Hello All,
I know that you have been interested in eBlackCU.net and that many of you enjoyed learning more about it from Noah Lenstra and his interns at the Summer Institute last July. For those of you who are unfmailiar with the project, eBlackCU is developing a comprehensive online database about African-American history in Champaign-Urbana. For more information, please hear over to the website. You can also read more in our May 24th, 2010 blog post.
eBlackCU is hosting a campus- community symposium next weekend, November 5th and 6th, from 9:00am to 5:00pm and will feature discussion and information on digital technology and campus-community interactions. November 6th will feature round table discussions on the uses of digital technology for community groups, social service agencies, community centers and educators and will be attended by more than 40 local organizations, including both the Champaign and Urbana Libraries, WILL, the Early American Museum, the NAACP and the Ministerial Alliance. Additionally, Urbana High School Librarian Matthew Murrey and David Adcock,Director of Urbana Adult Education will be speaking.
To learn more about the event, see a schedule, and to register, head to: http://eblackcu.net/portal/symposium
A flyer for the event is located here.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Time Magazine Online Archives
Hello AHTC teachers!
I'd like to direct your attention to a really neat online tool. Time magazine has digitized their archives from their founding in 1923 to the present. Beyond viewing all of the covers for the last 87 years, you can keyword search for articles or covers. Additionally, the website has covers sorted by categories such as 'Religion' or 'Presidents." You can also sort through the collections, which are selected covers and article excerpts on a specific topic. They provide an excellent overview of Time's coverage of a topic chronologically. The website has some great features, including browsing tips and a section highlighting the first mention of people who went on to be quite famous.
The archive is fun to idly browse but it can also be a great tool for finding primary sources, examining news coverage of a specific event, looking at how coverage changed over time. There are tons of different ways to use this resource, and we'd love to hear what fun things you find or what great ways you find to use this in your classrooms!
Time Archive
I'd like to direct your attention to a really neat online tool. Time magazine has digitized their archives from their founding in 1923 to the present. Beyond viewing all of the covers for the last 87 years, you can keyword search for articles or covers. Additionally, the website has covers sorted by categories such as 'Religion' or 'Presidents." You can also sort through the collections, which are selected covers and article excerpts on a specific topic. They provide an excellent overview of Time's coverage of a topic chronologically. The website has some great features, including browsing tips and a section highlighting the first mention of people who went on to be quite famous.
The archive is fun to idly browse but it can also be a great tool for finding primary sources, examining news coverage of a specific event, looking at how coverage changed over time. There are tons of different ways to use this resource, and we'd love to hear what fun things you find or what great ways you find to use this in your classrooms!
Time Archive
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Teachers' Workshop: The Invention of African Traditions
Organized and supported by the University of Illinois' Center for African Studies, Department of History, the Center for Historical Interpretation
Monday, October 11, 2010
6:00-8:30 pm
Venue: Champaign Curriculum Center, 405 N. Randolph, Champaign, IL
2.5 CPDUS, curriculum resources, and lesson ideas will be provided.
Food will be provided as well.
American students have little opportunity to learn African societies, history and art. The focus of this workshop is to examine how teachers can bring the idea that African cultures are dynamic into their classrooms.
The prominent and path-breaking scholar, Prof. Terence Ranger, Rhodes Professor of Race Relations, Oxford University, and co-author of The Invention of Tradition will be participating inthe workshop. Dr. Jonathan Zilberg, an anthropologist trained at the U of I and creator of "Power and Beauty: A Learning Module on African Art and Culture," will present curricular and pedagogical approaches to teaching the dynamism of African culture, art and history. A locally-produced film aimed at young people on the topic of African masquerades will be shown.
REGISTER by emailing: jmcgowan@illinois.edu
Please indicate
Your Name:
School:
Subjects taught:
Grade Levels taught:
Monday, October 11, 2010
6:00-8:30 pm
Venue: Champaign Curriculum Center, 405 N. Randolph, Champaign, IL
2.5 CPDUS, curriculum resources, and lesson ideas will be provided.
Food will be provided as well.
American students have little opportunity to learn African societies, history and art. The focus of this workshop is to examine how teachers can bring the idea that African cultures are dynamic into their classrooms.
The prominent and path-breaking scholar, Prof. Terence Ranger, Rhodes Professor of Race Relations, Oxford University, and co-author of The Invention of Tradition will be participating inthe workshop. Dr. Jonathan Zilberg, an anthropologist trained at the U of I and creator of "Power and Beauty: A Learning Module on African Art and Culture," will present curricular and pedagogical approaches to teaching the dynamism of African culture, art and history. A locally-produced film aimed at young people on the topic of African masquerades will be shown.
