Group Analysis of a Monograph

So you're a history instructor, and you want your students to know how a book is put together. But for crying out loud, the book is 300 pages long and far too dense for your cute little high school juniors to digest.

The solution...

Break it down according to chapters. Have the students form the same number of groups as there are chapters in the books. Then have each students present the essence of the book to the rest of the class. Walk them through how/why the book is structured as it is. Emphasis the role of each chapter in forming the argument or key elements/turning points of the narrative. This allows the students to see how a book works in scholarship, and it also teaches them how to distill a complex argument in simple terms to an audience.

Haunting Moral Questions

The more I think about how best to teach history, the more I realize that if our history doesn't *haunt* the students, then it's not very effective. By haunt, I only mean that the lesson material resonates in their bones, that it isn't merely the cold analysis of a science or math class. After all, most who teach history would suggest that at some level, we're teaching students how to be good citizens, how to be active thinkers. In essence, we're teaching them a kind of morality (and those involved in education know that that's hardly right-wing nuttery--the quasi-socialist Goodspeed made a name for himself by discussing the "Moral Foundations" of education).

So how to break that resonance barrier The key is that students need to *actually* see how the topic they're studying is part of contemporary discourse. I've considered a few ways. I'll use specific history units to illustrate, but these techniques can be applied across the board with a little ingenuity.

1) Re-enact the Salem Witch Trials without informing the students before hand. Have one of your more dramatic students play the role of Bridget Bishop, for example. Make sure she does a *good* job, enough to scare her fellow students a little (you might also want to pick someone who has a pretty strong rapport with her fellow students--the kind that endure one class period of insanity :). After about 5-10 minutes of that, inform the students what just happened. Have them write down a "journal account" of what they saw.

2) Have students compile a soundtrack to a favorite war--the Civil War, the Vietnam War, etc, using contemporary songs to illustrate various battles, episodes in the war. They form groups and must agree on the final song selections (requiring that they sharpen their debating skills). Have them present their soundtracks to the class and defend their song choices. This helps them to conceptualize the wars in ways that they genuinely understand.

3) Model a totalitarian government. One student is chosen as a chairman who exacts all control over the grades of other students. If they are late, fail to tell the chairman where they will be at a particular time, or do not pay due deference to the state, then they lose points. The teacher acts as the #2 man, basically advising the chairman on how best to maintain control over his people. And make sure you're *serious* about this. Send people to check up on where each student says they're going to be. It's complicated, but it provokes the students into understanding exactly what the 20th-century totalitarian experience was about.

This, in my mind, is the best way for students to start asking the great moral questions about human nature, the role of government, and the reality of war. Just some Saturday morning thoughts.

Free Market/Home Schooling vs. State-run Education

My sister-in-law has recently decided to her homeschool her children. Being the free market man I am (more on a gut level than an intellectual level, to be sure), I'm generally all for a mother taking hold of her children's education. There's something to be said for wanting to devote your personal lifetime not only to your child's moral education but to their cognitive education as well.

But...

Let's face it: those who embrace home-schooling often do it out of semi-ideological reasons. They don't trust those corrupted school districts. They view the home as a kind of "Fortress Zion" (which it should be), but transfer that model to how they see *everything* else around them. Their home is under siege, and a key weapon in defending it is a strange faux history that pays almost no attention to the complexities of the documentation. Books on the Constitution can't be trusted unless written by David McCullough. Thomas Jefferson's extensive involvement in slavery is bypassed: "he was merely a man of his time" while his words in the Declaration are fawned over as transcending time itself. Add to this that the curricula used, while claiming to be LDS-friendly, is more Calvinist through its dogged insistence in the absolute predestination of all things rah-rah-rah American (at least for white landholders). I do not believe my sister-in-law fits into this category. I pray that she does not.

Academics tend to simply curl their lips in sneering at these types. But I firmly believe that there is a way to build bridges between the homeschoolers and the academic historians. Any tips?

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.

Self-Reliance in an Akha School

After working with a number of Akha children at an anti-human trafficking school in Chiang Rai, Thailand, it was brought to my attention how real the threat of human trafficking is. One of the best defenses against human trafficking is real-world, practical education. When children are well-trained, they become economic boons rather than burdens to their parents.

