Teachers, are you using HippoCampus? (Tell us about it in comments if you are.)
Topics with lesson plans and great support material:
Algebra
HippoCampus is a product of the Monterey Institute, a part of the University of California system.
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Advanced Placement, Curricula, DBQ sources, Education, History, Lesson plans, Teaching, Technology, Technology in the classroom | Tagged: Course Planning Material, Education, HippoCampus, Lesson plans, Teachers' Resources, Teaching, Technology, Technology in the classroom | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
Waldseemueller's 1507 map that named the America's. Library of Congress image. Click on the map for access to a very high resolution image.
According to the Associated Press, Marin Waldseemueller is the cartographer who decided to name the New World continents after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian navigator who had made a voyage to the Americas and then wrote a book about what he saw. The book sold well in Europe, but became a runaway when an unscrupulous printer spiced up Vespucci’s story with tales of sex.
Martin Waldseemueller, German cartographer who named the New World after Amerigo Vespucci on his 1507 map -- from a painting by Gaston Save, circa 1900
Waldseemueller’s map was published in 1507, on April 25.
The one surviving copy of the map was purchased by the Library of Congress for $10 million, in 2001.
Vespucci’s account described land and peoples that clearly were not from East Asia, to canny and alert readers. Waldseemueller was widely read, and on the basis of Vespucci’s account and other accounts from China, concluded the lands Columbus discovered were separate from Asia.
Waldseemueller accurately protrayed the width of South America to within 70 miles in some places, and appears to have been the first to predict the presence of a wide ocean between the Americas and Asia — the Pacific not being “discovered” by Europeans until 1513, six years after this map.
Resources:
Big thanks to Jessica Palmer at Bioephemera for those last two resources; her report on the display of the map at the Library of Congress is really, really useful.
Leave a Comment » | Cartography, Explorers and Exploration, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, History, History and art, Lesson plans, Maps | Tagged: America Vespucci, Americas, geography, Lesson Plan, Maps, Martin Waldseemueller | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
National Poetry Month. April. Good stuff.
Farmschool lists great stuff going on, including Gottabook’s 30 Poets/30 Days. “A Little Poem for Poetry Month.“
Are you subscribed to Poem-A-Day?
Have you asked your city to issue a proclamation? No? Get the proclamation and start lobbying!
Get ready for Poem in Your Pocket Day (April 30).
History teachers will crack out the “Concord Hymn” and tell the story of Paul Revere, of course. Maybe a little Joyce Kilmer to reveal the tragedy of World War I, or “Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” depending on how far the world history or U.S. history courses are.
1 Comment | Education, History, History and art, Lesson plans, Literature, Poetry | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
A quick snippet of learning from my stay at Mount Vernon:
How many places are named after Washington? How many schools?
At the relatively new museum here I found a display that notes how Americans have honored our First President by naming things after him:
(All of this comes without the aid of a George Washington Legacy Project to inflate his importance and the love of Americans for his work!)
George Washington can still lay claim to his friend Richard Lee’s eulogy, as “first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
I found the display on place names on the way out of the Education Center — a place designed to help visiting teachers learn about resources available for classroom use.
Of course the group works to help teachers who can’t visit at the moment, too. To that end they’ve published online a series of lesson plans developed by the George Washington Teachers’ Institute, a summer residency program that provides professional development.
Check out the lesson plans at http://www.mountvernon.org. Lesson plans are here. I particularly liked the political cartoons included in this lesson plan, all drawn by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonists.
Renovations and new construction at Mount Vernon during the past decade have made the place a much more valuable resource for teachers and students.
Let’s tip the entire Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub to the Bill of Rights Institute and Liberty Fund, who sponsored the program at Mount Vernon.
2 Comments | George Washington, History, History museums, Lesson plans, Political cartoons | Tagged: Education, George Washington, History, Lesson plans, Political cartoons | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
I’m probably way behind the curve, but this looks to me as if it could be developed into a classroom exercise of some sort.
At Geevor Tin Mine Museum’s Weblog, I stumbled onto Whenonge #7 — When on Google Earth #7 (archaeology edition).
These wacky archaeologists! They get a Google Earth image of some dig, post it, and challenge people to identify the dig and the time in history the site was actually occupied. The first to identify the site accurately gets to host the next round.
Hey, take a look at these things. They would make great slides for a presentation, but they’re also just cool.
