UNRAVELING FREEDOM: THE BATTLE FOR DEMOCRACY ON THE HOME FRONT DURING WORLD WAR I. By Ann Bausum. National Geographic Society, 2010. 96 pages.
All the ways the internet promotes superficial reading? Social studies textbooks have picked up on that. Sidebars, inserts, and yes, even links. All from multiple sources. I’m looking at a seventh grade textbook right now which credits seven contributing authors, who have been advised by eleven academic consultants, five reading consultants, and five teacher reviewers. It’s not surprising that its prose is dull.
Making a strong case for eliminating textbooks from the classroom on Edutopia’s site, Shelly Blake-Plock, a Maryland high school teacher, writes, "If textbooks were inspiring and everyone wanted to read them, they'd be at the top of the New York Times' bestseller list."
What kind of history books do draw readers? History buffs like me will tell you they are books by one author with one point of view who knows how to write a good story, people like David McCullough and Daniel Walker Howe. We aren’t interested in textbooks. Why should kids be, even if they are interested in history?
Three books aimed at middle schoolers about World War I have come out in the past year or so. I’ve read and reviewed Russell Freedman’s superb The War to End All Wars. It would be an excellent textbook-less way to begin a study of the Great War for kids hungry for the same kind of history writing their elders seek out.
I’ve yet to read Jim Murphy’s Truce: The Day the Soldiers Stopped Fighting, but I am anxious to, given the quality of his many other books.
Unraveling Freedom would be a wonderful follow-up to The War to End All Wars. In measured words, Ann Bausum skillfully traces the story of a nation that wanted to stay away from European conflict that quickly transformed itself into a patriotic fighting machine. Thoughtfully, she asks her readers to consider the price we are sometimes asked to pay to prove we are loyal and that we support our armed forces.
On the eve of America’s entry into the First World War, Bausum notes that "perhaps as many as a quarter of all Americans had either been born in Germany or had descended from Germans." As readers of Kirby Larson’s Hattie Big Sky (another good one I’d include in my middle school seminar) will remember, life for German-Americans suddenly became quite difficult. Teaching—or speaking—the German language was no longer acceptable. Sauerkraut was re-labeled as liberty cabbage, and hamburgers as liberty steaks. Vigilantes took the law into their own hands, sometimes executing German-Americans.
But beyond the persecution of this significant segment of the population, anti-German hysteria opened the door for government incursion on personal rights our Constitution guarantees. Thousands of Americans, Bausum writes, "found themselves silenced, harassed, or imprisoned because of the Espionage and Sedition Acts." In the war’s aftermath, a small-time bureaucrat in the Justice Department named J. Edgar Hoover used the Red Scare to spy on suspected subversives and to gain his own powerful foothold in the government.
These sorts of actions are not totally unfamiliar to modern Americans, and in a postscript "Guide to Wartime Presidents," Bausum surveys the threat that war can present to democratic institutions, from John Adams to Barack Obama.
Recommended for sixth graders on up
Sunday, December 12, 2010
WORLD OF LEARNING: WHAT WORKS? WORK
"What Works in the Classroom? Ask the Students" New York Times 12/10/10
While this article is about the value of students’ assessment of their teachers, it does have another purpose: coverage of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's report on the findings of its Measures of Effective Teaching Project.
No one can deny that America does not have the good educational system it once did. It seems obvious that the key element of good education is good teachers. But raising a ruckus about that avoids the bigger issue: Are we, as a society (that’s fallen on hard times) willing to pay? If schools are going to attract high quality teachers, throwing the bad ones out, as recently happened in Compton, isn’t enough.
It would be nice if every school district had great schools, whether they were charter or not. How do we get there, though? It’s going to take hard work, and what could be painful allocation of resources.
So often it appears that no one is working, and everyone is shouting--Bill Gates versus Diane Ravitch, and Waiting for Superman versus Race to Nowhere. I know that's not completely true, and that the debate is often pumped up by our media, but when the issue is framed as good guys against bad guys, it's distressing.
Now Michelle Rhee, ousted as the capital’s chief educator as a result of this sort of squabbling, is starting StudentsFirst, what she calls “a national movement to transform public education in our country.”
I hope she and other reformers would begin to make that happen, rather than making noise. As Rhee puts it, enough of us “understand and believe that kids deserve better.”
While this article is about the value of students’ assessment of their teachers, it does have another purpose: coverage of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's report on the findings of its Measures of Effective Teaching Project.
No one can deny that America does not have the good educational system it once did. It seems obvious that the key element of good education is good teachers. But raising a ruckus about that avoids the bigger issue: Are we, as a society (that’s fallen on hard times) willing to pay? If schools are going to attract high quality teachers, throwing the bad ones out, as recently happened in Compton, isn’t enough.
It would be nice if every school district had great schools, whether they were charter or not. How do we get there, though? It’s going to take hard work, and what could be painful allocation of resources.
So often it appears that no one is working, and everyone is shouting--Bill Gates versus Diane Ravitch, and Waiting for Superman versus Race to Nowhere. I know that's not completely true, and that the debate is often pumped up by our media, but when the issue is framed as good guys against bad guys, it's distressing.
Now Michelle Rhee, ousted as the capital’s chief educator as a result of this sort of squabbling, is starting StudentsFirst, what she calls “a national movement to transform public education in our country.”
I hope she and other reformers would begin to make that happen, rather than making noise. As Rhee puts it, enough of us “understand and believe that kids deserve better.”
WORLD OF LEARNING: DIGITAL GAMES AND WORKING MEMORY
"Computer-Based Program May Help Relieve Some ADHD Symptoms in Children" ScienceDaily 12/11/10
Ohio State researchers believe that a software program from Sweden called Cogmed improves working memory.
Ohio State researchers believe that a software program from Sweden called Cogmed improves working memory.
WORLD OF LEARNING: DIETING AND THE POWER OF IMAGINATION
"Just Thinking Harder May Help You Lose Weight" NPR 12/10/10
Carnegie Mellon researchers show the power of imagination and self-visualization.
Carnegie Mellon researchers show the power of imagination and self-visualization.
WORLD OF LEARNING: MAGICAL MOLECULE FOUND IN BRAIN
"Fewer Synapses, More Efficient Learning: Molecular Glue Wires the Brain" ScienceDaily 12/9/10
Despite advaces in technology, "the mechanisms that organize synapses in the living brain remain a puzzle. Yale scientists identified one critical piece of this puzzle, a molecule called SynCAM 1 that spans across synaptic junctions."
Despite advaces in technology, "the mechanisms that organize synapses in the living brain remain a puzzle. Yale scientists identified one critical piece of this puzzle, a molecule called SynCAM 1 that spans across synaptic junctions."
WORLD OF LEARNING: POLITICS AND PERCEPTION
"Politics and Eye Movement: Liberals Focus Their Attention on 'Gaze Cues' Much Differently Than Conservatives Do" ScienceDaily 12/9/10
No comment, except that it makes me feel better about my politics.
No comment, except that it makes me feel better about my politics.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
