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PART 3! 15 More Digital History Projects that Will Make You Say Wow!

Hi everyone!

Digital History and Humanities projects are popping up all around us.  And we want more.  In two previous posts, part 1 and part 2 of the “…Make You Say Wow!” series I captured a collection of 12 digital projects in each post.  I hope you have shared those wide and far.

Well, 12 isn’t enough.   This post ups it to 15 amazing digital projects mainly for the social sciences.  But not only!

And remember, by “Wow” I mean – Wow, I need to use these with my students.  OR …Wow, I need to share these with my colleagues.  OR Wow, I  am inspired to develop my own digital history project.  Of course a synthesis of all 3 is the sweet spot.

Collectively these projects highlight the power of technology in the classroom to make student experiences fun, meaningful, and life worthy.  Enjoy and be ready to be impressed and inspired!

1. Humanities Moments: This is a wonderful project. By illustrating the importance of the humanities for people from all walks of life, the project seeks to reimagine the way we think and talk about the humanities. By highlighting their transformative power, the Humanities Moments project illuminates how our encounters with the humanities fuel the process of discovery, encourage us to think and feel more deeply, and provide the means to solve problems as individuals and as a society. The NHC has also compiled exhibits which are collections of moments.  I have used it with teachers as a team builder to much success.


2. Freedom on the Move: This is a collection of resources that will change the understanding of slavery in the USA. The project is compiling thousands of stories of resistance that have never been accessible in one place. Freedom on the Move will serve as a research aid, a pedagogical tool, and a resource for genealogists. Scholars, students, and citizen historians will be able to use the data produced from the ads in new and creative ways.

3. Whitman, AL – “Song of Myself”: This is a powerful digital project.  It is both heart lifting and raises a mirror to ourselves.  For two years, filmmaker Jennifer Crandall crisscrossed this deep Southern state inviting people to look into a camera and share a part of themselves through the words of Walt Whitman. The 19th century poet’s “Song of Myself” is a quintessential reflection of our American identities.  For a start, watch this one below and prepare to be moved. You can access the full page here.


4. 1619 Podcast: I was late to the podcast universe.  I am happy I arrived!  In August of 1619, a ship carrying more than 20 enslaved Africans arrived in the English colony of Virginia. America was not yet America, but this was the moment it began. No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the 250 years of slavery that followed. On the 400th anniversary of this fateful moment, it is time to tell the story. “1619” is a New York Times audio series hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones.  This will blow you away!

5. Allsides This is the type of digital content that comes to mind when we talk about the power of technology in education. Allsides expose people to information and ideas from all sides of the political spectrum so they can better understand the world — and each other (see image below). Their media bias ratings, civil dialogue opportunities, and technology platform make learning about media literacy and ideas from across the spectrum understandable.  This is a must for civics classes, at least.

 

6. American Historical Association: Classroom Materials The AHA is a major contributor to reshaping the way history is taught and learned in the 21st century.One way they do this is through the sharing of curriculum resources. They will continue to add materials over the coming months, and welcomes feedback on how they can make these resources most helpful. Feel free to contact Elyse Martin at emartin@historians.org with questions, comments, or recommendations.  You will certainly find something to use with your students.

7. I Side With…: What a great idea and way to explore your own ideas! Started in March 2012 by two friends with two very different views of politics, the project explores new ways to boost voter engagement and education using information, data, and breaking technologies.  You can explore candidates, issues, and take a quiz that categorizes your own beliefs. It has dynamic searches, data presentation, and translations as well.  Why not use this!?

8. American Panorama Oh boy!  Expect a lot form this project in the near and distant future. American Panorama is an historical atlas of the United States for the twenty-first century. It combines cutting-edge research with innovative interactive mapping techniques, designed to appeal to anyone with an interest in American history or a love of maps. American Panorama is created by the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond.

9. Syrian Journey: From the BBC This is a unique interactive game centered around the questions: “If you were fleeing Syria for Europe, what choices would you make for you and your family?” Take our journey to understand the real dilemmas the refugees face and develop empathy.  The routes, options and outcomes in this Syrian Journey feature were based on real stories uncovered by extensive research as part of a BBC Arabic digital project exploring migration from Syria.

 

10. World Religions Map Explore religious beliefs around the world through an interactive map produced by WGBH. The interactive opens to show a map that displays the religions that are the most prevalent in each country around the world. You may then click on one of eight religious groupings listed in the menu to examine its relative popularity in each country.

11. Global Closet Calculator What a great way to bring the global to the local context. From National Geographic, The Global Closet Calculator aggregates the contents of your own closet by origin to generate a map showing your unique global footprint, and puts you in charge of the global journey your stuff takes to get to you. In the first part, students can see the ways in which their clothes and accessories connect them to people and places around the world. The second part will call on their critical thinking and geographic decision-making skills in an adventurous investigative journey.

 

12: Voices of Democracy: The US Oratory Project:The Voices of Democracy project promotes the study of great speeches and debates in U.S. history. The emphasis of the project is on the actual words of those who have defined the country’s guiding principles, debated controversial social and political issues, and shaped the identity and character of the American people. With a view toward reinvigorating the humanistic study of U.S. oratory, the Voices of Democracy project aims to foster understanding of the nation’s principles and history and promote civic engagement among scholars, teachers, and students. You can search by era, speaker, and topic among other ways. Great collection to add to your resources.

13. Google Virtual Tour Creator Yeah, this is spectacular.  Google provides free access to virtual tours that have been made and shared AND a platform so that you, and students,  can create your own.  The interface is easy and you don’t need VR goggles.  I checked out these shared ones as a start – Global Dome Architecture – The Globe Theater – Your 5th Grade Classroom  How great is that last idea to send to parents and incoming students?

14. UN SDG Action Campaign If your students aren’t aware of the UN global goals, they should be.  If your students aren’t being given the opportunity to take action as part of their learning, they should be.  Combine the two and you get the UN SDG Action Campaign.  Among the resources on this site are a taking action toolkit and a free online course.  There is an app as well that allows you to design and track your own action plan.  

15. Common Lit This is remarkable and totally free.  What a great way to present students with choice and demonstrate how to explore genres on a topic.  CommonLit delivers high-quality, free instructional materials to support literacy development for students in grades 3-12. Our resources are:

  • Flexible;
  • Research-Based;
  • Aligned to the Common Core State Standards;
  • Created by teachers, for teachers.

We believe in the transformative power of a great text, and a great question. It includes a dynamic search.  Please try this soon!

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The US Dept. of Education’s International Strategy. Wait! What?!

That’s right, the 2012-2016 policy document from the Federal DOE was updated under secretary DeVos in this November 2018 update .  It is a compelling piece outlining policies not frequently discussed or referenced.  In her own words DeVos states:

“There’s a lot we as Americans can learn from other countries and how they set their students up for successful lives and careers. Simply copying other approaches will not be sufficient. But forward- thinking states and school districts should take note of effective, innovative practices found all over the world and consider how they can be applied at home.”  —Secretary DeVos

Well said indeed – “forward thinking” is indeed something students will benefit from as educators prepare them for tomorrow.  And there is more celebrate!  Checkout this video from International Education Week 2018

Did she just say “Cultural Intelligence”?    Yes indeed.  In fact the DOE has outlined the value and urgency for cultural competency  here where it states:

“Today, more than ever, our students need to be equipped with the critical thinking, communications, socio-emotional and language skills to work collaboratively with their counterparts in the United States and all over the world. Understanding and appreciating other parts of the world, different religions, cultures, and points of view are essential elements of global and cultural competence.”

