Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day

By Nina Kendall

Times have changed and so has the way we remember the past and honor our leaders. We have all attended parades and ceremonies in honor of famous people. Today we celebrate differently by taking action in the legacy if the historical figure.  One example is to celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. with a day of service. Now Americans are encouraged to make it “a day on not a day off.”                                        

You can take part in this National Day of Service to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Find an activity in your community to help continue work building “the beloved community” of King’s vision. You can look for ways to participate at http://mlkday.gov/index.php. This site will help you find a project to participate in or recruit volunteers for a project you have planned. You can even share your experience when you are done.

One of my most rewarding days of service was spent chaperoning students attending the Anti-Defamation League’s Annual MLK Day Empowering Young Leaders: No Place for Hate Summit at the William Breman Jewish Heritage and Holocaust Museum. Students from around the region got together to discuss issues in their communities and how to address them. Adults share ideas about how to plan events and mentor students. All attendees got to hear from a Holocaust Survivor and tour the museum. It was a day of learning and openness that both my students and I enjoyed.

If you choose to participate in a day of service, I hope your experience is as positive as mine.

6 Ways to Celebrate MLK Day

• Follow @MLKDay and participate in the MLK Day of Service:  http://mlkday.gov/index.php

• Share your dream with the King Center and the world: http://www.thekingcenter.org/dreams/share

• Nominate a local volunteer for MLK Drum Majors for Service: http://mlkday.gov/awards/index.php

• For Young Children: Read Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King by Jean Marzollo or Martin’s Big Words by Doreen Rappaport.

• Visit a local historic site dedicated that supports human rights.. Look here to find a National Park: http://www.nps.gov/findapark/index.htm

Another Primary Source to Consider: Film

By: Nina Kendall

            Have you been somewhere lately that you didn’t hear a phone buzz or chirp? While Teachers are learning to tweet and Grandparents are sharing pictures on Facebook, students today are using apps like Instagram and Vine to share pictures and video. Pictures have long been standard social media fare, but the addition of film is offering media consumers a way to tell stories differently. With a limit of 15 seconds or less, the format is a challenging obstacle for the storyteller.  Film has been a challenge for each generation of technology pioneers.

            Before America developed industries based on radio and film they had to learn how to use the technology.  The work of Thomas Edison and his peers are the basis of the early collections of sound and film. Their work is extensive and engaging. Through it we can get a glimpse of life from more than 100 years ago. These films have been preserved and digitized for use by the Library of Congress.

Inventing Entertainment  is a Library of Congress Collection of Edison Motion Pictures and sound recordings. This collection is an intriguing record of life in the late 19^th and early 20^th century.  These are Modern America’s home movies. Recorded as part of early experiments with new technology they reflect day to day life from all parts of the country. You can see how trains used to deliver mail or get a glimpse of the ghost dance. 

America at Work and Leisure  is another collection of films from 1894-1915 that you and your students can enjoy. Watch a parade, look at the work loggers do, or a gym class from more than 100 years ago.  These are primary sources that will appeal to students and engage them in conversations about how technology has changed American life and industries.

Here are few ways to use them you can incorporate early film into you classroom:

·         Use as a primary source hook to start a class discussion.

·         Incorporate a film into your class presentation.

·         Have students curate a film collection based on an issue or theme.

·         Have students create their own “wouldagrammed” video project incorporating an early film.

·         Incorporate 1 or more films into a webquest for students to complete.

Preparing for the Freedom Summer: National Youth Summit

By Nina Kendall

 

Just over a week from now the National Museum of American History will host the National Youth Summit on Freedom Summer at 12 pm EST on 2/5/2014 This is an ongoing collaboration among the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Affiliations, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and PBS's American Experience and the fourth in a series since 2010. Teachers can have their students participate from anywhere across the country. A simple registration is all that is requested. At this point more than 6,000 students are expected to participate.

This is a unique opportunity to use technology to discuss Freedom Summer and the meaning of citizenship with participants in the Civil Rights Movement, other students, and modern activists. Students can submit questions for the summit and hear the responses from those involved. They can gain a sense of common national concerns and the continuing importance of an active citizenry.

 

While exciting, the National Youth Summit can pose technological and planning challenges for schools. It will certainly pose some challenges in my school. In anticipation of these challenges, I attended the webinar hosted by Naomi Coquillon of the Smithsonian today on how to participate in the Freedom Summer: National Youth Summit. Ms. Coquillon offered advice on how to prepare for and participate in the summit that will help make it more meaningful in my school. The Smithsonian has compiled teacher resources for each phase of participation found here. The Conversation Kit provided would guide students and teachers through each part and help you become familiar with the moderators and participants. You can prepare for the Summit by reading about Freedom Summer or viewing a short clip of Diane Nash from a previous summit. Post-summit activities are provided as well including the option of using Pixton to create graphic novel style written works.