Mystery image for When on Google Earth #7 (archaeology)
Like so much in archaeology, this game comes to us from our methodological cousins in geology. Shawn Graham adopted their game, and modified it for our use at whenonge #1. Chuck Jones had the first correct answer, and then hosted whenonge #2. The mysterious and elusive PDD got #2 right but never claimed his prize, so Chuck struck back with whenonge #2.1. Paul Zimmerman got the correct answer to #2.1 and hosted whenonge # 3. Heather Baker got the correct answer to #3 and hosted whenonge # 4, and Jason Ur won and hosted of whenonge # 5 . Dan Diffendale won that, #6 was hosted on whenonge #6 and i won this! so here we are… be the first to correctly identify the site above and its major period of occupation in the comments below and you can host your own!
What’s that? There’s a geology version, too? Good heavens! The geologists are past #150!
WoGE #124 - Where on Google Earth #124; I don't know where this is, but it looks cool.
It’s the sort of geeky game that airline real estate lawyers could play with airports, football geeks could play with collegiate football stadia, or baseball geeks with Major League Baseball parks. Hiking, camping and wilderness geeks could do a National Parks and National Monuments version, with real aficianadoes including trails in National Wilderness Areas from the National Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
Why not a simple geography version? Cities with more than 2 million population; national capital cities, state capital cities; Civil War battlefields; famous battlefields; volcanoes; 7 Wonders of the World.
Maybe someone in the Irving, Texas, ISD can get their geography kids to use their computers and put up a website devoted to some of these issues.
Leave a Comment » | Geography - Physical, geology, Lesson plans, Science, Space exploration, Technology in the classroom | Tagged: geography, geology, Google Earth, History, Satellite Images, Student projects, Technology in the classroom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
No, Obama didn’t change his mind. He’s changing the way government does business — putting government on a more solidly-based, business-like model for performance, according to at least one observer. That’s the shift discussed.
And it’s about time, I say.
Max Stier’s commentary on the Fed Page of the Washington Post quickly lays out the case that Obama’s making big changes. Copy it for students in your government classes (or history classes, if you’re studying the presidency in any depth). Stier wrote:
There are some fundamental reasons why our federal government’s operational health has been allowed to steadily deteriorate. It’s hard to change what you don’t measure, and our government operates in an environment with very few meaningful and useful measurements for performance. Perhaps more significantly, it is run by short-term political leadership that has little incentive to focus on long-term issues.
A typical presidential appointee stays in government for roughly two years and is rewarded for crisis management and scoring policy wins. These individuals are highly unlikely to spend significant energy on management issues, when the benefits of such an investment won’t be seen until after they are long gone.
(According to the Post, “Max Stier is president and CEO of Partnership for Public Service, a group that seeks to revitalize the federal government.” I don’t know of him otherwise.)
Political appointees can be good, but too many have not been over the past 25 years. A bad enough political appointee can frustrate even the most adept, dedicated-to-the-people’s-business career federal service employees, and frustrate the law and good management of agencies.
Let’s wish them all good luck.
Potential questions to follow-up this article in discussions:
What other questions did your students find in this article? Comments are open.
Leave a Comment » | Bell Ringers, Current History, Federalism, Government, History, Labor and unions, Lesson plans, Management, Organizational leadership, Politics, President Obama, Presidents, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Bell Ringers, Bureaucracy, Civics Classes, Education, Federal Government, Government Classes, President Obama, Transition | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
For you Austinites, or someone close enough to make this training:
The Bill of Rights Institute at the
Texas Law-Related Education Conference
February 6-7, 2009
Event WebsiteDate: February 6-7
Where:
Hilton Austin Airport 9515 Hotel Drive Austin, TX 78719The Bill of Rights Institute is pleased and honored to be exhibiting and presenting at the 2009 Texas Law-Related Education conference on Friday and Saturday, February 6 & 7. We hope while you are attending the conference, you will stop by our booth in the exhibits area and see our wide range of materials and programs that can enrich as well as bring new excitement to your lessons. Also, on Friday at 10:00 AM, we will be presenting a session at the conference on Lincoln’s Leadership: Secession and Emancipation (with free lesson plans distributed at the end of the session!).
Have a terrific time at the conference and we hope to see you at our booth or our session!
Bill of Rights Institute
200 North Glebe RD
Suite 200
Arlington, Virginia 22203
703-894-1776
Leave a Comment » | Bill of Rights, Education, History, Lesson plans, Teaching, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Bill of Rights Institute, Constitution, Education, History, Lesson plans, teacher training | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
One more time, I gotta say that the lesson plans from the Bill of Rights Institute on inauguration is top notch. I’ve shared it around our department, and several people are downloading it, planning to put the stuff to use. It’s a good, solid lesson plan, it looks like something that will engage students nicely, and it’s on a topic that could not possibly be more timely.
