And, we’re off!

The new semester is now three weeks old and I have had a few inspirations related to teaching the Civil War. The students are enjoying taking a critical look at the causes of the war as we study this era and are aware that it’s not as easily pinpointed as some would like to make it.

I have several group activities planned for this semester, so I have divided the students into “regiments.” They have created regimental colors and elected “officers.” I’m not sure that my rank designations are correct, but I have “colonels” and “sergeants.” Colonels will get assignments from me and carry them back to their regiments. Sergeants will be responsible for making sure the groups have any needed materials to complete activities. The regiments are part of the “Army of the Sabine.” We live along the headwaters of the Sabine River in Texas, so that seemed as good a designation as any. We have four regiments: the 11th Texas Infantry, the 79th Texas Infantry, the 99th Kansas Cavalry and the 100th Georgia Artillery. The students picked their own numbers, states and unit types. I have something special planned for later that will make these fictional regiments all the more important than just for group activities. Suffice it to say, regiments will be “reorganized” as the “war” progresses.

I have students doing research projects related to some aspect, person, event or idea related to the war. The antebellum era, Reconstruction and Civil War memory. They will write 1,000 word essays, then prepare an exhibit, a documentary (5-10 minutes) or website (at least five pages, built in MS FrontPage and saved to CD). I have some pretty good project ideas. Some are standard biographical sketches, some are looking at particular battles or campaigns (Gettysburg has three students working on it, one for each day) and some are rather high-level for middle schoolers, but I’m not discouraging it, simply trying to help them gather as much information as I can. Abolition, slave conditions in the antebellum South, as well as Jim Crow and Reconstruction are all topis that students have selected. These kids are reading articles by a variety of historians (with my guidance and help) including Peter Carmichael and Jeffrey Wert. (Those are two names I have seen and recall.) The colonels and sergeants are assisting in the computer lab, fielding some questions from their regiments. I have 26 students in this class in its first year of offering and I’m running like a mad man! Some issues, like how to format a document or set a type style, are being handled by students, while I handle questions about subject material and research methods. It seems to be working well now.

I’m doing the research project along with the students so I can keep up with any issues they might run into along the way. My topic? The Stone Mountain Memorial in Georgia. That is proving an interesting topic for someone who was dumb enough to tell Gary Gallagher it was “unfinished!” In my defense, that was two years ago while I was still pretty much a Confederate apologist, before much reform had entered my thinking.

I’ll post regular updates, and possibly share some of the projects when we finish this. Stay tuned!

Ask the expert?

Students at Center Christian Academy hosted me for a talk on the Civil War era and presented their projects on Friday, January 29.

Yes, I know. Someone referring to me as the Civil War expert is a little disconcerting, especially for me. My mom, Tracy, who teaches 3rd-5th grade at Center Christian Academy, the same school I graduated from 20 years ago this year (I know, I look much too young for that!), recently conducted a Civil War unit with her students. As part of the unit, students wrote papers and created displays of a Civil War topic of interest. To sum the unit up, I was invited to speak on various aspects of the war and antebellum eras and help answer any questions still remaining with the students after studying the war. We spent about three hours discussing the war and allowing the students to present their projects. I have not had much experience teaching kids this young, but the students were very enjoyable to work with and were genuinely interested in learning more about the Civil War.

Students share, with me and their classmates, their papers and displays.

Here, I introduce the students to good web resources for studying and researching history, including Edward Ayers’ site “Valley of the Shadow.”

 

What ever happened to a balanced approach to history?

(Hat-tip to HNN.)

This happened!

Gearing up for the spring semester

I realize I have not posted in quite sometime, but things have been a little crazy here. Just thought I’d check in and let you know I will probably be posting more in the coming weeks.

My American Consitution and Civil War Studies class is winding down the section on the U.S. Constitution and we are about to begin the Civil War portion of things. We ended our discussion of the Constitution with a debate on how the Civil War changed some aspects of the Constitution. I know, a little backward, but it seemed like a good transition point. I have 25 students in the class, more than I could have ever hoped for in the first year of its offering, but I’m having a good time teaching it and most of the students seem to be enjoying it and not regreting that they signed up for it.

More to come as the war study develops…

New Toys!

Recently I mentioned that I had some new technology in the classroom. Aside from the general computing equipment and software, I have a few new things in the classroom that make the teaching experience more enjoyable and easier at the same time. The district I work for got a technology grant that made all of these new toys possible.

At the end of last school year, I was aware that a new projector was going to be installed in my room, allowing me to better use PowerPoint presentations, other software and the Internet in my teaching. That was in the classroom on day one. I began using this aspect of the new technology immediately and it was much easier. Last year, I experimented with this a little, but my projector was on a cart and was often in the way and really more trouble than it was worth. The only real drawback was that, at first, I did not have a wireless receiver to allow me to use the projector’s remote as a remote mouse. I now have one and sometimes use it, but the other new toys I have in the classroom really make that a moot point.

The district also purchased a wireless unit and software called Mimio. This package allows for using a standard whiteboard as an interactive board. It works like a Smart Board or a V-Board without using a separate unit in the classroom. Using a second computer for all my presentations to my students and the new projector, I am able to create interactive activities for students to play with to enrich their learning, enliven presentations by directly tapping into the Internet, annotate PowerPoint presentations on the fly and highlight text for emphasis, all from the front of the room. I can then save these for use in classes later in the day, meaning I only have to do all of this once each day. I can even save what I write as a PDF and print it out for a student if he/she is absent or attach it to lesson plans or my school webpage. My first period class has had a lot of fun just watching me interact with the technology. In addition with the screen capture feature, I can use the software to write “on the board” and save that for later use, virtually replacing dry erase markers. Since I teach two history electives (American Constitution & Civil War Studies and The Bible in History & Literature) scattered between five sections of US History, I’m not having to rewrite my US History notes because I have had to erase them to gear up for the electives. I am currently using We the People…The Citizen and the Constitution as the base text for teaching the US Constitution. It has a very good companion website. (Yes, I am using the high school text in a middle school classroom because it has more information than the middle school text. Students use the middle school text for reading at home.) I have used this website extensively in presentations in this class, as well as used video clips from Discovery Education to supplement lessons. The system comes with a stylus for directly interacting with the board, as well a wireless tablet that integrates into the system. Utilizing screen capture and Expo markers in a tube with a wireless transmitter corresponding to specific colors, I can even write in color. I have created one interactive lesson for students related to a timeline of the Age of Exploration and early English colonial periods. The students that used it seemed to enjoy it and the ones who didn’t have the opportunity were disappointed.

Also, a document presenter (camera) was installed in the classroom. It is basically an Elmo document presenter on steroids! It’s basically a small video camera on an adjustable arm that can be used to show documents and artifacts, but it can also be used to record video. Using the screen capture feature in the software included with this item allows for still shots to be saved. I have used this to save paper by printing one copy of a chart or graph and having the students copy it for themselves. I plan to use this extensively in the spring when I get to the Civil War section of my elective. Earlier this year I acquired a four-volume set of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. This is the bound compiliation of the “Century War Series” edited by Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence Clough Bell and published in “The Century Magazine” in the 1870’s and 1880’s. The volumes I have are copyrighted 1887. I’m not too keen on the students handling these 122-year-old books. The leather binding is fragile and one volume needs to be repaired, but I would like for them to see some of the material. The document presenter will make that a much easier process.

This has made teaching seem a whole lot more like playing than it already did. I’m having a ball with it and I think the students stay more engaged simply because they want to see how I’m going to use it next.