7 Questions with Tony DiSario, Social Studies Teacher on Special Assignment

Anthony “Tony” DiSario, M. Ed., graduated from the University of Florida with professional specializations in Elementary Education and American History. With the exception of three years teaching at Georgia State University, Mr. DiSario has spent the better part of twenty years providing engaging learning opportunities for elementary students. Currently, Mr. DiSario supports Elementary Social Studies instruction in the twenty-eight elementary schools in Henry County, Georgia as the Elementary Social Studies Teacher on Special Assignment. When not teaching, Mr. DiSario coaches wrestling and enjoys watching his son and daughter compete in athletics. Mr. DiSario can be seen traveling from school-to-school on his deep orange, Harley Davidson Road King CVO, lovingly nicknamed, “Betsy.”

               

1. How and/or when did you get you hooked on history?

I took two courses in high school that really hooked me on history. The first was called POD – Problems of Democracy. I had a really engaging teacher who was great at telling stories and at pointing out the difference between myths and probable facts. Then, I took one of the most incredible courses in my career. It was simply titled, Humanities. Three teachers taught three classes of kids at the same time in a large room. One teacher was a history teacher, one a Language Arts teacher and the third was an Art teacher. Between the three of them, we looked at the multi-faceted components of our history. It was a truly integrated course, the likes of which I have never seen again.

2. What role does history play or has it played in your personal life?

This question would require a whole book of my personal history to answer fully. Instead, I’ll respond in unrelated bullets:

• I keep ordinary documents. Movie stubs. Check stubs. Love notes from 5th grade.
• I can argue with people on Facebook.
• I don’t freak out when I watch the news. Historians can always point to a previous time that was worse.
• I am cynical. I want to see the evidence before I take a side or agree with an opinion.
• I rarely believe in conspiracy theories.

3. How is/How was history a part of your professional life/career?

I “Do History” every single day. I am charged with finding new and better ways to help learners to seek out their own answers to their own questions about history.

4. Why is studying/knowing history important?

Studying and knowing history leads to freedom. Personal historical “perspectives” are spewed in all sorts of media. Knowing history gives the historian the ability to question those, typically baseless, perspectives. Understanding history gives one the power to seek the truth. To me, the ability to question and seek the truth define freedom.

5. What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why?

The part when the aliens came and the President of the United States and a scientist saved the world. I guess, knowing that’s why we celebrate Independence Day, is my favorite part.

6. What does your job as a Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) entail?

Specifically, my job is to assist the Social Studies Coordinator in supporting our twenty-eight elementary schools in Social Studies instruction. The focus of my daily work is on professional development, but I deal with all areas related to Social Studies in the elementary schools including, materials, technology, and instructional design.

7. What are some high points and low points of being a social studies TOSA?

I love my job. I literally get to work with history every single day. I get to learn more everyday about history education and I get to do my favorite thing in the world – help other people. I love traveling to see and learn new instructional strategies and to hear new perspectives on history. I love working on new materials and strategies that will excite teachers and their students about history. Unfortunately, the tradeoff is that I don’t get to have my own students any longer. Not hearing, “Mr. D.! Mr. D.!” in the hallways hurts my heart.

7 Questions with Heather MacKenzie, Henry County (GA) Social Studies Coordinator

Heather MacKenzie is an Instructional Coordinator for Social Studies and World Languages for Henry County Schools, the eighth largest school district in the state of Georgia. She came into this position two years ago after 14 years as a classroom teacher, where she had experience as a Special Ed, Elementary, and Middle School teacher. During her career she has enjoyed presenting at the local, state, and national levels, as well as serving as a consultant and curriculum writer for the Georgia Humanities Council.

