A panel of historians discusses the significance of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which more than 140 people died, many of them young immigrant women.
This walking tour covers the July 21, 1861 Battle of First Manassas, the first notable battle of the war. It focuses on "the intense fighting on Henry Hill where the tide of the battle turned from Union success to a decisive Confederate victory. The fighting on the hill was marked by charges and counter charges, often ending in hand-to-hand fighting. One of the Confederate leaders on Henry Hill was Gen. Thomas J. Jackson, who would become 'Stonewall' that day."
Scroll down on the "Podcasts" page to "Henry Hill: First Manassas (Bull Run)" to find the tour.
This animated presentation from The Map as History visualizes the domino effect of alliances that led Europe and the U.S. into World War I, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
This animated presentation from The Map as History visualizes the reshaping of Europe at the end of World War I, looking at the shifts in the boundaries of countries and the creation of others.
This animated presentation from The Map as History follows the expansion of World War II into a global war. Tracing the war on world maps, it looks at Germany's invasion of Russia and of North Africa—and at the U.S.'s entrance into war with Japan in the Pacific.
This animated presentation from The Map as History follows the escalation of Germany's persecution and execution of Jews during World War II as it spread across Germany's European conquests. The locations of each ghetto, prison and execution camp, and deportation route are marked as they are discussed.
From the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum website:
"How did the Apollo program intersect with the whirling social and political climate of the 1960s and early 1970s? Three presidential administrations oversaw the Apollo space program, and each reacted in a different way. Senior curator Roger Launius will focus on the myth of presidential leadership during this time period and will provide context to the political challenges NASA faced with the failure of Apollo I. Curators Allan Needell and Margaret Weitekamp will discuss the fascinating intersections of Ralph Abernathy, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Moon landing and will analyze several political cartoons from the period."
The project's high-need southeast Wyoming districts serve a largely rural and growing migrant population in a geographic area of more than 16,000 square miles, so one goal is to define a professional development model that meets the needs of rural schools. Activities will include two 4-week instructional modules and two document-based question workshops during the school year; in the summer, teachers will be involved in a 10-day field excursion and a 1-week curriculum workshop, during which they will develop lesson plans. Teachers can participate in a single year of the program, then choose to continue for an additional year or two; the cadre will include approximately 40 teachers each year, some new and some continuing. As they learn to think like historians, teachers will study decisions and actions of specific people—government and military leaders, soldiers, tribal leaders, businessmen and everyday citizens—whose choices changed the outcome of history. Strategies will include historical inquiry skills, with a significant focus on document-based questioning, and strategies to help students develop critical reading, thinking and writing skills. The Center for History and New Media will lead training on teaching history in the digital age, introducing digital research libraries and multimedia technologies. Graduate credits will be available for completion of certain activities. Teams of teachers will collaborate to produce and implement classroom curricula; these and other materials (e.g., hands-on simulations, games, how-to seminars, distance learning materials) will be available to other teachers through a Web site and participant-led peer workshops.
Two of these southern Washington state districts collaborated on a previous Teaching American History grant; it was so successful that teachers on a waiting list made it clear that extending the project—and involving another district—would have value. Each year, teachers will attend seven full-day symposia of scholarly lectures and lesson modeling. In monthly study groups, teachers from all three districts will work as a learning community to solve problems, reflect on practice and conduct lesson study. During a 5-day summer field study, teachers will work directly with historians, archivists and curators at local and regional sites. Five 1-year cohorts of 25 teachers will participate; teachers will be those who need to reach highly qualified status or who come from the lowest performing schools. The project theme of "Towards a More Perfect Union" will guide the exploration of civil rights throughout U.S. history. The Concerns-Based Adoption Model will be the overarching framework for more than 100 hours of annual professional development. Led by expert historians and master history educators, teachers will learn History Habits of Mind and study traditional American history by addressing essential questions about the ideals of democracy, liberty and equality. To promote a culture of instructional excellence and collegiality, project staff will introduce professional learning communities, lesson study and one-on-one mentoring/coaching by teachers who participated in the previous grant. All state teachers will have access to project-created products, including standards-based lesson plans and assessments, activities based on historical texts, in-service units for future use, and classroom kits that incorporate history and archeology for hands-on experiences.
These contiguous Vermont districts are overwhelmingly rural, and some have above-average poverty rates. The project will organize its teaching fellows into four regional learning communities to help combat the rural isolation factor. Each learning community will have an experienced teacher who provides leadership and support. Teachers will discuss books, engage in primary source activities and look at student work. Fellows will be able to choose from additional activities that include providing professional development in their own or nearby districts, presenting at conferences, and publishing in the Flow of History newsletter. Summer institutes will begin in Year 2 and carry into the school year; teachers will select topics and begin historical inquiry during the institute, then continue the work with students in the classroom, thus working toward the project aim of building historical thinking skills. Each year, fellows will create portfolios of primary sources, activities and student work keyed to the historical content, historical thinking strategies and inquiry techniques discussed during the year. As teachers learn about major themes, issues and events in American history, they will learn to scaffold historical thinking skills that build from basic observation to more sophisticated forms of analysis and interpretation, culminating in conducting inquiry-based research. Staff from partner organizations, regional museums and historic sites will provide content information for workshops and field studies. Project activities will help teachers earn continuing education and graduate credits. The project's advisory board will use a rubric to review materials produced by teachers, and completed materials will be available online through Web sites managed by two project partners.