Podcast #215 - "Watching" the State of the Union Through the Eyes of Twitter

Today's podcast is sort of a rambling (consider yourself warned) about how I watched my Twitter feed about the State of the Union Address last night before I listened to it on my own.  Viewing events like debates, speeches and sporting events is definitely different when you are commenting and watching it live on Twitter.  What does this say about us socially?  Do you watch live events with your phone or i-Pad in one hand commenting to Twitter?  Please listen to the podcast and then leave a quick comment.


Direct link : Speaking of History Podcast #215 "Watching the State of the Union Address Through the Eyes of Twitter" - MP3 file (9 minutes)

Podcast #214 - Antique Radio Time Machine

Hello.  Today's podcast is part do-it-yourself, part technology.  I discuss how in a couple of minutes we took our family antique cabinet radio from the 1930's and soon had it playing Glenn Miller big ban music and reports from D-Day.  


Direct link : Speaking of History Podcast #214 - Antique Radio Time Machine - MP3

Links from podcast:


Old World Radio - great site to download original music, comedy shows and dramas


Montgomery Ward Airline 62-215 Radio - 1935

Podcast #212 - Washington's Big Decision Lesson Plan from Mount Vernon

Many people think of George Washington as a general or a president but he was also a very innovative farmer. During my week at Mount Vernon this summer as a participant in the 2010 Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminar I spent time studying Washington's actions as a farmer. He did some amazing things on his farms and was on the cutting edge of technology for his time. Today on a visit to Mount Vernon you can visit a reconstruction of the 16 sided round barn he built and designed to thresh grain.


One of Washington's most important decisions as a farmer came in 1765 when he decided to shift the from growing tobacco to wheat. He was one of the first to do this on a large scale in Virginia. He made this decision for several reasons and it ultimately allowed him to make a profit at a time when those who stayed with tobacco eventually fell further in debt.


During the seminar I created a lesson plan to help students analyze why Washington made this decision. The lesson is created primarily for a middle school or junior high history class and can be conducted in one 45 minute period. Students will also be using a couple of primary resources from George Washington. The podcast describes the lesson plan and this blog post includes a full description and materials in PDF format.

This blog entry also includes a short video shoot at Mount Vernon with Daniel Purkey, Lead Interpreter for Historic Trades at Mount Vernon, describing the reasons for Washington's decision.


Link to a full text description of the Washington Decision lesson plan (PDF file)


Link to the student graphic organizer used in the lesson along with a copy of a completed teacher version (PDF file)

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Direct link to Podcast #212 - Washington's Big Decision Lesson Plan

Podcast #211 - Sunrise at Mount Vernon

Hello. Several weeks ago I was very fortunate to participate in the 2010 Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminar for Teachers at Mount Vernon. One great opportunity while attending the seminar was the opportunity to stay on the grounds at Mount Vernon. On a couple of the mornings I got up around 5:15 AM and walked to the mansion to see the sunrise over the Potomac River from the back porch. Today's podcast is a very quick reflection on that experience. I have also added several of the pictures from that morning at the mansion with this blog post.

You can view over 900 of the pictures I took while attending the week long seminar at this Flickr set.

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Direct link to Podcast #211 - Enjoying Sunrise at Mount Vernon

Podcast #210 - Update on 365 Photo Project

Hello. Today's podcast is an update on my 365 Photo Project for 2010. I am taking a picture each day this year and posting it on Flickr. You can check out my photos so far this year below on the slideshow.

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Direct link to Podcast #210 - Update on 365 Photo Project

Press PLAY button below to listen to podcast on this page.

Podcast #209 - Review of "The Monuments Men" by Robert M Edsel

Hello. For the past couple of weeks I have been reading "The Monuments Men" by Robert M Edsel. This books tells the fascinating story of American troops racing across Europe to find and save the priceless art work taken by Hitler and the Nazi war machine.

This podcast is my quick review of this novel and how it could be implemented into an interdisciplinary lesson in the classroom.

