Civil War & Reconstruction Online Course

Dickinson College / Gilder Lehrman Institute

Catherine Clinton on Harriet Tubman

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On July 31, 2012

In Discussion, Secondary Sources

Enjoyed the lecture by Catherine Clinton, the ability to come to an depth of understanding beyond the iconic images that is usually displayed during Black History Month. I admired the way that Clinton was able to construct the life of Tubman from sources that she was already familiar with and come away with another construct of a story. And, the ability to find the history when your subject did not leave written documentation is a testament of telling the narrative of all people. Reminds me of last summer when I learned about a slave that made pottery and the stories he was able to leave with his work.

Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave by Leonard Todd

Dave the Potter; Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill and Bryan Collier

John Brown + F. Douglass

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On July 31, 2012

In Discussion, Primary Sources

In today’s lecture, we learned that Brown met Douglass in Detroit after the successful Missouri excursion(freeing some 11 slaves into Canada) that was “without the snapping of a gun on either side”. Earlier in their careers, the men met in November of 1847, in Springfield Massachusetts, wherein Brown explained his plans for the southern invasion and the Subterranean Pass Way.   The plan was to utilize an armed force of blacks based in the mountains to attack slavery with Douglass.  “My plan then is to take at first about twenty-five picked men, and begin on a small scale; supply them arms and ammunition, post them in squads of fives on a line of twenty-five miles, the most persuasive and judicious of whom shall go down to the fields from time to time, as opportunity offers, and induce the slaves to join them, seeking and selecting the most restless and daring.”

Query: What do we know about Douglass’ response to the plan between 1847-1959? He seems to have responded negatively just prior to the Harpers Valley fiasco…

Exciting and overwhelming

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On July 31, 2012

In Discussion, Online Learning

While reading and, as mentioned above, digging in – I am struck by how vast the amount of super cool resources there are available to us all.  I find myself going to one place to begin reading, and seeing a link to something else that looks interesting and going there, soon to be five pages away from my original intent.  All of the things I find are relevant and I find so much I want to use and share in my classroom with my students.  My problem is, how  do I narrow it all down and really find the meat that is the most important to be shared.  I liked it when Matt said if you only have one day to teach John Brown, make sure you teach this.  That helps a lot.  I have so much to teach in such short time periods that I feel like I am rushing through really valuable and exciting material all the time.  Because of the standards and focus of powers that be, I am limited on the time I can take.

As has been mentioned, I want to take the time with my students to teach them to research and problem solve – using the content of sites such as House Divided and Gilder Lehrman.  I need to figure out how to design lesson plans and units that get them to do this.  School starts in a couple weeks and I want to have some dynamic lesson plans in place and ready to start off with a bang.  UGH!!  I’m feeling the pressure.  After this week I will have several from all of us regarding the Civil War, Lincoln, Underground Railroad, and Reconstruction.  But I don’t teach that until after Winter break.  I have much to do.

One more comment, I really find the essay regarding the Underground Railroad fascinating and helpful to look at from a perspective I never have.  I see how the differences in the North and South would have greatly affected the punishments, risks, etc of those working the underground railroad.  And equally fascinating is the fact that because of States’ Rights which I always teach as a Southern emphasis and part of the reason for war, were just as exercised in the North.  That makes it a very interesting discussion to have with the students.  Great information.

Searching for research

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On July 31, 2012

In Discussion, Online Learning

As Matt was talking this morning during the introductory portion of the lecture, he showed the Dickinson’s “House Divided” site that we could use in the future as resources for our classes.  I was especially intrigued by the page that showed the different people involved in the Harpers Ferry Raid with said images hyperlinked to other information.  I was immediately excited to dig deeper into these sites, and began to consider the possibilities with my students – and how to get them into the depths of this site.

This line of thought led me to consider how to get my students to dig into sites like this on their own and not just go to Wikipedia or the first site offered by Google when they do research.  How do I urge my students to really search when they do research?  Being the history nerd that I am, I have always naturally been intrigued by obscure sources – especially primary sources. Before the internet became the “go to” in research, I would spend hours in the library looking through the stacks for the book that would perfectly support or refute my claims.

Yet, once again I return to my question, how do I urge my students to really search when they do research?  I have a classroom blog of my own that I use, and have in the past posted lists that I created of trustworthy websites that students could/should use when doing research in various topics.  This has worked in getting them to go beyond Wikipedia/Google, however, upon reflection, I feel like I have to be intentional in making my students do more.  They still tend to just go the sites that I’ve provided instead of using them as a jumping off point.  Better than just Wikipedia, but not great.

That will be one of my challenge this next school year – creating lessons that force students to use and explore more websites that have meaningful information.  There are so many amazing sites like the ones the Matt showed us this morning and the incredible resources that the Lance showed us that the Gilder Lehrman supports. 

