Welcome back to another Loves, Links, Reads, and Reviews – the monthly link roundup where I post my best Social Studies related finds from the internet and discuss all that I’ve been up to in the past month. Below is my list for August 2023. You can find all of the previous Monthly Roundups here.)
Ahh, September 1st, it’s that time of year where we all like to pretend that it’s fall, despite the reality of continued warm temperatures. In my area, it’s predicted to be some of the hottest temperatures of the summer – right as we return to our classrooms.
I haven’t written one of these posts in a year, and I don’t know if I’ll have the time once school begins. However, I did a ton of work to update and refine my resources this month, and I thought it deserved some documentation. I also happened upon a bunch of new links that I wanted to share.
Loves and Links
Constitutional Compromise – iCivics.org has a new game about the compromises of the Constitution. I always felt that was a piece that was missing from their website. I played this briefly to check it out, and it nicely lays out the and I think that it’s best played as a full class, though other teachers might have a different opinion.
Black Founders Virtual Tour – The Museum of the American Revolution has a new tour about the Forten Family. This is a neat exhibit, and I really love the option to visit “virtually.” I would suggest crafting some type of “scavenger hunt” for use with students.
National Geographic | Map Maker – This has probably been around for a while, but I first stumbled upon it this past month. Students (and teachers) can generate their own maps using a plethora of options and data provided by National Geographic. They have many “current event” map topics, like coral bleaching, asylum seekers, and Amazonian tree cover.
The Native American Boarding School System – (The New York Times – should be a gifted article.)This article summarizes the collected research regarding Native American Boarding Schools in the United States. I’ve read many articles discussing more anecdotal accounts of experiences, however, this one brings it all together. Given the scope of the abuse, this article is more for teachers.
OmniAtlas – This website contains the best historical maps I’ve ever seen for virtually every topic. If you’re looks for detailed historical maps relating to a particular topic – this is the site. Some are behind a paywall, but many are free.
Diffit – I’m very skeptical of the writing abilities of AI. However, this website is pretty darn good at creating leveled text for students. I teach students with 1st to 12th grade reading levels, so this website will be quite helpful this school year.
Peacefield History posts from this past month…
August was a working month for me. I was able to update a bunch of curriculum and add in some new resources that I’ve been crafting and editing for the past few months.
I didn’t write any new blog posts, but I did re-write an old one and add in some new reflections. 5 “Must-dos” for the First Day of Class was updated as I reflected on all of the noise I’ve seen around the internet in recent years regarding the “perfect” first day of school.
Updated Resources:
The American West Full Unit Bundle of Resources – I updated this entire unit. In some cases I just fixed some typos, but in others lessons I worked on tweaking the lesson to make it better for students. The lessons worked really well this past year, however, there were some details that I knew I could improve a bit. I also added in a new assessment for the unit. This includes a handout for review and two versions of the assessment. It’s based on the new U.S. History Regents for NY state. I’m working to develop all of my assessments to build students skills towards the new Regents questions. You can find it here – The American West – Review and Assessment.
Industrialization Unit Bundle | 23 Days of Lesson Plans and Assessment – Similarly to the west unit, I also went through and made a bunch of updates here. The biggests revisions involved changes to both the end of unit assessment and some of the formative assessments within each of the lessons.
New Resources:
I was VERY productive this month updating and adding new resource to my website.
The Truman Doctrine – Students will unravel the origins of the Truman Doctrine, delve into its consequential offshoots—the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Airlift—and demonstrate their grasp of these transformative events through an engaging slideshow and text-based questions.
The Korean War – Discover key aspects of the Korean War as students explore its causes, impact, and the power of containment. Covering topics like the Truman Doctrine, domino theory, communist China, and the United Nations, this lesson offers accessible insights suitable for middle or high school U.S. History classes.
Eisenhower and Containment – Students will explore foreign policy in the Eisenhower Era with a focus on containment, brinkmanship, the arms race, CIA development, and the Eisenhower Doctrine. They will also delve into key events like the Suez Canal crisis, space race, Taiwan crisis, Iran and Guatemala overthrows, and the U-2 incident. All are presented in an engaging, accessible format.
Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis – Through this lesson, students will immerse themselves in a mini-play that sheds light on the Kennedy era and the Cuban Missile Crisis. This mini-play is filled with drama and it draws from authentic conversations during the 13-day crisis, allowing students to role-play key events.
The Cold War | An Inquiry Based Unit – In this investigation, students will dive into the question: “Did U.S. efforts to contain communism from 1946 to 1962 really work?” As they navigate through a series of thought-provoking questions, engaging tasks, and carefully chosen documents, they’ll piece together an argument backed by evidence from various sources. Throughout the journey, they’ll explore containment strategies during the Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy presidencies.
Reads and Reviews
Our Missing Hearts
