tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549779060176586454.post2803424527562925052..comments2024-03-09T06:07:31.532-06:00Comments on U.S. History Ideas for Teachers: Now that it's summer...What to Read?Lauren S. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16355227108619230366noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549779060176586454.post-42582695480947663972017-07-13T14:20:46.937-05:002017-07-13T14:20:46.937-05:00Thanks, Scott. Read your article about teaching vo...Thanks, Scott. Read your article about teaching vocabulary and the importance of reading to students that you linked to above. Very helpful. And it motivated me to look for excerpts to give to students from one of the books I am reading this summer: Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West by William Cronon. In fact, one of the things I'm doing this summer is going through all my lessons and noting where I can substitute reading for some of the lecturing. So thank you for this timely reminder!Lauren S. Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16355227108619230366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549779060176586454.post-25372073336003552662017-07-12T18:47:36.181-05:002017-07-12T18:47:36.181-05:00Hi Lauren,
Here's a few of my faves to add to...Hi Lauren,<br /><br />Here's a few of my faves to add to your list... Sorry for including some World History, but I can't help myself. US History needs more World History.<br />40 Autumns by Nina Willner (Cold War East Germany)<br />Hellhound on His Trail: The Electrifying Account of the Largest Manhunt in American History by Hampton Sides(MLK's Assassination)<br />October: The Story of the Russian Revolution by China Mieville <br />The Great Influenza by John Barry (WWI, great history of US medical education)<br /><br />Wide reading about history is the greatest activity we can provide for our students.<br />https://historyrewriter.com/2015/05/20/teaching-vocabulary-to-older-students/<br /><br />Keep up the good work.Scott Petrihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14441504009216414502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549779060176586454.post-36496175706373049592015-06-25T12:51:07.414-05:002015-06-25T12:51:07.414-05:00Thanks so much for your comment! I agree, real lif...Thanks so much for your comment! I agree, real life can be even better than fiction! (Just wait 'til you get to Robert Caro's 4th volume on LBJ. You know that JFK is going to be shot..., but still, Caro's got you on pins and needles.) And I also agree with your comment about the unique perspective offered in traditional history texts. Remembering that history is "made" by real people who had mothers and fathers and childhoods can be enlightening. Best wishes to your continued journey through the presidents. I hope you will keep writing when you get the other characters.Lauren S. Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16355227108619230366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7549779060176586454.post-57943992504045393312015-06-23T08:28:24.512-05:002015-06-23T08:28:24.512-05:00Thanks for the mention in your post. I'm a hu...Thanks for the mention in your post. I'm a huge fan of American history and a regular reader of this website (even though I'm not a teacher). I completely agree that studying US history on a president-by-president basis would be inefficient and fairly ineffective - for many reasons. But as someone with a relatively strong history background, I would also suggest that reading the best biographies of the presidents provides an extremely interesting, and probably unique, historical perspective that is difficult to find in traditional history texts. My current project obviously limits me to reading about the presidents, but next I plan to tackle the much larger group of characters whose roles in US history has been no less critical (Ben Franklin, Susan B. Anthony, Alexander Hamilton, Martin Luther King, etc.) And I do find it ironic that so many people gravitate unflinchingly to the fiction genre for entertainment when history provides so many interesting, and real, characters and context.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com