"The Monuments Men" by Robert M Edsel

Official Monuments Men Foundation Site

The Greatest Theft - Lesson Plans and DVD Set

Robert M Edsel's Blog

Follow Robert M Edsel on Twitter (RobertEdsel)

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Direct link to Podcast #209 - Review of The Momuments Men by Robert M Edsel

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Podcast #208 - Ask the Experts Donner Party Project

Hello. I am a big fan of the American Experience series from PBS and WGBH. This series has produced some of the most fascinating and engaging historical documentaries I have ever seen. One episode that I have used repeatedly in my class over the years is "The Donner Party" by Ric Burns. This documentary is both haunting and descriptive in telling the tale of this group's fateful journey west.

For the past several years I have had my students participate in a debate after finishing the video. The debate is centered on the role of Lansford Hastings - the person who told the Donner Party to take the shortcut that cost them valuable time on the attempt to reach California. The Donner Party becomes trapped in the mountains and some resort to cannibalism. The class is divided into two groups and debates whether the blame should be placed upon Hastings or the Donner Party themselves. While watching the film students have been recording events and information which could be used to defend both sides of the debate.

Two years ago I started recording the debate in audio format. I then contacted several Donner Party experts - authors and writers who have experience with the Donner Party - and asked if they could critique the debate and provide feedback for my students. I sent the audio file as an attachment with the e-mail. This was very successful and my students loved the feedback.

This year we used a Flip camera to record the debate in video format and I then posted it to YouTube. I contacted a variety of Donner Party experts through web searches and found five individuals who were willing to take the time to comment on the student debates. I then gathered the responses from all the experts and created a handout for my students. I am always amazed at the amount of detail these experts provide.





The technology used in this project is pretty simple - posting a video on YouTube and then sending an e-mail but the ability to find experts in the field and then have them comment directly to students is extremely powerful.

Special thanks to my experts who were willing to share their time and respond to my students :

Dr. Julie M. Schablitsky, Archaeologist with University of Oregon

Daniel James Brown, author of The Indifferent Stars Above : The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride

Kristin Johnson - Historian for Donner Party Archaeology Project and author of The Donner Party Blog

Chelsea Walerscheid - Truckee Lake Historical Society

Katie Holley - Truckee Lake Historical Society


To learn more about this project please listen to the podcast. I have also included the links to the student debates and included one video as a portion of this blog post. I am also posting the feeback from the experts as a PDF if you would like to see the comments the experts returned to my class.

If you have any comments on this project please feel free to leave a comment on this blog post.

Period 2 Class Debate

Period 3 Class Debate

Period 4 Class Debate

Period 5 Class Debate

Period 7 Class Debate

Period 8 Class Debate


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Direct link to Podcast #208 - Ask the Experts Donner Party Project

Podcast #207 - Presidents Day and the American Experience DVD Set Giveaway

Hello. Today we're talking about presidents and giving away an amazing prize to one listener, courtesy of our friends at WGBH and the PBS series "American Experience". Since it is close to Presidents Day I thought we would discuss which president - living or deceased - you would most like to sit, enjoy a cup of coffee with and chat.

It was a close call for me between Washington and Truman. To find out who and why listen to the podcast.

I encourage you to leave a comment on this blog and tell us : 1) which president you would most like to meet for a cup of coffee and 2) what topic would you most like to bring up in conversation with the president. Please also include your name and where you live.

I will collect all the names of those who commented telling us their choice between today and February 23, 2010. I will place all the names in a hat and have one of my daughters draw out a name. The name chosen will win "The Presidents" DVD set from American Experience. I will mail the winner the set. This 15 DVD set has biographies of Roosevelt, Wilson, FDR, Truman, Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, and Bush - over 35 hours of content. The set has a retail value of $130.00.

American Experience Official Site

Sign up for the American Experience E-Mail Newsletter

American Experience "The Presidents" DVD Set

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Direct link to Podcast #207 - Presidents Day and the American Experience DVD Set Giveaway

Podcast #206 - 365 Project, Barringer Fellowship and School Lunch Blog

Photo of Monticello from afagen on Flickr, Creative Commons

Hello. It has been almost a month since my last podcast. Today I dive back into the podcasting pool with some reflections on a wide variety of topics.

