Close Reading Example: Lincoln's "Proclamation on State Militia" (i.e. his Declaration of War)

APUSH Students,

This is not required reading, but I encourage you to read this document and to reference both the primary source and the secondary commentary in our upcoming Socratic Circle.

#APUSH - Here is an example of some excellent, if opinionated, close reading: Lincoln Declares War https://t.co/McgXmG52SO @nytopinionator

— Matthew Warren (@warrenpeacewwp) November 15, 2015

Why Grammar Matters in Social Studies

Whatever your politics, this demonstrates why grammar matters in social studies: How Texas Teaches History https://t.co/2sVXHsfIAz #sschat

— Matthew Warren (@warrenpeacewwp) October 27, 2015

Star Wars and Federalism

My American Studies I students are about to dive into the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. I plan to have them read this article from The Atlantic, which provides an interesting political analysis of the Galactic Senate, claiming that one of its greatest weaknesses was a lack of federalism. Some separation of powers, and perhaps Palpatine would not have become emperor!

The case against the Galactic Senate http://t.co/9yu3EpWwF8 pic.twitter.com/UTdVJqzrLN

— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) October 8, 2015

Looking Ahead: What to Do After the AP Exam

The AP US History Exam is May 6th. After that, we'll have another 6 full weeks of school until the end of the school year. What should (could) we do with all that time?

Here are some thoughts:

1. We will have just finished a college-level course in US History. We could take that knowledge and the skills we develop, and focus them on a particular topic in US history to the end of producing publishable scholarly works. Here, the American Historical Association has a directory of history journals to which we could submit our research articles. Depending on student interest, we could go beyond history journals too, and aim for journals in economics, philosophy, culture and society, sociology, religious studies, etc. We could even make attempts at submitting articles and editorials to magazines like Time and newspapers like the NYTimes. What's the advantage to doing something like this? Being published as a junior, even if its only a book review, could go a long way in setting your resume apart from others when it comes to college applications next fall.
2. We will have just finished a college-level course and have taken an exam with the hopes of securing college credit in US history. Why not earn some college credit over the last 6 weeks of school? Students could select a MOOC (massive open online course) to pursue during this period, using class time to work on MOOC assignments with the aid of fellow classmates and the instructor. Coursera and EdX are great places to start looking. You could also view available MOOCs at specific institutions. For example:

• Harvard
• Yale
• UPenn

I have some other ideas in mind for productive use of our last 6 weeks. I wanted to get these ideas out now, however, because it might be useful to have these options in mind as we make our way through the course. You could begin culling research for this work from your studies even now!

Yale's Photogrammar: Depression & WWII Era Photographs

"From 1935-1944, the Farm Securities Administration -- Office of War Information undertook the largest photography project ever sponsored by the federal government."

The Library of Congress houses approximately 170,000 photographs from the Great Depression and the Second World War in this collection. Yale University's Photogrammar site geographically plots nearly 90,000 of those photographs in a map visualization available here. This link takes you to the version organized by county.

This is a great resource!

How to Embed a Google Doc into a Blog Post

History in the News: Calls to Revise a Textbook that Describes African Slaves as "Workers"

A NYTimes article today describes a case in which a student raised concerns over his World Geography textbook and its description of African slaves as "workers." My APUSH students are studying the southern slave economy presently and I have recommended this article to them as part of our ongoing conversation and I thought I would share it here too.

Revisions Promised After Textbook Refers to African Slaves as ‘Workers’ http://t.co/TrvJUFNUSp - APUSH & AS1 - Reply in Google Classroom.

— Matthew Warren (@warrenpeacewwp) October 5, 2015

Research: Related vs. Relevant Resources

Last class, my APUSH students worked on the distinction between "related" vs. "relevant" resources. We did this for several reasons. First, they are working on independent research projects and this work gave them the opportunity to hone their research skills. Distinguishing between related resources and relevant resources (relevant to one's research question) is a subtle, but important distinction. It is one that separates good research from excellent research.

But how does this relate to the APUSH curriculum and exam? One giant misstep that APUSH students can make on exam day is to write essays that do not answer the questions asked. The exercise of selecting resources relevant to one's research question and setting aside resources that are merely related, I hope, helped my student to better see the relationship between a question asked and an appropriate, relevant response.

Here is a video I shared with them on how to identify research resources based on "relevance":

Declaration of Independence: #awkwardbreakup

Today, in American Studies I, we began our work on the Declaration of Independence.

We framed it as an #awkwardbreakup:

Enjoy!

A Note on Note-Taking

Some of my students asked for help with note-taking. We are flying through chapters right now, some 30 to 45 pages long. How to remember it all!?!

Here is a video that discusses the Cornell Note-Taking Method.

Here is a Cornell Note-Taking Template.

And another that you can type into and save.

I do suggest writing your notes by hand, however. For more on handwritten notes vs. typed notes, check out this article from The Atlantic Monthly.

Choice and Educational Paralysis

My students got me thinking about the role of "lectures" in the classroom today. I rarely lecture. And if I do, it is only for a few minutes.

Instead, I oftentimes employ activity lists. These lists include activities that I have created to help my students dive deeper into material that they 1) know they need more work on, or 2) that they find interesting. Students come into class having read a selection from our textbook. They then work on activity lists aimed at allowing them to exercise choice in their learning as they engage content related to their readings. My hope was that choice would lead my students to be enthusiastic about their learning; after all, they are choosing what they learn!

However, my students recently indicated that they want me to offer more lectures, PowerPoint presentations, and guided notes. We discussed this in class, and it became clear to me that what they really want is feedback, that, and more interactivity. One student said it well when she said, "We are completing these activities, but we don't know if what we are doing is correct."

One could translate my students' desire for lectures in the following way: "Give us the information that we need to memorize in order to get an A on the test." But I don't think this is what my students mean or want. I think they want to know that the work they are doing is worth their effort, that it is worth their choice. Choosing to do something can be quite frustrating if it doesn't seem worthwhile, especially if the chosen activity entails much effort.

I mentioned this to a friend and he shared the following resource with me. It is an NPR story about Barry Schwartz's TED Talk on the "Paradox of Choice." In essence, we like the idea of choice, but in the end, too many choices leave us feeling less happy. I do not think that his talk is an indictment against choice per se, but against limitless choice. I think that my early activity lists have felt limitless to my students, and therefore have also felt paralyzing.

My new aim is to provide my students with reasonable and worthwhile choice activities that will lead to interactive engagement with others over compelling course content. My hope is that choice within appropriate bounds will lead to productive content engagement and instill confidence in my students as they make self-directed learning choices.

Some Perspective on Multiple Choice

My APUSH classes began this year completing a series of multiple choice assessments using some old APUSH questions, but mostly new stimulus-based questions. Because we've been so focused on multiple choice, I thought stepping back and gaining some perspective on the role of multiple choice in our APUSH course could be helpful.

The following is the College Board's percentage breakdown of the AP US History Exam by part.

Multiple choice accounts for 40% of the entire exam. This means, that while we have focused a great deal on multiple choice at the start of the year, we should remember that the majority of the exam will focus on students' written responses. In short, multiple choice is important, but it's not the whole test; it's not even half.

DBQ Overview

This video (~15 minutes) provides an overview of the redesigned APUSH Document-Based Question:

Welcome to WWP Historians!

I teach high school social studies. My students are historians, and their classroom is their research center.

Over the course of this year, and perhaps more, I hope to populate this site with materials and resources that my students create. These student-generated materials might include annotated primary source archives, APUSH study guides, video conferences with scholars, interactive maps and timelines, and so much more.

Here, my students will be making history.