REGISTER by emailing: jmcgowan@illinois.edu
Please indicate
Your Name:
School:
Subjects taught:
Grade Levels taught:
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
History of Illinois Workshop
On Saturday, September 25th, the AHTC gathered to spend some time with the history of our state. Based on a recommendation from AHTC teachers Matt Buckles and James Garcia, we started the day with a keynote speech and breakout sessions from Michael Rosenow, assistant professor of history at Central Arkansas University. Professor Rosenow spoke about the ideas brought up by living in the "Land of Lincoln" and spoke of the conflicting experiences of women, organized labor and minorities in Illinois during the "Age of Lincoln"(1864-1909.)
While half their colleagues were in breakout sessions with Professor Rosenow, the other half of the group were participating in map activities in Don Barbour. Putting the maps of Chicago in chronological order and using plat maps to decide where in Champaign county to lay railroad tracks was harder than our participants first expected, and required a lot of collaboration!
After lunch, we were joined by Dr. Roger Biles, professor of history at Illinois State University for a keynote and breakout sessions. After an excellent introduction by AHTC teacher Matt Goerss, Dr. Biles used maps to talk about changes in population and demography over time.
After the breakout session, we watched a clip from the documentary 500 Nations on Cahokia and then the documentary Springfield Had No Shame on the 1908 race riot in Springfield. We received a few evaluation comments asking where to purchase a copy of Springfield Had No Shame. The documentary was published by the University of Illinois at Springfield Center for State Policy and Leadership's Office of Electronic Media. If you call their office, you can purchase a copy of the documentary for $12.00.
Overall, it was a very fun day, with a lot of information and activities that can be brought directly into the classroom. Thank you all for your enthusiastic participation in discussion and the activities; you all really brought the day to life. Additionally, the AHTC thanks Elaine Evans at the Illinois State Archives for providing us with such amazing resources and a poster for distribution at that workshop and Tom Huber at the Illinois State Library for his help getting copies of maps for Don Barbour's activity.
While half their colleagues were in breakout sessions with Professor Rosenow, the other half of the group were participating in map activities in Don Barbour. Putting the maps of Chicago in chronological order and using plat maps to decide where in Champaign county to lay railroad tracks was harder than our participants first expected, and required a lot of collaboration!
After lunch, we were joined by Dr. Roger Biles, professor of history at Illinois State University for a keynote and breakout sessions. After an excellent introduction by AHTC teacher Matt Goerss, Dr. Biles used maps to talk about changes in population and demography over time.
After the breakout session, we watched a clip from the documentary 500 Nations on Cahokia and then the documentary Springfield Had No Shame on the 1908 race riot in Springfield. We received a few evaluation comments asking where to purchase a copy of Springfield Had No Shame. The documentary was published by the University of Illinois at Springfield Center for State Policy and Leadership's Office of Electronic Media. If you call their office, you can purchase a copy of the documentary for $12.00.
Overall, it was a very fun day, with a lot of information and activities that can be brought directly into the classroom. Thank you all for your enthusiastic participation in discussion and the activities; you all really brought the day to life. Additionally, the AHTC thanks Elaine Evans at the Illinois State Archives for providing us with such amazing resources and a poster for distribution at that workshop and Tom Huber at the Illinois State Library for his help getting copies of maps for Don Barbour's activity.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Celebrating Constitution Day
Hello AHTC teachers!
Constitution Day is September 17th, and while that seems like that should be a far off date, it is actually rapidly approaching! Constitution Day, also known as Citizenship Day, is observed nationally to commemorate the principles and practices protected and provided for in the Constitution. It commemorates the day the delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 met for the last time to sign the document they had created.
The theme of Constitution Day 2010 is jury service, something in which every American citizen has both the duty and privilege of participating.
If you are still looking for Constitution Day activities for your classrooms, look no further! The five websites highlighted below have numerous resources and activities intended for use in the classroom.
Your first stop is the National Constitution Center's Constitution Day Website. In the resources section, the website has games and lesson plan ideas broken out into elementary, middle school and high school sections. In the elementary section, there are short biographies of 55 Founding Fathers and an interactive Bill of Rights game. The middle school section features ideas on turning your classroom into a town hall debate on the Constitution and Constitution Newswire, which provides daily news about our founding document, demonstrating the Constitution's relevance to what's happening today. The high school level lessons features lesson plans designed to highlight civic knowledge, active citizenship, and democratic deliberation. In addition, the National Constitution contains a downloadable text of the Constitution, video of a naturalization ceremony and an opportunity to take the naturalization test for yourself, as well as full texts of all of the founding documents of the United States, starting with the Magna Carta and continuing through the Reconstruction Amendments.
