Teaching the Civil War with Technology

Civil War era Presidential Elections

2008-05-06T07:43:00.005-04:00

In this season of elections and how the current presidential primary and the upcoming presidential election I thought it would be interesting to share a website on Civil War era elections.

Harper's Weekly has created a website for researching historical elections from 1860 to 1912. According to the website, the Presidential Elections page features political cartoons from several different digital resource centers such as Harper's Weekly, the Library of Congress and Vanity Fair. The website also "provides explanations of the historical context and images of each cartoon, campaign overviews, biographical sketches, a review of the era's major issues, and other valuable information."

Let's take a moment to explore the 1860 election between Lincoln, Douglas, Breckinridge and Bell. First, each election contains four sections: Overview, Cartoons, Biographies and Events. From here you can learn about the events leading up to to the 1860 election, how the Democratic party split, the Union Constitution Convention, the Republican Convention and the Campaign.

One of the greatest part of this site for teachers are the political cartoons. Let's look at one and see how you can use it in your classroom.

The above image shows Abe Lincoln as a rail-splitter and is intended to appeal to the average voter. Before giving your students the full description of the cartoon, ask them to tell you what they see, what do they think is going on in the cartoon, what does the little child represent and why are the words "Democratic Party" listed on the rail?

You can then follow up by reading them the complete description: "In order to appeal to average voters, Republicans emphasized the poor, hardworking origin of their candidate through the myth of Abraham Lincoln as a rail-splitter. This cartoon in the Wide-Awake Pictorial plays on that image by joking that the last rail he split is th Democratic Party in 1860, which divided into the Northern and Southern Factions."

Then, have your students think about presidential campaign ads or commercials they have seen recently. Do any of those ads try to appeal to the average voter by making the candidate look like every hardworking American? I think so and can name a few but let me know what your students come up with as you review these cartoons.

Until next time....

Great Collection of Lesson Plans

2008-04-27T14:10:00.000-04:00

A quick post today just to share a resource that I found. I was doing some research for another blog post and came across this great collection of lesson plans related to the Civil War.

The collection is from Fitchburg State College and is called Teaching American History Program : Lesson Plans and Teaching Ideas for Sectionalism, Civil War and Reconstruction

Enjoy!

Lincoln Loved Learning

2008-04-16T06:45:00.000-04:00

Here is another cool use of VoiceThread for your classroom. Melanie Lewis is an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher in Virgina and has created a webpage called Lincoln Loved Learning.

Mrs. Lewis has taken several images from the life of Abraham Lincoln and combined them together with a narrative text using VoiceThread. These photographs depict various parts of Lincoln's life growing up including his family and how he loved to read. What is especially interesting about this project is that throughout the slideshow, several students provide additional insights and comments about the life of our 16th President. Finally, Mrs. Lewis has listed several additional resources for you to explore about the President.

I have discussed the use of this type of technology before, so here is just another example of how you and your students can create and share information. These types of activities are cross-curricular and promote student engagement and creativity.

Here are some ideas for other VoiceThread projects:

Research a Battle and discussion the important facts
Research a particular unit and show photos and provide information
Research a specific figure from the Civil War (lots of possibilities here)
Research a particular aspect such as medicine and show photos of wounded soldiers

So many possibilities...Let me know what you think and if you create any in your classrooms.

Free Resources Until April 30th!

2008-04-07T07:37:00.001-04:00

The Alexander Street Press is providing FREE access to their online Civil War Collections until April 30th.

You can access the following Collections:

Try this, click The American Civil War Research Database then Click on: Analysis at the top of the page then click on Confederate and Union Losses Chart. You can view graphs of various statistics related to the Civil War, research specific regiments and get statistics (oh my) on soldiers.

For example, the following graph shows a comparison of Union and Confederate Losses of those who died or were killed in battle.

Why do you think there was a large increase in the number of Union soldiers killed in the early months of 1864?

Finding Resources with Del.icio.us

2008-03-25T07:59:00.000-04:00

For those of you who don't know, del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site where people can store links to their favorite websites and access them from anywhere rather than being tied to a single computer.

