In an effort to stay awake through the entire session despite another night without too much sleep (stupid intestinal discomfort), I purchased a large mocha from the Jackson Coffee Company on my way to Ann Arbor. I have now used a different route to get to my conference and to leave from my conference each of the past three days. Ann Arbor is confusing enough without all of the construction.
The mocha worked! That and, while I liked yesterday's presentations, today's presentations were much more what I expected from this conference and had more information that I believe I can directly use in my classes. I only had to stop myself from daydreaming once. I also brought and used my iPad to look up more information and images of the information being discussed. Doing so made me appreciate just how powerful our access to information has become. I need to find some way to better incorporate this kind of technology into my classroom.
The opening presentation was again from Bob Bain. He provided us some extremely good gossip about how the state standards for World History were created--he was the chair of the committed that created them. He also provided a scaffolding framework for helping students to write about history (or writing an argument on any topic for that matter). One of the attendees correctly commented that the framework alone was worth the price of admission to this conference. I had one other personal take-away from this presentation: use "Previously on ..." (like a television show) at the beginning of each lesson to remind students of information from previous lessons that will help in their understanding of the next lesson. These short "Previously on ..." presentations need to focus on meaningful information and provide some sort of conflict to increase student interest.
While all of the presentations were great, the second one, by Jonathan Zwicker, called "From Edo to Tokyo and Back Again" was squarely within my historical interests. He highlighted the ways that Edo became Tokyo at the end of the Tokugawa period, how it rebuilt itself after the 1923 earthquake and again after the Allied firebombing in 1945, and how it has tried to reclaim its Edo past (while ignoring its militaristic empire) in an effort to establish a national identity. The presentation showed the value of photo arguments, made me want to read The Great Divergence, and suggested that we watch Rashomon.
The third presentation, by Juan Hernandez, focused on a the role of cities in Latin America under the Spanish Empire, in their revolutions against Spanish rule, in the establishment of their national identities, and in their movements into and out of military dictatorships. Finally, the fourth presentation, by Ian Trivers, showed the role of cities throughout history, starting with the important question: What makes something a city (and not just a village or human settlement)? He made several interesting observations about how cities affect human societies and are affected by them.
No rain greeted me on the way back to my car today, and we had sandwiches rather than pizza so my digestive tract should be better tonight. Tomorrow's conference only has two presentations and then time for us to develop lessons for next year. I'm still looking forward to it.
The mocha worked! That and, while I liked yesterday's presentations, today's presentations were much more what I expected from this conference and had more information that I believe I can directly use in my classes. I only had to stop myself from daydreaming once. I also brought and used my iPad to look up more information and images of the information being discussed. Doing so made me appreciate just how powerful our access to information has become. I need to find some way to better incorporate this kind of technology into my classroom.
The opening presentation was again from Bob Bain. He provided us some extremely good gossip about how the state standards for World History were created--he was the chair of the committed that created them. He also provided a scaffolding framework for helping students to write about history (or writing an argument on any topic for that matter). One of the attendees correctly commented that the framework alone was worth the price of admission to this conference. I had one other personal take-away from this presentation: use "Previously on ..." (like a television show) at the beginning of each lesson to remind students of information from previous lessons that will help in their understanding of the next lesson. These short "Previously on ..." presentations need to focus on meaningful information and provide some sort of conflict to increase student interest.
While all of the presentations were great, the second one, by Jonathan Zwicker, called "From Edo to Tokyo and Back Again" was squarely within my historical interests. He highlighted the ways that Edo became Tokyo at the end of the Tokugawa period, how it rebuilt itself after the 1923 earthquake and again after the Allied firebombing in 1945, and how it has tried to reclaim its Edo past (while ignoring its militaristic empire) in an effort to establish a national identity. The presentation showed the value of photo arguments, made me want to read The Great Divergence, and suggested that we watch Rashomon.
The third presentation, by Juan Hernandez, focused on a the role of cities in Latin America under the Spanish Empire, in their revolutions against Spanish rule, in the establishment of their national identities, and in their movements into and out of military dictatorships. Finally, the fourth presentation, by Ian Trivers, showed the role of cities throughout history, starting with the important question: What makes something a city (and not just a village or human settlement)? He made several interesting observations about how cities affect human societies and are affected by them.
No rain greeted me on the way back to my car today, and we had sandwiches rather than pizza so my digestive tract should be better tonight. Tomorrow's conference only has two presentations and then time for us to develop lessons for next year. I'm still looking forward to it.
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