Notes on what we're doing #InClassToday

US History I:
We wrap up our "road to revolution" sections and segue into the American Revolution itself. I teach the war portion by having the students compare a handful of sources related to the experience of the war and/or hopes and concerns related to the war.

Students chose either the Oneida Declaration of Neutrality, an excerpt from the John and Abigail Adams letters ("remember the ladies..."), or an excerpt from Boston King's experience. They were told to be ready to "teach" their source.

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Some notes on what's happening in class today:

US History I:

We wrap up the great awakening, which I primarily use as a way to illustrate changes in print, transportation, and jntercolonial relationships. Then we turn our gaze to the Seven Years War, where we'll be for Wednesday as well.

I teach the war in two sessions, one focusing on a more traditional Eurocentric understanding. That's today: we'll do a close reading of the textbook together to try and piece together a typical narrative of the war's origins and meaning. Pre-work had them summarize, based on the textbook, their understanding of the war's causes. We'll use those as our discussion starter.

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#InClassToday #Teaching

Some quick notes about what I'm doing in classes today:

US History I -
After a few heavy classes, we mostly focus on society and colonial identity in the early 1700s: who was represented, colonial economies, and relationships to each other. Students read an excerpt from Sarah Knight's travel diary c. 1704. We use it to talk about the diversity of the N Am. British colonies and their relationship to Britain. Fairly straightforward discussion that segues into lecture and sets us up for talking about colonial identity vis a vis the Great Awakening on Wednesday.

#InClassToday #Teaching

Some notes on what we're doing #InClassToday:

US History I:
Most of the session is devoted to lecture/discussion of early indigenous and Euro (esp. English) relationships in the 1600s.

Students listened to the rest of the Ben Franklin's World "World of the Wampanoag" episodes; they had already listened to part I, now they listened to part II. The goal is to discuss and use the podcast to bring some complexity to this period, highlighting a few things:

* Europeans are just one factor in indigenous life at this point -- an important one, but not an absolutely defining one. Indigenous groups navigate the arrival of Europeans and their early colonization within a broader set of concerns including recent epidemics, and conflicts between different groups.

* European land use becomes an early and recurring point of conflict, one that often leads to violence and intentional displacement.

* But there are also fascinating moments of intercultural exchange, alliances, even friendships.

#Teaching

Some quick notes on what we're doing #InClassToday :

US History I:
Wrapping up our discussion of labor, race, and slavery in colonial North America, then covering some quick notes on very early New England society -- stuff that we didn't get to last week. I'm about a session behind, so I'm biting the bullet and moving everything back a class session for the time being. Having a hodgepodge day today allows us to devote full class sessions to some important topics over the next few meetings, including Wednesday, when we'll talk about Indigenous power in the 1600s.

Students are also turning in their first of a handful of primary source essays tonight, which is also the first significant assignment of the semester. This is a benchmarking essay, where I don't give them a lot of guidance. It tells me what we'll work on re: primary source analysis (and writing) the rest of the semester. They are to compare/connect two primary sources (of a defined set) on a theme of their choice.

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Some notes on what we're doing #InClassToday:

US History I: We are a smidge behind. This *should* be a session on labor, race, and slavery in English N American colonies. Students will have read several short primary sources, primarily Virginia legal docs from the 1600s. Discussion should use these sources to trace the evolution of labor and slavery in colonial VA , and the construction of race therein. With the right group, this exercise is usually really dynamic. If you're paying attention, you can literally see the attachment of slavery to race happen over time, document by document. But if a group is not prepped, it tends to drag. Not sure how this group is quite yet.

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#Teaching

Could have really used another weekend day! Feeling very behind this morning.

Nevertheless, the students will show up (most of them, and bodily, at least), and so I will do the same. And, the paycheck.

Here's what we're doing in my US History I, Historical Research and Writing, and Public History practicum sessions today:

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#InClassToday #Teaching

Some notes on what we're doing #InClassToday --

US History I -
We'll bring our story back to North America to learn about Euro exploration of the continent in the 1500s and, especially, indigenous-Euro interactions.

One of the goals of this session is to get students thinking about North America as "vast" in every respect. I use a few maps (the Gutierrez map of 1562) to explore this idea. I also use the story of Don Luis to highlight that it's not just Europeans arriving in the Americas but, for a variety of reasons including enslavement/coercion, indigenous peoples now seeing other parts of the world, too.

We also read a primary source that relates indigenous perceptions of European society and customs. It dates a tiny bit later but is relevant in terms of place and peoples. The Gaspesian man whose ideas are recounted is unimpressed by European society. The students usually really enjoy this one.

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#InClassToday:

US History I: We'll spend all of our session unpacking the Columbus letter of 1493. Pre-work was not just reading the source but marking it up: I asked them to mark up things thought were interesting/surprising, things they thought were important, and things that might give us a sense of what Columbus thinks the place where he lands, the people they interact with, etc.

It's our first real primary source of the semester, so we walk through key questions to ask of a source and especially talk about perspective and subtext. Our discussion should lead us to the conclusion that, from the moment he arrives, Columbus is interested in his new surroundings as property and potential value, labor, etc.

We end by talking about what isn't in the source -- who isn't heard from -- and why it's important to not just gather multiple sources, but multiple diverse sources. (In our next session, they read some indigenous perspectives on Euro arrival in the Americas.)

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