Tweet the Debates: Using Twitter to recreate history

Twitter is a pretty amazing tool. Think about it. With Twitter, I can get constant updates from my friends, family, and colleagues on what they had for breakfast, how their drive to work went, and truly important stuff like how hot they think it will be this afternoon.

Seriously. How did we live without Twitter?

I kid because I love.

Twitter really is a pretty amazing tool. Revolutions in Egypt. Live updates on natural disasters. Connections with loved ones thousands of miles away. Not to mention a decent instructional strategy.

We’ve talked about using Twitter in the social studies before. And so when I came across Tweet the Debates, I was more than just a little curious. Created by artist and lawyer Toby Grytafey, Tweet the Debates is his attempt to recreate the summer of 1787 as if those attending the Constitutional Convention had access to social media.

It’s an interesting concept that has worked for other historical events. And it sounds pretty cool. Toby started a Kickstarter project that was hoping to raise funds for a mobile app and other goodies. Even if the fundraising idea fell through, the actual Tweet the Debates idea is awesome.

Toby uses a quote from James Madison, apparently written in the spring of 1835, as inspiration for the project:

History Tech Podcast: Episode Two – Lincoln the movie and historical thinking

I got the chance to watch the Lincoln movie a week or so ago. Loved it. Who would have thought? A movie about constitutional law? Interesting?

But great casting, great costuming, and great performances, especially by Daniel Day Lewis, create a great movie. My wife was concerned about the length and walked out afterwards praising the movie. Even my daughter, who is not the history geek that her dad is, said:

The movie helped me see that Lincoln is an actual person, not just some historical figure in some textbook. He played with his kids while trying to run the country. I thought that was cool.

And I learned more about the process of how laws are passed and so I plan to go to a great college and become a lawyer, supporting my father in his quest to play every golf course in the state of Hawaii.

Okay. I added that last bit. But she really did enjoy how a very important piece of American history was told in an engaging and interesting way.

But how to use the movie in the classroom?

Fact, opinion, bias, media literacy and the need for democrats with a lower case D

It may be one of the most important things we do as social studies teachers. But it seems as if it’s often one of the first things pushed to the side in our frantic attempt to “cover” all of our content.

What’s it?

It is what we do when we teach our kids to distinquish between fact and opinion, to recognize bias, to identify propaganda and misleading statements – providing the opportunity for our kids to develop strong media literacy skills. These are skills that we should not teach in isolation as simply part of some lesson plan in the back of our supplementary materials. These are skills that prepare your kids to be democrats.

We need more democrats. And I’m not talking Democrats as in the opposite of Republicans.

Tip of the Week – 2012 Constitution Day resources

It’s that time of year again.

Constitution Day 2012 is next week and you may be scrambling a bit to find a few useful resources.

Constitution Day is an American federal holiday that recognizes the ratification of the United States Constitution and also recognizes all who have become citizens due to either coming of age or naturalization. It is always observed on September 17, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787.

The law establishing the holiday was created in 2004 with the passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd. Before this law was enacted, the holiday was known simply as “Citizenship Day.”

Part of the law passed in 2004 requires all schools receiving federal funds to provide some sort of US Constitution instruction on that day. To help as you plan your activities, I’ve put together a short list of goodies.

Center for Civic Education
A variety of lesson plans for all grades

National Constitution Center
Lessons, video clips, resources searchable by grade level

Constitution Day Portal
EDSITEment | Resources, Interactive, Documents
Lots of resources and materials including many available in Spanish

iCivics
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner founded iCivics back in 2009 to help teachers and students better understand the workings of American government. Lessons and resources including some awesome video games and sims.

National Council for the Social Studies
Lessons, links, resources for teaching the Constitution

National Endowment for Humanities
This year, the NEH will celebrate Constitution Day by honoring the Constitution together with another pivotal document from U.S. history: the Emancipation Proclamation. From the NEH’s Emancipation Resource Portal, you can access resources and learn more about planned events. Not to be missed?

• A live, streamed performance on Constitution Day. A panel of Civil War scholars will “recreate the national scene and the dilemmas facing Americans on Sept. 22, 1862.” Students will be able to submit questions via Twitter or email. (Register your “watch party” here.)

Constitution Day
TeachingHistory | Resources, Interactive, Documents
A large collection of Constitution related goodies.

Here’s a few more that might be useful!

• MileStoneDocuments
• National Archives
• Library of Congress
• Constitution Facts
• Scholastic
• Annenberg Classroom
• Student rights under the Constitution
• Justice Learning – Constitution Resources
• The Constitution for Kids
• Civic Ed – Lessons for Constitution Day and Citizenship Day
• U.S. Constitution Teaching and Learning Resources
  
• EdGov - Commemorating Constitution Day and Citizenship Day

Have fun!

National party convention resources and other handy dandy political goodies

One of the things that most 12-step recovery programs have in common is that the person in recovery must first admit that they have a problem.

I admit it. I have a problem.

I love politics. I love reading about politics. I love talking about politics. And ask just about anyone . . . I especially love arguing about politics.

We’ve all been bombarded with political ads for what seems like the last 47 months but the real political season starts today with the Republican National Convention. With the Democratic convention next week, my life is complete. I will admit that part of me is disappointed in the behavior of many of those running for office (see Akins of Missouri and Vice President Biden) but I still believe in the exercise.

I mean . . . how cool is the American political process? Democracy? National party conventions? Fair and open elections? Transition of power? Preamble of the US Constitution? What’s not to love?

To help you and your students better understand and love the convention process, I’ve listed some handy dandy resources below:

National Democratic Convention
Official site

Republican National Convention
Official site

Conventional Wisdom: A History of American Political Conventions
Podcast discussing the history of conventions with useful materials from a very cool site called BackStory

How Political Conventions Work
From the How Stuff Works people

How Media Coverage of the Political Conventions have shifted to Cable, Online
PBS coverage and commentary

K12in2012 Learning Center
Generation Nation: K12in2012 has put together some awesome curriculum / resources about the nominating process, including a nice mock convention. You can also find tons of other election stuff here.

CNN Explains: Political Conventions
A sweet video highlighting the how and why of conventions. Other handy videos relating to the conventions as well as the candidates can also be found here

Allsides
This site deserves its own post. Expect one later this week. It sorts ”through the noise, exposing bias, and showing all sides of every issue so we, the people, can truly decide for ourselves.”

Conventional Wisdom
Info on every Democratic and Republican political convention since 1832. Incredible amount of resources.

So I admit it. I love this. Reading, talking and arguing politics. Feel free to join in!