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!