Friday, December 9, 2011

Outstanding Middle Level Social Studies Teacher of the Year!

Congratulations to the 2011 NCSS Outstanding Middle Level Social Studies Teacher of the Year, Chris Adrian!

One of our AHTC teachers, Christine Adrian, a teacher at Jefferson Middle School in Champaign, has been honored by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) as the Outstanding Middle Level Social Studies Teacher of the Year!

The annual NCSS Outstanding Teacher of the Year awards recognize exceptional classroom social studies teachers for grades K-6, 5-8, and 7-12 who teach social studies regularly and systematically in elementary school settings, and at least half-time in middle or junior high and high school settings.

Chris received her award at the NCSS Annual Conference, Dimensions of Diversity, in Washington DC on December 2nd.

Thanks to her good friends, Jen and Karen, for taking this picture of Chris receiving her award
!

Spies and The Intelligence Community

On Saturday, November 19th, AHTC teachers gathered at Urbana Middle School to learn about Spies and The Intelligence Community from 3 former spies!

Tony and Jonna Mendez, former CIA Chiefs of Disguise, began the day with a keynote titled, Espionage 101. Not only did they share personal stories and tricks of the trade, but they also brought in gadgets and artifacts used during their past CIA experiences. Some of my favorites were a lipstick camera, a fake nose, and a dead rat with a hidden compartment (okay, they didn't actually bring the rat to the workshop, but it was something they once used to relay messages to other spies)! Tony also shared the story of how he orchestrated a plan that resulted in the rescuing of six US diplomats from Tehran during the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis. Ben Affleck is staring as Tony Mendez in the upcoming 2012 film about this event titled, Argo. Very cool!

During breakout sessions, Tony and Jonna were able to show AHTC teachers how to wear disguises (and even dressed up some participants), as well as describe how illusion and magic influenced their careers.

Dr. H. Keith Melton, an intelligence historian and specialist in clandestine technology and espionage technology, began our afternoon with a keynote titled, Covert Technology and the Attack on Mumbai, which provided our teachers with an in-depth look at how the events of November 26, 2008 unfolded. Dr. Melton described how the terrorists used integrated tactics, superior weaponry, covert communications, and everyday technologies to carry out their attack. One of our AHTC teachers commented, "I felt like I was at a real CIA briefing!"

During breakout sessions, Dr. Melton discussed the 12 most recent US spy cases of American traitors and revealed how they were caught by the CIA, as well as presented a history of espionage over the past 100 years.

What an awesome workshop!

For more information related to this topic, visit the Web Resources page on the AHTC website.



Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Fall 2011 Lecture Series at the Museum of the Grand Prarie

Hello AHTC Teachers!

The Museum of the Grand Prairie (formerly Early American Museum) is offering a Fall 2011 Lecture Series on Lincoln. There are only two remaining events; Sunday, October 9th and Sunday, November 6th. Don't miss out on this great opportunity!

Sunday, October 9, 2011, Abraham Lincoln as a Lifelong Learner
Hear Myron Marty, Professor Emeritus at Drake University, explain how Lincoln's self-education and his ability to learn throughout his life, created the remarkable individual he became.

Sunday, November 6, 2011, What Would Lincoln Read?
Hear Robert Bray, author and Professor at Illinois Wesleyan, speak about the types of things Lincoln read and how that shaped his opinions and policies.

Both events are FREE and begin at 2:00 pm at the Museum of the Grand Prairie.
Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve
600 North Lombard
Mahomet, IL

For more information, please click on the flyer below.



Thursday, September 29, 2011

Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, & Ford: Shaping a Nation through Capitalism

On Saturday, September 17th, the AHTC gathered at the Hilton Garden Inn in Champaign to spend some time with the history of American capitalism. H.W. Brands started the day with an amazing keynote about Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, and Ford and had wonderful discussions in both of his breakout sessions. He was also extremely gracious to sign everyone’s copy of American Colossus. Not only is Dr. Brands an incredibly intelligent and engaging speaker, but he is also one of the kindest & down-to-earth person I have ever met. Everyone had nothing but nice and positive words to say about him. In fact, one of my favorite expressions was, “He’s like a Rock Star for teachers!"



