clair055

At first glance the song Cult of Personality by the band Living Color seems like a wonderful addition to lessons for Black History Month or a Civil Rights unit. The song begins with quotation from Malcom X…..a snippet from his Message to the Grass Roots ….a speech that was given to unify African Americans on November 10, 1963. The quotation inserted in the lyrics is: “and during the few moments we have left…we want to talk right down to earth in a language that everybody here can easily understand.” The quotation is a little altered from the actual speech, but it’s easy to see how Malcom X was trying to point out the differences in Black culture and how unification was needed to move civil rights along. But is this song really speaking in a language we can all understand or is there more to the message? Take a look at the lyrics: Look into my eyes, what do you see? Cult of Personality I know your anger, I know your dreams I've been everything you want to be I'm the Cult of Per...

At some point during your high school government class or college Political Science course you had to read The Federalist . Jacob Cooke in the forward section for the collection of essays writes…. the authoritative exposition of the Constitution [and] occupies an unrivaled place in our national political literature. 1. There are actually 85 articles regarding the ratification of the United States Constitution. They were originally published with the titles "The Federalist, No. 1”, The Federalist, No. 2”, etc. 2. Originally only 84 essays were written – not 85. The extra essay came about when the 31st essay was split. The 29th essay was also moved to follow the 34th to make the sequence logical. 3. The set of essays are the go-to source when interpreting the Constitution. By 1788, two volumes containing the essays were published with the title “The Federalist”. While many collections of the papers now carry the title The Federalist Papers , it is a misnomer. 4. The articles capture...

I have this pair of magnets on my fridge. They don’t really belong to me. I confiscated them years ago from a student. He was throwing them up in the air, and as they whizzed past each other they bumped against each other making clicking and zinging noises as they fell back towards his outstretched hands. Over and over he threw them up in the air. The young man throwing them was a very intelligent student. It was possible for him to comprehend every word I said during those few precious minutes of instructional time, BUT there were students around him that weren’t as fortunate. They were being distracted. So was I for that matter. I confiscated them because they were disturbing a lesson….I confiscated them because I was protecting the general welfare of my classroom. I simply grabbed them and kept on going with my lesson without missing a beat. While I continued to talk I took the few steps to the back of them to place them on my desk. To find out what happened to those magnets and how...

While most of my students learn history in a school setting from educators like myself, we cannot emphasize family history enough. It IS important. Family history helps students to realize their place within their families as well as how they fit in with historical events. Learning family history can answer questions regarding when relatives first arrived in North America and where they settled. Details regarding everyday life can be internalized, and the effects of certain events can help us connect to events we didn’t live through such as the Great Depression or World War II. While there are many ways to go about learning family history one of the best ways to go about it is merely to listen……listen to those older members of your family. I don’t mean merely nodding your head at them, smile, and wonder when you can escape them. I mean really listen….and that means to listen with a purpose so that real communication takes place. StoryCorps provides a fantastic opportunity for gen...