The framework developed by the DOE is pasted below and can be accessed on their website here.

Back to the Nov. 2o18 Update

This is really a compelling piece that should be leveraged by schools across the nation.  At one level it is inspiring to know that this strategy has existed in both Republican and Democratic administrations.  Is education poised to be a unifying element for the United States?  Maybe, but the strategy will have to be shared frequently and with gusto. To

To assist in that endeavor, the document opens articulating the “Why” of the strategy”

Today more than ever, an effective domestic education agenda must aim to develop a globally and
culturally competent citizenry. It is not enough to focus solely on reading, writing, mathematics and
science skills. Today’s world also requires critical thinking and creativity to solve complex problems, well honed communication skills, the ability to speak world languages, and advanced mathematics, science and
technical skills. Equipping American students with these skills is critical to the following:

  • • Help individuals find meaningful employment.
    • Foster an informed, engaged and active citizenry.
    • Enhance the country’s economic competitiveness.
    • Strengthen our national security and diplomacy.
    • Support relationships with peers around the world.

The U.S. Department of Education’s updated international strategy reaffirms the Department’s
commitment to preparing today’s students, and our country more broadly, for a hyper-connected world.
It reflects ongoing work in implementing international education programs, participating in international
bench-marking activities, and engaging allies and multilateral organizations in strategic dialogue.

Where To Go From Here? 

This post is meant to highlight aspects of the DOE’s strategy enough so that it motivates you to digest and share the message and document with your network and colleagues.  For , many readers this will be enough. But others will want or need more.  To fulfill that need I offer these two options: one looking back and another gazing to the near future. And of course there is always the weekly #globaledchat on Thursday’s from 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm EST.

Enjoy!

  • Looking Back – The Internationalization of U.S. Education in the 21st Century Conference (2014)

Held in Williamsburg, VA at the College of William and Mary, the event  brought together a variety of stakeholders to address, in a prescient declaration to the 2018 strategy,  the following:

The United States faces an urgent education issue that will directly affect our nation’s well being for generations to come: the global competence of Americans. Global competence includes deep expertise in the languages and cultures of other nations and regions, to basic understanding of the rest of the world and the United States’ role today…Join leaders in academia, K-12 education, business, government, and the NGO sectors for timely research and discussion of national human resource needs and strategies for enabling U.S. educational institutions to Related imageaddress the broad national policy goals to:

  • Ensure a globally competent citizenry and workforce
  • Strengthen the U.S. ability to solve global problems
  • Produce international experts and knowledge for national needs

I curated these keynote addresses for your review based on their relevant connection to the DOE strategy.

National Security in the Global Era (pdf)

Thomas Fingar, Oksenberg-Rohlen Distinguished Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University

Globalization and Interpretation:  Learning to Question and to Think (pdf)

Robert Keohane, Professor of International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University

Globalization and Implications for K-12 World Languages and Global Education (pdf)

Anthony Jackson, Vice President for Education, Asia Society
  • Looking Forward: The Global Ed Conference Network (2019 – 2020)

Lucy Gray and Steve Hargadon began the Global Ed Conference 10 yeas ago.  On June 23, 2019 at the annual ISTE conference in Philadelphia you can join Global Education Day  This participatory event will feature:

  • Inspirational ignite talks by noted educators and organizations working to connect classrooms
  • Design sprints around the formation of global project-based learning opportunities
  • A global resource cool tools smackdown in which attendees will share the best resources and tools for creating global experiences for students

Future event sponsored by Lucy and Steve are listed below.

  • Global Project-Based Learning  Online Mini-Conference – August 1, 2019
  • Global Collaboration Week – Online – Week of September 23, 2019
  • GlobalEdCon Around the Clock Online Mini-Conference – November 19, 2019
  • Student Empowerment Online Mini-Conference –  February 13, 2020

 

Image result for looking ahead globe

 

 

 

 

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6 Moves to Improve Teaching in World History Courses

The NCHE Annual Conference was hosted in Washington DC this year. It was a beautiful weekend ahead of the famed blossoming of the cherry trees in the city predicted to adorn the city in early April. 

(Did you know that it is the Yoshino tree’s single white blossoms that create an effect of white clouds around the Tidal Basin and north onto the grounds of the Washington Monument. Intermingled with the Yoshino are a small number of Akebono cherry trees, which bloom at the same time as the Yoshino and produce single, pale-pink blossoms…)

Ok, back to the conference.

I had the honor of being part of a panel for a three hour workshop for 26 participants from a range of fields.  Together with three outstanding historians and educators (see below and bios here) we shared insights and practices regarding the challenges and opportunities of teaching and learning world history.

  • Bob Bain, University of Michigan
  • Heather Streets-Salter, Northeastern University
  • Molly Warsh, University of Pittsburgh

Below, I have outlined my panel segment which summarized 6 moves/pivots our social studies program has been emphasizing and supporting for the last 7 years at Fairfax County Public Schools.  For your reference the slide deck I used can be accessed here.

As it is just a slide deck, I am happy to clarify any part of the presentation.  Just post a comment or email me directly at craigperrier19@gmail.com   Enjoy!

Opportunities

Overview: When teaching world history, teachers and teams have multiple chances to make the class engaging, relevant, and student centered.  These opportunities uses the content of the class to support student skills and dispositions beyond the classroom.  As with the other heading below, these moves will provide the best dynamic experiences for students when the team of teachers are professional collaborators.

  • Move/Pivot  1: Apply knowledge used in history to understand the present and develop students’ world views.
  • Move/Pivot  2: Use inquiry to develop disciplinary literacy with students so that they can construct their understanding and meaning of the past.
  • Move/Pivot  3: Connect students with other students beyond your school.

Decisions

Overview: The amount of content in world history course, as you can imagine, is extensive (and arguably limitless).  These moves require intentional course planning while developing teachers’ craft.  Ultimately each decision is on a continuum that meets teachers/teams where they are with rooms to innovate when the time is right.

  • Move/Pivot  4: When should we take deep dives during the survey course?
  • Move/Pivot  5: What level of student input and autonomy is used?
  • Move/Pivot  6: Whose perspectives should we include?

 

 

In addition I do urge you to consider exploring the over 100 federally funded National Resource Centers (NRC)  housed at universities across the USA. The goal of the NRC are to “support instruction in fields needed to provide full understanding of areas, regions or countries; research and training in international studies …instruction and research on issues in world affairs. and outreach programs to K-12 and post-secondary institutions, and the public at large.”  NRC have been valuable partners as resource providers and  supporters of teachers’ content understanding.

You can locate the NRC currently funded on their website.  A screenshot of the interactive map is provided below.

 

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12 More Digital History Projects that Will Make You Say Wow!

Last April I authored a post sharing 12 Digital History Projects.  Since then the I have had the pleasure to present on the topic a few times (slide deck available here) and continue to work on a few more digital history Image result for digital historyprojects (DHP).  A few of the tends I have noticed over the months include:

  1. With the increase of 1:1 there is a demand from teachers and students for high quality digital content.
  2. The number of DHP is large and growing.
  3. Quality of DHP varies.
  4. Time is needed to explore DHP and therefore time should be made available as part of professional learning and not seen as a luxury.

To recap, here is a working definition from wikipedia.