I start by discussing the start of my 365 Project in which I take a picture each day during the year and post it on Flickr.

The next topic is the Barringer Research Fellowship - a great opportunity this summer for any teacher who wants to learn more about Jefferson at Monticello.

The last topic is a great new blog that I have started following : Fed Up With School Lunch Follow along as a teacher eats school lunch each day in 2010 and then describes it and takes a photograph of the meal. You can also follow this project on Twitter : @fedupwithlunch

If you have any comments please feel free to leave a comment on this blog entry. If you are spammer who just wants to leave a link with some totally generic comment, please move along. Thanks.

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Direct link to Podcast #206 - 365 Project, Barringer Fellowship and School Lunch Blog

Podcast #204 - The History Geeks Book Club

Hello. One of the ways we engage our students in history outside of the classroom is the History Geeks Book Club at South Valley Jr. High School. In this podcast I discuss the History Geeks Book Club - the books we are currently reading, how the book club is created, etc.

Book #1 - Guns for General Washington, A Story of the American Revolution by Seymour Reit

Book #2 - George Washington Spymaster by Thomas B. Allen

Book #3 - Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

If you have any suggestions for books that we might consider in the future please leave a comment on this blog. Thanks.

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Direct link to Podcast #204 - The History Geeks Book Club

Podcast #203 - History Geek Author Visit - Author, Historian and Illustrator Cheryl Harness

Last year I started a group at South Valley Jr. High called the "History Geeks". It is an extracurricular group to provide students opportunities to explore historical topics - a field trip to a historic site, a book club which reads an historical book and providing historically themed speakers. During the school year we try to have one historic speaker a month. Last week we started our historical speaker programs with Cheryl Harness sharing her experience as an author, historian and illustrator.

Cheryl is an incredible artist how also writes historical biographies. Her work is well known nationally and associated with National Geographic. Our students enjoyed listening to Cheryl discuss her start in art and how she researches her books. The podcast today is the audio from Cheryl's presentation and is about 50 minutes in length.

Be sure to check out Cheryl's site and one of her recent books, a graphic novel about the life of Harry Truman : "The Harry Book - A Life of President Truman in Words and Pictures" . You can check out more books from Cheryl Harness here.

If you have any thoughts you'd like to share please leave a comment on this blog. Thanks.

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Direct link to Podcast #203 - History Geeks Author Visit - Cheryl Harness

Podcast #202 - Using History Alive! for Constitutional Convention Activity

Hello. Today's podcast is an update from Speaking of History Podcast #197 when I asked for suggestions on teaching the Constitutional Convention with each student representing a delegate in Philadelphia. I received some great suggestions - check out the comments from podcast #197 - and several of them pointed me in the same direction : the History Alive! United States History curriculum.

I remembered receiving a History Alive! curriculum kit a couple of years ago from a representative at a conference and am very excited about using it in my classroom in a couple of months when we cover the Constitutional Convention.

Another great idea came from Lance who suggested that my students try out the quiz from the National Constitution Center which matches you with one of the Founding Fathers based on your answers. Very cool and something I plan to do with my students during our Constitution unit.

Thanks for all the suggestions and e-mails. It is amazing that you can throw a question out there and so many people are willing to respond and contribute to the conversation. If you have any comments for this blog post - maybe you currently use the History Alive! curriculum - please leave a comment on this blog post.

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Direct link to Podcast #202 - Using History Alive! to Teach the Constitutional Convention

Podcast #201 - Using David McCullough's 1776, The Illustrated Edition in the Classroom

Hello. In today's podcast I want to recommend a great resource for your classroom if you teach the American Revolution. David McCullough's 1776 is an amazing book which every history teacher should read but there is another edition which should be in each classroom in America - 1776, The Illustrated Edition. The edition has over 130 beautiful illustrations with an abridged version of the text. Most impressive, though, are the 37 facsimile documents scattered throughout the book in pouches which allow you to take them out and pass them around the classroom.

