and point of view that textbooks often lack.

Note: Teachers in every partner district (Danvers, Lowell, North Reading, and Reading) have a copy of the Making Freedom Sourcebooks. Check in with Kara Gleason for more information about how to access them.

Wikis and Podcasts are Wicked Useful

2009-01-28T12:58:00.002-05:00

We’re off to a great start to year three of the Encounters and Exchanges in US History Grant. In the preceding years of the grant, I have been fortunate to gain knowledge of superbly relative new skills and acquire fantastic materials that I’ve been able to use immediately in my classroom. This year has proven to be no different. The most recent additions to my teaching, thanks to my participation in the grant, is the employment of podcasts and wikis into my teaching repertoire.

Before the two-day training of wikis and podcasts, I have to honestly admit that I had no idea what either of these on-line phenomena were, much less how I could incorporate them into my teaching. With the completion of the workshops, I was using both a wiki and a podcast of my own creation in class the next day.

A podcast is simply a recording of audio that is posted live on the web for students (or anyone) to listen to at any time. This idea greatly interested me as I have been posting the audio of my textbook up on a simple web site and on the school’s server. This audio was taken from a collection of CDs that came with my text’s resource package. With a pair of headphones and a computer, students could listen to the text of the chapters read to them as they read silently with the book. I have found that this was a pretty effective way of supporting the special needs students and the many second language learner students in my classes. However, I was limited to only being able to provide audio of the text. With the ability to create a podcast, I could now offer the audio to primary sources and other secondary sources that may include difficult language for many of my students to read.

The creation of a podcast required a free software called Audacity. It can be found and downloaded from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. I used the beta version and I found that it worked just fine. Also, be sure that in addition to downloading the Audacity program that you also download “Lame mp3 Converter”. Lame will allow you to convert your Audacity “project” into a .mp3 or .wav, which can be posted and listened to on a web site or a school server. You will find Lame as an additional download after you choose your Audacity version. Additionally, I’ve found two video tutorials on Audacity created by Cambridge Community TV. They can be accessed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrPGMjZORCM . Lastly, you can find free music to add to your podcast from a link provided on the Encounters and Exchanges website: http://capturinghistory.wikispaces.com/MusicforPodcasting.

To make the podcast available, we created a website using Wikispaces. A wiki is an interactive web page where students/invited guests can contribute to your web page. I have not used my new Wikispaces page to it’s fullest abilities by allowing my students to make contributions to it, so I’m not going to be able to comment about this facet of Wikispaces. However, I would like to highlight how easy Wikispaces is to use and how simple it is to create a nice looking website that students can navigate easily and I can update simply.

Teachers can create a Wikispaces page for free by going to http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers , entering the required information and pledging that their wiki will be used for educational purposes. Additionally, the wiki that I made is completely locked, which means that it functions just like any other web page and can be only edited by me. There is a good tutorial video on how to create and use a wiki on Wikispaces at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NRbbskf3cA . Of course, there is a very informative step by step explanation on how to create a page on Wikispaces found on the Encounters and Exchanges website. This link is: http://capturinghistory.wikispaces.com/IntrotoWikis .

Lastly, I would like to share the rather simple Wikispaces page that I created for my students based on a Supreme Court project we completed in December. The page concentrates Engle v. Vitale. The page includes a secondary source explanation of the case, a podcast of me reading the secondary source, an embedded video of students acting out the case, the required written response materials that students can print, and a teacher page containing a lesson plan using this page. This can be found at: http://dehushistory.wikispaces.com/Text+Audio . The home page to my site with links to my text audio, other projects and a link to this page can be viewed at: http://dehushistory.wikispaces.com/ .

It’s great to be able to offer technology to students so that they can access the curriculum better. It is even better when it is easy for the teacher to create the technology. I hope that these links and suggestions entice you into investigating podcasts and using Wikispaces with your students.

Immigration, Photojournalism, Urbanization, Bias, and More!

2009-01-23T08:48:00.001-05:00

How the Other Half Lives by Jacob A. Riis

The first assignment for the Year III History Book group was How the Other Half Lives by Jacob A. Riis. Most History majors encounter this book at some point in their undergraduate work. I know I did. I don’t know where that copy ended up after all these years, but I’m grateful to have received a newer edition, one with an enlightening introduction by David Leviatin. Leviatin offers an interesting historical essay where he presents information regarding Jacob Riis’ personal history as well as a concise glimpse of New York City and America in the 1880’s. This is incredibly useful, as many teachers will not only choose to discuss the obvious themes of Immigration, Photojournalism, Urbanization, but Riis’ experience and biases.

While Riis’ work hasn’t changed - it’s still an eye opening expose of tenement life in New York City in the late 19th century - the way teachers can use this Primary Source has definitely been broadened. Technology allows teachers of all grade levels to utilize Riis’ work. The Yale American Studies Program has Riis’ original Primary Source document online at: http://www.yale.edu/amstud/inforev/riis/title.html. Since his work is divided up into short chapters, it’s easy to send older students to a certain chapter. Teachers of younger students can “grab” individual paragraphs to present to students. Having also just finished the TAH Wiki Workshop, it’s also possible for teachers of younger students to create podcasts for younger students to access the smaller quotes.

Teachers often strive to immerse the students into the tenement environment through the words of Riis. A great addition to his words is an online virtual tour of the Tenement Museum at: http://www.tenement.org/. Students are also drawn into his stark, and at the time, revolutionary, photographs of tenement life. Yale’s online text does contain photos, but their quality isn’t the best. A few sites to quickly find powerful discussion starters are: Masters of Photography: Jacob Riis site http://www.masters-of-photography.com/R/riis/riis.html and PBS American Experience site http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wilson/sfeature/sf_poverty.html. The Tenement Museum and the vast collection of photographs are easily accessible to all grade levels. A standard worksheet to help students analyze the photos as Primary Sources can be found through the National Archives site at: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/photo.html.

Our discussion of Riis’ work was fascinating. Favorite passages and photographs were shared, and personal critiques varied widely. Through this blog I have been a champion for these History Book Groups. Even if you haven’t physically joined the group, you can still access the titles and all ancillary materials. Kara has created a wiki for the book group at: http://historybookgroup.wikispaces.com/. Our next title is Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans by Jean Pfaeltzer. I’ve only read the first few chapters, but it’s excellent. It is a painfully eye-opening documentation of pogroms against Chinese Americans in the American West. Already I know this book will change the way I teach the American West. Check it out!

Writing for History

2009-01-12T10:44:00.007-05:00

On November 25th and January 5th elementary teachers from our district partners came together for a Writing for History workshop. This workshop linked content presented by notable scholars and writing prompts and activities for the elementary U.S. history classroom.

John Bezis-Selfa from Wheaton College kicked off our session in November with an interactive lecture on Connections between Colonial Massachusetts and Latin America/the Caribbean. Teachers engaged with a number of primary sources including selections from The Winthrop Papers and Samuel Sewall's The Selling of Joseph. In January, Eve LaPlante, the award-winning author of Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall discussed Samuel Sewall's life and actions in the context of Puritan New England.

Presenters from the Buzzard's Bay Writing Project, a National Writing Project Center site at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth also worked with our teachers. Teachers received copies of Content Area Writing: Every Teacher's Guide and the session led teachers to examine and complete a number of writing strategies for use in the classroom including "See, Think, Wonder," multigenre writing, writing and the visual arts, carousel brainstorming, and RAFT (role, audience, format, topic) strategies.

Through a Different Lens Film Series

2008-12-03T13:09:00.000-05:00

This year the Encounters and Exchanges in U.S. History Teaching American History grant offered its first film series with partner organization Primary Source. The film series, titled Through a Different Lens: Immigration and Migration in U.S. History, brought together more than forty teachers from our partner districts of Danvers, Lowell, North Reading and Reading.

The film series included viewing and discussion of the following films:

Prince Among Slaves

The Lon g Walk: Tears of the Navajo

Sacco and Vanzetti

Made in L.A.

During each session the teachers came together with historians, scholars and lead teachers to view and discuss the films. Teachers received a copy of each film for possible use in the classroom.

