Money, Materialism, Monopolies and Millionaires

April has been a busy month, bringing our two part workshop series on economics and industrialization. Seventy teachers joined us in Urbana Middle School on April 17th and 24th for an in-depth look at how economics could be brought into the classroom. We opened the series with a keynote from Dr. Mark Leff, who used charts and graphs to root his discussion of finance between the Gilded Ages in concrete examples.


After small group discussions with Dr. Leff, time in the computer lab and boxed lunches from Za's, everyone reconvened to discuss how they could use the fabulous books, magazines, videos and website lists that they had been given that morning.


Next Project Director Kathy Barbour and Program Coordinator Alexis Jones led us in some great economics lessons. In Kathy's room, teachers studied how the Constitution has shaped the economic system of the United States.
Everyone was working hard...even Activity Coordinator Jen Bredemeier and AHTC Bookkeeper Ambar Rizwan joined in the historical fun!

Meanwhile, Alexis used the children's book Saturday Sancocho to teach us all about bartering. We all had a wonderful time trying to gather chickens, carrots and cumin to make our own sancocho.


After a fun day of economics activities, everyone returned home, where I'm sure they were anxiously awaiting next Saturday, April 24th.

We kicked off our second day with a keynote by Lead Historian Dr. Jim Barrett. Dr. Barrett discussed the way industrialization transformed both the people who experienced it and the way we think about and perform work. As part of his keynote, Dr. Barrett led us in a document analysis exercise using An Exposition of the System of Moral and Mental Labor, established at the Glass Factory of Dyottville in the County of Philadelphia by T.W Dyott (1833) and The Factory Bell from The Factory Girls' Garland (1844).


Next, Urbana High School teacher Matt Buckles led the group in a lesson on the uses of space and land throughout the pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial periods. Everyone enjoyed the map analysis and playing with the magnifying glasses!



In the computer lab, Alexis led the group through some of the best websites on the economy and the census that we had found in our preparation for these days. As always, website lists can be found on our website under Web resources. One of the favorites was a video from 1904 of women punching in at a Westinghouse company.

To round out our day, William Maury, the Lead Historian of the U.S. Census Bureau came to discuss with us how the census became what it is today.


Thank you all for giving up two spring Saturdays to join us for these workshops, and thanks to all of our presenters for making both days so interesting and informative!

A Great Resource To Explore!

The National History Education Clearinghouse website is an amazing website to pour through if you haven't already. With lesson plan reviews, teaching guides, and examples of best practices, it is full of great ideas and resources. Make sure to check out the history in multimedia exhibit, as well as the interviews with historians and master teachers. Easily searchable by elementary, middle or high school levels, this site is worth spending some time on. Make sure, in your exploration, that you check out the page featuring AHTC teacher Christine Adrian's Lincoln lesson plan Chic, Virginia, and Mr. Lincoln: Understanding Historical Perspective.

Common Core State Standards Initiative

I'm sure all of you have heard of the Common Core State Standards Initiative (if you haven't, please read the great article here and peruse the website here.) These college-and career-readiness standards were first released for public comment in September of 2009, and a draft of the K-12 standards were released for comment in March of 2010. The newest version of these standards, including those in Social Studies, have just been released. You can find the PDF of the new Social Studies standards here. [Edit: While we are excited about this newest draft, we did not intend to imply that the work on these standards is finished. So far, these Social Studies standards deal only with literacy. Someday we hope that Social Studies specific standards will be developed, but in the meantime, please do read about these literacy standards. Thank you to our commenter for pointing out that we were not clear on this point.]
The CCSSI has the greatest general support of education reforms currently being developed, and offers one of the most promising opportunities to improve education through better standards and assessments. Ending the differing expectations between the states can only improve the quality of education throughout the nation. These Social Studies standards have been developed through cooperation by organizations in civics, economics, geography and history (You can find a list of participating organizations at the end of the first linked article.) This single set of standards will drive assessment systems, as well as curriculum and instructional practices. We have been following this initiative with interest, and we encourage you to check out the new standards.

The AHTC Google Calendar!

In yet another technological step forward, the AHTC now has a Google Calendar!

We know many of you already have a Google Account to use Gmail, Google Docs, and hopefully Google Calendar. Subscribing to the AHTC Google Calendar is a snap, just follow these instructions.
1. Open your Google Calendar.
2. In the Other Calendars box, click Add.
3. Click Add by URL.
4. Paste the following URL: http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/6naidujhnndos9o45pjrt675ks%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

That's it! You now have access to the American History Teachers' Collaborative Google Calendar! We will update it regularly with event dates and registration deadlines.

No information will be posted on the calendar that has not already been distributed via email, but this is a great way to keep up with the myriad of great events we host.