Next, I recommend that you head to ConstitutionFacts.com . Constitution Facts also has the full text of the Constitution available (as well as the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence.) Constitution Facts has a section about Constitution Day 2010, which contains a Tool Kit full of crossword puzzles, interactive quizzes, dates to remember and a glossary of terms. However, the entire website is a useful tool, with biographies, articles, overviews and important dates for America's founding documents and the Supreme Court. In addition, it has collections of interesting facts about the Constitution and fun quizzes about which Founding Father you would vote for or about the Articles of Confederation.
Thirdly, head to the National Archives's website about Observing Constitution Day. As part of their "Teaching With Documents" series, the archives has put together a series of activities using primary sources. Although most of the activities are aimed at the secondary level, the last link on the page takes you to a U.S. Constitution Workshop which is suitable for grades 4-12. The other lessons include a simulation of the experiences of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention and a lesson about the ratification of the Constitution.
The American Bar Association Division for Public Education has put together a very impressive website of resources for Constitution Day. The lesson plans are broken into categories, including "Constitutional Rights," "Representation, Voting and Elections," and "Introduction to Rules, Laws and Government." There are lesson plans available for all grade levels. In addition, the website has a section on interactive games and quizzes and a section of Conversation Starters, which are short, easily read text or images that are meant to illuminate issues, explore areas of conflict and encourage dialogue. Accompanying each starter is a set of focus questions designed to open discussion about the topic and related issues. These Conversation Starters deal with issues such as "The Advice and Consent of the Senate," "War Powers" and "Separation of Powers."
The Federal Courts also have a website of resources for Constitution Day, and these are the resources that best fit the Constitution Day 2010 theme of jury service. Containing videos of the Supreme Court discussing jury duty, a student podcast on jury duty and a variety of other resources, this website is an excellent way of introducing the 2010 theme to your Constitution Day activities.
Lastly, don't forget to check out the AHTC website for lesson plans by your fellow AHTC teachers! In the Lesson Plans section, under Founding Era Lesson Plans, you can find lesson plans on the Constitution, Citizenship and on the Articles of Confederation, so make sure to check those out!
Please enjoy these resources and if you have any other suggestions or want to highlight what you did in your classrooms, please feel free to leave a comment here or on the AHTC Facebook page.
Enjoy Constitution Day 2010!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The Disability Rights Movement
As a follow up to this Summer's exploration of the Civil Rights movement, the National Museum of American History has an online exhibit that explores the Disability Rights Movement. Although it is not heavy on background information, the website has a great collections of photographs and photographs of artifacts with some audio and video supplements. It's an interesting way to spend some time!
NMAH: The Disability Rights Movement
NMAH: The Disability Rights Movement
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
2010 Civil Rights Summer Institute
One of the most fun parts about planning for the Civil Rights Summer Institute was the incredible amount of resources out there. When we were choosing books, videos, websites, and even presenters, we had a wide enough selection that we were really able to tailor our choices to what we thought was best suited to the week. We had the amazing luck to find teachers, community members and members of our own team who could contribute fantastic information, background and personal perspective to the week.
The AHTC is fortunate enough to have such a large group of smart, willing teachers to draw from when we're looking for presenters, as evidenced by the lesson plans page of our website (www.americanhistoryteachers.org,) and during the Summer Institute four of them joined us to present. On Wednesday, Izona Burgess led a session about the milestones of the Civil Rights movement and its legacy, using the lens of her own childhood experiences. Renayee Westfield presented her lesson "An Introduction to African American Efforts in World War II" which unpacks the significance of African American war efforts and explores the racism they faced at home and overseas. On Friday, Amos Lee presented his lesson "Race Riots and Reality." Amos's lesson looks at Jim Crow laws and race riots in Illinois, and then involves the students in primary source analysis, using interviews taken by the State Commission to Investigate Living Conditions of the Urban Colored Population, which looked into the economic, cultural, health and living conditions of the "urban colored" population in Illinois in the early 1940s.