1. How and/or when did you get you hooked on history?

A love of and respect for history has been a constant in my life. Born and raised in Philadelphia, my earliest memories are weekend outings to Valley Forge or field trips to Independence Hall. In high school I used to spend all day laying out and studying on the Princeton Battlefields. I even remember when the Liberty Bell was next to a bus stop! However, I would say I truly became hooked on history in high school. Like most educators, I was inspired by an educator. Mr. Tom Wilcox was my US History teacher at The Hun School of Princeton. That man knew everything! I had always enjoyed and even exceled in social studies and history courses throughout my years as a student, but in 11th grade Mr. Wilcox engaged us in a way no other teacher had: he made connections. I suddenly saw history as a living, breathing discipline as opposed to the study of dead men and dates. Now, this was before the age of pervasive technology use in the classroom. This was when textbooks were akin to gospel and that was how you learned everything about the past. Except in Wilcox’s class (He was the cool teacher who went by one name like Cher or Beyonce; No formalities needed). Mr. Wilcox would dive into rich lecture and discussion and presentations would be peppered with slide shows of his personal travels and anecdotes. He made whatever topic we were studying relevant to a group of teenagers. His expectations for us were unparalleled and we each worked hard to meet them because he empowered us to do so. Years later when I became a history teacher myself, his teaching was the meter stick to which I measured myself against. This year I will return to Hun for my 20th Reunion and can’t wait to thank Wilcox for “hooking” me on history.

2. What role does history play or has it played in your personal life?

My favorite thing to do in my personal time is to travel and over the years I have been fortunate enough to do quite a bit of it. The majority of my travels have been to historical sites or small towns that would bring history to life. While some places like Williamsburg, Virginia, have been maintained for tourism, the most fascinating places are those that time has seemingly forgotten. Places where I am studying the past but enjoying the present, like learning to two-step in Cody, Wyoming, or bringing the house down at karaoke in Frankfort, Kentucky (It was a mic drop moment). In addition, during my travels I have connected with other educators or lovers of history, and formed friendships that have lasted years. I’m truly grateful for how full my life has become as a result of those travels.

3. How is/How was history a part of your professional life/career?

I began my career as a Special Ed teacher where I addressed all content areas but specifically the focus was on reading and math. In 2004, I was accepted into my first of four Teaching American History Grant programs and it changed the trajectory of my career. Working with and learning from historians, professors, and peers provided a laser focus for me and guided me into positions where I was able to spend more time with social studies content. As a cheerleader for social studies education I have also worked closely with amazing organizations like the Georgia Council for the Social Studies (GCSS), Georgia Council on Economic Education (GCEE), and other national organizations, that promote history and social studies education and best instructional practices within the disciplines.

 

4. Why is studying/knowing history important?

I once read a comic/cartoon that said “Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. Yet those who do study history are doomed to standby helplessly while everyone else repeats it.” I feel that History is not only the study of the past but the application of the skills that we want all citizens to possess: critical or analytical thinking and the ability to investigate multiple sources or perspectives before forming judgements. While the cartoon made me giggle with the idea of ‘it’s funny because it’s true,’ I know so many amazing individuals who do something with their knowledge—they advocate, organize, educate. That is what gives me hope for the continued growth of history education.

5. What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why?

Asking for a favorite aspect of history is like asking who your favorite student or child is! Based on my upbringing I am partial to colonial or revolutionary history. Teddy Roosevelt is my favorite president so I am a bit obsessed with history of the progressive era and his global reach. Essentially, I tend to shift my preference based on whatever I am reading or studying at the time but if I had to select one aspect, I would say that I am captivated by the history of pop-culture and how music, films, spirts, etc., have influenced American culture. I think this aspect of history is of particular fascination to me because of its fluidity. It is ever changing and it has always been a great way to connect with others.

 

6. What are some high points and low points of being a district social studies coordinator?

The high points of this position occur any time that I have the opportunity to interact with teachers. I have the pleasure of serving teachers in Henry County but my role as a district coordinator has afforded me the opportunity to work with teachers from around the state and country. I am inspired by them daily and through my dealings with them, am consistently reminded of the great responsibility of this role and how important it is for me to be their voice. The low points of being a district coordinator is that I often miss the students!

7. What trends or changes are happening in social studies education now?

I know that the saying goes, “The only thing is life you can count on is change” and feel confident that it must have been an educator who first coined the phrase. There are a number of things happening in education both at the state and national level but the trend I have seen pop-up the most is the idea of 21st Century Learning. This broad umbrella covers a number of initiatives including personalized learning, project-based learning, tech-enabled instruction, STEM, and so on. At the core of 21st Century Learning is the idea that we are charged with preparing students for jobs that have not yet been created. However, this also refers to preparing students to assume roles as citizens in a global community and that is where social studies education can be of the most support. This is daunting but also exciting because I immediately link it back to the study of history. This is not the first time that we have seen such seismic shifts in mindset or practice and my belief is that as long as we continue to build up great citizens and leaders, we will prepare our kids for whatever they choose to do after graduation.

