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.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Kit Carson Strikes Again!
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.
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.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Making Historical Movies in Class
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
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
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Biographies in the US HIstory Classroom
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
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
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Great Sources for Slavery, Slave Narratives, Abolition and More!
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
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
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?
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Second Annual Encounters and Exchanges Conference
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!
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!
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