Clik here to view.
Mr. D’s History Bookshelf # 8: The Amazing Impossible Erie Canal
For educators like me, history books for the classroom come in two varieties. The first, one all too many of us recollect, is the somber collection of names, dates, events and explanations followed by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Dos and Don’ts of the Common Core Standards
Lately, the Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) has taken a good piece of my life. First, it was the beginning of the year meetings that introduced us to the CCLS (then called the Common Core State...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Treacherous Rainbow of Identity Politics in History
“The thing is, you cannot judge a race. Any man who judges by the group is a pea-wit. You take men one at a time.” ~ Sergeant ‘Buster’ Kilrain, in Gettysburg (1993) I’m always uneasy when government...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Dear John Letter to my Textbooks
Dear NYC Social Studies Core Curriculum Textbooks published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, This is a difficult letter for me to write…and an even more difficult letter for you to read, so I hope that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Movies for the Classroom: A Christmas Carol (1971)
The holidays are never complete without Charles Dickens‘ immortal Victorian morality tale–and now you can show among the best versions of the story. In 1843, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Website Review: Mission 2 of Mission: US – “Flight to Freedom”
All video game franchises attempt to improve with time. With PBS’ Mission:US, however, the delays were making us question whether there was going to be a second mission after all. It has been a long...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Videos for the Classroom: Interview about “Slavery by Another Name”
A few nights ago, PBS showed a documentary that chilled me to the bone. Slavery by Another Name is a documentary based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Where Does Journalism End…and Bullying Begin? Teacher Data Reports and the Media
Tweed Courthouse, headquarters of the NYC Department of Education. Image via Wikipedia On November 16, 1801, a group of New York politicians led by Alexander Hamilton began a political broadsheet that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Videos for the Classroom: Dr. Seuss’ The Butter Battle Book
In our belated homage to Dr. Seuss on his March 2nd birthday, the Neighborhood presents a video of one of Seuss’ greatest–and most controversial–works. In 1984, Seuss’ The Butter Battle Book caused a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Website Review: Dr. Seuss Went to War
During World War II, everyone played a part. Everyone…including Dr. Seuss. Before Theodore Giesel gained worldwide prominence as a childrens’ book author, he was the chief editorial cartoonist for the...
View Article
