War Games

I would like to introduce my students to the realities of archival research. To teach them about archival research, we are going to recreate a war. I will divide the class into two teams. Before the war, each student will produce their own primary document to describe how they are feeling about the war, what they expect, and why they're "fighting" it. Each team will have designated leaders in order to recreate the military structure.

I will find a location (preferably a park with places to hide, thus enhancing the guerilla aspects). The students will draw up operation- and tactic-level battle plans on how they will take down the most soldiers from the other team. The war will last until the other team is either decimated or surrenders. When the students return to class (after having dried off, they will write their recollections of the war. They will name names: whose fault was the loss? Who was the most heroic? Who shirked their duties?

The major assignment associated with this course will the writing of a "primary source" narrative based on the documents the students produce. Additionally, I will insert some documents written by students I have specifically instructed not to participate. These documents will consist of hearsay, conjecture, or their own personal communications with the combatants. I might also insert a "forged" document or two, depending on how bright the students are.

This will enable the students to get a feel for the historian's work. How do historians choose what stays in the book and what gets left out? How do they choose what to emphasize? This project will provide an excellent opportunity for students to understand how difficult it is to truly understand "what really happened."

Gadgets and Gizmos a-plenty

I chose two gadgets: one practical and the other fun

1) The "Followers" Gadget
I want to know who loves me and what their needs are. By knowing who is on the Russ-boat, I can know how to best meet the needs of those who follow my work. Further, I can connect to them through having access to their blogs.

2) The Daily General Knowledge Gadget
I want my blog to be an e-house of learning. What better way than through contributing to my readers' knowledge random fact upon fact, precept upon precept.

My Choices of Blog/Twitter Subscriptions

Blogs of Choice:

1) Hope Foundation: What's Working in Schools
http://hopefoundation.org/hope/blog/

This looks to be a practically-minded blog founded by a think-tank. Good for wonkish thought; not good if you're looking for someone to relate to.
2) A Passion for Teaching and Opinions
http://ukiahcoachbrown.blogspot.com/

A good ra-ra website for those more interested in basically maintaining the status quo in how Constitutional history is taught. I'm skeptical.

3) Charter School Insights
http://charterinsights.blogspot.com/

Charter schools are the best hybrid I know in appealing to individual parents' needs without abandoning the public school system. We need to talk more about how best to make this approach work.

4) Education Policy Blog
http://educationpolicyblog.blogspot.com/

I hate politics, but politics determine where the money goes. Hate them or love them, politics matter.

5) The Education Optimists
http://eduoptimists.blogspot.com/

A feel-good site for people who need a teaching pick-me-up.

Twitter:
1) Education Sector
http://twitter.com/EducationSector

Looks useful in spreading the latest political think-tanking from Washington.
2) Best Education
http://twitter.com/BestEducation

A blog intended for parents to help them get the most out of their education. This Twitter site will help teachers understand how best to meet parents' needs.

Columbus and the Price of Modernity

I teach a History 220 class in the BYU Salt Lake Center. Only one of the students is actually a history major. When I was introducing the class to the glorious truth that is Thomas Paine, I was met with awkward, painful, stares.

"Everyone knows who Thomas Paine is, right?" More awkwardness.

"Was he the archbishop of Canterbury?" The people I work with.

Yet, I realized something beautiful about this scenario. My class is woefully illiterate in matters of history. Henry VIII is simply another in a long line of who-knows, who-cares royalty. The Revolution was important if only because it allows us to have our IPods and Big Macs today.

But during one lecture, I caught a glimpse of what might be in a moment of true transparency. I asked my students to reconcile for me the verses in 1 Nephi 13 (typically interpreted as referring to Columbus et al.) with the reality that the Columbian Exchange decimated millions of Arawak natives in the Caribbean. The class almost universally justified the conquest based on the Europeans' superior "civilization," as eggs that make modernity's omelette, or as simply what people do. In any case, why are we fretting over it?

In the midst of this hayday of imperial hagiography, one student looked thoughtfully at the numbers of deaths in front of him. Hardly the historian, he was simply taking the class to get a GE out of the way. He cocked back his head, pursed his lips, and mused thoughtfully: "8 million...that's a lot of people." Connection. All of this from simply putting a number on a well-designed PowerPoint slide.

He may not remember the name of Cortes, Vespucci, or Henry the Navigator. But if he knows the difference between 8 million people and "the price of modernity," my work there will have been a success.