One of the cool things about del.icio.us is being able to search for websites that others have bookmarked with del.icio.us. This website works with what is known as tags. These tags are words that people use to categorize their bookmarks. For example, you could have several websites related to the Battle of Antietam and when you bookmark them with del.icio.us you might give them the tag Antietam. Then the next time you want all of your bookmarked sites on Antietam you simply click on the Antietam tag within your del.icio.us.

Here is a link to the CommonCraft Show called Social Bookmarking in Plain English

Another interesting thing about social bookmarking is that you can subscribe to these tags via an RSS feed. For example, you can do a del.icio.us tag search for Gettysburg by entering the URL, http://del.icio.us/tag/gettysburg into your web browser. Once the results appear, if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you will see an icon that says RSS feed for this page. If you click on this link (or right-click copy link location) you can add this RSS feed to your Bloglines or Google Reader account. Then, every time someone tags a website with the word Gettysburg, it will appear in your RSS aggregator.

You can also check out The Connected Classroom wiki on Social Bookmarking and RSS Feeds.

Try it out and let me know what you think.

Civil War Preservation Trust 7th Annual Teacher Institute

2008-03-08T09:16:00.000-05:00

I recently received an email indicating that I'll be presenting at this year's Teachers Institute conducted by the Civil War Preservation Trust. Here are the details:

The Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) will host its Seventh Annual Teacher Institute from July 25-27, 2008 in Hagerstown, MD. This free weekend will feature "field trip" tours of Antietam and Harpers Ferry, focusing on techniques teachers can use to make a battlefield visit a central part of their Civil War curriculum.

Teachers will attend their choice of workshops on Friday and Sunday, covering a range of military and civilian topics. Past presenters of these workshops have included leading historians and educators, and topics have ranged from tactical military history to strategies for teaching the Civil War to struggling readers. These workshops are designed not only to impart specific information about the era but also a variety of pedagogical strategies to help teachers bring the Civil War to life in their classrooms.

Once again, Virginia Tech's Center for Civil War Studies will be an active partner in the institute, and Dr. James I. "Bud" Robertson, director of the center, will be a keynote speaker at the institute. Through our partnership with Virginia Tech, CWPT is able to offer Continuing Education Unit credits to participating educators.

The CWPT Teacher Institute is provided at no direct cost to teachers, who have only to pay for their room and travel. CWPT anticipates being able to provide travel stipends for 10 or more teachers who would not otherwise have been able to attend due to geographic or funding constraints. Stipend applications will be made available to teachers in the near future.

For more information, contact John Blanton at (202) 367-1861 x223 or by e-mail at jblanton@civilwar.org.

Registration forms and details on the CWPT Teacher Institute can also be found on the web at http://www.civilwar.org/historyctandclassrm.htm.

Twenty for Tech Interview

2008-02-29T06:15:00.001-05:00

Just a quick note to say that I was recently interviewed by Dave Solon (http://k12geek.com/blog/) about my blog. This interview was for his Twenty Minutes for Tech podcast.

Thought you might enjoy listening sometime when you have a few minutes: http://www.twentyfortech.com/?p=9

Until next time....

Hardtack to Harddrives

2008-02-22T06:41:00.000-05:00

Eric Langhorst, over at the Speaking of History Blog recently presented at the METC 2008 Conference on Hardtack to Hard Drives. The presentation is related to Eric's use of the book Guerrilla Season in order to integrate blogs into his classroom.

What really got me thinking was how can you, as a classroom teacher, share your presentations with others. Eric's use of Slideshare is a great way for you to do this or you can use VoiceThread which will allow you to add audio to your slides. This type of collaboration allows you to share information with others and bring others into your classroom. Perhaps you are doing a discussion of the same book and now you can participate with Eric. Are you reading another book and want to collaborate with others?

Another way for you to share what is happening in your classroom is via Ustream.tv. Ustream allows you to "Broadcast Yourself" and have others interact with you via a chat room. Eric recorded his NECC presentation on Web 2.0 in Social Social Studies with Ustream and now you can watch his presentation. Do you have someone coming to your classroom to present? Why not stream the event for others or even record it and share the recorded session. Do you have kids doing presentations then you can setup a private Ustream session and allow parents to watch. All you need is a computer with a webcam and a microphone.

How are you collaborating on projects? Let me know....

Thank You...

