Independence
Was the Constitution Pro-Slavery? The Changing View of Frederick Douglass
By Robert Cohen
Many have questioned whether the document on which our nation is based sanctioned slavery. But renowned abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who originally condemned the Constitution, came to view it in a much different light.
Teaching Difficult Topics with Primary Sources
--Lee Ann Potter
The featured documents illustrate the value of primary sources as points of entry into challenging subjects.
* http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/7506/7506284.pdf
Constitution Day Lesson Plans
The NCSS Publications archives and a number of educational websites offer excellent lesson plans that can help teachers prepare for Constitution Day.
* http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/7504/7504226.pdf
Learning History with Mini-Camcorders
--Jeremy D. Stoddard and Meg Hoffman
Three activities described here engage the creativity of at-risk students by incorporating mini-camcorders into the study of the American Revolution, Civil War, and Post-Reconstruction.
* http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/7502/7522011107.pdf
Draft of the Constitution (August 1787) and Schedule of the Compensation of the Senate of the United States (March 1791) / TWD
--Michael Hussey and Stephanie Greenhut
The two featured documents can serve as a starting point for a lesson on public service while students debate the amount of pay that public servants should receive.
* http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/7501/75011107.pdf
Historic Sites and Your Students
--William E. White
Field trips to historic sites, such as to the house in Colonial Williamsburg of Revolution-era scholar George Wythe, offer students a tangible and physical connection to the past.
Tracking a Hurricane: A Mapping Exercise in Real Time
--Donna Kay Mau
A classroom activity (in geography/history/current-events) for September of any year. Other items recall the "mighty storms" of Galveston (1900) and St. Croix (1772)--which a young islander, Alexander Hamilton, witnessed and wrote about (see Handout p. 16).
This URL downloads all 16 pages of Middle Level Learning as a black-and-white pdf of about 3.0 MB: --> read more »
Yellow Fever in Philadelphia, 1793
--Sandra W. Moss, M.D.
Book review of "An American Plague" by Jim Murphy. Also in this issue: Handouts and teaching ideas, such as handout/graph "On the Trail of an Epidemic: Yellow Fever in New Orleans, 1845-1860" and "Connect-the-Dots: Making Meaning from Historical Evidence" by Chris Edwards, which discusses smallpox and the Columbian Exchange. --> read more »
What Having Students “Write the Constitution” Taught Me
--Thomas Ladenburg
Students learn the historical setting background of an event, but then must debate and "decide upon" the outcome before they discover what actually happened. This issue also includes "Teaching and Learning with Timelines" by Linda Tripp, Cindy Basye, Kathy Jones, and Vicki Tripp.
This URL downloads all 16 pages of Middle Level Learning as a pdf of about 1.0 MB: --> read more »