Advice about webcast participation was available as well. The webcast can be streamed live and will be archived as well. If you are lucky enough to be in a 1:1 environment students can participate from individual devices.  At my school we will be watching as a group via projector. It was recommended that at least one computer be available for interaction. Though questions can be submitted in advance and tweeted as well using the #freedomsummer. I will have a laptop set up for students to use and allow them to use their own personal devices if they have them.

I think this will be an exciting event for students and a chance for them to build a personal connection with history. I have my plans in the works. Hopefully this will help get you a step closer.

Reacting to Events Past and Present: An Activity Idea for the Classroom

By Nina Kendall

              History teachers work very hard to help students understand that events are experienced differently by different groups of people. An action that is success for one group may be bitter disappointment for another group. For students it can be a struggle to take a different perspective. Yet this skill is essential to broadening our understanding of the past.

                For teachers, the development of a lesson that helps students do this and is easy to assess is a challenge. One of my favorite activities for perspective taking is called What were they thinking?.  In this activity, students examine an event or speech and then imagine how a group or person would react to the event. They imagine and create the facial expression of a person after this event and write first person expressions of reactions to these events. Creating these faces and writing the “I” statements are an engaging and relatable activity for students. After a decade or more of reality television, students understand that people are going to show their feelings in words and actions. They have certainly discussed what someone was thinking after a major event in their lives or on television.

                I do this activity with high school students after studying the French and Indian War and the Treaty of Paris, 1763. Students choose to express the reaction of the Native Americans, Colonists, or the British. I provide a blank face upon which they draw the facial expression and write “I” statements to express the point of view they choose. This is a great writing and historical thinking activity. My students are focused and thoughtful in their interpretation of the events.

                While I do this with events in the past every year, it is an activity that can be used with current events. Students can read the speeches like the State of the Union delivered tonight and think about how different groups might react. You can ask students to choose from a short list of groups and identify how they would feel about the issues discussed. They would create a face that expressed the reaction of their group and write “I” statements  reacting to the speech  including a specific number of quotes. Here is an example of how to structure the task.

Task: Read the State of the Union address and show how one of the groups below would react to the speech. You should show their reaction on the face provided and write at least 5 “I” statements that explain their reaction and what they were thinking.  You must include at least 2 quotes from the speech.

Groups: Women, Small Business Owner,  Immigrant, Teacher, Democrat, Republican, Elected Official

 

5 Places to Visit when Looking for Primary Source Lesson Plans

By Nina Kendall

As a Social Studies teacher, I love incorporating primary sources in the classroom. I have spent many an hour searching the websites of the National Archives and Library of Congress for materials to use in the classroom. I openly maintain that a good source will increase the appeal of history for everyone. I share this love with my students.

Here are several websites that offer Social Studies teachers lesson plans and resources for class that incorporate primary sources.

Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is working to improve history education.  The Institute has developed a wide array of programs to improve history education in America’s classroom. Their website has thousands of primary sources and lesson plans aligned to Common Core and influenced by quality historical scholarship. Teachers need to register to access the wide variety of resources. Schools can also apply to be affiliates which offer a greater range of educational benefits.

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress has organized it sources into collections and developed lesson plans for use in the classroom. Teachers can find lesson plans or primary sources set for use developed around topics frequently taught. The Library of Congress has also developed a number of methods to use analyze the spectrum of primary sources.

America in Class

America in Class is a collection primary and secondary resource and lessons for history and literature teachers. This site was developed by then National Humanities Center and is organized by theme. It is designed to promote the analytical skills describe in the Common Core Curriculum.

Edsitement
Edsitement is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. It has a searchable database of lesson plans that use primary sources. These lesson plans are developed largely by teachers and frequently of graphic organizers to use with the documents.  Edsitement’s search tool allows you to select to subject for your lesson plan and the grade level. It has also earmarked some lesson plans as suitable for an AP US History Class.

 

Docs Teach
Docs Teach is the website developed by the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) that gives you access to a variety of primary sources and lesson plans that can be used online or in your classroom. The tools at Docs Teach can also be used to develop online lessons by teachers. This site also has materials for National History Day research.