In addition, Friday saw Mary Anne Jusko presenting her lesson "From Barbershops in Champaign, IL to Bus Boycotts in Montgomery, AL: All's Not Fair in 1954-1955 America." Mary Anne's lesson focused on bringing the general term Civil Rights home to her students by focusing on events here in Champaign Urbana.Using an amazing set of primary sources, Mary Anne's lesson looks at the local efforts to de-segregate campus barbershops.
On Wednesday, we were also joined by Terry Townsend, a community member who spoke about his experiences with the Civil Rights movement. His session " An Overview of the Civil Rights and Opportunity Movement and its Relationship to the National Movement" drew from his decades of experience working locally to improve race relations. He brought the Community Reinvestment Act to the attention of community leaders, which resulted in banks increasing their efforts to make loans to African Americans. He also served as a Housing Commissioner for 10 years.
The week was further enhanced by sessions led by Superintendent of the Urbana School District Dr. Preston Williams Jr, Ed.D and AHTC Activities Coordinator Jennifer Bredemeier. Dr. Williams presented on the process of desegregation in Urbana schools and its legacy for the district today.
Jennifer Bredemeier drew upon her masters degree in Human Resources for her Friday session "Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Discrimination in Employment." Title VII outlaws discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and her presentation discussed law cases that were key in interpreting that law and determining the different types of employment discrimination covered under that section.
Our last presenter of the week was Urbana Free Library Librarian Carol Inskeep. Carol is a frequent AHTC presenter and a crowd favorite. Her book lists cover a large range of ages and are an amazing resource for teachers as they are lesson planning. Carol presented both on Wednesday and Friday, providing the group with a very extensive list of children's books, graphic novels, young adult books and documentaries that covered the Civil Rights movement. As always, the teachers were captivated by the sections of the books that Carol read out-loud.
Thanks to all of you for presenting! You were a huge part of what made this week a success.
The AHTC is fortunate enough to have such a large group of smart, willing teachers to draw from when we're looking for presenters, as evidenced by the lesson plans page of our website (www.americanhistoryteachers.org,) and during the Summer Institute four of them joined us to present. On Wednesday, Izona Burgess led a session about the milestones of the Civil Rights movement and its legacy, using the lens of her own childhood experiences. Renayee Westfield presented her lesson "An Introduction to African American Efforts in World War II" which unpacks the significance of African American war efforts and explores the racism they faced at home and overseas. On Friday, Amos Lee presented his lesson "Race Riots and Reality." Amos's lesson looks at Jim Crow laws and race riots in Illinois, and then involves the students in primary source analysis, using interviews taken by the State Commission to Investigate Living Conditions of the Urban Colored Population, which looked into the economic, cultural, health and living conditions of the "urban colored" population in Illinois in the early 1940s.
In addition, Friday saw Mary Anne Jusko presenting her lesson "From Barbershops in Champaign, IL to Bus Boycotts in Montgomery, AL: All's Not Fair in 1954-1955 America." Mary Anne's lesson focused on bringing the general term Civil Rights home to her students by focusing on events here in Champaign Urbana.Using an amazing set of primary sources, Mary Anne's lesson looks at the local efforts to de-segregate campus barbershops.
On Wednesday, we were also joined by Terry Townsend, a community member who spoke about his experiences with the Civil Rights movement. His session " An Overview of the Civil Rights and Opportunity Movement and its Relationship to the National Movement" drew from his decades of experience working locally to improve race relations. He brought the Community Reinvestment Act to the attention of community leaders, which resulted in banks increasing their efforts to make loans to African Americans. He also served as a Housing Commissioner for 10 years.
The week was further enhanced by sessions led by Superintendent of the Urbana School District Dr. Preston Williams Jr, Ed.D and AHTC Activities Coordinator Jennifer Bredemeier. Dr. Williams presented on the process of desegregation in Urbana schools and its legacy for the district today.
Jennifer Bredemeier drew upon her masters degree in Human Resources for her Friday session "Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Discrimination in Employment." Title VII outlaws discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and her presentation discussed law cases that were key in interpreting that law and determining the different types of employment discrimination covered under that section.
Our last presenter of the week was Urbana Free Library Librarian Carol Inskeep. Carol is a frequent AHTC presenter and a crowd favorite. Her book lists cover a large range of ages and are an amazing resource for teachers as they are lesson planning. Carol presented both on Wednesday and Friday, providing the group with a very extensive list of children's books, graphic novels, young adult books and documentaries that covered the Civil Rights movement. As always, the teachers were captivated by the sections of the books that Carol read out-loud.
Thanks to all of you for presenting! You were a huge part of what made this week a success.
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