7 Questions with Ben Smalley, The Specialist on YouTube

Ben Smalley grew up in Athens Georgia, received his Bachelors in Social Science Education from UGA and his Masters in Social Studies Education from Georgia State.  He currently teaches Honors and AP US History and coaches Varsity girls soccer at Pebblebrook High School in Cobb County. Check out his new Youtube Channel, “The Specialist."

1. How and/or when did you get you hooked on history?
I got hooked on history when my 10th grade AP US History teacher explained that history was a fluid interpretation of the past rather than a static memorization of facts.

2. What role does history play or has it played in your personal life?
I love to see how history connects to current events and absolutely love to travel to historical places.  It is so amazing to see and experience something you have read/taught about for years.

3. How is/How was history a part of your professional life/career?
I currently teach Honors and AP US History, I just started a youtube channel that is heavy on history, and I am working on using 360 degree camera technology to take students on virtual field trips using virtual reality headsets and smartphones.

4. Why is studying/knowing history important?
History can explain everything that is happening in the world we live in.  It is important that we understand history and try to build on our shared successes and failures in order to make the world a better place.  

5. What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why?
I love 1920s America!  There are so many amazing things happening at once and I think it marks the beginning of the modern era.  I was also recently on a Mongolian Empire kick after listening to the podcast Hardcore History.

6. What is The Specialist?
The Specialist is a list show with intelligence.  The channel has short 1-3 minute videos with lists that are geared toward engaging my students, but also have a "did you know?" dinner party vibe as well. For example, in 9 Things You Didn't Know About The Civil Rights Movement you will find out that Rosa Parks was inspired by a 15 year old girl who refused to give up her seat on a bus before she did.



7. What will viewers gain from The Specialist and what’s your vision for its future?
The random viewer will gain a quick burst of knowledge that blends entertainment and education, while the student/teacher will gain a great supplementary tool that will hopefully fuel their hunger for learning.  My goal is to continue to add new videos, increase viewership, and get valuable feedback from my audience.

7 Questions with Annette Laing, Academic Historian

Annette Laing is an academic historian and former professor of early American history. She is   also the author of The Snipesville Chronicles, a series of MG/YA historical time-travel novels, and a presenter of what she calls Non-Boring History in schools, libraries, museums, teachers’ meetings, and other venues. Originally from Scotland and raised in England, Annette earned her PhD from the University of Caiifornia, Riverside. She is a published scholar, and was a tenured faculty member at Georgia Southern University before resigning in 2008.See her website http://annettelaing.com/

1. How and/or when did you get you hooked on history?
I don’t think there was a single moment when I became interested, but I do vividly remember two moments in particular, and both involve television. When I was 10, I watched the BBC’s Shoulder to Shoulder, a superb dramatization of the militant women’s suffrage movement in Edwardian Britain (also the subject of the recent movie Suffragette).  I was enchanted by the sight of very proper, posh women chucking rocks through shop windows, and agonized as they (or, at least, the actors who played them) suffered imprisonment and torture in pursuit of their civil rights. First chance I got, I cleared out our mobile library’s impressive collection of books on the subject. Two years later, I saw Roots, which ignited a lifelong fascination with American history, and African-American history especially. My magnificent secondary school history teachers in England, Alan Gardner and Colin Robson, sustained that interest for years, and also taught me how to teach.

2. What role does history play or has it played in your personal life?
It’s all-consuming, honestly, because the discipline affects how I think about everything. I can’t even drive on the freeway or visit the supermarket without contemplating the historical landscape, and how radically life has changed in the postwar period. I became an inveterate museumgoer very early in life, and have passed on that habit to my teenage son.  I particularly favor the small, specialized museums that all too often are overlooked. In Georgia, Chief Vann’s House in Chatsworth is one such: I have visited several times, and even brought a group of German high schoolers to tour it. . It should qualify as a World Heritage Site, and yet it’s only open a few days a week, which is disgraceful. Chief Vann’s House sums up the enormous and fascinating complexity of American history: It was the home of a half-Scottish Cherokee who lived in a real-life Tara, operating a chain of taverns (19^th century motels), and depending on the forced labor of dozens of enslaved African-Americans on his land, while his tenants, German Moravian missionaries, observed everything. You can’t make this stuff up