Election '08

2008-10-09T19:46:00.000-04:00

Would love to hear all the thoughts of my colleagues about how you are all approaching this fine election with your students? My first year of teaching was 2000, and I learned a whole lot about teaching about the election that year. (There was nothing more priceless than my exasperated students coming in that morning and requesting new electoral maps because theirs that they had colored the night before, needed to be fixed because Florida had changed colors so many times! It was funny to tell them- no one knows what color it should be!)

I would especially like to hear the thoughts of any younger grade teachers. How much detail are you going into? Are you talking specifics about the candidates or sticking with just the process? I'm jealous slightly of those of you teaching high school because I would think/hope that you are able to have some really great discussions with your kids. My biggest problem is that the kids just repeat all that they hear at home. (I'm sure others at all levels run into this problem too.)

Anybody? Anybody?

Encounters and Exchanges in U.S. History - Year Three

2008-10-06T15:35:00.000-04:00

I am happy to announce that the Encounters and Exchanges in U.S. History Teaching American History Grant Professional Development project is entering its third successful year.

To see a description of our theme and program offerings for Year Three click here.

The Encounters and Exchanges in U.S. History website also provides information about programming, selected U.S. History website resources, and lesson plans.

Transnationalism - A new Historiographical View

2008-06-19T09:38:00.000-04:00

I was fortunate to be able to attend the Organization of American Historians New York City conference in March, 2008. I participated in many excellent workshops and roundtable discussions. The majority of the presenters and participants, in my estimation, were college professors and/or secondary level administrators. I truly enjoyed the level of academic dialogue. Sessions I attended included “Rethinking Race in the American West”, “The Grand Canyon in History”, “Islam in the United States”, “Improving Early American History Instruction” and “State of the Field: History Teaching and Learning”. Considering the range of topics, it was interesting that one term kept popping up in discussions --- transnationalism. I must confess that I was unfamiliar with the term. Apparently, it is a buzz word in the higher echelons of historical thinking and teaching. Transnationalism is part of the growing argument in American History to gravitate towards a more international or global history.

As this is my last blog for the year, I can’t resist tying this into the Book Discussion Group. In our first meeting Dean Bergeron introduced us to the Turner Thesis, which argues that the “Frontier Experience” makes American exceptional. During the year, we had fun discussing/debating this theory while applying it to all the titles we read.

This new trend toward transnationalism completely opposes the idea of American Exceptionalism. I spoke at length with one of the professors, who recommended a book titled: Rethinking American History in a Global Age, edited by Thomas Bender, who is a major proponent for internationalizing the study of American History. This type of approach would have a huge impact upon historiography. The implications regarding European contact in the Americas would be overwhelming. Transnationalism promotes multiracial history and the study of what happens when cultures collide, which culture dominates, and who maintains material resources and whose voice is heard in history. Having read Hampton Sides’ Blood and Thunder, in our Book Discussion Group, I can see an argument for transnationalism; Sides illustrates how the American West was a cultural crossroads between the Americans, the Mexicans, and the Native Americans, and we know whose historical voice has been heard for the last two centuries.

I haven’t yet read Rethinking American History in a Global Age, but it’s on my summer list. I am intrigued by many aspects of this theory. I have always been a proponent of Human History, incorporating a global view with multicultural contributions.

For a sampling of Bender's ideas and the idea of Transnationalism:

http://books.google.com/books?id=GDXXGjR9fgAC&dq=Bender++%2B+%22rethinking+american+history%22&pg=PP1&ots=qxtiqcEZ2g&sig=uPO9zMocbJnVxQl7hHSwbBfvRYQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPP1,M1

Historiography in the High School Classroom

2008-06-14T19:08:00.000-04:00

My historiography professor introduced me to a valuable source in teaching historiography to high school students that is worth sharing. Kyle Ward's History in the Making: An Absorbing Look at how American History has Changed in the Telling Over the Last 200 Years, (NY: New Press, 2006), illustrates the changes in history presented in textbooks over intervals of time. The topics are numerous and begin with Columbus, through Reconstruction, to the conflict in the Middle East. This source provided the opportunity for my classes to move beyond the importance of content and explore the importance of the historian and the impact of the political and social atmosphere in which the history was written. As one of the American Historical Association's historical thinking benchmarks utilized by Teaching American History, studying historiography with high school students takes their thinking one step further in acknowledging and analyzing the developing and differing interpretations in history.

I chose to utilize the chapter on Reconstruction in my US History I classroom. Before starting, I needed to introduce the concept of historiography. I told the students that they were going to read seven brief histories of reconstruction that were written between the years 1878 and 1995. Putting the onus on them, I asked them why they thought I would create such an assignment, given that they just read about reconstruction in their textbook that was published in 2007. What did they think that I expected them to learn? The common response of, "how history has changed over the years," set up a class discussion on how and why history changes, if history is based on facts and truth. Students were able to recognize the factors that influence history, specifically, the time period and background influences of the historian. The assignment, as it was probably their first introduction to historiography, was simple, I asked students to keep track of the content, what new information was added to the history of reconstruction throughout the different publications and to keep track of the historians' bias.

I was surprised by how involved and seriously students took this assignment. Not only did it reinforce the content, students generated questions about bias and perspective regarding the impact of race in this particular vein of history. The only improvement I would make would be to thoroughly address the concept of bias, how to identify it, and what could cause it.

MCAS, TAH reflection, and it's already June-oh my!

2008-06-07T13:45:00.000-04:00

First off, I want to say that totally agree with Dan. TAH has definitely improved my teaching of American History as an elementary school teacher. I was really fortunate to be one of a small group of elementary school teachers who have a degree in content. I was a History major in college and that has been a huge asset to me as an intermediate elementary school teacher.

My concentration as a history major was in two broad areas; Ancient History and Post World War I and II Eastern Europe. Guess what I teach to fifth graders? Early American History! I've had to do a lot of self-exploration to inform my teaching of this topic. After 8 years, I think I've become a pretty good expert (at least in the eyes of my 70 ten and eleven year olds), but TAH has opened my eyes up to a lot of different things.

What I was curious to talk about with all of you is MCAS. It now seems like a blur, but just a couple weeks ago, I was up to my neck in all that stress. Fifth graders take a total of 9 sessions of MCAS. Awful! We take three in March, and six in May.

I am very curious to hear about the high school and middle school tests. I'm not entirely sure what grades they are in anymore- 7th? 11th? What are people's reactions to this push to a more of a "primary source" based test? I thought the fifth grade test was a mixed bag. I thought the material I had to cover in fifth grade, only 32 ridiculously detailed standards, wasn't too bad. I still find it hard to watch kids answer very specific questions. What I would call, "button, button, who's got the button". It can be heart wrenching to watch as students say that Lord Baltimore was the founder of Rhode Island, when you very specifically taught the difference between Roger Williams and the insignificant Lord Baltimore. Many of the questions aren't difficult, but lean towards more of what I would describe to be "common sense" type questions, and these to prove to be daunting for fifth graders. Why did most of the colonists in the colonies speak English? Some of my kids think it is because the Indians spoke English. No joke- that was one of the answers and I watched kids pick it. I think I shouldn't be allowed to proctor this test for my own mental welfare.

What do you all think? Do you find it painful to watch MCAS? Are we teaching too much- too much breadth and not enough depth? What can we expect our kids to learn and retain?

TAH Grant Has Greatly Improved My Teaching

2008-06-06T21:55:00.000-04:00

With the closing of year two of the TAH Grant, I thought that I would reflect on some of the tools and techniques I’ve gained from the grant, and how they’ve improved my teaching of American history at the high school level.

I am a tremendous fan of the TAH Grant. I have gained extremely useful teaching skills, enriched my breadth of knowledge of American history, and incorporated these new found skills into almost every day of my teaching.

In an earlier blog, I wrote about my use of a series of primary sources, which are published by the Teaching American History Professional Development Project, a Partnership of the Fall River Public Schools and Bristol Community College. This collection still is a part of my teaching at least twice a week. With them, I’ve been able to give my students the opportunity to explore documents from American history and analyze them.

In a later blog, I took the opportunity to highlight my incorporation of Windows Movie Maker into my high school classroom. This exciting addition to my teaching has greatly improved the research and presentation aspects of my lessons, and my assessment of my students’ learning. With Windows Movie Maker training I was not only able to create movies for my students to view, but more importantly, my students were able to research and create their own movies. If you are interested in movie making with your students please see my earlier blog on the subject or email me a question at danhanlon@lhs.lowell.k12.ma.us.