But the free download goes away tonight! Go get the thing NOW!
The Bill of Rights Institute includes these lesson plans as a no-cost download with Being an American: Exploring the Ideals that Unite Us, Second Edition. That book is cheap, too — just $19.95 — so you can pay a bit, and still get this great lesson plan, plus a whole bunch of other good stuff.
But I’m an even bigger cheapskate, and I want this stuff to be ready to use on January 21, when our kids start the next semester. The hours are ticking away.
Leave a Comment » | Bill of Rights, Current History, Freedom - Political, Government, History, Lesson plans, President Obama, Presidents, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Bill of Rights Institute, Government, History, Inauguration, President Obama, U.S. Constitution | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Here’s a map that should be more viewed in America, but a map which has been much overlooked in the post-election euphoria, or post-election gloom. It’s the map of electoral college results, still showing Republicans in a Soviet/Maoist red, and Democrats in blue:
Electoral College results from the 2008 presidential election - American Presidency Project
Note especially the blue dot in Nebraska, around Omaha. Nebraska splits its electoral college votes, giving each congressional district’s vote to the elector for the candidate who actually won in that district. Obama won Omaha’s district; Nebraska is officially a red and blue state. Maine also allows a split in electors, but this year did not see a split among the electorate.
America is not so red as some claim, even in the electoral college. More states are surrounded by blue states than surrounded by red states.
Perhaps it’s time to find other ways to color these maps, so that we cannot so easily speak of a red state/blue state split that does not reflect politics, economics, or much of anything else in America.
Dallas students are out on inauguration day. We can hope our government and history students will glue themselves to the television to watch the ceremony, but we know better than to expect it.
Will you discuss the inauguration in your classes, whatever the subject? Here are some sources you could use:
12 Comments | Capturing history, Government, History, Lesson plans, Politics, President Obama, Presidents | Tagged: classroom video, Constitution, Inauguration, Lesson plans, President Obama | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
New lesson plans and other materials from the Bill of Rights Institute, on presidential inaugurations. Even better if you’re a cheapskate like me, you can download the inauguration lessons for free, but only on January 13 and 14, 2009.
Free-for a limited time only!
Bring the historic Presidential Inauguration of 2009 into your classroom! “Presidential Inauguration: History, Tradition, and the Constitution” helps your students learn more about Inauguration Day from constitutional, historical, and current perspectives.
Those of you who own Being an American: Exploring the Ideals that Unite Us, Second Edition can use your unique passwords to access the lesson at any time. If you do not own the curriculum, you can download the lesson for free for two days only: January 13-14, 2009. Download your lesson at www.BillofRightsInstitute.org/today!
To buy Being an American, Second Edition, which gives you a full week of lessons and access to all past and future Web-based materials, click here.
Best deal, especially for U.S. history, spend the $20 and buy the full set of plans.
Also, check out these 25 inauguration videos from the past, at HotChalk.
Leave a Comment » | Bill of Rights, Government, History images, History video sources, Lesson plans, Politics, Presidents, U.S. Constitution, Video and film | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
1930s era typewriter that accompanied Australian journalist Ron Boland through his journalistic career, a Remington Portable - State Library of South Australia (on loan from Jasin Boland)
Ron Boland played an important role in the expansion and maturation of Australian newspaper journalism in the 20th century — in the era before Rupert Murdoch, mostly – though Boland worked for Murdoch and could be said to have created the style that made Murdoch rich — in an era when newspapers still set the pace of the Information Age. He retired in 1977, the year Altair was a top computer name, the year RadioShack almost got the TRS-80 to market, the year Jobs and Wozniak started work on the Apple II (before Macintosh).
For nearly 50 years, this typewriter was the peak of technology, for a world class journalist.
Boland’s life and timeline could make for some interesting projects or study assignments — see Boland’s campaign for topless swimming on Australia’s beaches. Topless swimming for men.
Boland’s work is probably mostly invisible to American students, but it should provide some good enrichment for students of world history.
The case for Australian journalist Ron Boland's Remington Portable typewriter, testifying to the globe trotting done by the typewriter, and Boland. State Library of South Australia
Resources
1 Comment | History, Journalism, Lesson plans, Libraries, Museums, Newspapers, Technology, Travel, Typewriters | Tagged: Australia, History, Journalism, Newspapers, Ron Boland, Technology, Typewriters | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Tugster: A Waterblog features some nice shots, and a couple of stunning shots, of the reconstruction of Henry Hudson’s ship, Half Moon. Great stuff for presentations, and he likes to share.