3. How is/How was history a part of your professional life/career?
I am a professional historian, an academic with a PhD in early American and British history. My scholarly work is concerned with transatlantic cultural connections in the 18^th century, and especially religion. As a historian, I am best known for "Heathens and Infidels"? African Christianization and Anglicanism in the South Carolina Low Country, 1700-1750 (2002), which challenged historians’ longstanding assumptions about the relationship between Africans and Christianity in the 18^th century. I was a history professor at Georgia Southern University for many years, but was never really satisfied with life in the academy, which is why I resigned in 2008. I had always wanted to engage with the public, and I created my first program for children at Georgia Southern in 2003. TimeShop took kids on a daylong time-travel adventure to a small town in England in 1940, where they and my students who led them (many of them in costume) enjoyed several half-hour experiences that ranged from living in a wartime home, to going to school, shopping, attending a movie matinee, and even a wedding reception. Basically, it was interactive theatre. It was the subject of an Associated Press feature, and it gave me the idea for the first of my novels. Now, I am an independent historian whose work takes me into regular contact with the public, and especially kids and teens. I can most typically be found in costume (always as an ordinary person of the past), wielding assorted props, and  entertaining audiences with disguised college lectures that make them laugh, sometimes cry, and (always) think. I am thrilled to have so many and varied opportunities to deepen people’s love and understanding of history, and, in my more insane moments, consider myself a sort of Johnny Appleseed of historical thinking.

4. Why is studying/knowing history important?
I never cease to be amazed and appalled by how little we understand and value history in America. Too many people think it’s a bunch of facts that kids should know (never mind that most adults are themselves vague about said facts), or that it’s about being interested in the quaint bygone days of yesteryear. Academic history is neither of these things: It’s a discipline, a way of thinking, that seeks to understand the past, and through it, the world we inhabit now.

I am writing hours after learning of the tragic loss of Cliff Kuhn, an eminent historian who just happened to teach at Georgia State University. Every Sunday, for years, he led a free historical walking tour of the events of the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 for anyone who cared to turn up, and many did. Nobody who took that tour could ever look at modern Atlanta, Georgia, or race relations in the same way again. That’s the power of history. It makes us think more deeply and more creatively. I cannot imagine a better training for a career, or –more importantly-for life.

5. What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why? 
I have to say colonial America, of course, even though I am also very keen on Victorian Britain and 20^th century history in both countries. It pained me recently to hear a 20^th century historian dismiss colonial America as “irrelevant”, because it’s anything but. So many of the issues that continue to vex us originated in that period: race relations, conceptions of property rights, gun rights, consumerism, religion . . .  All these issues and more are rooted in early America, as is (sometimes) the way we think about them.

6. What are The Snipesville Chronicles and how did they come about?
I have great fun writing this series of novels about three ordinary kids from a very boring small town in Georgia who become unwilling time travelers. Fellow historians pointed out to me that the books not only entertain, but also model how we think, which was a pleasant surprise to me! The adventures of obnoxious Hannah, dorky Brandon, and spacy Alex take them repeatedly through time to a small town in England, and also to the site of the Georgia town in which they live in the 21^st century. The first book, Don’t Know Where, Don’t Know When (Snipesville Chronicles, Book 1) clearly originated in my TimeShop program: Hannah, Alex, and Brandon suddenly leave modern-day Snipesville, Georgia, and find themselves living as English kids in Balesworth, an ordinary town in the south of England, where they are drawn into the lives and secrets of the local people, in both World Wars. In A Different Day, A Different Destiny (Book 2), the three are working for a living in early industrial Britain and the slave South, and in Look Ahead, Look Back (Book 3) they come face to face with the hard realities of the 18^th century on both sides of the Atlantic.

Throughout the series, the kids are drawn into the lives of people who, despite sharing a common language, think very differently than they do. Sometimes, what happens to them is extremely funny, sometimes rather sad, but always, it’s thought-provoking. What has their experience to do with them, and with Snipesville? Those two questions hang over the entire series. One Way Or Another (due out in January and set mainly in 1905-6) is the last book in the series, I am sad to say. I thought I was writing for kids and young teens, and they certainly are my most ardent fans, but I have been rather tickled to have an adult following, too.  I am excited about various forthcoming projects in historical/time-travel fiction. I have considered writing non-fiction for younger readers, but fiction allows me to get at larger truths in a way that non-fiction (I refuse to write the ghastly “informational text”) does not.