This year, we were educated in a simple way to create websites through “Freshpond.net”. This organization has taken the requirement of learning to become a web designer out of web design. This means that a teacher, with all that we have to do, can create a web page with little effort that is easy to design and navigate.

Using my Freshpond.net account, I’ve created a very basic page. In fact I call it my “Basics” page. On it, I’ve been posting assignments and other class information for my students to use for class. As this system worked well, I succeeded in kicking the page up a notch. Using a secondary skill that I obtained from the grant, I’ve been taking audio CDs of our text and “ripping” then into files that can be put on the web. Now, as I give assignments, I can also assign my students to listen to the reading as well. This has been a great help to my students who have IEPs, and especially useful to my very many bilingual students.

Lastly, but certainly not least, there are the books that I’ve read and discussed with the book group. Although I haven’t been able to purchase a class set of my favorites, I have used many of the titles in my classes. Mostly, so that the readings match well with what I am covering at the time, I’ve copied excerpts from chapters and made them available to the class. Because the writing of these books is of high quality, and the writing perspective is different from both our textbook and primary sources, students have found them a refreshing, informative and interesting assignment. Interestingly, I’ve found that following an assigned excerpt from one of these titles; my classes have much more lively and thoughtful class discussions. Proving when everyone enjoys what they have read, they learn a great deal, and become anxious to share what they’ve learned.

In all, the TAH grant has given me many tools to expand my breadth of knowledge in American history, produce intriguing lessons, and provide my students with primary sources that are succinct and approachable. I am greatly looking forward to participating in the grant next year.

Kit Carson Strikes Again!

2008-06-02T10:18:00.000-04:00

When I picked up the books for this year's book discussion group, I knew I would love 2 immediately. Call it my macabre taste, but I knew that Fall River Outrage: Life, Murder, and Outrage in Early Industrial New England and Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West would be my favorites. While I am excited to apply the Fall River text to next year, I had a great opportunity to utilize the Blood and Thunder text this year.

Here's what I did, feel free to use all or part!

Divide the class into 3 groups- Dine, Mexican Americans, and the Federal Government.

Each group gets this background explanation:"This activity centers around a debate over the ancestral land of the Dine, or Navajo, in present day New Mexico. The area was gained by the United States after the Mexican American War, and currently is controlled by the Dine people. They are primarily sheep herders, the blankets they weave are prized possessions, often worth a lot of money. There are Mexican Americans who have lived on the borders of the Dine's territory who have been plagued by Dine attacks for decades, since the area was still a part of Mexico. The Dine attack the Mexican Americans to add to their own population by taking captives, or to replace sheep that have been taken or slaughtered by outsiders. There are also American citizens and new immigrants who wish to settle the area. Not only is the land beautiful, the Dine have amended and irrigated the soil for crops which make it ideal ranch/farm land. "

Have the Mexican American group write a petition to the Federal government that outlines their grievances and what they wish the government to do about it.

Have the Federal Government group write a treaty proposal to the Dine that outlines the grievances of their citizens.

Have the Dine group read the passage in Blood and Thunder that outlines the problems that the Dine have with signing treaties (they don't understand the authority of the Fed. government, they think that the white men might be witches, they don't understand the language, etc.)

Have the Dine respond to the other groups with this information in mind (they will come up with some interesting responses!)

I capped this off with a discussion, then had the students predict what the final outcome would be. Next, we watched Kit Carson, American Experience- a PBS documentary that overviews Carson's actions in the Canyon de Chelly and the 'Long Walk'. It is available at online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carson/ and the chapters that apply are 6 and 7.

Kit Carson Strikes Again!

2008-06-02T08:45:00.000-04:00

When I picked up the books for this year's book discussion group, I knew I would love 2 immediately. Call it my macarbe taste, but I knew that Fall River Outrage: Life, Murder, and Outrage in Early Industrial New England and Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West would be my favorites. While I am excited to apply the Fall River text to next year, I had a great oppurtunity to utilize the Blood and Thunder text this year. Here's what I did, feel free to use all or part!

Divide the class into 3 groups- Dine, Mexican Americans, and the Federal Government.

Each group gets this background explaination:

"This activity centers around a debate over the ancestral land of the Dine, or Navajo, in present day New Mexico. The area was gained by the United States after the Mexican American War, and currently is controlled by the Dine people. They are primarily sheep herders, the blankets they weave are prized possessions, often worth a lot of money. There are Mexican Americans who have lived on the borders of the Dine’s territory who have been plagued by Dine attacks for decades, since the area was still a part of Mexico. The Dine attack the Mexican Americans to add to their own population by taking captives, or to replace sheep that have been taken or slaughtered by outsiders. There are also American citizens and new immigrants who wish to settle the area. Not only is the land beautiful, the Dine have amended and irrigated the soil for crops which make it ideal ranch/farm land. "

Have the Mexican American group write a petition to the Federal government that outlines thier greviences and what they wish the government to do about it.

Have the Federal Government group write a treaty proposal to the Dine that outlines the grievences of thier citizens.

Have the Dine group read the passage in Blood and Thunder that outlines the problems that the Dine have with signing treaties (they don't understand the authority of the Fed. government, they think that the white men might be witches, they don't understand the language, etc.)

Have the Dine respond to the other groups with this information in mind (they will come up with some interesting responses!)

I capped this off with a discussion, then had the students predict what the final outcome would be. Next, we watched Kit Carson, American Experience- a PBS documentanry that overviews Carson's actions in the Canyon de Chelly and the 'Long Walk'. It is available at online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carson/ and the chapters that apply are 6 and 7.

Making Historical Movies in Class

2008-05-15T21:46:00.000-04:00

I’m pleased to share with you my discovery and use of a tool that was introduced to me through the TAH grant. For years, my computer has been running Windows XP, little did I know that hidden under the accessories menu was a wonderful movie-making program called Windows Movie Maker.

After an extremely informative workshop on Windows Movie Maker, I was able to take this program, which is on almost every computer in my high school’s computer room, and teach my students how to make creative and informative historical movies of about 3 minutes long.

In this article, I hope to coax you to look into your computer’s “Applications” (or under “Accessories” as it’s found on my personal computer) and open Window’s Movie Maker and experiment with its capabilities. I think that you’ll will find that Windows Movie Maker will “kick” your PowerPoint lessons “up a notch” into a higher multi-media experience for your students.

If you click the icon below this blog you will be able to view a movie that I made for my students using pictures that I retrieved from the internet and music that was provide to me from the TAH grant. For those of you who are familiar with PowerPoint, you will notice that this movie is really just a fancy slide show. However, I hope that you will agree that as a motion picture, the slides and music become extremely attention getting and engaging.

If you plan to give Windows Movie Maker in your classes there are several important points that you must be aware of.

The first is the most important. Everything that you save as you are working with your movie must be saved to one place on a computer or USB drive and cannot be moved until you are finished creating the movie. If you move files from this designated place at anytime during the process, the program will not be able to access your files.

Secondly, when you open up the program, you will be creating a “project” or a .mswmm file. In this form, your on-going project can be saved, closed, reopened and continued (but don’t move it). When you are satisfied with your project and you are ready to turn it into a Windows movie, you will have to navigate to the “Finish Movie” button and go through the guided steps to make this project into a Window Movie or .wmv file.

Once your movie has been transformed from a “project” or .mswmm file and into a finished “windows movie” or .wmv file, you can move it anywhere you like. Also, it can be opened by Windows Media Player and other movie players.

Below are some links that I hope will help you.

From Steven Mintz - strong focus on digital history as a means of transforming history education: His Website: http://www.class.uh.edu/mintz/
-and-

http://www.gilderlehrman.org/teachers/resources5.html Click on “Windows Movie” Maker at the bottom of the page and you will view a step-by-step manual on how to create a movie using this program.

