Tuesday, November 8, 2011

PBS' War of 1812

I just received an e-mail from PBS telling me that their entire new movie, "The War of 1812," is now online.  Additionally there are lesson plans here.  Have at it! 

2 comments:

Buzz Lightyear said...

Thank you so much for sharing this information about PBS' 'War of 1812' being online now. I will definitely check it out.

I am not a U.S. History teacher, but I have an 8-year-old daughter who to some extent shares my passion for U.S. history. I don't know how many U.S. History teachers have explored the following concept, but I couple my passion with U.S. History with an avid interest in collecting U.S. coins. I think that contemporaneous-dated coins paired with a U.S. history event of the same date would make a really neat teaching concept, and could be accomplished in the classroom very cheaply, at least for the late 1800's on up to present times. In my blog "Black Swamp Cornucopia", I have focused on doing this in a family-friendly way by presenting high-resolution photos of pre-1850 U.S. coins paired with a historical event of the same date as the featured coin. For instance, a 1794 large cent is paired with a brief article about the Battle of Fallen Timbers near Maumee, Ohio. I have also (for now) focused a fair amount on the years of the War of 1812, particularly in Northwest Ohio.

Here is the link if you wish to give it a try:

http://theblackswampcornucopia.blogspot.com/

I think such a strategy could easily be implemented and even allow students to take home a coin, e.g. a steel Lincoln "wheat" cent from 1943, due to the extremely low cost of acquiring these small historical artifacts that literally let a child hold history in their hand.

Jonathan Macauley Nielson said...

An invitation to all. You might enjoy my book "Wellington in America' modestly a great 'what if' alternate history that my students find engaging and thought-provoking. Intriguingly it could well have happened if the 'Duke' had said 'yes'...as he nearly did. This is counter-factual history in a fact-based narrative...best of both worlds?