When I was chatting with the school's director about what she needed most right now to further this work, her request was simple: a sewing machine. This would teach the children vital tailoring skills that they could use to sell wares at the night market. Of all the things they could ask for,a sewing machine is a relatively simple request, one that a couple hundred American dollars can procure without anyone breaking a sweat.
Yet with this simple gift, we're not just giving them a handout: we're purchasing a tool that will give these kids vital life training that will both bless their families economically and provide them the foundation for a productive life in the years to come.

Please donate. These kids are shrewd, capable, and ready to learn. They're good kids who are fighting very adult problems. The reward will be more than apparent when you see the pictures of the happy students gaining new skills to provide for both their families and community.

HELP International Donations

Friends,

I have not posted on this website in many, many moons. Frankly, Facebook has proven to be far more effective in spreading my thoughts--both great and small--to those who care to listen.

But now, I have something a little more significant to share, so I'm looking to spread it in as many ways as possible. I will going to Thailand this summer to do humanitarian work in the Hmong community of northern Thailand. Those of you who know me know that I speak Hmong, and that I *love* to speak Hmong. I will be assessing needs when I get on site, teach some English, and perhaps even build a few stoves.

However, as we all know, these endeavors can be pricey. So I am soliciting your assistance to help meet the needs of the Hmong people whom I love so much. While I will certainly gain personally from the experience, it will be only because I am using my talents and abilities to help an underprivileged people living in a less-than-prosperous region.

So please donate whatever you can. One dollar, five dollars, ten dollars. This isn't some overhead-heavy, sensationalistic enterprise like you see on television. This is Russ. And I just want to give back.

Just click on the button below to make your payment through PayPal. Every dime will be worth it and well-spent.

Blood Brothers: Mormons, Genocide, and the Nixon administration

Charles Radford, a Navy yeoman, present some fascinating questions about Latter-day Saints’ relationship with the government, the law, and politicians. Charles Radford was serving as a navyman aboard a ship in India. He was an active, married Latter-day Saint. In various venues, Radford was a trained stenographer who took down highly-secretive government documents about war actions in various sections of the globe. And he was a spy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

A colorful case in point: in March 1971, East Pakistan won the majority of the seats in the National Assembly. This would center power in the ethnically distinct Bengali East Pakistan region. However, the Western military dictator, Yahya Khan would have none of it. He sent his forces to repress the Eastern Bengalis en masse, killing hundreds of thousands of East Bengalis. This would culminate in a flood of refugees to Eastern India—somewhere to the tune of 10 million. This obviously caused strains for the Indo-Pak relations. War broke out quickly—a war which the East Pakistanis won. They eventually broke off and declared themselves to be an independent Bangladesh. Around this same time, a low-level bureaucrat in Dakka, Bangladesh named Archer Blood sent a barely classified (marked with only “secret” instead of “top secret”) memo declaring the U.S. government to be “morally bankrupt” for its complacency on the issue.

Radford had access to key U.S. documents regarding U.S. policy during this war. During the famed India-Pakistan War in 1971, Nixon notably declared the United States to be neutral. However, Nixon was privately “tilting” in their direction, a reality that Radford leaked to fellow Latter-day Saint Jack Anderson, a prominent newsman for the Washington Post through stolen documents . This was no mere geopolitical move, however; Jack Anderson would win a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the incident. Anderson would later find himself on Nixon’s enemies list and even a possible target of assassination. G. Gordon Liddy even talked to a doctor about putting LSD in his soup. Nixon’s men were also considered trying to tie Anderson and Radford together through a possible homosexual relationship. I do not take that claim at all seriously—this is Nixon after all (and my M.A. thesis is on Nixon—this is a man I know something about).

Faithful Latter-day Saints—what are we to do? Anderson was as active as they come. Radford as well. Was Radford’s actions justified given the horrific situation of genocide taking place? Anderson revealed secret documents about the powers-that-be to the world. Was he standing up for the right or failing to follow Christ’s counsel to “render unto Caesar” and Paul’s counsel to let the powers that be reign supreme until Christ comes again?