Digital History Website:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/

A Sample Course Syllabus:
http://www.class.uh.edu/mintz/digital.htm

Digital Stories of American History (made by teachers):
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/digital_stories.cfm

Center for Teaching with Technology
Why Teach with Technology:
http://thwt.org/gettingstarted.html#whyteach

Digital Storytelling
http://www.coe.uh.edu/digital-storytelling/evaluation.htm

Teacher Interview about Student Movie Making
http://www.primarysource.org/newsroom/story.php?sectionPage=Primary%20Source%20News&sequence=95&storyFormat=Full

Biographies in the US HIstory Classroom

2008-04-30T21:03:00.000-04:00

As the second year of Encounters and Exchanges draws to a close, the continuous theme of using biographies to teach history has inspired many of my lesson plans. From books focusing on the exciting lives of Kit Carson, and Harriet Jacobs (to name a few), field trips highlighting the lives of renown Massachusetts transcendentalists Henry David Thoreau and Louisa May Alcott, to Julie Winch’s book and presentation on James Forten and Gwedolyn Quezaire-Presutti’s performance as Maria W. Stewart at the Teaching American History annual conference, one can easily acknowledge the benefits of teaching history through biographies. Biographies have the ability to draw students into the history for the enjoyment of the narrative and appreciation for the significance of one man or woman’s actions, as opposed to an often cold and remote textbook.

After reading Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs, for the book discussion group, I immediately recognized the compelling appeal of Jacobs’ life, and presented the first four chapters to my students. As time is high demand for all classrooms, however, even one of Jacobs’ chapters reveals an interesting and informative story to supplement the textbook. Take chapter one, for example: in order to guide reading and develop an understanding about the vast complexities of slavery, especially in regards to a young slave girl, students created Jacobs’ family tree through her recollections of her relatives. Once students attained this basic understanding of Jacobs’ life, they recorded examples of how Jacobs’ family impacted her life, which would help connect the events and unique circumstances of Jacobs’ trialed life. Finally, students made practical connections between Jacobs’ life and the broader history we studied as well as personal reflections on the impact of slavery on an individual’s life.

US History I teachers have no need to wait for a classroom set of Harriet Jacobs’ autobiography to utilize a slave biography in the classroom. Research and oral history projects have made enormous headway in documenting the lives of former slaves. The Library of Congress: American Memory’s “Voices from the Days of Slavery” collection contains the narratives of former slaves, available in audio and text form. Design generic, guiding questions that can be applied to all narratives. Have students make basic observation about the person’s life (family life, skills, living conditions), integrate their life into the broader history of the US, and finally, reflect what one can learn from an individual’s story.

The link for The Library of Congress: American Memory’s “Voices from the Days of Slavery,” is: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/vfssp.html

Great Sources for Slavery, Slave Narratives, Abolition and More!

2008-04-29T18:36:00.000-04:00

The Book Discussion Groups and its books have certainly had quite a few plugs in these blogs. I know I've already written an entry with my praises for Hampton Sides' Blood and Thunder. Quite a few of the books in Year II of the grant have dealt with various themes related to African Americans, Slavery, Abolition, and the coming of the Civil War. Black Jacks by W. Jeffrey Bolster, The Approaching Fury, by Stephen B. Oates, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs, were all excellent. I have been working on my final project for the Book Group, and have been utilizing some great sources.

One source is the PBS site Africans in America. (see link below) It has a collection of images, documents, stories, biographies and commentaries depicting America's journey through slavery. The site compliments the PBS documentary Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery. The 2 DVD set was a Peabody Award Winner, and was given to all participants of the Book Discussion Goup. Using the chapter search function, you can focus on certain topics quite easily. Since there are participants from all of the systems in the book groups, find a colleague and ask them to share this treasure!

Another great resource for slavery topics is a site with a series of slave narratives published by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (see link below) It is rich with primary sources to compliment many units of study.

SlaveryInAmerica.org also is a useful site.(see link below) It has an image gallery, lesson plans, and narratives. Likewise, the Lost Museum (see link below) is a good find, too. It has a database of archived primary sources. You can search by key words or themes. This site was created by the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning with the Graduate Center, City University of New York and George Mason University.

My greatest find was the site The Valley of the Shadow, which contained three excellent primary sources illustrating the Southern defense of slaveholding. These documents would really spark interesting discussions and help students of the 21st Century see the arguments and values of Southern whites.

I hope you find these sites useful. There's so much great stuff out there. Enjoy!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html Africans in America site by PBS.

http://docsouth.unc.eud/neh/texts.html University of North Carolina Slave Narratives

http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/resources/resources_gateway.htm Slavery in America There is an image gallery, lesson plans, and narratives

http://www.lostmuseum.cuny.edu/home.html Lost Museum archives

http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/teaching/vclassroom/proslaveinst.html Primary sources for the Southern defense of slavery

Photograph Activity

2008-04-29T08:33:00.001-04:00

I recently participated in a workshop on Reconstruction at Primary Source, an organization that I was introduced to as a grant participant last year. A fantastic teacher at the workshop presented an activity on analyzing photographs, and since I am always looking for new ways to analyze primary sources, I really latched on. The steps are as follows, and this activity could also work well with paintings.

1. Choose a person in the photograph to 'be'.

2. As that person, think about the following questions:

What do you see?

What do you think?

What do you feel?

This forces the students to not only place themselves into the source, but to also to identify with different groups or people. The teacher at the workshop used a photograph taken at a lynching, and asked us to step inside the photograph and take the role of the men that had committed the murder, the man who was lynched, and the children that had been watching. You may even ask your students to take on the role of the photographer.

What would your students say about the image in this post?

Second Annual Encounters and Exchanges Conference

2008-04-27T17:44:00.000-04:00

What a great opportunity many of us had the Friday before vacation to participate in the Encounters and Exchanges Annual Conference. It is a very satisfying feeling to participate in a day that you know enriches you both as a classroom teacher and as a professional.

The day began with an excellent presentation by Julie Winch, a professor of History at UMass Boston. Dr. Winch introduced the group to several biographies of Free African-Americans. Dr. Winch used many common primary sources to open up our minds to people who might have been otherwise lost to History. One of the most important goals of this conference/grant is to help improve content knowledge and pedagogy of history teachers. Dr. Winch's presentation did indeed cause me to rethink about my various approaches to teaching. I would love the chance to teach my fifth graders about history through the eyes of more everyday people. (So often I think we as teachers are bogged down with "covering" those famous people that the state of Massachusetts tells us that students must know.)

After Julie's presentation, I had the excellent opportunity to give my own presentation to other elementary colleagues. Over the last couple of years, I have had the chance to give a handful of presentations to adults, which is something that I have found that I really enjoy doing. Although it can be nerve-racking at first, sharing ideas with colleagues in this kind of format has been excellent.

Lunchtime proved to be another great part of the day! The weather was beautiful and I was able to go outside with a handful of other history teachers, some from Reading and some from other places. This kind of informal opportunities can prove to be some of the best times for networking and sharing of resource ideas.

My second session of the day was an excellent presentation by the Museum of Fine Arts. This presentation ended up being rather ironic for me. Last summer, I spent a great deal of time on the Internet attempting to find works of art that could be included in a series of lessons that I was creating for the Content Institute that I was taking through the grant. I found myself totally lost in the MFA website, and unable to get the images that I needed. Low and behold, the MFA has created a fabulous tool for teachers. www.educators.mfa.org Not only are you able to get access to almost their entire collection, but they also have a fabulous curriculum called VTS, Visual Thinking Strategies. Check it out! It will be worth your time.

The last section of the day saw a performance by Gwendolyn Quezaire-Presutti as Maria W. Stewart, a female African-American abolitionist from Massachusetts. I always find performers like Ms. Quezaire-Presutti to be fascinating. The amount of time that she has dedicated to perfecting her craft is impressive. Check her out at www.woventales.com

If you weren't able to join us last year, I hope that you will consider joining us and encouraging all of your colleagues to do the same!

2008-03-15T18:58:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

The last time I posted, I wrote about how I was looking forward to starting to study the relationship between the Pilgrims and Wampanoags in my class. Now, we have moved forward in history to the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and are studying every day life in a Puritan colonial town. This transition has brought up some interesting discussions in my class, as students begin to understand the continuity of history. Despite having "finished" studying the Pilgrims (in their interpretation), I am trying to have them understand that people were still living in Plymouth, and the community continued, even though our focus is now on Salem and Boston. One way I have tried to encourage this continuity is to have students create a timeline of colonial history in Massachusetts. Using a program called Timeliner, which is available in our computer lab, students are creating timelines showing various events.