Important Place and Spaces in American History: Ellis Island

By Nina Kendall

Ellis Island has a prominent place in American history.  It has come to represent the common experience of migration that all Americans share. 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island. It was an active immigration station on the East Coast from 1892 to 1954.  This station was the first stop in America for many immigrants on their way to a new life. Many Americans can trace their families to an immigrant who passed through Ellis Island. Today we study Ellis Island for its historical importance. Its practices reflect the morals and view of Americans in this 50 year period.

There are a great number of resources that help teachers teach about Ellis Island. Here are a few selected resources we recommend.

• Ellis Island is an immigration station turned National Monument and museum that has great resources for teachers. Knowledgeable and friendly Rangers will visit students in New York City and video conference with classrooms around the country. They also have a curated set of primary sources available for use in the classroom that will help your students relate to the experience of immigrants.

•  Scholastic will help you take different approach to studying Ellis Island. You can take an electronic tour of Ellis Island or take the class on a virtual field trip.

• The Eastside Tenement Museum has an online game, From Ellis Island to Orchard Street with Victoria Confino, that students can enjoy. In this activity, each student assumes the role of an immigrant who packs their bags and moves from Europe through Ellis Island to a Tenement in New York. This allows students to have the experience of immigration whether in a real or virtual classroom.

 Many teachers choose to run a simulation of Ellis Island. This can be a meaningful approach to teaching this topic. I run a simulation with my high school students that they really enjoy. Here are a few primary sources I use to help create the experience for my students.

An Early Thomas Edison Film

This is a short Edison clip from 1903 that show a ship arriving at Ellis Island and immigrants disembarking at Ellis Island. It is an interesting moving text that opens a variety of avenues for questioning.

Selected Images of Ellis Island and Immigration, ca. 1880-1920

This collection of images portrays the steps an immigrant took through Ellis Island including inspection. These photographs help make the experiences of immigrants relatable to students. With modern day measures by Homeland Security, students of this generation have a frame of reference for inspection stations. It will provide an opportunity to discuss why these things are happening.

I love a Good Cartoon in the Classroom

by Nina Kendall

 

        Cartoons are engaging and thought provoking. They are an optimal method for conveying a strong opinion to a wide and diverse audience. In the classroom, they are a great tool for getting students thinking and talking.  I look forward to incorporating them in class every year. Further analyzing cartoons is the most advanced skill social studies teachers teach.

When teaching American History, the late 19^th century is a great period of history to start regularly using cartoons as a part of instruction. With 10,000 newspapers functioning during the Civil War, cartoons were a popular medium for expressing a variety of opinions. Later in this period, the newspaper wars between William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer fueled the prominence of cartoons. Thomas Nast, Richard F. Outcault, Joseph Keppler, and Homer Davenport created images that resonated with citizens and serve as great teaching tools.



Student Cartoon Analysis Work Sample

When introducing cartoons, it is a good idea to review the process.  To examine cartoons, I model to students the same process I use for analyzing all images.  The steps are look at the foreground, then look at the background, and then read the captions and all the labels. When working through these steps, we look first for what we can see. Then we examine the relationship between the items and infer meaning. This process will help students understanding any of the techniques used by the cartoonist and help you monitor their understanding of symbolism in the period. One example of symbolism that often evades students is that of exaggerated size. Students are unaware that the size of an individual in a cartoon is a reference to their wealth, status, and ability to refrain from hard work.

If you feel like you students simply need a refresher for analyzing cartoons, the Library of Congress has a great resource for you to use. “It's No Laughing Matter” is a web exhibit that identifies common cartoonist techniques and opportunities for guided practice. You could flip you classroom with this activity as a skill review before tackling the content you are currently teaching.

Once you are ready opportunities to use cartoons abound post 1860. We have compiled a few of our favorite cartoon resources here.

Web Resources for teaching about America at War

Looking for interactive web resources about  American wars? Check out the ones below. All of these resources offer opportunities for students to interact with history.   One of these resources may be one of your new favorites.  Each offers the chance for students to work with multiple sources. Let us know what you enjoy and how you use it!

Revolutionary War

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/neh/interactives/americanrevolution/
 

War of 1812

http://www.asailorslifeforme.org/educator/index.php
 

Mexican American War

http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_flash.html
 

Civil War

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/neh/interactives/civilwar/lesson1/
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/neh/interactives/civilwar/lesson2/
 
Western Indian Wars
http://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/

Spanish American War

http://civclients.com/nehint/spanam/

World War II
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_democracy_japanese_american.htm