DHP is the use of digital media to further historical analysis, presentation, and research. Digital history is commonly digital public history, concerned primarily with engaging online audiences with historical content, or, digital research methods, that further academic research. Digital history outputs include: digital archives, online presentations, data visualizations, interactive maps, time-lines, audio files, and virtual worlds to make history more accessible to the user.

A key reminder is that DHP come in multiple formats and can be student or teacher facing… or both. Additional insights can be found in my earlier post.

So, back to the WOW!  Below are 12 more DHP for you to explore, share, have fun with, and use with your students. Let me know what you think.  Enjoy!

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1.  Throughline:  The new NPR history podcast launched this February (2019) looks fantastic.  Their tagline “The past is never past. Every headline has a history” models what great history education should do… connect the past to Throughlinethe current.  You can hear their introductory promo here. 

These are stories you can feel and sounds you can see from the moments that shaped our world. This is definitely one to add to your playlist!

 

2. Smithsonian Learning Lab:  Ok, this is remarkable!.  Among other things the SLL may be providing a template for other archives to use for their digitizing efforts.  “The Smithsonian Learning Lab puts the treasures of the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex within reach. The Lab is a free, interactive platform for discovering millions of authentic digital resources, creating content with online tools, and  in the Smithsonian’s expansive community of knowledge and learning.” Log in and find the magic made by others and you. For example, all the current social studies collections can be found here and are easy to search. Watch this video to learn more.

 

3. The Indian Ocean in World History:This online resource enables users to explore primary source historical evidence about interactions among people in the lands around the Indian Ocean throughout history. From earliest pre-historic times to the present, people have traveled around and on the Indian Ocean, traded, explored, and made use of its rich resources. In buried sites, shipwrecks, monuments, museum objects, documents and books, there is a huge and growing record of these interactions and exchanges. This site aims to provide students, teachers, and general audiences with a sampling of these primary source. Below is an example of an interactive map they provide.

 

4.  Korean War Legacy Project:  The goal of the Korean War Legacy Project is to assist teachers, students, and the general public in understanding the origins and outcomes of the Korean War. Due to the enormity of World War II and the controversial nature of Vietnam, the Korean War is widely under-appreciated by American educators, politicians, and the general public.  In history textbooks, it is often referred to as the “forgotten war” and is described in just a few negligible paragraphs.  The documentary for the project is below… it has Korean subtitles!

 

5. Be Washington : Step  inside Washington’s boots in this first-person interactive leadership experience.  One type of DHP are simulations. Another is gaming.  Be Washington does both either at the Mount Vernon estate in Virginia or online. Select among 4 pivotal scenarios in Washington’s career (2 as general and 2 as president).  Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and other advisers will appear on your screen. Choose whose counsel you wish to hear and consider their advice on real challenges in real history. From there, it’s your turn to act–and then to learn how Washington handled the same dilemma.

 

6. ESRI Story Maps: Combining geography, history. and society is a powerful triad when teaching social studies. ESRI’s collection of story maps makes this synthesis explicit.  They have created a series of Story Map collections that combine web maps, multimedia content, and engaging user experiences.   The resources augment any digital resource collection. Keep up-to-date on the latest news from the Esri Story Maps team, and discover the best new work by storytellers around the world.      @EsriStoryMaps

7.  #SSchat Archives

This is a fantastic weekly Twitter chat dedicated to help social studies teachers by

helping to facilitate democratic collaboration where educators can challenge & support each other to grow in their craft and, consequently, offer richer learning experiences for students. Join the live #sschat discussions  Monday Night from 7-8 PM EST. Since its creation in 2010, #sschat has archived most of its  chats (beginning in 2011). Here is the long list of archived discussions.

 

8. The Constitute Project:

I love this tool.  Improvements have been made pretty consistently making searches easy and meaningful. New constitutions are written every year. The people who write these important documents need to read and analyze texts from other places. Constitute offers access to the world’s constitutions so that users can systematically compare them across a broad set of topics — using an inviting, clean interface. The site is also available in Spanish and Arabic!

9. A History of the World in 100 Objects:

This partnership is between the British Museum and BBC.  A 100 part series by Neil MacGregor, made during his time as Director of the British Museum, exploring world history from two million years ago to the present. Objects featured in the series can be explored and their stories discovered in the Museum galleries or on the website here.

School developed resources can be found here. 

 

10. World Population History: This an interactive site that lets you explore the peopling of our planet from multiple perspectives – historical, environmental, social and political. It is about the 2,000-year journey of human civilization and the possible paths ahead to the middle of this century. It’s especially useful for the high school classroom with rich content for geography, world history, environmental science and much more.

 

11. Digital History : Looking for a free digital textbook?  This might be it!  The materials on this Web site include a U.S. history textbook; over 400 annotated documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection, supplemented by primary sources on slavery, Mexican American, Asian American, and Native American history, and U.S. political, social, and legal history; succinct essays on the history of film, ethnicity, private life, and technology; multmedia exhibitions; and reference resources that include a database of annotated links, classroom handouts, chronologies, glossaries, an audio archive including speeches and book talks by historians, and a visual archive with hundreds of historical maps and images. For an APUSH/Advanced text look into American Yawp.

 

12.  BrainPop Social Studies Games

This resource has a lot to offer.  I linked to the social studies resource page, but I suggest also exploring here for a birdseye view of the project.   BrainPOP was founded in 1999 by Dr. Avraham Kadar as a creative way to explain difficult concepts. Today, their resource is supporting core and supplemental subjects, reaching millions of learners worldwide.  I explored the a few of the games created for social studies.  I can see students enjoying them but they should be used with intent by educators.  Executive Command, and Do I Have a Right are my two favorites.

 

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Take-Aways and Highlights From the 2019 AHA Conference

With this year’s American Historical Association (AHA) conference being hosted by Chicago, it was a perfect reason to return to a city I haven’t visited since the late 1990s (it’s a great place and I will be back for a Cubs game this season)! What’s more, attending the conference is a great way to start the new year.

In case you aren’t familiar with the AHA, it is:

“…the largest professional organization serving historians in all fields and all professions. The AHA is a trusted voice advocating for history education, the professional work of historians, and the critical role of historical thinking in public life.”

In this spirit of professional collaboration, I am happy to share some experiences and thoughts about the 4 days of professional learning and growth.  Of course, the next step is to start acting on and applying those take-aways before they are lost in the post-conference return to “normalcy” of our work and personal lives. Enjoy exploring and connecting and  I hope to see you in New York for the 2020 conference next January.

(You still have time for the call for proposal  due February 15th!) 

 

 

Themes From My Experience at AHA 2019

Below, I have structured my highlights under headings which I think will facilitate your browsing.   Of course, with nearly 300 sessions, poster exhibits, receptions, and workshops there was much more going on than what I have selected below.  Regardless, I am sure you will find something of note to explore and share with your network.

  • K-12 Education

Did you know that public school teachers in the city that hosts the conference can attend for free? That’s incredible.  I am very happy to see the number of K-12 teachers growing at  the AHA conferences and feel that collaboration across K-16 benefits students.

I met Jason Herbert who is the creator Historian At The Movies  a twitter community that get’s together online Sunday night at 8:00 pm EST.  To connect use #HATM  and join this group when you can (they were fun at happy hour).  Next  up this weekend: Monty Python and the Holy Grail.