As we have transitioned into the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, my class has been able to make several interesting connections. Suprisingly, one connection is to a field trip we took in October to Salem Pioneer Village, in Salem. The village is a recreation of the original colony set up in 1630, and in many respects is very similar (though much smaller in scale) to Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth. The extraordinary thing about this field trip was that the entire day was an interactive experience for the students, with live actors allowing them to participate in various aspects of a "typical" day, including a prayer meeting, daily chores, lessons, and games. This program was set up especially for our school, with the help of some theater students and actors from Gordon College. During the visit, students had conversations with village elders, saw artifacts from the time period and_____. Six months later, my students can recall this information, and it has

Making History Relevant for Kids

2008-03-02T16:24:00.000-05:00

Hi All-

I am in the midst of beginning my unit on the American Revolution. This is a topic that is often one of the most favorite for my students! They have some background information from their studies of third grade, but I find too that they also come in with many prejudices and misconceptions that I need to fix. Right away we begin with the meaning of the word, "revolution". Without fail, I am told by every class, every year, that the world "revolution" means "war". It makes for a great class conversation when we talk about the true meaning to be, "a sudden, and complete change". The students readily realize other revolutions that they are aware of that were not in fact wars (Artistic, Musical, and even the Industrial Revolution)

As adult historians, we recognize the significance of the role of taxation in the American Revolution. One of my favorite activities is to have students do a tax interview at home with an adult. The students need to ask someone to name three different taxes, where the money goes that is collected, and how they feel about the tax. This activity always has fascinating results. (It is frightening to see how many adults are unclear about the taxes that they pay.) Undoubtedly, at least one adult says that "taxation is a necessary evil", which also leads to an excellent conversation. It is also a great extension to encourage kids to read local papers and discover articles or letters to the editor about the topic of taxation. This is a beginning to helping kids understand that these issues that affected colonists long ago, still affect us even today.

It is extremely important to not teach a topic like the American Revolutin with bias. It could be very easy to play up the taxation by the British as completely unfair. I have learned over the years the importance of showing students all points of view on this important debate. I have read that approximately 1/3 of the colonists during the revolution were Patriots, 1/3 were Loyalists, and the other 1/3 tried to remain neutral in the middle. I am fortunate to use a fabulous resource that comes from the Old South Meeting House Education department. The Old South Meeting House was of course the site of the Tea Party Debate in Boston on the night of December 16, 1773. This resource is like a play or a readers' theater, with characters who range from real, famous Bostonians of the day to average Bostonians, both Patriot and Loyalist. No other resource has helped me express to my students the range of feelings during this time, and how both sides had valid points. This experience of being able to act out this debate and listen to each other's points, sticks in the students' minds. Kids will often refer to their classmates' points and how they relate to the different aspects of the revolution we are talking about. I have found that this debate isn't perfect historically (due to "Founding Myths") however it is fabulous resource that could be used well up through 8th grade! Visit http://www.oldsouthmeetinghouse.org/

Breathing Life Back Into History

2008-02-29T15:52:00.000-05:00

A common misconception about history that I've encounter and struggle to correct is that history is static, an "it-happened-it's-over-who-cares" attitude. One method to disprove this dangerous syndrome and breathe life back into high school history classes is to create lessons that focus on decisions, conflicts, and conversations, even going so far as to have students role play scenarios highlighting these topics.

The TAH February discussion book, "The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm 1820-1861," allows for numerous life giving possibilities for your classroom. Author Stephen B. Oates crafts the story of the coming Civil War through thirteen key perspectives. Its first person narrative creates 'passion, freshness and immediacy'. The conflict of differing realities, each identity believing their perspective to be truth, as well their personal conflicts and friendships, embraces the reader intellectually and emotionally.

Within Oates' book, I traced several themes that will be of use in my classroom. One theme, in particular, that I'd like to share is the debated meaning of Jefferson's "all men are created equal" phrase from the Declaration of Independence. Key identities, such as Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, Jefferson Davis, and George Fitzhugh, all have defendable interpretations of Jefferson's famous words, as well as critiques of others' interpretations. This theme alone can be managed through a varity of methods in the classroom addressing content and skills, as well as several of the American Historical Association's historical thinking benchmarks: understanding historical debate and controversy, analysis of how historians use evidence, understanding bias and points of view.

The first issue at hand would be to have the students organize the different interpretations on a spectrum or with a complex graphic organizer, that illustrates agreements, disagreements, and unique ideas. Once the interpretations are organized and understood, teachers can address the issue of compromise in light of several well-formed, yet opposing, arguments. A debate or Socratic Seminar would best facilitate this discussion with the hopes that students could come to life applicable and relevant solutions. On an individual level, students can write a reflective piece analyzing the arguments, whose they agree with most, whose they disagree with most, and, of course, why. Students can also use the debates and speeches in the book to analyze the qualities and structure of effective and ineffective arguments. This activity will help them form better arugments in their own history writing. Furthermore, with students who are capable of thinking about historiography, teachers can introduce a discussion based on Oates' creation of a first person narrative history; for example, answering the question, "What are its advantages and disadvantages to using Oates' book as a historical source?".

I highly recommend Oates' book, "The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm 1820-1861," to teachers of Antebellum American history. While remaining mindful that Oates created the first person narrative, the details into the conflict, debate, and discussion concerning race, liberty, and power will excite and renew your enjoyment of history. The possibilities of how this book can be used to bring life and action into a passive high school history classroom are abundant and sure to be challenging, meaningful, and rewarding.

Connections to Current Events and the Constitution

2008-02-28T07:43:00.000-05:00

Hi all! I've been amazed at the student interest shown in the primary elections this year- many of my students watched the televised debate between Clinton and Obama this week and were excited to comment on it. It also comes at a great time in my curriculum- Reconstruction. The issue of civil rights and the Constitution's protection of them is a great way to connect today's election with the long battle to gain and enforce the protection of our civil rights. The National Records and Archives Administration has chosen 100 important 'founding' documents to highlight in a book and a website titled "Our Documents". This is a great source to find both the original 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments but also a short secondary source that describes both the passage of the Amendment and what the passage of that amendment meant on a practical basis.

I've also been using the CNN Election Center website every few days with the students; they have a great graphic representation of the success of each candidate, as well as good definitions of terms that students may be unfamiliar with, such as Superdelegates. As History educators, we have a lot of curriculum to get through in not much time, but it is certainly worthwhile to pause and discuss some history in the making!

A Review of Hampton Sides' Blood and Thunder, the Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West

2008-02-26T21:43:00.000-05:00

Hampton Sides: Blood and Thunder, the Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West, New York: Anchor Books, 2006. 496 pp., soft cover, $15.99.

Hampton Sides’ Blood and Thunder, the Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West is an expertly written result of an extraordinary amount of research on the American West during America’s antebellum period. Sides’ work is based on Kit Carson as the American west’s central character. Expertly recounted, Sides highlights most of Christopher Carson’s adult life as a trapper, guide, soldier and husband. Moreover, Sides uses Carson’s endeavors in the west to recount the acquisition of the territories of California and New Mexico, the relationship between the American government and the Spanish-speaking colonials, and the uniqueness of the Native American tribes of the area and how colonials and natives interacted on the western frontier.

Throughout the far west during the early 19th century, Kit Carson is simply omnipresent. Sides’ chronological account of Carson’s life shows the reader what a pivotal role he played in America’s Manifest Destiny in the region.

Sides’ introduces Carson as a young “Mountain Man” and trapper throughout the mountains of the west. Gaining experience on the trails and outposts of the west, and building an understanding and relationship with the Native American tribes in the area, it was not long before Carson found himself guiding official American government expeditions into what was then Mexican territory. Carson’s first major expedition of this nature was with John C. Freemont. Together, Carson and Freemont explored what would become the Oregon Trail south to California and back east again. It was Freemont’s crediting written accounts of Carson’s bravery and cunning during California’s Bear Flag rebellion and his skills as a guide that elevated this rather quiet, man-of-few-words into a national hero. In the “Blood and Thunder” stories of the time Kit Carson was immortalized, however, Carson could never read these adventure stories about himself due to his illiteracy.