Tugster is an outstanding repository of images of tugboats, ships and other things related to the commerce of Greater New York Harbor, and boats on the water generally. Tugster’s collection of images should be regular source material for teachers of history, economics, geography and government.
Stern of Half Moon, Henry Hudson's ship; from Tugster: A Waterblog
Notice how the figurehead frightens even the trees to blazing red.
Bowsprite of Henry Hudson's Half Moon, via Tugster: A Waterblog
Tugster tells us that Henry Hudson himself is blogging, channeling across 400 years — perhaps tired of duckpins with his crew in the Adirondacks (hello, Rip van Winkel!). Can your students correspond with Henry Hudson?
Resources:
2 Comments | Education, Explorers and Exploration, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, Henry Hudson, History, History images, History video sources, Lesson plans, Museums, Science, World history | Tagged: Age of Discovery, geography, Half Moon, Henry Hudson, History, Hudson River, Lesson plans, New York, Quadricentennial | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Good execution of a lesson plan here, at one of my favorite blogs, The Living Classroom — with a lot of possibilities for follow-up.
A citizen's plea to President-elect Obama
This may be the only elementary level classroom in the nation with its own lobbyist.
Never underestimate the power of students united to do good works.
In the Boy Scouts’ merit badge series on citizenship, Scouts are required to write letters to public officials. This is a good exercise. Not all students get the full value, but on the chance that answers actually come to the letters, this is a good classroom activity.
Hmmm. I should use it more.
2 Comments | Citizenship, Education, Government, Lesson plans, President Obama, Public education | Tagged: Citizenship, Education, Government, Lesson plans, President Obama, Public education | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Caption from the New York Times: E Clampus Vitus has tens of thousands of members across seven Western states, though nowhere are the group's eccentric ways more alive than in California. Above, Noble Grand Humbug Scott Neilsen, left, and Steve Slonecker at Ed's Restaurant in Twain Harte. Photo fro the New York Times, by Jim Wilson.
You don’t think history can be fun? Consider the group of Californians known as Clampers, who gather to celebrate history in a place called Twain Harte (ask any California historian, or American literature mavin, how the town got its name):
“It’s a common saying that no one has been able to tell if they are historians that like to drink or drinkers who like history,” said Dr. Robert J. Chandler, a senior historian at Wells Fargo Bank and a proud member of the group’s San Francisco chapter. “And no one knows because no one has been in any condition to record the minutes.”
Whether a historical drinking society or a drinking historical society, the Clampers claim tens of thousands of members in 40 chapters across seven Western states, though nowhere are the group’s strange ways more alive than in California, where members are said to have included Ronald Reagan; John Huston, the film director; and Herb Caen, the famous San Franciscan master of the three-dot journal. Some Clamper membership claims, of course, can be suspect. It is true, however, that many noted historians have been members, as is the current director of the State Office of Historic Preservation.
I already like the bunch: The Order of E Clampus Vitus.
Read about them in the New York Times. The Times carries a series of stories based on the WPA-produced state guide books (Works Progress Administration). Each one of these articles would be a good topic of focus for a lesson plan. Other articles in the series so far include:
See also the introduction to the series, and go back in time to read the .pdf of the story announcing the creation of the WPA, intended to created 3.5 million jobs in the Great Depression.
Leave a Comment » | Capturing history, Current History, Education, FDR, Great Depression, History, Lesson plans, Travel, WPA - Works Progress Administration | Tagged: Absaroka, E Clampus Vitas, Entertainment, Great Depression, History, Jobs Programs, Lesson plans, Works Progress Administration | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
The exhibit is gone, but the memory, and the on-line educational features still remain.
Spectacular digital map of Africa, showing current development. Map copyright by Allan Sluis, courtesy of NAVTEQ and ESRI
Geography teachers should explore the on-line version of the Field Museum’s exhibit, “Maps: Finding Our Place in the World.”
This exhibit is by itself an argument for live internet links for students. Take a few minutes to peruse some fo the interactive features, like the world map that leads to photos of the major exhibit pieces.
We need more material like this, freely available in classrooms.
Also, see especially:
1 Comment | Geography - Economic, Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, Lesson plans, Maps, Museums, On-line education, On-line learning, Technology, Technology in the classroom, World history | Tagged: Field Museum, geography, Lesson plans, Maps, On-line learning | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
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Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
Come on in, the water's fine. Come often: Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