Dr. Mark Leff from the University of Illlinois, and Dr. Andrew Hartman from Illinois State University, ended the day sharing ways to incorporate classic films such as The Wizard of Oz and Modern Times into our instruction of this topic.

For more information on Dr. Leff’s presentation of The Wizard of Oz as an allegory for the political and economic events of the Gilded Age, please check out the following links:

http://www.usagold.com/gildedopinion/oz.html, http://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/Political_interpretations_of_The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz

To view the factory scene from Modern Times that Dr. Hartman shared with us, check out this YouTube clip.

Overall, the day was a great success!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Headlines, History, and Hats: American Historical Newspapers and Chronicling America

Hello AHTC Teachers!

The Illinois Newspaper Project is bringing Deborah
Thomas from the Library of Congress to the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. You are all invited you to attend her presentation, "Headlines,
History, and Hats: American Historical Newspapers and Chronicling
America," at 10:00 a.m. in 126 GSLIS on Thursday, June 30.

Deborah Thomas, Program Coordinator for the National Digital Newspaper
Program at the Library of Congress, will talk about the effort to
digitize historically significant newspapers from all over the United
States and make them freely available through Chronicling America:
Historic American Newspapers, a web site hosted by the Library of
Congress.

In June 2009, the University of Illinois Library received funding from
the National Endowment for the Humanities to participate in the National
Digital Newspaper Program. Four Illinois newspapers-The Chicago Eagle,
The Broad Ax, The Day Book, and The Cairo Bulletin-totaling 100,000 pages
of content have already been added to the Chronicling America repository.

Staff from the Illinois Newspaper Project, Mary Stuart (Principal
Investigator), Amy Sullivan (Preservationist and Project Coordinator),
and Tracy Nectoux (Cataloger and Metadata and Quality Review Specialist),
will be available to answer questions about the Illinois Newspaper
Project following the presentation.

Thursday, June 30, 2011
10:00 a.m.-noon
126 GSLIS
501 East Daniel Street
Champaign, IL 61820
Presentation free and open to the public

Monday, June 13, 2011

Krannert Center Prepares a Piece on the Great Migration

Teachers who attended the AHTC Immigration mini-Summer Institute will remember John Skrentny discussing the differences between immigration, emigration and migration. One of the most famous migrations in United States history is The Great Migration in the late 1920s. After the 1927 Mississippi River flood, thousands of Southern sharecroppers were displaced. The mass exodus of rural southern blacks to Northern cities promoted the spread of Delta blues music, which was reinterpreted in the North in various forms.

The Krannert Center has commissioned a piece inspired by this experience to premiere at ELLNORA on September 10, 2011. Grammy-award winning guitarist and composer Bill Frisell has worked with filmmaker Bill Morrison to create a 75 minute work entitled The Great Flood. If you are interested in attending this show of bringing a group of students, please contact the Krannert Center's Engagement Director Sam Smith at smsmith3@illinois.edu, as he may be able to obtain reduced price or complimentary tickets for educators.

Additionally, Mr. Smith has worked with many local educators to collaborate with them on unit plans that utilize Krannert's resources or that integrate music into the unit. If you have ideas for lesson plans or units that would benefit from his expertise, please email him with your ideas.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

1787 the Musical Constitution Contest for Students


Hello AHTC teachers!
You may remember the call for auditions for the musical based on the Constitutional Convention that was posted Tursday, February 17th. Production for 1787: We the People the musical has gone forward, and performances are June 30th-July 3rd. To publicize this production, the team behind the musical is holding a contest for students to win a family pack of tickets to the show.
Simply have your students submit a paragraph or two naming their favorite section of the Constitution and explaining why that section is their favorite to: 1787wethepeople@creativedramaticsworkshop.org by the end of may. Winners will have their entries posted on the production website and five family packs (up to 5 tickets each, including 1 to 2 adults) will be awarded.

If you have any questions, please contact the creativedramaticsworkshop.org. at
217-688-2395, or Robert Picklesimer, at PicklesimerRobrt@aol.com or 217-493-
6175.