The Civil War (1861-1865): A History Podcast: Civil War Podcast, Episode 36

The Civil War (1861-1865): A History Podcast: Civil War Podcast, Episode 36: SECESSION! PART DEUX In which we talk about President Lincoln's April 15th, 1861 call for 75,000 militia to suppress the rebellion, an...

Thomas Jeffersona and the Election of 1800

Today my class went over Jefferson's presidency. I am not all together satisfied with what was taught, though I feel like students received the information they needed. When teaching about Jefferson it is difficult to know where you should spend most of your instructional time? Is it with the actual election, the Louisiana Purchase, his foreign policy, or Marbury vs. Madison?

Though I am sure it will not be on the exam, I spend some time trying to get students to understand the significance of the election of 1800 and the idea that a peaceful transfer of power of one political party to another had never happened. I think that students struggle to remember that everything we know as concrete and stable was not so in the early republic.

Below is a clip I showed about who shot Hamilton, the students really enjoyed it.

WE HAVE A MASCOT!

After much deliberation I have decided that Jim is going to be the blog mascot. He will be called "History Cat" He will have many obligations, sleeping, biting, and creating new and useful instructional practices.

The Death of a Legend

As most you know Howard Zinn passed away a few days ago. Like many, I was touched by his passion for social justice as well as his desire to change what most of our students were accustomed to learning. Here is a link for those of you who are not familiar with him and his work. him:http://www.peopleshistory.us/

As iconic as Zinn was, I have found it challenging to incorporate much of his material into my instructional practices. The overall concept of teaching a bottom up curriculum is not all that difficult. However, actually reading primary documents or motivating students to care about their community has been surprisingly difficult (yes, I know students do not enjoy reading primary documents).

Any suggestions?

The First of Many

Well, I hope that the future readers of this will find my postings both useful and worthwhile.