Industrial Empire, Gilded Age

—James Monack   read more »

—Maureen Murphy, Alan Singer, Maureen McCann Miletta, and Judity Y. Singer
Theme issue with brief history, excerpts from primary historical documents, references, handouts, historical fiction/diary.

This URL downloads all 16 pages of Middle Level Learning as a black-and-white pdf of about 3.0 MB:
* http://members.ncss.org/mll/09/MLLSept2000BW.pdf

—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 »

—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 »

—Peter William Moran, Kimberly Dawn Miller, and Kurk Aegerter
Students create “data maps” as they learn about cartography, the Electoral College, historical presidential elections, and how U.S. demographics changed over the course of a century. This issue includes “Maps, Representations of the Earth, and Biases” by
Peter C. Cormas, and “How Politicians Gerrymander” by Steven S. Lapham.   read more »

—John P. Dillon   read more »

—Jill M. Beccaris and Christine Woyshner
A variety of activities help students learn about the coal miners and steels workers (many of them new immigrants) during the Industrial Age. A handout is based on an oral interview, and provides a photo of child coal miners, 1911.

This URL downloads all 16 pages of Middle Level Learning as a pdf of about 1.2 MB:   read more »

—Rebecca C. Maher
North Carolina eighth grade students work on a project involving history, music, art, and interviews with elderly citizens. Includes handouts with primary sources and the story of Train Schedules, Standardization, and “The Day of Two Noons.”

This URL downloads all 16 pages of Middle Level Learning as a pdf of about 0.8 MB:
* http://members.ncss.org/mll/21/mll21.pdf

—Steven S. Lapham

Background and lyrics to a 1942 blues song about the 1900 Galveston hurricane. Also an article about Alexander Hamilton’s close brush with big winds in 1772.

• This issue needs to be scanned. Steve will do.

—Maureen Murphy, Alan Singer, Maureen McCann Miletta, and Judity Y. Singer
Historical background, historical fiction, and primary source text about the Irish exodus to America. A theme issue of MLL.

• URL To come. Steve will scan.