2008-02-14T10:12:00.003-05:00

While I was attending the recent PETE&C in Hershey I was amazed at the number of people who 1) said that they read my blog and 2) that they are sharing it with others. So, I wanted to take a moment to say, Thank You to all of you who read this blog. It is my sincere hope that teachers take some of the ideas I post here and use them within their classrooms.

I also thought I would share a few common questions I received about my blog:

Question: Do you have a wiki as well?
Answer: Not yet but the more I hear my friends Mike B and Kristin H talk about them the more I want to create a wiki around this blog. I think this will happen soon.

Question: Will you be doing a podcast?
Answer: The more I talk to people like Dave S, the more I want to do a podcast. Similar to when I started this blog, I have to ask, "who would listen?" I have ideas for content and have dabbled in recording and editing audio, however it will have to wait until after the dissertation is complete.

Question: How is the dissertation going?
Answer: I'm pleased to say that I am 3/5 done. I have completed three chapters and I have my proposal meeting next week. After that, I can run my study. My goal is to defend this summer. Thanks to everyone for their encouraging words of support.

Question: Are you available for a Skype call into a classroom?
Answer: Depends. I'm usually not on Skype during the day but I could schedule a call in advance to come into a PD session or classroom. Feel free to email me.

So again, thank you so much for reading and supporting this blog.

If you missed PETE&C...check it out for next year.

Until next time...

Harper's Weekly Online

2008-02-08T06:53:00.000-05:00

Ever wonder how newspapers during Civil War covered the battles? Are your doing any research into an aspect of the Civil War and need a great primary source? Well, the Son of the South website has digitized versions of Harper's Weekly online for your review. According to the website, they have "over 7,000 pages of original Civil War content, and is full of incredible photographs, original illustrations, and eye-witness accounts of the defining moments of this Historic Struggle." They have even organized the information based on each year of the war, different battles, generals, slavery, medicine and the Lincoln Assassination. How can you use this collection in your classroom?

Have students use this as research for a paper or report
Have students create their own newspaper with accounts of a battle
Have students read the July 18, 1863 and the "First Report from Gettysburg" and ask why did it take 17 days to get information out in the paper?
Have students review and reflect on the ads in the papers
Have students review and reflect on the cartoons in the paper and what impact they may have had on attitudes toward the War.
Check out the sketch of the Maryland Battery at Antietam, then have students research where the Maryland Battery was located at on the Antietam Battlefield. You may even want to contact an Antietam park Ranger or two? (talk about Subject Matter Experts!)

Let me know your thoughts on how you can use this great resource. Until next time...happy reading!

Gettysburg Photographs

2008-01-25T06:15:00.001-05:00

As you know, I love looking at Civil War era photographs and I have discussed the site Virtual Civil War before. Well, Mike Lynaugh has put together a collection of original Civil War photographs on his website Virtual Civil War.

This collection of Civil War photographs will allow your students to view some excellent photos or provide you with some primary sources to display for conversation starters within the classroom. The collection contains a good variety of photos from pictures of dead soldiers, to the White House and even ones of famous leaders of the Civil War.

Classroom ideas:

Have your students look at a photo and then reflect on what they are seeing or have them describe the situation. This goes back to having them think like historians.
Have them create a slideshow of related photos and use Voicethread to share the presentation
Have them pick a particular image and then research more about the clothing, the battle, or location.
Play detective (CSI) and see what clues they can find by looking with their magnifying glasses (aka, using the Zoom In feature of your photo editor).

While you are on the Virtual Civil War site, check out Mike's section on Battlefields Today that contains pictures from battlefields across the US including Gettysburg.

So many photos, so little time. :)

Making New Photos Look Old

2008-01-11T09:34:00.000-05:00

Here is something cool you can do with your students. Have them take modern photos and make them look old. For example, here is a photo that I took of some friends of mine from Sykes Regulars.

You can then take the photograph and put it into your favorite photo editor such as Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or GiMP.

Once you have it in your editor, start playing with the tone to make it look black & white using a sepia tone filter and then next you will want to blur the edges to give it that slightly unfocused look. Play with different filters to see the different effects they have on the image.

Now for some more advanced edits. If you know how to create layers in your editor, you could take the background from an old photograph and place the modern photo (that you have just revised) on top to give you the rough edges of the photo. This would require you to select a portion of the modern photo and then paste it on top of the new layer.