7. What, in your opinion, should be done to improve the teaching of history in today’s schools and universities?
Really, I think the better question is not what should be done, but what should not be done. Teachers and, increasingly, professors are overburdened with bureaucracy and micromanaged to distraction. Teachers in particular have less and less control of what and how they should teach, on the assumption that their contribution is less important than prescribed curriculum and technique. Trying to standardize education is mad, of course. When formal education is successful, it is because teachers are free to teach in many different ways, and what matters is that the methods each of them uses are effective for them in reaching their students, and inculcating a passion for the study of the past. We need to support, encourage, and (most of all) respect teachers, and give them as much freedom as possible to teach what and how they like, while offering them rigorous professional development in content. Right now, our quixotic pursuit of standardized teaching perfection is leading to absolute disaster as teachers vote with their feet, and we are witnessing the bad in education driving out the good.

I would also like to see us get away from the tyranny of the survey course: The very idea that an inch-deep, mile-wide curriculum of famous names and dates somehow benefits anyone has done more damage to the reputation of history as a subject in America than anything else. What we need is to engage the subject deeply, to inspire students to read and enjoy and think about the past.

7 Questions With Tom Richey

Tom Richey lives in Clemson, South Carolina and teaches government, A.P. U.S., and A.P. European history.  Since 2012, he has made numerous review videos for his courses which have been viewed by thousands of A.P. students and teachers as they prepare for exams.  His website is http://www.tomrichey.net/, and his Youtube channel is found at https://www.youtube.com/user/tomforamerica/featured .

1.       How and/or when did you get you hooked on history?
I have a number of memories - the first being in sixth grade as my teacher, Ms. Campbell, was talking about Hannibal crossing the Alps and invading Rome.  She just lectured with an overhead and a marker - everything they would tell a sixth grade teacher (or any of us) NOT to do today - but I was captivated by the story itself and it came to life in my mind.  Then, there was Mr. Felkel, who taught me World History in 10th grade.  That guy was a LEGEND.  Again, another guy whose whiteboard and marker lecture methods would be assailed by the establishment but I swear you could have heard a pin drop in that room because he had such a captivating presence.  I looked forward to that class every single day and I remember thinking, "I wanna be that guy."  So I suppose you could think of the rest of my life as a journey toward being as awesome to someone else as he was to me back then.  It's a constant uphill climb.

2.       What role does history play or has it played in your personal life?
Do I even have a personal life?  That's a legitimate question.

3.       How is/How was history a part of your professional life/career?
Where do I begin?  I teach history and run a number of side businesses (YouTube, online tutoring, and I'm even working on an app that I hope to release in September) that are associated with history.  So yeah, it's pretty much my life!

4.       Why is studying/knowing history important?
I'm a big advocate of classical education on the traditional humanistic model.  Unfortunately, our public education system is largely driven by the values of progressive education, which at its root holds that something is worthless if it can't help someone in their future career.  Often, students avoid advanced studies in history because they feel the sciences are more important for their future career.  They don't realize that they have years of college and grad school ahead of them where they can focus on their career paths but they only have so much time where they can truly focus on getting a well-rounded education and a strong foundation in the humanities.  My dad, for example, had all the education he needed to become a physician, but he told me in high school that he wanted me to get a classical education and be someone who could hold his own in a conversation with educated people.  I think having a thorough background in history is key to understanding human nature, which is the key to understanding people and by extension the key to understanding life.  This is exactly why we teach the humanities and why we believe our subject to be important.  You can know a lot about the technical aspects of your job, but if you don't understand people, you're only going to get so far in any field.  I mean, look at Steve Jobs!  He didn't know how to write code but he understood people.  This is the type of person that our society ultimately deifies.