 

The Conference had multiple teaching workshops which focused on instruction, assessment, and answering the “Why” regarding the study of history. One thing to remember, if a university/college doesn’t require a history course, then the experience of formal history education is in the hands of high school teachers. The AHA provides resources for these topics

  1. Why Study History 
  2. Tuning the History Discipline
  3. Criteria for Standards in History/Social Studies/Social Sciences (updated 2019)
  4. Guidelines for the Preparation, Evaluation, and Selection of History Textbooks

Also, I look forward to reading these two new books both suggested by teachers.

  1. Why Learn History (When it is already on your phone)  by Sam Wineburg
  2. How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr

 

  • Conference Inspiration and Words of Wisdom

Whether from a presenter, my AHA colleagues, or an exhibition table, I found these quotes related to the teaching and learning of history to be worth internalizing.

  1. “We like history.  We thrive on complexity.”
  2. “Memory requires that we possess stories and narratives that link facts to ways that are both meaningful and truthful.”
  3. “Make what you are using intellectually good!”
  4. “Doing well in history prepares you to succeed in school.”
  5. “Historians typically don’t have a lot information.  We work with what we have.”
  6. “History is a story constrained by the dictates of evidence; when the evidence changes, so must the story.”

You can also see the AHA 2019 Presidential Address by Mary Beth Norton below:

 

  • Digital Resources  and Advocacy

Do you know about the collection of digital resources available online for educators?  I didn’t either.  Organized by “Classroom Materials”  and “Approaches to Teaching.” Here “you will find materials you can use in designing your own courses: syllabi, reading lists, sample assignments, course modules, etc. These are organized thematically, by resource type, and by the project or initiative that created the resource.”

If you want to contribute to the collection, contact Elyse Martin at emartin@historians.org with questions, comments, or recommendations.

Also, the AHA authors statements and announcements  that support the profession. The statement below was shared at the conference and is a follow up to previous work on Wang’s behalf.Image result for xiyue wang

“One historian who cannot be with us tonight is Xiyue Wang, a PhdD student at Princeton
University. He is imprisoned in Teheran, convicted on what the AHA believes to be groundless charges of espionage. The AHA reiterates its support for Mr Wang and once again calls on the Iranian authorities to release him from prison and allow him to
resume his life and career.”

 

Looking Ahead and Around

History conference goers (veteran and rookie) can get their fix a few times in 2019:

  1. NCHE (National Council for History Education) , March 14-16, Washington DC
  2. Teaching History Conference, May 3-4, Los Angeles
  3. WHA (World History Association), June 27-29, Puerto Rico
  4. AHA (American Historical Association), Jan. 3-6 2020! New York City NEVER TOO EARLY TO MAKE YOUR PLANS!

And you can always join a robust weekly twitter chat, #sschat, every Mondays from 7-8pm EST.  I love the group’s tagline “connect globally & teach locally.”  The 2019 calendar for chat topics can be seen here.

There is also the The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in History.  From their website,

“Membership in the society is free and entitles members to participate in Online conversations by commenting and leaving posts, and to receive an electronic newsletter highlighting developments, trends, and projects in the field.

If you would like to be part of the ISSOTL in History Community and receive our newsletter or have information upcoming events, projects, etc. that you would like to share, email dpace@indiana.edu.”

The Alliance for Learning World History at the University of Pittsburgh has redesigned their website and is a collaboration of educators and history scholars organized to advance the teaching and learning of world history in classrooms—in the U.S. and in every part of the world.  ALWH links leading practitioners in world history scholarship, curriculum, teacher preparation, professional development, and educational research.

History News Network is currently hosted by George Washington University and is dedicated ” to help put current events into historical perspective. ” What a fantastic idea!  Each week HNN features up to a dozen fresh op eds by prominent historians and receives about 300,000 page views per month.  It is really a fantastic and dynamic resource.  Have fun exploring all its features.

The History Teacher has been published by the the Society for History Education since 1967,the same year Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band was released!  The journal seeks to “to improve the learning experience in the history classroom” and is a rich publication for secondary and higher education.

Lastly, check out this free, online digital history resource “US History in a Global Context.”   It  is a dynamic resource that addresses the scarcity of professional development programs dedicated this approach.  Additionally, the resources we have assembled are designed to inspire your creativity and develop your thought leadership as an advocate for this approach to teaching U.S.History.

Have a great semester!

 

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A Real World Resolution for 2019

I made a resolution about 5 years ago (or more, I forget at this point) that was a response to what has become a standard expression in education.  The decision to eliminate this expression was motivated by a long standing belief that educators must be the prime advocates for teaching and learning, students, and the profession in toto.

Here is the expression I have stopped using in conjunction with practices and discussions about contemporary teaching and learning:  “In the real world.”

Some of the more frequent these applications of this phrase by administrators, teachers, students and educational companies include.

  • “We must prepare kids for the real world.”
  • “The class should be connected to the real world.”
  • “Real world assessments are needed for…”

And there are other uses too. Think about it – have you heard “real world” used by educators? Is it something you say? This post shares some reasons that I hope you find compelling to shift your language, eliminate the “real world” phrasing, and make it a point to encourage colleagues, your network, and anyone else to do the same. Here’s why…

The WHY? behind moving away from “the real world”

I am a fan of saying what you mean. I am also a fan of thinking about the meaning of what has been  said.  The “real world’ phrase has both connotations and denotations which need to be analyzed. This practice, critical analysis, is summarized by psychologist/linguist Dr. James Gee in his work An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method.

“Critical approaches…go further and treat social practices not just in terms of social relationships, but, also in terms of their implications for things like status, solidarity, the distribution of social goods, and power…”

Language and discourse are social practices and it is important to think about what we as educators say. For example, Ron Ritchhart makes the case in Cultures of Thinking by exploring 6 components of language use in schools noting the import of “Using a language of thinking that provides students with the vocabulary for describing and reflecting on thinking.”

So, what are the implications of using the phrase “the real world”?

  1. The content you are learning in school is good only in the walls of the classroom.
  2. Learning ends with the bell and is confined to “school time.”
  3. The “real world” is only out there and the experience of school (13 years of it) are devalued as they are not part of that “real world.”
  4. Teaching is an isolated practice relegating teachers as gatekeepers to the next level of “unreal world” – school.

Ultimately, the use of “real world” highlights a conceptualization of school as a detached experience separate from what happens when students are not at school. Please note that I do not believe educators use the phrase intentionally as a pejorative expression.

However, I do argue that its use is a detriment to our field.   The good news is that there are easy pivots we can make  that remove the implied meaning and message listed above.

Alternates and applications to “the real world” phrasing

When you consider just some of the obstacles schools face – achievement gaps, expressing the value of an education, student engagement, conveying the purpose of studying a specific subject, parent involvement, shifts to instruction and assessment – we are reminded just how difficult teaching is.  Being able to articulate that the time being spent in school has explicit relevance to the time spent outside is essential.

The good news is that there alternatives.  The better news is that I have seen the alternatives being used with greater frequency and making that pivot away from such self-defeating statements like:

  • “We must prepare kids for the real world.”
  • “The class should be connected to the real world.”
  • “Real world assessments are needed for…”

Of course I am happy and support the changes the applications above are seeking: to pivot educational experiences away from traditional learning (lecture, teacher centered, one size/way teaching, etc.).  I am aware that not all educators and students recognize the implied outcomes I identified. But if language is a key aspect or driver in education as Gee and Ritchart note, then it makes sense to change our practice. In short, these expressions and phrases are better:

  • Learning that prepares you for the present and future
  • Assessments that will utilize authentic audiences and/or contexts
  • Experiences that will explore current issues
  • Develop your understanding of the yourself, the community, and the world

To reinforce my claims, the alternatives I provide remove the negative implications coming from “real world.”   The expressions convey explicit intention and value, empower educators and students to act, and remove a fabricated divide between life at school and life not at school. Let’s explore these ideas a bit further!