Here is what the revised image might look like:

Let me know what you come up with. This also leads me to consider creating a few short "how-to" videos to put up on TeacherTube on how to do some of these things.

Animated Battalion and Company Drills

2008-01-01T13:43:00.000-05:00

` Sykes Regulars, a Civil War reenacting group, have an excellent collection of resources and research in the School of Instruction section of their website. One such section shows one part of the School of the Battalion as a Flash animation and another has three animations on the School of the Company.

So, I was thinking that it is one thing for a teacher to talk about how soldiers would stand in line and turn to the right or left but to show them and then HAVE them actually try the maneuvers.

Check these out:

School of the Battalion - Animated

Suggestion for getting the subalterns to in front during dress parade

School of the Company - Animated

You can also view the complete manual for how soldiers would have been positioned and moved on the battlefield online. On the US Regulars website you can view manuals by Hardee, and Casey. You can also lookup the manuals for how to clean a musket, Artillery Tactics and Cavalry Tactics.

Happy reading and researching.

Google Maps and Gettysburg

2007-12-20T08:20:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Ten Roads Blog (actually done by a high school student) for sharing a link to a very cool website (more of a mashup really) that uses Google Maps and photos.

The Encounter at Gettysburg page is being developed by Chuck Kann and incorporates Google Maps to allow visitors to locate monuments, farm houses and other significant portions of the Gettysburg battlefield. To navigate the site, you click on the your search criteria on the left side of the page. You can select monuments and landmarks by type, by state or by location on the battlefield. Once you have selected your desired monument or location, you simply click Get Map and then depending on your selection, you could then choose from additional monuments or locations.

For example, I clicked on PA in the Monuments associated with State box then clicked Get Map. From the new list, I selected the 11th PA monument. The Google Map image tells me where the monument is located (I can even view it as a satellite image), I have a photo of the monument and then information that is written on the monument.

Until next time....

Google Time Line Feature

2007-11-30T10:31:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Chris C over at the Sparks of Hope Blog for this one:

Did you know that Google has a timeline feature? Go to Google.com and type the following into the search box: civil war view:timeline

Or you can click HERE

This will give you a timeline of the Civil War. You can then proceed to click on a month or year of the war and be taken to a page with information about that particular month.

Very nice tool.

Until next time...

More on Lincoln in Gettysburg

2007-11-19T14:17:00.000-05:00

The following is from The Lincoln Log website and gives you an idea of what Lincoln's day was like on November 19, 1863 prior to giving his famous speech.

If you plan to have your students recite the Gettysburg Address for class, this should help provide some background information about the event.

If the technology had been available, Lincoln probably would have used something like PowerPoint during his speech. Here is a link to what the PowerPoint presentation may have looked like for the the Gettysburg Address.

Here is a nice YouTube video of Jim Getty portraying President Lincoln 11/19/2006.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday, November 19, 1863.
Gettysburg, PA and Washington, DC.

According to Nicolay's account, after breakfast at Wills house, Lincoln retires to his room, where Nicolay joins him, and completes preparation of his speech. John G. Nicolay, "Lincoln's Gettysburg Address," The Century Magazine 25:598.

About 10 A.M. President, dressed in black, wearing white gauntlets and usual crepe around hat in memory of Willie, leaves Wills house to join procession. Receives round after round of "three hearty cheers," and shakes many hands as crowd gathers. Washington Chronicle, 21 November 1863.

Thousands welcome President in Gettysburg. Weather fine. Flags in Washington at half-mast in honor of dead in cemetery at Gettysburg. Washington Star, 19 November 1863.

Gov. Curtin (Pa.), who arrived last evening with numerous important people on special train from Harrisburg, Pa., remarks to Lincoln about serenade given Gov. Seymour (N.Y.), and Lincoln replies: "He deserves it. No man has shown greater interest and promptness in his cooperation with us." Rice, 514.

President mounts "a magnificent chestnut charger." Monaghan, Diplomat, 341.

Rides in procession to cemetery. Hay, Letters and Diary.

Procession delayed; starts to move about 11 A.M. LL, No. 1425.