5.       What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why?
Although most of my video offerings right now are in Modern European History and US History, what I really love studying and teaching more than anything is classical history.  I plan to publish some videos on Roman History and some more on Greek Philosophy (my Plato vs. Aristotle video is one of my most successful) in the near future.  I feel like over thousands of years, all of the boring stuff has been filtered out and we've retained the best stories from ancient Greece and Rome.  It seems to me that there's so much minutia required by the curriculum when it comes to recent - and especially contemporary - history.  For example, our latest curriculum materials in US History include the 2009 stimulus package.  That kind of stuff is going to be filtered out with time.  Give me the good stuff.

6.       How did you get into making videos to teach history?
At first, it was mostly about trying to have something available for students who missed class.  Every teacher's familiar with how students show up after missing a day asking, "WHAT DID I MISS?" as if we're going to be able to impart 90 minutes of instruction to them in thirty seconds.  I thought I could spare myself the headache - of course, at that point, I didn't realize how much work goes into making video lectures!  So as I put these videos onto YouTube, I noticed that other people were watching them, as well, so that was really encouraging and I started thinking a bit bigger.  Now, when I make videos, I try to select topics that will be helpful to both my students and to the larger community of students across the nation and the world.  There are few things in life more flattering than someone halfway across the world asking me to clarify something for them or telling me that my videos have helped them learn.

7.       You are the host of a small dinner party of 3-5 guests from throughout history.  Who is on your guest list?
Nothing at all against the ladies, but I'm thinking a guys' night out with a few of the greats:
Thomas Jefferson
Voltaire
Marcus Garvey
Alexander the Great
Peter the Great

7 Questions with Zerah Jakub, Manager of Educational Resources and Outreach at Mount Vernon

Zerah Jakub is the Manager of Educational Resources and Outreach at the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon. She earned her M.A. in Museum Studies with a focus on Museum Education and Technology from The Johns Hopkins University and her B.A. in History and American Studies from Boston University. She spent six years working at museums in Boston before moving to Virginia to work at George Washington’s Mount Vernon in 2012. Currently she manages the digital presence of the Education Department at Mount Vernon and is working on updating and creating new classroom resources about George Washington. She is also the voice behind @GWBooks on Twitter and both the Fred W. Smith National Library and Mount Vernon for Teachers Facebook pages.

1. How and/or when did you get you hooked on history?

I honestly can’t remember exactly when I became hooked on history. Each year my three older brothers and I went on a summer adventure with our parents that always incorporated two things: historic sites and roller coasters. My parents are both teachers so educational experiences were always a focus on our annual summer vacations.

When I was in lower elementary school I received Molly, my first AmericanGirl® doll, at Christmas and devoured the books that came with her. My love of history just kept growing as each Christmas I received another doll and another glimpse into the past.

By the end of the fifth grade I knew that I wanted to study history. I remember being told on the last day of school that new textbooks were being ordered for the following year and we were welcome to take our history text if we wanted. I’m pretty sure I’m the only kid who took my teacher up on the offer, and I still have the book today. I walked home that day, showed the book to my mother, and declared that I would be attending college to study history.

2. What role does history play or has it played in your personal life?

History has completely taken over my personal life: I’m constantly buying new bookshelves to house my growing library; my house is decorated with historic maps and prints; I have a growing collection of pewter plates with historic scenes; and my friends refuse to travel with me because I tend to show up at the airport with a well-researched list of historic places to visit.

3. How is/How was history a part of your professional life/career?

History is a very personal thing to me. I become incredibly offended when I hear people say “history is boring” because usually they are not referring to the true study of history, but to the memorization of dates. My decision to go into museum education rather than a more traditional classroom setting was in part to change the minds of those who think they hate history. The informal educational setting of the museum can allow for history haters to find a personal connection to the past through the examination of objects, documents, letters, movies, music, oral histories, etc. I know I’ve done my job well when I see the eyes of someone who claims to hate history start to light up when they’ve found that personal connection with the past.

4. Why is studying/knowing history important?

Not only does the study of history provide insight into the past that can help with understanding the present, it also provides those who study it with a valuable skill set that is transferable to other disciplines. Historical analysis, the ability to recognize multiple viewpoints, written and oral communication, and creativity are just some of the skills that history can teach.

5. What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why?

I absolutely love American History in the years between the French and Indian War and the outbreak of the American Revolution – roughly 1763 to 1776. You can see the frustrations of the American colonists growing as each year passes into the next and you can follow along as they attempt to organize themselves into factions against the British crown and Parliament. This period also lends itself to a reflection on the past as many of the issues had their beginnings during the English Civil Wars and in their immediate aftermath.