If you don't already have a Google Account, consider signing up for one. They're free! Signing up for a Google Account gives you access to Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and a assortment of other great tools!

AHTC Book Discussion Group

On Thursday, February 11th, a group of AHTC teachers attended a book discussion facilitated by Izona Burgess, to discuss the book, "The Lord Was Not on Trial," by Dannel McCollum. The group discussed this local case challenging religious education classes held in public school buildings, leading to the Supreme Court's precendent-setting McCollum ruling. The author and former mayor, Dannel McCollum, joined the lively and thought-provoking discussion. Izona provided the group with exceptional discussion questions that can be found on the AHTC website under "Past Activities." Thank you to Izona Burgess and Dannel McCollum for a wonderful evening!

Wartime Innovation Focus Workshop

On December 5th the American History Teachers' Collaborative hosted a focus workshop on Wartime Innovation at the Hilton Garden Inn in Champaign. Taking a break from our typical format, the workshop was set up as a conference day where teachers chose from 18 different presentations during seven sessions. From the response of our teachers, it seems as if all of the sessions were amazing!

Thanks to WILL, we were able to find some fantastic veterans who were willing to speak to us about their experiences. They included Phil Dzuik, a World War II Navy veteran who served on the USS Ajax (and still fits into his 1944 Navy uniform!) and Jesse Dowell, who served in the U.S. Navy Air Corps during World War II and practiced night bombing with the new, secret technology--radar.

Pictured L to R: Jesse Dowell, Phil Dziuk, and Ralph Dady (UHS)

Our third veteran, Jill Knappenberger, was one of three women serving on the front lines during the Battle of the Bulge. As a "clubmobile" driver for the Red Cross (serving dounuts, coffee, and cigarettes to soldiers), she was trapped for eight days during the battle.
In addition to hearing from veterans, we were also able to have Hal Loebach from Chanute Air Museum speak to us about the black Army Air Corps squadrons that trained at Chanute Air Base during World War II, including the famed Tuskegee Airmen. Mr. Loebach also brought with his colleague, Jim Eldridge, who shared aviation resources available to teachers through the museum.

While we had many presentations about World War II, it was not the only war represented that day. Eugene Bencomo and Russel Foster, reenactors from the Illiana Civil War Historical Society, gave very enthusiastic presentations showcasing weapons, medical gear, and military equipment from the Civil War.

From L to R: Karen Easton (Edison), Peggy Christensen (Edison), Russel Foster, Todd Searing (UMS)

Representatives from the American Red Cross also presented to teachers focusing on the history of the American Red Cross during wartime.

Although we enjoy having speakers from the community, we were delighted to have five AHTC teachers present to their colleagues on units they created during past AHTC summer institutes and fellowships. Matt Buckles and Matt Goerss, both from Urbana High School, spoke to teachers about resources available to teachers through the Champaign County Historical Archives, including primary documents regarding penicillin, radar, walkie talkies, and weather forecasting.
Karen Klebbe of Centennial High School discussed military's technology's impact on civilian life, including how the development of disposable bandages during World War I revolutionized the feminine hygiene industry.
Natalee Steffen from Urbana Middle School presented a series of lessons examining the history of the United States' use of Agent Orange in Southeast Asia during the time of the Vietnam conflict.
Our final AHTC presenter was Jesse Guzman of Edison Middle School who shared with teachers his unit on the dropping of the atomic bombs during World War II.

Throughout the day teachers were able to explore exhibits in the ballroom for information and resources that could be used in their classrooms. Exhibitors included the American Red Cross, Chanute Air Museum, the Champaign County Historical Archives, The Champaign County Historical Museum at the Cattle Bank, the Early American Museum, and the Great Lakes Regional Depositor of the National Archives Records Administration. (Please see the sidebar to the left for links to many of these organizations:)

What a fantastic day! We would love to hear from you, teachers. What was your favorite part of the day? Is there anything that you have used in your classroom from that day or anything that you are thinking about using in the future? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Meet the AHTC Team

For those of you who are new to the American History Teachers' Collaborative (and for those of you "oldies" who may not know the names of some of our newer faces:), we'd like to take a minute to introduce the team who writes and administers our Teaching American History Grant.

From left to right:

Elizabeth Bologna, Assistant
Jennifer Bredemeier, Activity Coordinator
Cynthia Logsdon, Travel Coordinator
Katherine Barbour, Project Director
Alexis Jones, Program Coordinator
Kim Lareau, USD Assistant to the Director of Staff Development

We don't want to forget the most important members of our team though...

OUR FABULOUS TEACHERS!
AHTC Summer Institute, 2009

Thank you, teachers, for inspiring us to work so hard for all of you! We are very lucky to have such a dedicated group of educators who enthusiastically attend our events. We hope to continue to serve you long into the future:)