Head of procession arrives at speaker's platform inside cemetery at 11:15 A.M. President receives military salute. President and members of cabinet,with group of military and civic dignitaries, occupy platform. "The President was received with marked respect and a perfect silence due to the solemnity of the occasion, every man among the immense gathering uncovering at his appearance." Washington Chronicle, 20 November 1863.

Lincoln shakes hands with Gov. Tod (Ohio), who introduces Gov.-elect John Brough (Ohio), and takes his place between chairs reserved for Sec. Seward and Edward Everett, orator to make principal address. At 11:40 A.M. Everett arrives, is introduced to President, and program music begins. Washington Chronicle, 21 November 1863.

Once during Everett's two-hour oration Lincoln stirs in his chair. "He took out his steel-bowed spectacles, put them on his nose, took two pages of manuscript from his pocket, looked them over and put them back." Monaghan, Diplomat, 341.

About 2 P.M. Lincoln "in a fine, free way, with more grace than is his wont" delivers Gettysburg Address. He holds manuscript but does not appear to read from it. John G. Nicolay, "Lincoln's Gettysburg Address," The Century Magazine 25:602; Dennett, Hay Diaries and Letters, 121; Address

Delivered at the Dedication of the Cemetery at Gettysburg, 19 November 1863, CW, 7:22-23.

Pronounces his "r" plainly, does not speak like Southerner. Henry B. Rankin, Intimate Character Sketches of Abraham Lincoln (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1924), 285.

On platform, after speech, President remarks to Marshal Lamon: "Lamon, that speech won't scour! It is a flat failure and the people are disappointed." Lamon, Recollections, 173.

John R. Young, recording speech in shorthand for Philadelphia "Press," leans across aisle and asks President if that is all. Lincoln replies, "Yes, for the present." John R. Young, Men and Memories: Personal Reminiscences, 2 vols., edited by May D. Russell Young (New York: F. T. Neely, 1901), 1:69.

President decides to hear address by Lt. Gov.-elect Charles Anderson (Pa.) at 4:30 P.M. in Presbyterian Church. Meets "old John Burns, the soldier of 1812, and the only man in Gettysburg who volunteered to defend it." Burns accompanies him and Sec. Seward to hear Anderson speak. President's special train leaves Gettysburg about 7 P.M. and arrives in Washington at 1:10 A.M. on Friday. Washington Chronicle, 21 November 1863.

Lincoln returns from Gettysburg with a mild form of smallpox (varioloid) and remains under half quarantine in White House for nearly three weeks. Bates, Diary, 30 November 1863; Welles, Diary, Dec.

New Image of Lincoln at Gettysburg Found

2007-11-16T08:35:00.000-05:00

While in Boston this morning I opened my complimentary copy of USA Today to find a headline article about a new image of Abe Lincoln at Gettysburg being found at the Library of Congress.

The story discusses how an amateur historian was looking at photographs of the famous Gettysburg Address and found Lincoln in his famous top hat riding a horse to the speaker's stand.

You can read the entire article HERE.

Here is a close up of the photo from the article showing what appears to be Lincoln

Photo from USA Today.

I have posted before about using photographs in your classroom. The historian in the article had researched the events around the Gettysburg Address and was simply looking at photographs and made a terrific discovery. You and your students can do the same thing in your classroom. Who knows, you may be the one to find the next photo of Lincoln or other famous Civil War figure.

Researchers advocate instructional approaches that engage students in the processes of doing history (Friedman, 2005). This process includes building historical knowledge through the use of primary sources, conducting historical inquiry, and encouraging students to think historically. As part of this process, students must be active learners, by seeking answers rather than waiting for them when engaging in the analysis of primary sources. The reason for this is that the process of engaging in historical thinking is more than simply absorbing information; instead it requires seeking out answers to questions (Friedman, 2005). While viewing a primary source, students will examine the historical document and then construct a narrative based on that document. Through the process of constructing this narrative, students have begun to develop inquiry skills that they will be able to use throughout their life (Wineburg, 2001). According to VanSledright (2002), children as young as seven and eight years old are capable of thinking historically.

Good luck and have fun exploring those photos.