6. What does Mount Vernon tell us about George Washington the man and the President?

Mount Vernon, both the mansion and the larger estate, provides many clues and much insight into who George Washington really was. The value he placed on practicality over style is evident in the slightly asymmetrical appearance of the west front of the mansion; his ingenuity can be seen in the 16-sided barn he had built in the 1790s; his foresight can be seen in his adoption of the Oliver Evans system at his gristmill; aspects of his day to day life can be ascertained from artifacts such as ceramics, buckles, animal bones, building materials, and beads found during archaeological excavations of the South Grove Midden (or trashpit)

7. How is the story told at Mount Vernon America’s Story?

The story told at Mount Vernon is about much more than just the life of the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army and first President of the United States. It is the story of the American family when seen through the eyes of the children who lived at Mount Vernon during Washington’s lifetime; not only Washington’s step-children Patsy and Jacky, but two of his step-grandchildren, Nellie and Washy, in addition to the numerous nieces, nephews, and family friends, such as the son of the Marquis de Lafayette. It is the story of American innovation through the technological advances Washington made on his farms and at his gristmill that helped ushered in the Industrial Revolution. It is the story of American progress when Washington’s changing views on slavery are examined. It is the story of American ingenuity when Ann Pamela Cunningham and the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association raised the funds to purchase and preserve Mount Vernon for the American people. The story of Mount Vernon is America’s story because it has the ability to resonate with Americans on multiple levels.

7 Questions With Khalil Chism, Education Specialist at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum

(Khalil G. Chism received his BA in History and M.Ed. in Secondary Education and Social  Studies, both from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. He has taught American Studies, U. S. History, U. S. Government, English, and Writing, at both the secondary and post-secondary levels. Currently serving as an Education Specialist at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum, Kahlil specializes in professional development training for social studies teachers, seminar facilitation, curriculum writing, document analysis, and historical writing and research.)


1. How and/or when did you get you hooked on history?

I became hooked on history in 1990, when a friend hired me to help run his book store on 2nd Street, in Richmond, VA. It was an African American book store, and I was responsible for ordering and stocking titles. The first of the life-changing books that I read, after selling many copies to various customers, all of whom highly recommended the book, was Assata: An Autobiography, which is the life story of 1960s era Black revolutionary and political exile, Assata Shakur. Reading that book made me feel like I was living in country, up until that point in my life, that I knew very little about, politically speaking.


2. What role does history play or has it played in your personal life?

Personally, historical study has helped me to clearly define my own value system, it has increased my confidence and pride in self and family, and imbued me with a sense of responsibility to my fellow man and community. Professionally, it has become my bread and butter. I guess you could say I studied my past and in it I found my future.


3. How is/How was history a part of your professional life/career?

I have a Bachelor’s degree in History and a Master’s in Secondary Education, since I went to school to become a high school social studies teacher. And I did teach U. S. history, American Studies, and advanced placement Government, but only during my graduate year. For most of the time that I was in education school, I was also employed as a historical interpreter at a historic house and plantation museum. So I’ve always had one foot in the traditional classroom world, and the other in the world of museum education. Professionally, those are the historic and educational spaces I’ve inhabited for the last fifteen years.

4. Why is studying/knowing history important?

Well, as Marcus Garvey said, “A people without a knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” From the time I first read those words, many many years ago, I believed them and sort of set my course in life, accordingly. In order to know where you might want to go, or what is possible or necessary for you to do in life, you should consult the past to see where others have been, or what others have done, and what is left to do or even redo. I realize to some reading this that this all might sound a bit historically cliché, but trust me; people who know me will tell you that I really do think and talk like this. I’ve long since become comfortable with being a history nerd.