Adventures that fuel Carson’s fame continued as he later accepted other guiding missions. During the Mexican War, Carson was pressed into service by General Stephen Kearney. While patrolling in eastern California their unit of dragoons were attacked and pinned-down by a superior force of Mexicans. Sides vividly recounts how Carson with two others snuck through the Mexican lines at night, traveled briskly to San Diego, brought reinforcements to Kearney, and essentially saved the unit from destruction.

Other adventures of Carson’s did not end-up with the same heroic results. On one voluntary mission Carson sets-out with a group of troops to rescue a young woman who had been kidnapped, which was a common practice among many native tribes of the area. Carson’s attitude of harsh punishment against native people who attack white settlers is well illustrated. This harsh, punitive policy toward Native Americans who resisted Carson’s further official American business in the Southwest would manifest its-self a number of time is his future. As a Lieutenant and later as a Colonel in the US Army, Carson dealt harshly with native resistance to relocation, first with the Navajo and later with the Comanche. Consequently, however, Sides reports that Carson’s later position as superintend of the relocation site for the Navajo on the Pecos River forced him to realize the error in a harsh Indian policy and the relocation of native peoples far from their ancestral homeland.

Sides does not leave out how connected Carson was with the native people of the Southwest as well as his intimacy with the Mexican culture. Carson was fist married to a young native girl named Singing Grass. They had two children before Singing Grass’ death. Throughout his first marriage, Sides paints Carson as being self-conscious of his native wife and worried about the half-breed status of his children. Later, Carson was remarried to a considerably younger Mexican girl. This marriage brings more children, a large extended family and a great deal of absenteeism from his wife.

In addition to the immense biographical information on Kit Carson, Sides highlights a number of influential individuals of the time and the region. One of these is Narbona, of the Navajo Nation. Narbona is best described as a highly respected Navajo elder, as their culture of the time did not bear individual leaders. However, to the Americans, Narbona is regarded to be a leader by both Carson and his commander Col. Washington. In a divisive instance, Narbona, was summoned by Carson to negotiate the end of raids which involved stealing of livestock. As he was in his advanced years, Narbona found it challenging to dismount his horse for the meeting, however both Carson and Narbona constructively negotiated the issue before a calamity occurred. Washington became angry over the fleeing of a suspected horse thief among the Navajos who accompanied Narbona. When a replacement horse would not be returned to Washington, he ordered the firing of the company howitzer into the Navajos, which killed Narbona.

Tragedies similar in nature to the one that led to Narbona’s death were ubiquitous when the US Army encountered many native tribes. Another such tragedy involving a Col. John Shivington and the comparatively cooperative Cheyenne. This instance brought out a raging reaction which allows us today to understand how Carson understood his relationship with the Native American tribes during this period of Manifest Destiny. Simply, Col. John Shivington slaughtered more than 150 Cheyenne men, women and children. In reaction, Carson was quoted by Col. James Rusling, dialect and all.

His men shot down squaws, and blew the brains out of little innocent children.
You call sich soldiers Christians, do ye? And Indians savages? ….I don’t like hostile red skin any more than you do. And never yet drew a bead on a squaw or a papoose, and I despise the man who would. I’ve seen much of ‘em as any man livin’, and I can’t help but pity ‘em, right or wrong. They once owned all this country yes, Plains and Mountains, buffalo and every thing. But now they own next door to nuthin, and will soon be gone. (Sides p.471)

In Blood and Thunder, the Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West, Sides treats Christopher Carson well, illustrating how profoundly Carson’s actions determined American history in the Southwest. Additionally, Sides has researched and documented an exquisite chronological summary of how the Southwest of America was conquered by the United States, and how it was lost by the Native Americans. I highly recommend this work by Hampton Sides.

A great read for American History Teachers and/or anyone interested in the American West!

2008-02-23T14:00:00.000-05:00

I must agree with Helen Sellers that the TAH book discussions are an excellent resource. I enjoy reading the books, but I truly look forward to meeting with peers and hearing what others have to say. Over the past two years there has been a tremendous amount of scholarly debate and collegial dialogues. I, too, recommend these discussion groups for next year.

After reading Helen’s blog, I decided to promote the most recent read at the secondary level. The Reading/North Reading book discussion group met last month to discuss “Blood and Thunder; The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West” by Hampton Sides.

The book was a unanimous hit. Middle School teachers and High School teachers alike were praising this book. It is well written and brings this period of American history to life. Anyone teaching or interested in this era should consider reading it. Sides will hook you after the first few pages. It is over 500 pages, but I found it hard to put down!

As teachers, it is easy to discuss Manifest Destiny, the U.S.- Mexican War, Western Expansion, and the fate of Native Americans sandwiched in somewhere between the American Revolution and the Civil War. Sides not only brings these topics to life, but to the forefront. Sides shows the readers Kit Carson as an unparalleled scout, a soldier of the American West, and as a family man. We see a Carson marrying a Native American woman and understanding and respecting their culture. We also see his role in the Long Walk, the relocation of thousands of Navajos. His treatment of Kit Carson forces readers to confront the contradictions of his life. Is he an American Hero? Is he a vicious killer? Is he racist?

Our group had a lively discussion. In our assessment of Kit Carson, we found ourselves assessing the role of the United States in its quest for western expansion. Where we were uncomfortable and disturbed by many actions in the book, we were forced to recognize the realities of current policies and global issues today.

There are many resources available to teachers who are discussing this period of U.S. History. PBS is currently running two programs. One on Kit Carson, and the other on Buffalo Bill. Their website has teacher plans, video clips online, interactive maps, and much, much more.

Again, I highly recommend “Blood and Thunder”. I will never look at Manifest Destiny the same way.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/west/ PBS American Experience: Kit Carson
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/cody/ PBS American Experience: Buffalo Billhttp://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_flash.html PBS U.S. Mexican War

A Fantastic Series of Books Containing Useable Primary Sources for Secondary Students

2008-02-09T19:59:00.000-05:00

For my first blog regarding the Teaching American History Grant, as well as my first blog ever, I would like to highlight a fantastic series of books containing useable primary sources. This collection, which was given to me at 2007’s Teaching American History Grant Conference, which was held at Reading Memorial High School, is organized into 5 soft cover books. Each book in the collection contains one to two page excerpts of primary sources which address significant events in American History. Each book, approximately sixty pages long, are titled based on their overall theme. Titles include The Bill of Rights, The Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, The Gettysburg Address, and “I have a Dream”.

So, why do I think that these resources are so fantastic? Because they have changed the way I teach American History at the High School level. Since obtaining the series, I can safely say that I use a primary source in my classes at least twice a week. Many weeks I’ll use primary sources even more often. And now, I don’t limit the primary sources I use to the ones in this series. Now that my students are used to reading, interpreting and responding to primary sources in class, I find that I regularly search for primary sources to incorporate into my lessons regularly, and my students have become quite accustomed to utilizing their skills in interpreting them. Just the other day, one of my students asked me, “Mr. Hanlon, when are we going to read the textbook again?”

One effective week of primary source use was one where I focused on the formation of the constitution. For this unit of study, I utilized the book titled The Constitution. From it I selected the excerpts from the “Albany Plan of Union”, “The Articles of Confederation”, “The Northwest Ordinance”, “The Massachusetts Constitution”, and of course, the US Constitution in its entirety. Additionally, this issue contains excerpts from Federalist No. 1, Federalist No. 10, Letter from a Federal Farmer No. 17 by Richard Henry Lee, as well as an Anti-federalist excerpt from Patrick Henry. In all cases, I asked students to read the documents (or I read the documents with them) and then fill out a Written Document Analysis Worksheet (this worksheet and others can be obtained from the US National Archives website: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/document.html
From these worksheets, I used the students’ written responses as topics for discussion in class. I have been very impress with the depth of understanding both my honors and college level students have gained from reading these primary sources excerpts.

The collection was put together by the American History Professional Development Project. Photo copying for student use is encouraged as this project was funded by the United States Department of Education.

If you are interested in obtaining these books to use with your classes:

Unfortunately there is not an email or website contact for the project, however the books are published by the Teaching American History Professional Development Project, A Partnership of the Fall River Public Schools and Bristol Community College.