--------------------------------------------------------
References:

Friedman, A. (2005, May). Using digital primary sources to teach world history and
world geography: Practices, promises, and provisions. Journal for the Association of History and Computing, 8, Retrieved October 2005, from http://mcel.pacificu.edu/jahc/JAHCVIII1/articles/friedman.htm#037

VanSledright, B. (2002). In search of America's past. New York, NY: Teacher's College
Press

Wineburg, S. (2001). Historical thinking and other unnatural acts. Philadelphia, PA:
Temple University Press.

Civil War Artillery

2007-11-05T08:32:00.000-05:00

Rangers at the numerous Civil War battlefields are a wealth of information. Unfortunately, it is difficult (if not impossible) and expensive for classes of students to venture out to a Civil War battlefield. So, how about bringing a Park Ranger to your classroom? Well, here is one way to do just that.

Many of you know that I enjoy reading the My Year of Living Rangerously by Antietam Park Ranger Mannie. He has posted several great videos on Civil War artillery. In addition to that, you can actually listen to Ranger Mannie giving a talk on Civil War artillery for some visitors to the Gettysburg National Military Park.

Ranger Mannie talks about Civil War artillery:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2jayy_touring-gettysburg-with-ranger-mann

In addition to this, there are several videos of Civil War canon firing available via YouTube:

Antietam Civil War Artillery Weekend
12-Pound Napoleon Cannon

Finally, Ranger Mannie has also recently posted some excellent photographs of the firing of a Civil War canon entitled Muzzle Blast Revealed. In this post Ranger Mannie shows and discusses some additional aspects of artillery such as the fuse and how it fits into the projectile.

What is also interesting about this post is that it shows some photos of cannons being fired from directly in front of the cannon!

During the Battle of Gettysburg, Confederate soldiers marched shoulder to shoulder across an open field toward cannons just like the ones shown on Ranger Mannie's website in what would become known as Pickett's Charge. Have your students consider that situation for a moment and perhaps have them write a letter home as a Confederate soldier having survived the charge and faced the cannon.

For more information about Civil War Artillery, be sure to check out: http://www.civilwarartillery.com

The "Best Civil War Lesson Plan" Contest

2007-10-21T08:25:00.000-04:00

Here is a quick post of a contest for everyone to enter:

The "Best Civil War Lesson Plan" Contest
Sponsored by The History Channel and the Civil War Preservation Trust

Do you have a terrific Civil War lesson plan to share - one that is challenging and relevant to today's students? Then enter the Best Civil War Lesson Plan contest for a chance to win money and recognition!

Prizes: First Place - $1,000; Second Place - $750; Third Place - $500. Prizes are generously donated by The History Channel.
Who May Enter: K-12 teachers nationwide - in public, private, and home schools
Deadline: All submissions must be received by December 1, 2007.
Guidelines: All lesson plans must include the following elements in order to be considered:

The teacher's complete contact information - including the name of the teacher's school with complete mailing address, complete home address, and preferred phone number and/or email address.
A brief description of the goals of the lesson and comcepts to be taught.
A list of the materials to be used, as well as copies of teacher-created handouts.
A brief description of the time involved.
An explanation of the methods to be used.
A list of correlating state standards for social studies or history in the teacher's home state, or the appropriate NCSS standards (www.ncss.org).
Use of at least one primary source - this could be an historic photograph, document, letter, diary, or artifact.
Inclusion of elements that are engaging and thought provoking for students with a variety of learning styles.

If possible, teachers are encouraged to introduce the concept of battlefield preservation within their lesson. However, lack of this component will not cause an entry to be disqualified. Teachers are also encouraged, but not required, to submit a method of evaluation with their lesson plan.

Submissions become the property of the Civil War Preservation Trust and The History Channel, and may be reprinted, posted on their respective web sites, or shared via other forms of media.

Winning teachers will be notified January 15, 2008.

Send your lesson plan to:

Education Department
Civil War Preservation Trust
11 Public Square, Suite 200
Hagerstown, MD 21740

Confederate Memorial Museum in Oklahoma

2007-10-12T09:09:00.001-04:00

Wesley Fryer of the Moving at the Speed of Creativity Blog recently visited the Confederate Memorial Museum in Oklahoma. While touring the museum he took photographs of the various displays and then used Voicethread to post a narrated slide show to his blog. Check it out HERE.