Please listen to the podcast and if you have any ideas on using this resource in your classroom please leave a comment on this blog post. Thanks.

1776: The Illustrated Edition

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Direct link to Podcast #201 - Using David McCullough's 1776 - The Illustrated Edition In the Classroom

Podcast #200 - Why Do I Podcast?

Hello. Today is the 200th episode of Speaking of History!

This crazy adventure started on July 7, 2005 as an experiment to see if I could use the hardware and manage the software to post a podcast. It has resulted in over years of reflection, meeting amazing people and learning a ton from my personal learning network.

In this episode I look back over the past four years and try to answer the question - Why do I podcast?

Thanks for listening and if you have any comments, questions or thoughts please leave a comment on this post or e-mail me at speakingofhistory@gmail.com

Direct link to Podcast #200 - Why Do I Podcast?

Podcast #199 - Students Listening to President Obama's Speech on September 8th, Your Thoughts

Hello. The topic of today's podcast is the upcoming speech President Obama will be making to the students of the United States on September 8th, 2009 (11:00 AM central time) on the Internet and C-Span. This is the first time a sitting President will specifically address students across the United States.

The White House released the following information about the topic of the speech : "The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning." Some have expressed concern over the president speaking directly to students and the amount of influence the speech could have on a group of young people.

Some thoughts as I try to wrap my head around the issue (or non-issue). Please leave a comment on this blog post. I'm very interested to see what teachers across the country are thinking about this topic.

- Does it surprise anyone else that this is the first time a sitting president has specifically addressed the students of the United States?

- At what point does a speech from a president become more "political" than "educational"?

- How is this situation different than the inauguration speech that many students watched across the country several months ago? Was that speech considered more "historic" and therefore not as controversial when aired in classrooms across the country?

- Is your school planning on showing the speech to all students, none of the students, or based on the decision of each teacher?

(Note : I just read on the Department of Education website that the length of the speech is to be 15-20 minutes. In the podcast I mentioned that I was not sure how long the speech would last.)

Information about President Obama's Address to the Students of the United States on September 8, 2009 (includes FAQ and lesson plan ideas)

Direct link to Podcast #199 - Students Listening to President Obama's Address on September 8th, Your Thoughts

Podcast #198 - Resources for Teaching About the Jamestown Settlement

Hello. We begin our curriculum each year with an awesome topic - the Jamestown settlement. There are a ton of great resources to use when teaching this unit and today in the podcast I discuss six resources which I have found to be very successful in my 8th grade American history classroom. Links below provide more information to each of the resources mentioned in the podcast.

I would also enjoy hearing about what resources you use to teach about Jamestown. Please leave a comment on this blog post to share your discovery with everyone. Thanks.

Written in Bone - Webcomic from the Smithsonian

History Channel's Online Jamestown Exhibit

Jamestown Leadership Activity

Handout for Jamestown Leadership Activity - Handout for Graphic Organizer used in Jamestown Leadership Activity

Jamestown Online Adventure

Written in Bone : Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland - Book by Sally M Walker

Jamestown, The Buried Truth - Book by William Kelso

Nightmare in Jamestown - video from National Geographic

Worksheet used with "Nightmare in Jamestown" video

Virtual Jamestown

Direct link to Podcast #198 - Resources for Teaching Jamestown Settlement

Podcast #197 - Brainstorming Ideas for Constitutional Convention Activity

Hello. We will be starting our unit on the Constitutional Convention in about two months and for the past two years I've had an idea that I think would work well with my students but I have yet to flesh it out. I would like to match each of my students with a delegate at the convention and then as we study about the issues and debates at the convention they would look at the issue through the eye of "their" delegate. Each student would become personally connected to that delegate during the unit.

Today's podcast discusses how this project might look in an 8th grade classroom, what resources could be used to build this activity, and (probably most importantly) does this activity already exist in some format?