If I discover better contact information, I will update this blog.

Already 18 days into January, impossible!

2008-01-18T10:41:00.000-05:00

Hi All-

Sorry that I missed you all at the meeting in December. I am really excited to be part of this group and have enjoyed reading all of your thoughts so far.

The first week in December, I had the opportunity to visit Charleston, South Carolina and visit a huge elementary school. I was struck by many differences while visiting down there, and one included any social studies related information displayed in their hallways.

As it was South Carolina, when I passed a bulletin board about the Revolutionary War, I was interested to see that Francis Marion ("The Swamp Fox") was prominently displayed as an important figure. Francis Marion is someone that I don't even talk about anymore since the revision of the Frameworks. He might only come up in conversation with students who have seen the movie, "The Patriot". That got me thinking about the true importance of some people, and mistakes and myths often associated with famous figures in history.

I would love to recommend to you, two excellent books that I had the opportunity to read in the TAH bookclubs. The first book club was read last year and was titled "Founding Myths". It was written by Ray Raphael. As a teacher of American History at any level, this book will blow your mind. Raphael uses tons of evidence to dispel many of the things that we teach, and proclaims them myth. There are specific chapters on beloved figures such as Paul Revere and "Molly Pitcher" , and even places and battles like Valley Forge and Bunker Hill.

I would also recommend to people the book that we just completed for our most recent TAH read. This book ,"Revolutionary Mothers, also focused on somewhat mythical women of the Revolution, but also gave excellent background information on little discussed female groups, like African-American and Native American perspectives. In just one year, both of these books have reshaped my thoughts and approaches to the teaching of the American Revolution.

The opportunity to be part of these book clubs has been phenomenal. Last year, the group was comprised of teachers in grades 3-12. It was an amazing privilege to spend time with, and get to know my colleagues at middle school and high school. Such amazing conversations of students and history was had (and a lot of laughs too).

If people have not had the chance to be part of these groups, I encourage all to participate next year.

Teacher Fellows

2008-01-16T09:54:00.000-05:00

Recently some of the Encounters and Exchanges in U.S. History Teacher Fellows have posted to the Encounters and Exchanges Blog.

With an emphasis on supporting and sharing TAH Grant related content and activities, during Years Two and Three, the project intends to utilize a few select Encounters and Exchanges in U.S. History Teacher Fellows from each participating district.

Teacher Fellows' responsibilities include a commitment to Encounters and Exchanges Grant programming, informal in-house guidance and support to American history teachers in their school/district, the posting of four blog entries that highlight how they are utilizing TAH content and strategies with students or other teachers, and a presentation of a lesson plan/instructional strategy for teaching American history at the Encounters and Exchanges in U.S. History Annual Conference on April 18, 2008.

Look for Teacher Fellows' blog postings in February, March, and June.

PowerPoints with Art/Photos as Primary Sources

2008-01-02T09:53:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

As teachers, we are always pressed for time. Here’s a tip with a lot of bang for the buck. It combines a great teacher created site containing excellent PowerPoints with another site that has countless ways to not only incorporate but analyze primary sources, especially photographs.

During one of the technology workshops from Year One of the Encounters and Exchanges in U.S. History grant, I was introduced to Historyteacher.net. (see link below) This site was created and is meticulously maintained by Ms. Susan M. Pojer, a High School AP History teacher at the Horace Greely High School in Chappaqua, New York. This home page offers thousands of links to newspapers, writing guides, government information, online references, and more. I have found her online collection of PowerPoints extremely useful. She has titled it PowerPoint Palooza. (see link below) She has hundreds of PowerPoints already created. I have contacted her and asked for permission to use them. She graciously emailed back and simply asked to be credited as the creator. I teach at the Middle School level, so I usually edit her PowerPoints to suit my needs.

One of my favorite PowerPoints from Ms. Pojer’s collection focuses on the Italian Renaissance. I often use art and pictures in my class as teaching tools, as they are great ways to utilize primary sources. There are many methods and templates for using and analyzing primary sources. I was introduced to a new site recently by Pat Fontaine, Professor of Education at UMass Lowell, who is working with the TAH grant. PrimarySourceLearning.org offers an online primary source handbook. (see link below) The handbook has useful links for teachers just beginning to use primary sources, while also offering new ideas and templates for teachers who are already familiar with primary sources. The handbook contains lesson ideas, best practices, teaching materials, LibraryQuests, and a host of other gems. I found the most useful teaching materials on the site to be analysis worksheets including: Photograph Analysis Worksheet, Map Analysis Worksheet and Music Analysis Worksheet.

HistoryTeacher.net http://www.historyteacher.net/
PowerPointPalooza.net http://www.pptpalooza.net/
PrimarySourceLearning Handbook http://www.primarysourcelearning.org/handbook/

Inaugural Addresses

2007-12-31T08:20:00.000-05:00

As the President’s first formal impression to the country, what does he address? How does he comfort? How does he inspire?

In my second year teaching United States History I, I've experimented in using inaugural addresses to summarize the events and the atmosphere of the country as expressed by the President. My essential question in using these addresses, or pieces of the addresses, depending upon time, revolves around basic political, economic, foreign, and domestic issues facing America. In understanding the nature and purpose of a President’s inaugural address, students will contextualize the events mentioned in the speech and evaluate their historical importance. Beyond the content of the speech, students can probe further and assess superficial and underlying tones.

As with most primary sources, the diction, syntax, and length of the addresses demand adjustments so that students can discover the meaning within the speeches. In addition to editing the length, providing guiding questions, and encouraging dictionary use, the content in the speech should access prior knowledge, information the students would have acquired during the previous unit. This content recognition should also provide encouragement and motivation in their work.

Furthermore, teachers should encourage students to apply their intellect in analyzing inaugural addresses during the upcoming election.

The following link connects you to the Avalon Project at Yale Law School and provides the Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents.

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/inaug.htm

Plymouth in the 1600s

2007-12-28T13:21:00.000-05:00

This year my class is using a new (to us) textbook for our study of Massachusetts history and geography. Our previous textbooks were written for fifth grade students, and were inaccessible to most third graders, so they were not terribly useful. In using this new textbook as a framework for the curriculum, we just completed a unit on life in a Wampanoag village, which established a basic concept of the daily tasks and responsibilities of members of a village, and established that people had been living in Massachusetts for thousands of years before any European settlers arrived.
In teaching this unit, several questions came to mind about how to improve it for next year. The most obvious question our class discussions kept returning to was "how was life different for the Wampanoag than it is for us in 2007?" Asking students to think about what we value in our daily lives, or what is expected from them in terms of responsibilities and chores, and comparing that to the lives of the Wampanoag elicited many interesting responses amongst my students. We had a very interesting (and somewhat unplanned) discussion about clothing, which originated with learning about how the Wampanoag people used all parts of an animal when they hunted. Students considered how easily we obtain clothing in modern life, and compared that to how much work and energy (from various members of the tribe) went into making one article of clothing, beginning with hunting an animal, curing the skin, decorating it, etc. I would like to find other ways to create these connections to areas of life that they can understand.
Another activity we did was to compare two maps of southeastern Massachusetts (found in our textbook). One was a map with Wampanoag villages marked. The other was a contemporary map of the same area, with the current names of towns given. Students realized that many of the towns found in contemporary Massachusetts had origins that began with the Wampanoags, and some even retain the same (or similar sounding) name that the Wampanoags had given the settlement.
I hope that before I return to teaching this unit next year I am able to find more resources to use in the classroom. I have some great photographs of the Wampanoag village at Plimoth Plantation, which I took last spring. These definitely helped to illustrate some of the ideas my students were learning about, especially such ideas as making a mishoon, or burnt-out canoe. I would like to be able to find more images or objects to use in class.
When we return to class in January I am excited to see if students can take the information they know about the Wampanoag and consider how these peoples' lives were affected after European settlers arrived in Massachusetts. As we begin our study of the Pilgrims and the establishment of the colony at Plymouth, I want students to understand the complexities of the relationships with the Native Americans who already lived in the area, and how their lives had been altered by previous European exploration.

