Brief but blunt and refreshing, this interview in TheAtlantic.com with Eric Foner talks about teaching history effectively.  Here’s my favorite section (bold at the end is mine): Do you have other specific advice for what teachers can do to more effectively instruct history students? The first thing I would say is that we have to get away from the idea that any old person can teach history. A lot of the history teachers in this country are actually athletic coaches. I mention this in class, and students always say, “Oh yeah, Coach Smith, he taught my history course.” Why? Well, Coach...…Brief but blunt and refreshing, this interview in TheAtlantic.com with Eric Foner talks about teaching history effectively.  Here’s my favorite section (bold at the end is mine): Do you have other specific advice for what teachers can do to more effectively instruct history students? The first thing I would say is that we have to get away from the idea that any old person can teach history. A lot of the history teachers in this country are actually athletic coaches. I mention this in class, and students always say, “Oh yeah, Coach Smith, he taught my history course.” Why? Well, Coach...WW…

Well. Not really new voices, but at least contemporary ones. Today is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, and I woke up to Eric Foner and a host of NRP personalities reading it out over the airwaves. http://www.npr.org/2013/11/19/246095479/gettysburg-address-turns-150 Like many American middle school students, I had to memorize the first paragraph of the speech, and, like the Lord’s Prayer and the Prologue to Romeo and Juliet, I can still recite most of it. The reading starts at minute 5:25. And would that all historians sounded like Eric Foner on air. Part of Civil War glass...…Well. Not really new voices, but at least contemporary ones. Today is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, and I woke up to Eric Foner and a host of NRP personalities reading it out over the airwaves. http://www.npr.org/2013/11/19/246095479/gettysburg-address-turns-150 Like many American middle school students, I had to memorize the first paragraph of the speech, and, like the Lord’s Prayer and the Prologue to Romeo and Juliet, I can still recite most of it. The reading starts at minute 5:25. And would that all historians sounded like Eric Foner on air. Part of Civil War glass...WW…

Happy Halloween! I love this article on Slate from Jefferson Pooley (associate professor of media and communication at Muhlenberg College) and Michael Socolow (associate professor of communication and journalist at the University of Maine) who recently published the book War of the Worlds to Social Media. I haven’t read it, but the article makes me want to. I have a special soft spot for urban legends and popular myths. It’s interesting that they attribute this one not to word of mouth but to intentional manipulation by a jealous print media. But even beyond that, the authors make an...…Happy Halloween! I love this article on Slate from Jefferson Pooley (associate professor of media and communication at Muhlenberg College) and Michael Socolow (associate professor of communication and journalist at the University of Maine) who recently published the book War of the Worlds to Social Media. I haven’t read it, but the article makes me want to. I have a special soft spot for urban legends and popular myths. It’s interesting that they attribute this one not to word of mouth but to intentional manipulation by a jealous print media. But even beyond that, the authors make an...WW…

Talk about history we need: Professor Henry Louis Gates and PBS have put together a six part mini-series, “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross,” that starts with the black man who accompanied Ponce de Leon as they first stepped foot on Florida and ends with President Barack Obama.* The description from their website reads: Written and presented by Professor Gates, the six-hour series explores the evolution of the African-American people, as well as the multiplicity of cultural institutions, political strategies, and religious and social perspectives they developed — forging their...…Talk about history we need: Professor Henry Louis Gates and PBS have put together a six part mini-series, “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross,” that starts with the black man who accompanied Ponce de Leon as they first stepped foot on Florida and ends with President Barack Obama.* The description from their website reads: Written and presented by Professor Gates, the six-hour series explores the evolution of the African-American people, as well as the multiplicity of cultural institutions, political strategies, and religious and social perspectives they developed — forging their...WW…

Advisers Go Extra Lengths to Keep Wealthy Clients, New York Times, October 15, 2013 This is not an article I would normally read. I’d rather not know about the lengths that financial advising firms will go to in order to keep their wealthiest clients (apparently hunting bears and arranging fishing trips). But look at this lead: “KAREN McNEILL has a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley, and is considered one of the foremost authorities on Julia Morgan, the architect who designed Hearst Castle, William Randolph Hearst’s 90,000-square-foot coastal retreat. Ms. McNeill...…Advisers Go Extra Lengths to Keep Wealthy Clients, New York Times, October 15, 2013 This is not an article I would normally read. I’d rather not know about the lengths that financial advising firms will go to in order to keep their wealthiest clients (apparently hunting bears and arranging fishing trips). But look at this lead: “KAREN McNEILL has a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley, and is considered one of the foremost authorities on Julia Morgan, the architect who designed Hearst Castle, William Randolph Hearst’s 90,000-square-foot coastal retreat. Ms. McNeill...WW…