The real world re-defined as “school.”

As I wrote the title of this section I thought with a wry smile “wow a novel idea.”   I am not sure when, where, or why the disconnect happened or gained popular use. Does the real world really start in your 20s?  No, it happens all the time. But, the items below are just a sample of what is out there supporting the claim that defines school as a disconnected place with learning experiences that are irrelevant:

But when I think about what is being written in these pieces, I conclude that these authors may not know of programs that empower students with knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are valuable both in and beyond school.  These ways of teaching and learning come to mind:

That is a great list.  Where they intersect is, in my view, best summed up with this statement:

“The practices of forming students’ individual world views, identities, and values, developing their skillsets, and applying knowledge are all “real world”  activities done in school”

Being explicit about these as outcomes and objectives to education is essential. Indeed, the least real world experience students have is the taking of a multiple choice test as a summative assessment.  Yes, I know they exist outside of school (driving tests always get cited by proponents) but think about your own non-multiple choice filled lives (see video).

Thankfully, schools continue to articulate the benefits of current education through the development of “Portrait of a Graduate” visions and models.  This is being done largely by and imitative by  Battelle for Kids.  Their goal is:

By 2021, 21 percent of school systems across the United States are engaging with their communities to develop and implement a Portrait of a Graduate.

This establishes a common vision of what all students should know and be able to do to succeed in college, careers, and citizenship in the 21st century. We hope to reach a tipping point that creates positive momentum toward transforming educational opportunities for all students.

I have shared some of my favorite portraits below but be sure to check them all out here.  And note… they don’t have to use the phrase “real world”, because they frame teaching and learning, and time at school as relevant and valuable for the present and future in and beyond school.

Have a great 2019!

Jefco-Pog

shelby

 

humboldt-fullsize

VBCPS

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A Usable Past: History, Teaching, and Students’ World Views

Welcome to the 2018 -2019 school year, and the first post of the season.  I hope your summer was inspiring, fun, and rejuvenating.  Mine was… for many reasons.  But, for this post, there were two events I participated in that I will not soon forget.  I want to thank my colleagues involved in these experiences and  share our learning with you.  Enjoy and have a great school year.

So, when to start?  How about June.  The cover page for Foreign Affairs that month asked the question “Which World Are We Living In?” Wow!  What a question to ask.  Ultimately, this article is asking us to think about our worldview.  But more importantly, the question recognizes that our understanding of the past directly impacts our understanding of reality.  That is phenomenal – and answers very explicitly the question “why do we study history?”

Back to the Foreign Affairs article, the options the issue provides come from a selection of scholars  and include the following 6 choices”

I encourage you to read the article, but more importantly I ask that you think about this question in relation to your context:

“Are the history courses you teach, support, or take framed in a way to make the connection between the past and present explicit and ask students to construct their world view?”

This question invites us to think about the concept “a usable past.” The primary aspect of a usable past recognizes that we construct our understanding of the past based on our knowledge of the past. Friedrich Nietzsche examined this in his 1874 work On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life (another informative piece can be found here).  

That video was superb and is a great example of student work contributing to public knowledge. This brings me to my first summer experience I mentioned above. On to Pittsburgh, PA and the Alliance for Learning in World History meeting at U. Pitt. Hosted by Dr. Molly Warsh, Associate Director of the World History Center the gathering of educators discussed contemporary teaching and learning in world history and its usability beyond the classroom.  Indeed the AHA Tuning Project has been tackling these ideas in the recent past,  Additionally, Dr. Bob Bain  emphasized the need for history teachers to be competent in shifting scale, or levels of analysis, and teach this thinking to students.  He calls this the ability to move from “parachutists to truffle-hunters” (very useful imagery) in order to determine relevance, but more importantly, to use this thinking model in their lives.  David Neumann comments on this in a 2010 article stating:

“How can the competing demands of the large-scale and the small-scale be managed? As teachers seek to create texture by considering case studies around which to build lessons, they should regularly ask, “How well does this reflect larger patterns?” The right case study will draw students in through interesting people and lively events. If it is carefully chosen, it can simultaneously illustrate much larger patterns. Such an approach only works if teachers first establish a context for scale in their classroom.”

Great. To  summarize, a developing the ability to think on “scales of analysis” in history is useful tool that makes the past more readily usable for our present world view.  I look forward to the future work of the ALWH and if you ever go to the steel city, please stop by the fantastic Cathedral of Learning at U.Pitt and check out their nationality rooms which are still active classrooms.

 

Now, let’s fast forward to August and move to Radford University in southern Virginia. This was the site of a brilliant small global education event (150 participants), the third annual “R U World Ready” conference. I had the pleasure of presenting on the intersection of project based learning and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. (You can access my slide deck here).   The energy of the conference struck a chord with me regarding the usable past idea that was center stage in my mind just 2 months earlier.   Here is how I would summarize my belief on education entering the conference:

Teach about the past in a way that develops your students’ world view in the present.  

But, I came to a realization that this wasn’t good enough. It felt incomplete.  By the time I left the conference only a image.pngfew hours after my arrival, my belief had evolved to the following:

Teach about the past in a way that develops your students’ world view to

understand the globalized present so that they have agency in the future.   

That feels better, for now at least. Check out the R U Ready mission: “The conference serves the needs of pre-service and practicing educators striving to develop global competencies for themselves as well as their own students entering a rapidly changing and interconnected world. ”

At the center of this event was a captivating  keynote address from Program Director of Liaison America, Sandra Lima Argo. Liaison America builds global competencies through programming that nurtures the “personal, cultural and professional enrichment in the life of each participant, helping them to expand their global knowledge and stimulate their sensitivity to different ways of learning and seeing the world.” 

But it was one of Argo’s slides which triggered the shift in my belief I mentioned earlier.  It’s simplicity, as is often with inspiration, was profound.

  

The top level, global teacher, is what is needed in order to prepare students for tomorrow. Every teacher should be providing students with global experiences in their classes.Failure to do this prepares students for yesterday and develops a world view that doesn’t use the past as a tool for the future but as an obstacle in their present.

So, as you start the school year, my hope is that you empower your students with the skills to understand any of the worlds mentioned in Foreign Affairs,  and better yet, to conceptualize world narratives and global realities not yet realized.

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8 Questions With the Religious Freedom Center

This weekend I re-watched President Obama’s eulogy  for South Carolina state Senator Clementa Pinckney, who was one of nine victims in the June 17, 2015, shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. If you haven’t watched, it I have included the complete eulogy below. Amazing Grace indeed.

 

Empathy, knowledge,  goodness toward the “other”, open minds and hearts…  all of these are traits and behaviors  to seek and internalize – especially for our students.  To help with this, I recently had the pleasure of asking Benjamin Marcus, Religious Literacy Specialist with the Religious Freedom Center of the Freedom Forum Institute to share his work and offers ideas about how educators can connect with the center.

Ben has authored articles for EdWeek which provide a concise summary of how we approach religious literacy work in teachers’ lessons as well as six guidelines for teaching about religion.

