Young Scholars Strike Again!

This summer marked the 3rd year for the Young Scholars/Destination DC partnership.  Students created podcast walking tours of DC.  The tours will take you beyond the monuments into the heart of our nation's capital.  This year all of the podcasts are available on the washington.org website.  Give them a listen, and get into the city!

Oh the Choices!

The Choices Program from Brown University engages students in current events, critical thinking, analyzing multiple perspectives, and congressional simulation. "Immigration in the 21st Century" and "International Trade: Competition and Cooperation in a Globalized World" are the two that I have used with my Advanced Academic classes.  Students really enjoy the simulations...especially the role playing.  Choices also has a Youtube channel with excellent video clips to introduce concepts.  They feature foremost scholars, such as Gordon Wood.

Teaching Globalization

How in the world can we define globalization in a typical short definition?  ...We can't!  Globalization is one of those concepts that has ton of depth and complexity.  I created this assignment --called "Globalization Descriptors"-- to help students form their own definition of globalization.  I created a Wordle about globalization, and students were tasked with writing five statements describing globalization...based on the Wordle.  Check out the student sample below...this student even grouped the words by color coding.

Federalist vs. Anti-Federalists

Far too often the differences between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists is over simplified. The discussion typically hinges upon the Federalist being in favor of the Constitution, and the Anti-Federalists being opposed to it. Usually, there is little discussion paid to the complexity of who the individuals were and why they were inclined to think as they did. The argument surrounding our founding as a nation is complex, and I believe there should be light shed on the complexities of the Founders. I'm hoping this set of slides will be a good start to understanding the Federalists and Anti-Federalists.

"And the sign said...": Teaching Economics Concepts with Music

Even the most basic economics terms are often difficult for many students to fully understand and apply to real life situations. Music is a great way to either introduce economic concepts (and get students' attention) or to review economic concepts. As review I use several songs, via YouTube, that students enjoy and actually engage with. I also provide printed lyrics and some discussion questions.

Concepts: unemployment, push and pull factors, and recession

Song: "Ghost of Tom Joad" by Bruce Springsteen

Concept: scarcity

Song: "I Want it All" by Queen

Concept: opportunity cost

Song: "Big Yellow Taxi" by Counting Crows (cover)

A bit on GW

Check out this podcast of a lecture presented by Peter Henriques, renowned George Washington scholar and author of Realistic Visionary: A Portrait of George Washington. Henriques' style is engaging and his sense of humor and expression brings GW to life.

The Papers of George Washington

Ready to jump into the world of primary source documents? The Papers of George Washington is a great place to start. There are various educational resources available on the site. In particular the "GW: Life and Times" offers background info and documents for various phases of GW's life. The documents include scaffolding questions to help students get the main idea and other vital information. In video below, Ed Lengel (editor of The Papers of George Washington) describes the project to publish GW's massive collection.