On August 16, I started this blog with a statement of purpose. I blathered on for awhile making a laundry list of things that I wanted to accomplish with the blog. I had never written for the public quite so regularly as this blog claimed it would do: a daily entry. Daily! What was I …
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Corruption, Business as Usual, Or Nothing To See Here
Here it is, the final lesson plan for my Election of 1824 project for the Massachusetts Historical Society. I feel like I could probably do two or three more based on the various interesting items I came across, but ultimately five is more than adequate. My philosophy is that few teachers will ever use an …
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Commodore John Barry: He Was the Greatest of Them All
Early in my teacher career, my first social studies supervisor Al Friedman — with a twinkle in his eye — informed the department that we were legally obligated to recognize Commodore John Barry Day on September 13. Why? Because there is a state law mandating such recognition. Who is Commodore John Barry? Good question! Why …
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Back To School Night
Last night was our annual Back-To-School Night where parents visit the high school for a super-compressed version of their child’s day. Each period is shrunk to ten minutes as parents attempt to navigate the serpentine hallways of Hillsborough High School to hear each of their child’s teacher’s overview of their class. There is no time …
The Election of 1824, Part Five
The Election of 1824: To Campaign Or Not To Campaign For this lesson plan, I had a couple of relatively simple goals. The first is to have students recognize that just because an old document says something doesn’t make it true. History is filled with unreliable narrators, and that is especially true with writers who …
The Election of 1824, Part 4
I’m finally at the point where I’m converting some of my research at the Massachusetts Historical Society this past summer into lesson plans. As a major focus of College Board is quantitative analysis, I thought I’d take the charts I’ve been working on and make an entire lesson plan around students analyzing and applying the …
Review: The first “week” of school
I’m tempted to write this entry like a movie or food critic, but my energy level isn’t quite there on Saturday morning after the first four days of more regimented work. “More regimented” because I almost never have days off, including in the summer time. Despite work to rule this year, it would be impossible …
Student Travel: Costa Rica in July 2020
Around the turn of the millennium, I learned that teachers could travel with students at little to no expense to themselves if they took on the significant responsibility of chaperoning a group. It’s exhausting, but also incredibly rewarding as we get to travel places we otherwise couldn’t afford and get to see young people’s horizons …
Battling Education’s Lowest Common Denominator Mindset
Disclaimer: This is about the use of the lowest common denominator mindset when it comes to teaching. How this same approach towards students has a negative impact is a subject for another day. When I began teaching I planned by the seat of my pants. I’d decide Unit 1 was three weeks and then I’d …
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Sierra Leone and Back Again
I am reposting my journal from my trip to Sierra Leone over last winter’s break. If you’ve read it already, you might be interested in the epilogue that I’m adding to the end. December 26, 2018 – January 6, 2019 When I applied for TransAtlantic Histories, the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, …
Fenster on Education 