Music as a way to inform students about history

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On July 31, 2012

In Discussion, Music

Music is a crucial component of many of our youths’ lives.  It is a means of understanding the culture of today as well as a means of escape from the realities of our not so perfect world. It may be that such a statement might be disagreeable to many, but needless to say most would agree that if not completely true, it is partially true at best.  If the youth of today use music to comprehend the realities of today and identify themselves in some sort of cultural mold within a genre of music that fits within the perimeters of their world, it makes sense to teach music of the past to help them identify or make comparisons with the past.  By no means am I an expert at teaching history through music, more or less I just dabble in the tool as a way to promote understanding and increase knowledge of the past to our youth.  Music, or lyrics, can be just one more means to teach content.

The first time I was introduced to music as a criteria to teaching history was in kindergarten.  It is with great clarity that I can recall singing “America the Beautiful” amongst my peers every morning after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. The song has stayed with me for nearly thirty-eight years, and yet kindergarten was the only class I would ever hear that song as a means to teach our history to students. It is a significant observation, and one that has left an impression.   I use music as a means to engage students along with other primary sources and images of our past.

There are numerous sources available through the Internet for almost any topic discussed in the American History class. It is a wonderful time to be a teacher as knowledge is at our fingertips.  For example, if you are creating a lesson plan about John Brown simply type in “John Brown Song (or lyrics)” and you will find an array of resources about the song and its history through the course of the years after John Brown’s death.

Some sources to check out:

www.mcgath.com/freesongs.html

www.contemplator.com/america

http://folkmusic.about.com/od/folksongs/American_Folk_Songs.htm

“Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration”

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/uZfRaWAtBVg”]

You can also find the video on schooltube.com, vimeo.com/12954087 and other sites

Another great video about the Declaration of Independence is the History Reimagined video (not really related to my blog, but definitely a video to show the kids if you teach about the Declaration of Independence):

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/xw_1I1oYApw”]

If you teach world history you should check our the “history teachers” series on youtube.  My wold history students love the videos and often tell me they can remember facts about the topic being studied more from the videos than other assignments related to the topic.  Even if you do not teach world history you may want to share the videos with your friends who do. Here is a link to one:

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/wXsZbkt0yqo”]

Civil War Journey

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On July 31, 2012

In Discussion, Memory

Reflecting is beneficial for me. It helps when uncovering layers of historical documentation. Except the amount of sources and resources in the Gilder Lehrman collection might set a record for weblinked interactive media! So, my blogging posts will be a Civil War journey of commenting on what I already know, exclaiming about discovered items/concepts and designating new information spaces within my pre-existing history courses. As an African Americanist with a tendency towards Women’s history, I am intrigued by Harriet Robinson Scott. She’s that behind every good man there’s a woman figure. And yet, she does not possess a historical voice. Or did she? I plan on tying her story into other female narratives, women who history may not have recognized as powerful per se, but who made the proactive difference.

I’ll be back to post. Not too far away, just far enough to ponder….

Blogging the Civil War Era

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On July 23, 2012

In Digital Storytelling, Discussion, Primary Sources

Abraham Lincoln with son, Tad

It is possible that no war in American history has been as well preserved in the words of its participants as the Civil War.  The soldiers and their families were products of a society where literacy was highly valued and where communication technology had not yet developed to the point where ordinary participants could easily dispense with paper.   The result has been a war richly documented with letters, diaries, newspapers, speeches and all types of written artifacts.   By contrast, today’s conflicts threaten to prove far less transparent to future historians because it’s so much easier for us to talk, Skype, tweet and communicate in so many ways other than in long, expressive written sentences.  It will prove hard to answer the question of “why they fought?” by relying on sources that kept within a 140-character limit.

However, there is at least one digital format that offers some hope for the future historian.  Blogging is a convenient but also a reflective media.  To demonstrate this proposition, we are asking participants in the Civil War & Reconstruction online graduate course to blog about their learning experiences over the five-day session.  There is no minimum or maximum requirement, nor any particular format required, but we are hoping that every participant will at least experiment with blogging on this WordPress platform to see if it offers value as a educational tool.  Our hope is that everyone will benefit to a degree and that some of you might become devoted and regular educational bloggers.

There are a number of models to consider.  First, please check out the Blog Divided from the House Divided Project at Dickinson.  It is not a typical blog, but it is a resource created for teachers about the Civil War era.  The New York Times has sponsored a beautifully written and important blog series on the war called, Disunion, that should be featured in every high school and undergraduate course on the Civil War.  Civil Warriors is another excellent and well written blog series on the conflict with a focus on military history.  Teachers might especially enjoy Civil War Memory from former high school instructor Kevin Levin because it deconstructs various efforts at remembering the conflict.  Another blog that might prove particularly useful to teachers is Civil War Emancipation from Donald R. Shaffer, since he focuses on a topic that nearly everybody teaches at every level.

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