Our exchange is below.  Be sure to share this post with your network and reach out to Ben to see how teachers and students in any class can be better prepared in a diverse, interconnected globalized world. Enjoy!

 

1) Can you provide an overview of how the Religious Freedom Center came to be?

We owe our existence to Dr. Charles Haynes. We are indebted to his decades of experience gathering religious, civic, and educational organizations—from across the political, ideological, and religious spectrum—to write consensus statements and guidelines about religious freedom and the study of religion in public schools. Dr. Haynes and his Benjamin P.colleagues recognized the need to provide clarity about religion in public schools amidst the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s, which followed a number of U.S. Supreme Court decisions about religion and education in the 1960s. Our Center inherited and builds on the legacy of the consensus documents compiled by Haynes.

Reorganized in 2010 to expand on religious liberty initiatives begun by Dr. Haynes at the First Amendment Center in 1994, the Religious Freedom Center is a nonpartisan national initiative focused on educating the public about the religious liberty principles of the First Amendment.

We are pleased to be part of the Freedom Forum Institute family, which is the educational and outreach partner of the Freedom Forum. The Freedom Forum—dedicated to free press, free speech, and free spirit—is a nonpartisan foundation that champions the five freedoms of the First Amendment.

 

 

2) What are some of the connections among the USA’s founding, religion, and public education?

It is impossible to tell an accurate history of public education in the United States without talking about religion. For a compelling, clear history of the relationship between religion and public education, I refer people to Between Church and State: Religion & Public Education in a Multicultural America by James W. Fraser. In the book, Fraser Related imagedescribes how public education pioneer Horace Mann designed common schools—early versions of today’s public schools—as a site of a “tolerant” form of “religious education” that would be appropriate in a multi-religious nation. Since Mann’s work in the 19th century, Americans have sought to create public schools that are more and more inclusive of students of all religions and none. We have seen schools transition from curricula that favor Protestants of various denominations in the 19th century; to schools that assume a student population of Protestants and Catholics (and sometimes Jews) in the early- to mid- 20th century; to schools from the 1960’s to today that wrestle with what it means to neither favor nor disfavor religion, including any particular religion, or non-religion.

 

 

3) How do you reply to claims that religion should not be part of public education?

We differentiate between teaching religion  confessionally to make students more or less religious, and teaching about religion academically so that students understand how religion operates in private and public life. Teaching religion is unconstitutional, whereas the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed the legitimacy of teaching about religion. In the landmark decision Abington v. Schempp (1963), Justice Tom Clark wrote:

It might well be said that one’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment.

At the Religious Freedom Center, we are convinced that education about religion is not only constitutional; education about religion is necessary for understanding the world around us, whether or not we are religious ourselves.

 

4)  Yes, the distinction between teaching religion as dogma and as an academic pursuit.  In turn, how does the study of religion support efforts by schools to implement global citizenship and cultural competency programs?

According to the American Academy of Religion’s 2010 guidelines for teaching about religion, religious literacy is defined as “the ability to discern and analyze the intersection of religion with social, political, and cultural life.” This definition inextricably links the study of religion with the study of culture. If our students are to understand history or contemporary politics and culture, they must understand religion and the relationship between religious communities. If students are to live productive, respectful lives in a religiously diverse democracy and an increasingly interconnected world, they need to know about how religion motivates and sustains people in a fractured era. Students—who may be religious or atheists, who may live in deeply religious communities or pervasively secular cities—also need to recognize that not everyone belongs to a religious community.

The academic study of religion will enrich schools’ efforts to cultivate students’ global competency and cultural literacy. We do not expect schools to create standalone religion courses. Instead, we hope that schools will think about how to integrate the study of religion in existing curricula. For example, think about how much richer a lesson about the American Civil Rights Movement or the partition of India would be if students consider the religious forces at work.

 

5) Please share some successes you and the Religious Freedom Center have had in the K-12 education world.

We are delighted that the National Council for the Social Studies approved the Religious Studies Companion Document as an official part of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards in June 2017. This document is the first of its kind adopted by a major national education organization. Teachers and administrators can refer to the guidelines to learn about the disciplinary concepts and skills related to the academic study of religion that students should master by the time they graduate high school.

This was a collaborative effort of an eight-person writing team, a thirty-person advisory committee, and our partners at the American Academy of Religion. I was proud to chair the writing committee of that document in my capacity at the Religious Freedom Center, and I am thrilled to see that some districts around the country have already begun to align their curricula with the guidelines.

6) The Pew Center’s 2014 study on religious affiliation in the USA is pasted above. If a teacher,department, or school wants to get involved with you, what are the opportunities to do so?

We provide a number of training opportunities and curricular resources for K-12 educators. Educators might enroll in a graduate-level, semester-long class with the Religious Freedom Center designed to train teachers to teach about religion. If they do not have time for a semester-long class, they might choose to logon to our professional development website, Constitution2Classroom.org. There they can enroll in our free, on-demand, self-paced professional development modules, each of which take roughly one hour to complete and include videos, readings, interactive games, and reflection questions. Our online modules cover topics related to religious freedom concerns in schools, religious literacy, and civil dialogue.

Teachers might also choose to arrange a consultation between the Center and their department, district or school. We often organize live professional development workshops—at your school, in the Newseum, or via Zoom.

If educators are interested in working with us in a way not listed here, we encourage them to reach out to us so that we can discuss their request in greater detail.

Last but not least, we encourage educators to visit our website, ReligiousFreedomCenter.org, to access free guidelines, consensus statements, and classroom resources about religion and public education.

 

7) What’s on the horizon for the Religious Freedom Center in the immediate future and beyond?

This summer the Religious Freedom Center has partnered with the National Council for the Social Studies to offer a Religious Studies Summer Institute from July 10-12 in Washington, DC. Participants will broaden their professional competence with the disciplinary concepts and tools of religious studies, and they will increase their confidence in teaching about religion in constitutionally appropriate ways. Educators can register online.

We are also pleased to work with the Society of Biblical Literature to create academically rigorous and constitutionally appropriate lesson plans about the Bible and related topics for U.S. history and world history Image result for freedom center dcclassrooms. SBL is the world’s largest association of scholars who study the Bible from an academic perspective. Teachers should contact us for a copy of those lesson plans, which should be available mid-summer.

Beyond this summer, we plan to deepen and broaden our relationship with schools and districts interested in teaching about religion. We are incredibly lucky to have a variety of training opportunities and resources available for educators. Our goal now is to spread the word as far and wide as possible.

 

8) Anything else you would like to share with our readers?

The Religious Freedom Center is here to support you! Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or requests. We would love to work with you. In an increasingly polarized age, students need the knowledge and skills to navigate difficult questions related to religion and public life. Our future as a productive, rights-based, religiously diverse country depends on it.

 

Thank you Ben.  I look forward to our continued work together.  Each opportunity has benefited our teachers, students, and my work in social studies education. I encourage readers to reach out to Ben and the Religious Freedom Center.  Their support will help prepare students to be successful in the future. 

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12 Digital History Projects That Will Make You Say WOW!

… And by “WOW!” I mean: Wow, I need to use these with my students.  OR …Wow, I need to share these with my colleagues.  OR Wow, I  am inspired to develop my own digital history project.  Of course a synthesis of all 3 is the sweet spot. That was the course of action leading to the development of my US History in a Global Context project. 