Slavery in America- Primary Sources

2007-12-19T08:33:00.000-05:00

The website listed below is a great tool when teaching about slavery in antebellum American and its legacy. Originally created as a companion to the PBS series, Slavery in America, this website has been sponsored by New York Life and remains active. I recently used some resources from this website in class to address a question that keep being asked by the students- how could the South have possibly defended slavery? The website offers a variety of primary source photographs, political cartoons, lithographs, and contemporary artwork based on slave narratives. I used 2 political cartoons from the defense of slavery section and the National Archives and Records Administration political cartoon analysis worksheet (link provided below) in my lesson.

The worksheet helps to guide the students to look closely at the political cartoon and its accompanying text for meaning. After examining what is in the cartoon with the students, also as them to look for what is not in the cartoon- which is just as important to their understanding of the Southern justification of slavery and the reality of slavery.

Website: http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/scripts/sia/gallery.cgi

Political Cartoon Analysis Worksheet: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/cartoon_analysis_worksheet.pdf

Summer Institute

2007-11-26T12:26:00.001-05:00

This past summer, participating teachers in Encounters and Exchanges in U.S. History took part in a week-long Summer Institute organized by Primary Source titled Exploring Conflict and Consensus Among Peoples from the American Colonies to the New Republic. The internationalism of the colonial world was emphasized throughout the Institute.

Guided by our course reader, Alan Taylor's American Colonies: The Settling of North America, the course addressed the history of colonial America and the early Republic with a view toward including the experiences and interactions of various peoples: Indians, Spanish, British, French, Dutch, Swedish, a mix of Africans, and others. We worked with many primary sources from the time period and traveled to Plimouth Plantation, visited the Wampanoag home site and the reconstructed Mayflower, tasted colonial foods, and observed craft demonstrations.

Topics and scholar presentations for the Summer Institute included:

Internationalism in Colonial America, Cynthia Van Zandt, UNH

Native Cultures in Early America, Marge Bruchac

Spanish America, John Bezis-Selfa, Wheaton College

French America, Bill Fowler, Northeastern University

Visual History of Early America, Pat Johnston, Salem State College

Black Founders: Africans in Colonial and Revolutionary America, Richard Newman, RIT

Commerce, Trade, and Events Leading to the Revolution, Tad Baker, Salem State College

Teaching the Founding Documents, Tom Conroy Stonehill College

To view a slideshow of images from the Summer Institute click on the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Kagie20/EncountersAndExchangesInUSHistoryPrimarySourceSummerInstitute/photo?authkey=oyiER1VddvA#s5137174801129760098

Encounters & Exchanges First Annual Conference

2007-05-02T09:06:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday April 3rd, the first annual conference for Encounters and Exchanges in U.S. History was held at Reading Memorial High School. Elementary, Middle and High School teachers from the Danvers, Lowell, Lynnfield, North Reading and Reading Public Schools attended the conference.

The day began with a keynote address from D. Brenton Simons, the President & CEO of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Mr. Simons spoke on the research and content in his newest book Witches, Rakes, and Rogues: True Stories of Scam, Scandal, Murder and Mayhem in Boston, 1630 - 1775. Using the stories from his book including accused witches in Boston and the poisoning of the Whittier children, Mr. Simons tied the brief glimpses at the lives of colonial Bostonians to the greater themes of the time period and mentioned what they can tell us about 17th & 18th century Puritanism, women's roles, and social networks. Utilizing the Historical Thinking Benchmarks of the American Historical Society, which drive the Encounters and Exchanges in U.S. History program, Mr. Simons enlightened participants on how a historian conducts his/her craft.

Morning and Afternoon breakout sessions included Critical Thinking and Decision Making in U.S. History, Interdisciplinary approaches to Teaching U.S. History, Using Revolutionary War Records, Making Choices: Multiple Perspectives of Revolutionary Events, A View from the Participants at Lexington and Concord, Primary Sourcebooks, and the Continental Congress and the Signing of the Declaration of Independence. Presenters included representatives from the Boston National Historic Park, Adams National Historic Park, Bristol Community College, UMass Lowell, Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School, Minuteman National Park, and the National Archives and Records Administration. All of the breakout workshops included work with primary sources and utilized pedagogical approaches that require students to use historical thinking to think critically about the past.

Teachers were also treated to a performance by Joan Gatturna titled Petticoat Patriot: Soldier Girl of the American Revolution. In this performance teachers learned more about Deborah Sampson, a young woman who disguised herself as a boy and served as a Continental soldier in the American Revolution. In her performance, Ms. Gatturna described the different roles available for young men and women in the 18th century while also discussing the history of the American Revolution. Teachers received a teaching guide with lessons requiring analysis of primary sources including soldiers' orders and a young woman's diary.

Technology in the American History Classroom

2007-04-26T13:15:00.000-04:00

During January, February, and March teachers met with FreshPond Education facilitator Rob Ramsdell in a workshop that focused on integrating technology into the American history curriculum. Discussion topics included evaluating technology-enhanced activities and resources, and the benefits that technology brings to the classroom.

During the two-day sessions, teachers researched and harvested Internet resources, and utilized functions related to Social Studies classroom applications in Inspiration, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Word.

At the end of both sessions, teachers shared mini-lessons that they created in which they incorporated the skills and resources gained from the Technology in the American History Classroom sessions into the U.S. History curriculum. Lesson plans included using primary sources found on the Internet to teach immigration, using a 17th century folk song found digitally on the Internet to teach about colonial life, and using Inspiration software to compare and contrast the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

History Book Discussion Study Group - The Unredeemed Captive

2007-02-06T08:30:00.000-05:00

In January, teachers from Danvers, Lowell, North Reading and Reading met to discuss John Demos' The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America. Despite some initial frustration with Demos' style, most participants agreed that the discussion flowed very easily.

Topics for discussion included the march from Deerfield and the treatment of the captives as a necessary evil versus an absolute inhumane attack. Women's roles in Native American culture versus Puritan New England society were discussed with participants assessing Eunice's reasons for remaining in Canada. Puritan values and norms were studied particularly through Reverand William's actions and writings. Conflict and consensus between Native Americans, French Canadians, and English Puritans guided participants to review the broad historical context of the 1704 raid on Deerfield.

Lesson plan ideas included utilizing the Raid on Deerfield website with students, comparing and contrasting Native American, French Canadian, and Puritan society, utilizing the primary sources Demos' refers to throughout, and using Eunice's story as a starting point for examining the broad themes of religion, gender roles, family, and war in Colonial America.

History Book Discussion Study Group - Founding Myths

2007-01-30T10:47:00.000-05:00

Throughout December teachers from Danvers, Lowell, North Reading, & Reading met for the first official meetings of the History Book Discussion Study Group. Dean Bergeron, Professor Emeritus of History and Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and Patricia Fontaine, Associate Professor of Education at UMass Lowell led the groups in a lively discussion of Ray Raphael’s Founding Myths: Stories that Hide Our Patriotic Past.

In Founding Myths, Raphael uncovers the “truth” about a number of stories from the American Revolution. He argues, for instance, that Patrick Henry never said, “Give me liberty or give me death,” that there was no Molly Pitcher who delivered water to soldiers on the battlefield, and that the American Revolution did not actually begin with “the shot heard round the world” at Lexington in 1775 but in numerous towns and cities throughout Massachusetts where the people forced government officials to surrender political control as early as 1774. Clearly, Raphael’s book provided much fodder for debate and discussion; participants agreed that it was an excellent selection to begin the book discussion series.

Part of the discussion allowed teachers to think about how various topics in the book could be implemented in the classroom. Many teachers noted the importance of teaching historical thinking skills, especially inquiry and analysis, so as to guide students in questioning the sources they are presented with. Teachers also discussed the importance of using primary sources to study history and cited the many documents Raphael used including the numerous “declarations” of independence created prior to the congressional and official “Declaration.” In addition, teachers referred to the famous works of art that Raphael studied, including John Trumbull’s The Declaration of Independence and Paul Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre, as being useful in guiding students to question visual sources of information. Finally, several teachers spoke of the importance of using reenactments and debates with students.

Participating teachers found that the book group provided a valuable opportunity to meet with colleagues to discuss the study of history and historical methods. Teachers were particularly excited to work with other teachers across grade levels to see how history is being taught in elementary, middle and high school classes.