This is a great way for you to see the exhibits in a museum that may otherwise be in accessible to you as a teacher. You can also check out the museum's website at: http://www.civilwaralbum.com/atoka/

Question is: How can your students do something like this? Do you live near a Civil War museum or a location associated with the Civil War? Does your local historical society have artifacts from soldiers who may have fought during the war? If so, take some digital photos and create a virtual tour for everyone to share.

Another thought...look up museums and historical societies in other towns with ties to the Civil War. Then find the local schools and get in contact with the district. Once you get in contact, ask them to collaborate on a project. Have their students go and take pictures and have your students write up the narrative.

Lots of ideas...

The Secrets of the Civil War

2007-10-05T10:18:00.000-04:00

The July issue of U.S. News and World Report had a special section called The Secrets of the Civil War.

The articles pretty good and there are some great resources that can be used in your classroom including a multimedia timeline of the war.

Check it out at The Secrets of the Civil War

The Journal of Harriet Tubman

2007-09-20T15:05:00.000-04:00

Here is an interesting idea on how to use a blog in the classroom.
http://dowell.typepad.com/harriet_tubman/

The students in this classroom have researched a historical figure and created a blog that reflects entries as that historical person. The famous person in this case is Harriet Tubman.

The students in this classroom have researched the life of Harriet Tubman, slavery and other aspects of the time period and are using technology to deliver the information in first person. Here are some of the great things the students are doing in addition to the blog entries:

Audio & Enhanced Audio Post
Listen to interviews as students role play people who lived at the same time as Harriet Tubman in order to describe life as a slave.

Fictional Stories of the Underground Railroad
After studying about Harriet Tubman and learning about the Underground Railroad, the students wrote stories of what it might have been like if their own family were to travel on the Underground Railroad.

Drawings:
I'm not sure what software they used but there are student created drawings of aspects of Harriet Tubman's life.

Concept Maps:
Here's another great idea, it looks like the students have used Inspiration to create some concept maps about Harriet Tubman.

Congratulations to Ms. Jenkins class at Dowell Elementary for a great way to use technology for teaching about the Civil War.

Photo from the Library of Congress (www.loc.gov)

For more information on Harriet Tubman be sure to check out the following websites:

http://www.loc.gov/topics/africanamericans/featured/tubman.html

http://www.harriettubman.com/

Congratulations Eric Langhorst

2007-09-16T06:44:00.000-04:00

Eric Langhorst of the Speaking of History Blog has been named the Missouri Teacher of the Year.
Please join me in congratulating Eric on this terrific achievement.

Here is a story about Eric from a Kansas City newspaper.

Take a moment to check out Eric's blog and podcast at http://speakingofhistory.blogspot.com and be sure to leave him some feedback.

Again, congratulations Eric on a great award.

Until next time...

So many statistics....So little time

2007-09-06T06:48:00.000-04:00

According to John Busey's "These Honored Dead: The Union Casualties at Gettysburg", the following is a list of the number of soldiers killed during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Army Of the Potomac :

New York	978
Pennsylvania	745
Massachusetts	200
Michigan	200
US Regulars	182
Ohio	139
Maine	119
Wisconsin	105
Indiana	96
New Jersey	80
New Hampshire	67
Vermont	58
Minnesota	50
Connecticut	45
Maryland	29
Delaware	21
Rhode Island	14
West Virginia	11
Illinois	9
Total	3,148

Army of Northern Virginia:

North Carolina	1452
Virginia	1012
Georgia	774
Mississippi	393
South Carolina	295
Alabama	254
Louisiana	141
Texas	111
Florida	80
Maryland	65
Tennessee	55
Arkansas	41
Total	4,673

Total number killed: 7,821

Based on these figures, you can easily have your students working on some math concepts. Have your students answer questions such as:

What is the average number of soldiers killed for both the North and the South?
What percentage of the total number of soldiers killed were from Ohio?
What percentage of those killed were from the South?
How many more soldiers were killed from North Carolina versus Pennsylvania?

Or, how about some critical thinking skills...

Why do you think New York and North Carolina had the highest number of soldiers killed?
During what day of the battle do you think Minnesota lost the greatest number of soldiers and why?

Until next time. From just north of Gettysburg...