5. What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why?

My concentration while in school was the early American period, from the founding of the country through the Progressive Era, in particular. That’s my favorite period because it’s the era that most explains why America is the way it is right now, and what “America” means in the context of world history. Everything great inspiring shameful and horrifying about America has its origins in that time period: the establishment of the 13 original British colonies on the Eastern Coast of this country; the interactions with, cultural exchange between, and slaughter and displacement of the Native American Indians at the hands of the settlers; our revolution from England which gave birth to a nation founding upon the equality of man, freedom from religion, and republicanism. At least on paper, that is. The transatlantic slave trade and the birth of North American race-based chattel slavery, the evolution of the ideology of white supremacy, and our rocky yet admirable striving toward the expansion of citizenship rights to include poor white men, formerly enslaved Africans, women, and new European immigrants, all happened in that period. Westward expansion, manifest destiny, emancipation and reconstruction, the gilded age, industrialization… . Without an understanding of these early decades of American history the present state of affairs in our country must seem, at best, confusing, and at worst, utterly unknowable.

6. What is the mission of the Carter Library?

Generally speaking, all of the presidential libraries and museums of the National Archives & Records Administration, our parent agency, exist to promote understanding of the presidency and the American experience. As an archives, we preserve and provide access to historical materials related to the administration and persons of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, we support research, and we create interactive programs and exhibits that educate and inspire. The mission of Education Programs here at Carter, which I manage, is to provide quality educational materials and experiences to the students, educators, and public of the state of Georgia, the country, and the world. We do this by creating document-based curricular materials and offering educational programming and training rooted in current best teaching practices, all tied to state and national learning standards.

7. How can/does the Library serve educators, students, and the public at large?

We have an award-winning museum that educates general visitors about the life and legacy of America’s 39th president, and life in the U. S. during the Carter years. That is done via our permanent museum installations, but we also have a wonderful temporary exhibit gallery which allows us to host traveling exhibits that deal with a variety of non-Carter related topics, three or four times per year. We also have a very vibrant public lecture program that brings in world-renowned authors several times per month. That program is free, by the way, and we have plentiful and free parking, right in the heart of Atlanta. We provide bus transportation funding to visiting schools to encourage field trip visits from our state’s k-12 students. And we also create standards-based curriculum and conduct professional development training for social studies educators. All of the details of our numerous program offerings and educational resources can be found on our website, at http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/education/. And of course, we have a twitter and a Facebook page for those who want to keep in touch with us in real time.

7 Questions With Brian Thomas, Teachers Curriculum Institute

(Brian was a middle school social studies teacher for twelve years just north of Cincinnati, OH.  In  the late 90s, he began using a program entitled History Alive by Teachers’ Curriculum Institute (TCI).  In 2002, he became a National Trainer for TCI, conducting pedagogy trainings around the country in the summer time while still teaching.  In 2004, he left the classroom to work full-time for TCI.  His current role includes sales, professional development, and content creation.  TCI website http://www.teachtci.com/ )

1.    How and/or when did you get you hooked on history? 

In high school.  My teachers inspired me to get into history through simulations and stories.

2.    What role does history play or has it played in your personal life? 

There are so many examples.  One would be - my mother does extensive genealogy research.  In the process of watching her do this, I get the benefit of hearing the stories of my heritage.

 

3.    How is/How was history a part of your professional life/career? 

I entered college knowing I wanted to teach history, and four years later…that’s exactly what I started doing.  Working with young people and teaching them US History was a joy; never a job.

 4.    Why is studying/knowing history important? 

 The only way to see where you are going in life is to see where you’ve come from.

 5.    What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why? 

 I thoroughly enjoy the Revolutionary War time period.  Initially it was the Civil War but then I read Rise to Rebellion by Jeff Shaara as well as other books that slowly began to change my mind.  It’s still fascinating to read about our nation’s founders.

 

6.    What are the major challenges facing social studies teachers today? 

Teachers are ever-more pinched on time.  Standards, which should have a place, can lead to thin study if pacing just for exams.  Teachers are pinched by the encroachment of ELA and Math for PD and support.  Too long publishers have treated teachers as content dumps….they’d write thick books and just expect teachers to lecture and worksheet kids to death.  Technology has changed that dynamic.  Content is not difficult to find…you can just Google it.  The greatest pinch of all still exists though….time.  There’s never enough of it to plan a great lesson.

 7.    What is TCI’s mission and how is it serving teachers and students? 

 TCI supports the teachers overcome that pinch.  We create great, hands-on lessons that come with the content.  That makes adapting the lesson to personal taste and need a lot easier than coming up with it.  TCI creates lessons that use tools like technology not like other companies that use a tool in search of instruction.  In other words, we support proven instructional practice.  In that space, TCI does not have a peer among publishers.