After you listen to the podcast I'd love to hear what you think. If you any thoughts or suggestions please leave a comment on this blog post. Thanks.

Direct link to Podcast #197 - Constitutional Convention Activity Ideas

Podcast #196 - Visual Timeline Activity to Start the Year

Hello. Today I would like to describe an activity that I recently did with my 8th grade American history class and I think is a fun way to start off the school year. This past summer I attended a session at the Project Zero Classroom workshop at Harvard with Mary McFarland - a former NCSS President. She described some routines to use with students in terms of visual time lines. I really liked the idea and decided it would be a great way introduce the curriculum to my students the first full week of school.

The podcast gives an overview of the project and some tips if you would like to replicate this activity in your own classroom. I have also included the PowerPoint presentations (links below) I used to create my visuals for the activity - please use and modify to your needs. If you have any suggestions or ideas about activity please share them by posting a comment to this blog post. Thanks.

Link to Visual Timeline PowerPoint Presentation

Direct link to Podcast #196 - Visual Timeline Activity

Podcast #195 - Project Zero Classroom 2009 at Harvard University

Hello. Today's podcast is a summary of a professional development workshop I attended this summer at Harvard University. I attended the Project Zero Classroom workshop on the campus of Harvard from July 27 to August 1, 2009. I have recently worked with the educational department of the Smithsonian and I was fortunate to be invited to attend along with staff members from the Smithsonian.

It was an excited week full of rich learning experiences. I was curious if a workshop that focused on multiple intelligences would incorporate the essence of the MI or be a standard "sit and get" like so many educational conferences. I was very impressed that Project Zero walked the talk and the organization of the entire workshop was unique and incorporated MI.

A highlight of the week was listening to Howard Gardner speak on several occasions about his MI theory and the impact his theory has had, and not had, on education in the United States and around the world. I was also thrilled to have an opportunity to speak with him individually at a reception on night later in the week. I asked him specifically about his views on the incorporation of social media and technology in education. He told me he felt it had great potential, if used correctly, to engage students who might otherwise not feel engaged by curriculum in schools. I also was able to get a quick picture with Dr. Gardner when he signed a copy of his book for me.

The podcast describes my experiences from the Project Zero Classroom workshop as I sat on the campus afternoon of the last day before I left for home. I have included a couple of pictures from the week with the blog post. Harvard is such a beautiful and historic campus (Washington was first given command of the Continental Army on the campus) and I took my share of pictures of classic buildings. I have created a Flickr set of pictures from the Harvard campus if anyone is interested.

I would love to hear from anyone else who has attended a Project Zero Classroom workshop in the past. I am letting the ideas marinate a little in my head and I'm slowly incorporating some of the concepts and routines into my teaching as a start the new school year. I would love to hear how former participants have incorporated the PZ ideas in their classroom and if they experienced any resistance due to high stakes testing, pressures from administration, etc. Please leave a comment on this blog post if you would like to share your experiences.

Direct link to Podcast #195 - Project Zero Classroom Workshop at Harvard University

Podcast #194 - Tips and Suggestions for Walking Boston's Historic Freedom Trail

Hello. Today I did something that I've always wanted to do as an 8th grade teacher who starts off each school year by teaching the American Revolution - walk Boston's historic Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail is a walking tour in Boston which covers roughly 23 historic locations over the distance of around 3.5 miles. I walked the length of the trail today and then doubled back to walk much of it again. I had a great time, learned a lot, took a ton of pictures and got my exercise by walking about 6 miles - what a day.

Instead of doing a site by site review of the trail, (there are plenty of places you can go online to learn about each location, like this one) I decide to offer a few tips and suggestions from my experience today.

I have included some pictures with this blog entry but have posted even more pictures as a set on Flickr here. Please feel free to use any of these photos in your class when you teach the Revolutionary War. Also, if you have any tips or suggestions for walking the Freedom Trail please share them here so that everyone can benefit from it.

Direct link to Podcast #194 - Tips and Suggestions for Walking Boston's Historic Freedom Trail