What is digital history? Indeed, defining your terms is usually a great place to start.  I have found these explanations to be useful and bring moments of clarity which ultimately furthers the conversation and utility of these types of projects.

  1. The American Historical Association: “Digital history might be understood broadly as an approach to examining and representing the past that works with the new communication technologies of the computer, the internet network, and software systems.”
  2.  Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University  “Digital history is an approach to examining and representing the past that takes advantage of new communication technologies such as computers and the Web. It draws on essential features of the digital realm, such as databases, hypertextualization, and networks, to create and share historical knowledge.”

I have had the pleasure of working on multiple digital history projects.   So, let’s  look a bit further and see what formats digital history projects can take.  In short, when we discuss digital history, we can be referencing a number of types and purposes.  The common aspects being that they are accessible to the public and organized around a theme(s). This list comes (in part) from the Organization of American Historians.

  • Archive: a site that provides a body of primary sources. Could also include collections of documents or databases of materials.
  • Essay, Exhibit, Digital Narrative: something created or written specifically for the Web or with digital methods, that serves as a secondary source for interpreting the past by offering a historical narrative or argument. This category can also include maps, network visualizations, or other ways of representing historical data.
  • Teaching Resource: a site that provides online assignments, syllabi, other resources specifically geared toward using the Web, or digital apps for teaching, including educational history content for children or adults, pedagogical training tools, and outreach to the education community.
  • Gateway/Clearinghouse: a site that provides access to other websites or Internet-based resources.
  • Podcasts: video and audio podcasts that engage audiences on historical topics and themes.
  • Games: challenging interactive activities that educate through competition or role playing, finding evidence defined by rules and linked to a specific outcome. Games can be online, peer-to- peer, or mobile.

 

Wonderful!    With classrooms having access to computers and moving to 1:1 formats, quality digital resources is in demand. The good news is that they are out there.  But these are only good if they get used.  To that end, I have curated a collection of digital history projects that are designed for high school and higher education history and social studies classes.  These selections offer a variety of implementation pathways allowing immediate use with students (either in full or in part).  Additionally, these would be relevant for history/social science methods classes.

Here is one more general resource, a short video, to help frame and advance your understanding before you dive into the digital history resources.


What project did I miss?  What do you think of these?  Let me know and contact the project designers so they know who is using the resource they created.  Enjoy!

1. The 68.77.89 Project: Arts, Culture, and Social Change: Created by The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, this resource was just launched in early 2018! Students will be challenged to apply the lessons from the experiences of Czechs and Slovaks to better understand issues of democracy today and their responsibility for preserving democracy for the future. 68.77.89 is designed for students in grades 9-12. It provides a set of 12 learning activities in 4 modules that meet Common Core, Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate standards. The activities can be used as a set designed to be used together, or in single modules as free-standing lessons. Images of the 4 modules is below.

 

2. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database:  This is a remarkable tool which synthesizes data with visualization formats very effectively.   The database “has information on almost 36,000 slaving voyages that forcibly embarked over 10 million Africans for transport to the Americas between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. In order to present the trans-Atlantic slave trade database to a broader audience, particularly a grade 6-12 audience, a dedicated team of teachers and curriculum developers from around the United States developed lesson plans that explore the database. Utilizing the various resources of the website, these lessons plans allow students to engage the history and legacy of the Atlantic slave trade in diverse and meaningful ways.  Here is one example of a search I did.

3. Slavery Images:  Don’t let the simple look of this collection dissuade you. It is a remarkable resource! “The 1,280 images in this collection have been selected from a wide range of sources, most of them dating from the period of slavery. This collection is envisioned as a tool and a resource that can be used by teachers, researchers, students, and the general public.”  The search feature is easy and inviting.  This photo is from their collection. Powerful indeed. Interior courtyard, where captive Africans were assembled, and “Gate of No Return,” the passageway through which they were led to the beach and from there to slaving vessels waiting offshore. (Photographed by Michael Tuite in Ghana; Aug. 1999)

 

 

4. Our Shared Past in the Mediterranean: This is an intriguing world history curriculum.  Given the unique geography of the transitions currently underway in the Middle East (several geographically contiguous North African states) and the likelihood that interactions between Europe, northern Africa, Turkey, and the Arab world will constitute a vitally important sub-region of globalization going forward, new cross-Mediterranean tendrils of economic and civil society connectivity will be necessary to help anchor these transitions.  An outline of the modules can be viewed here.

5. Rethinking the Region: North Africa and the Middle East:   Another contribution to the field of world history, this project “analyzed the common categories used to describe and teach the Modern Middle East and North Africa in existing  World History textbooks. Based on this research, we offer robust alternatives for Grade 9-12 social studies teachers and multicultural educators that integrate new scholarship and curricula on the region. To this end, we examined the ways in which the region is framed and described historically, and  analyzed categories like the ‘rise and spread of Islam,’ the Crusades, and the Ottoman Empire. Narratives surrounding these events and regions tend to depict discrete and isolated civilizations at odds with one another. To remedy this oversimplification, our work illuminates the manners in which peoples and societies interacted with each other in collaborative and fluid ways at different political and historical junctures.

6. Histography: “Histography” is interactive timeline that spans across 14 billion years of history, from the Big Bang to 2015. The site draws historical events from Wikipedia and self-updates daily with new recorded events. The interface allows for users to view between decades to millions of years. The viewer can choose to watch a variety of events which have happened in a particular period or to target a specific event in time. For example you can look at the past century within the categories of war and inventions. Histography was created as a final project in Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Guided by Ronel Mor.  Below is a screenschot of the platform.

Histography

 

7. American Yawp: “In an increasingly digital world in which pedagogical trends are de-emphasizing rote learning and professors are increasingly turning toward active-learning exercises, scholars are fleeing traditional textbooks… The American Yawp offers a free and online, collaboratively built, open American history textbook designed for college-level history courses. Unchecked by profit motives or business models, and free from for-profit educational organizations, The American Yawp is by scholars, for scholars. All contributors—experienced college-level instructors—volunteer their expertise to help democratize the American past for twenty-first century classrooms.”  This is being used in high schools as well. Also, you can offer insights and edits for the editors to consider.

8. Mapping American Social Movements in the 20th Century: “This project produces and displays free interactive maps showing the historical geography of dozens of social movements that have influenced American life and politics since the start of the 20th century, including radical movements, civil rights movements, labor movements, women’s movements, and more. Until now historians and social scientists have mostly studied social movements in isolation and often with little attention to geography. This project allows us to see where social movements were active and where not, helping us better understand patterns of influence and endurance. It exposes new dimensions of American political geography, showing how locales that in one era fostered certain kinds of social movements often changed political colors over time.”  The screenshot below shows a sample of an interactive map.  Fantastic!

9. Eagle Eye Citizen:  Made by the invaluable team at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, Eagle Eye engages middle and high school students in solving and creating interactive challenges about Congress, American history, civics, and government with Library of Congress primary sources. This helps develop students’ civic understanding and historical thinking skills.  It is highly interactive and invites students and teachers to use existing challenges and develop their own.

10.  Mapping the 4th of July: Mapping the Fourth of July is a crowdsourced digital archive of primary sources that reveal how Americans celebrated July 4 during the Civil War era.  These sources reveal how a wide range of Americans — northern and southern, white and black, male and female, Democrat and Republican, immigrant and native born — all used the Fourth to articulate their deepest beliefs about American identity during the great crisis of the Civil War… Whether you teach at the college or high school level, your students will jump at the chance to learn about how a previous generation of Americans celebrated the Fourth. (Yes, there were fireworks!) These are engaging documents that open up big themes: North-South differences; the causes and consequences of the Civil War; African American experiences of emancipation. On our website you’ll find standards-based assignment guidelines that make it easy to integrate it into your courses.

 

11. Back Story:  Incredible podcast focusing on American history topics in a range of contexts. The hosts are fun, informed, and engaging.   BackStory is a weekly podcast that uses current events in America to take a deep dive into our past. Hosted by noted U.S. historians, each episode provides listeners with different perspectives on a particular theme or subject – giving you all sides to the story and then some. Also,  a resources icon indicates that the episode has educator resources available. Use BackStory in your classroom! Just go to the episode archives and filter by episodes with resources.

 

12. Woodrow Wilson Center – Cold War International History Project:

This resource feels like the “godfather” of digital history projects. “Since its establishment in August 1991, the Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) has amassed a tremendous collection of archival documents on the Cold War era from the once secret archives of former communist countries. CWIHP has become internationally recognized as the world’s preeminent resource on the Cold War.” The help organize and search the trove of documents, you search using a map, timeline (going back to 1866… great extended context) and contains over 30 featured collections (sample below).

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BYkids, Global Competency, & Student Voice: An Interview with Holly Carter

What are the stories your students hear about education?  I love that question.  I have found, however, that it isn’t a question educators frequently address despite recognizing the importance of messaging.   We should be able to share a compelling story about the “why” of education with students, parents, colleagues and anyone in our local or global communities.  This means that educators must devote time to reflect up, craft, and apply a compelling and meaningful story about the purpose of education.

 

But what would happen if we play with that question a bit and ask “What are the stories students tell about education?”  Hmm?!   The question certainly shifts the agency of education being done by students instead of education being done to them.  Such a shift creates a broader range  of possibilities, interpretations, and outcomes.  In short, the singular (outcomes, narrative, purpose, vision etc.) is supplanted by the multi.  This sentiment has been been engaged with millions of times in the popular 2009 Ted Talk: The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

This brings me to this post’s guest interview with Holy Carter.  I had the pleasure of meeting and discussing global education with here at the Institute for International Education in New York City.

Ms. Carter is the founder and executive director of BYkids, a non-profit organization that provides kids around the world with the training and equipment to make short documentaries about their lives. BYkids believes that we can understand the world’s challenges — and how to best meet them — through the personal stories of young people. Their Season One films aired on public television on more than 170 channels in 107 markets, in 64 million American households.

Holly started her career at The New York Times and has worked for 30 years as a journalist, editor, documentary filmmaker, fundraiser and non-profit leader.Before founding BYkids, Holly ran the Global Film Initiative, a foundation bringing feature films from the developing world to major cultural institutions across the country in an effort to promote cross-cultural understanding.

Prior to that from 1999 to 2003, she produced Media Matters, a monthly PBS magazine show about journalism and concurrently worked as a consultant for The After-School Corporation, a non-profit initiative founded by George Soros that brings quality after-school programs to New York City public schools. In 1999, Carter co-founded North Carolina’s Full Frame Festival, which has grown to become the largest documentary film festival in the world.

The BYKids website can be found here.  Enjoy!

 

  1. Holly, tell us about your background and views on global citizenship education?

I started my career as a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist at The New York Times and have worked for 30 years as a journalist, editor, documentary filmmaker, fundraiser and non-profit leader. I am interested in revolutionizing American education by teaching empathy and global citizenry to our students in a way they understand – through moving image. They spend their lives outside the classroom processing the world and expressing themselves through moving image. We need to speak to them in the language they use. Putting a textbook on a tablet is not innovative. Bringing short documentary films into their classroom and curriculum as a way for them to walk a mile is someone else’s shoes – now that has real impact. Once they feel the issues of the world, they can be guided to find solutions.

 

  1. Connecting students is indeed a key aspect of global education. How did BYkids get started?

 I started BYkids as a platform for the voiceless to share their voices. Kids are honest storytellers, yet their stories often go unheard. BYkids was created as a network of cross-cultural storytelling. By sharing the untold stories of children in countries like Nicaragua about climate change or Mozambique about AIDS, we engage a younger audience in a global discussion to teach the intangible qualities like empathy and tolerance.

 

  1. Can you share some examples of schools using BYkids and the impact it had on students, teachers, and the community?

Our films and curricula are distributed to over 100 million viewers and students around the country.

Season One of FILMS BYKIDS is a partnership between THIRTEEN, the flagship station of PBS, and BYkids, a non-profit organization, bringing the voice of five young filmmakers from different cultures to a wider audience through the power and reach of public media. In addition, we do many live screening and panel discussions, using our films as a conversation spark.

Last year, for example, we were invited to Bergen Country, NJ for Anti-Violence Week to screen and discuss POET AGAINST PREJUDICE, a story told by a young Yemeni immigrant to Brooklyn who finds a creative outlet for self-expression in a post 9/11 world. The young filmmaker was like a rock star to the thousands of high school students. In fact, the film and resulting conversation left some young audience members in tears. By watching Faisa’s inspiring response to discrimination, the kids sitting in the front row had tears rolling down their cheeks. The film reached their hearts and left them changed with a new perspective on this all too relevant issue of Islamophobia and the struggles of new immigrants.

WATCH THE TRAILER for  POET AGAINST PREJUDICE HERE 

 

  1. What is next for BYkids and what is your vision for the future of the program?

BYkids is currently working on its upcoming Season Two to include films about climate change ravaging coffee growing in Nicaragua (see trailer below), forced child marriage in Senegal, the Syrian refugee crisis, modernity in Bhutan and the juvenile justice system in the U.S.

We look to continue to start meaningful conversations around these globally relevant issues and innovate in the education space so that our students are engaged emotionally in the world around them.

By continuing to produce films, we are expanding our community of young leaders and introducing more overlooked stories throughout the world. Our future is strong with the continued support of our contributing BYkids family.

 

 

  1. If you could make one change in education, what would that be?

 Education should promote open-mindedness by teaching empathy. Our films show lives different from most audience members and children in American schools. Things that seem foreign at first, like growing up on a struggling coffee bean farm or falling victim to a longstanding tradition of child marriage, become more relatable and seemingly real through our films. My hope for education is that, like at BYkids, it does not stray from a sometimes different or uncomfortable truth, and teaches through an honest lens.

 

  1. I love what BYkids offers. The penpals platform is one of my favorites. How can teachers get involved with BYkids?

Our films extend beyond one single screening in the classroom. Our various curricula help teachers turn viewing into action. On our website, we provide School Guides and Take Action Guides, in which teachers are encourages to add to the film’s viewing curriculum, to help expand the experience of each film, promoting students to react, think, reflect and engage after watching one of our films.

http://bykids.org/for-teachers/

PBS Learning Media has grade specific curricula for each film:

https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/films-bykids/#.WhG_87Q-egQ

PenPal Schools helps connect kids around the world through the films:

https://go.penpalschools.com/projects/the-world-through-my-eyes

Once the students have watched the film and learned about their peers from around the world, the teacher helps them get engaged with the issue and understand how to access their own voice.

This is all about the power of storytelling and listening.

Thank you Holly.   Films from BYkids can be purchased on Amazon. They would be a great addition to libraries, global ed programs, leadership courses and all academic courses.Be sure to follow ByKids on twitter @BYkids