Website Spotlight: Benjamin Franklin (PBS)

 

Website URL: http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/ 

Introductory Note:

Welcome to one in a series of posts which spotlight quality websites that I use with my U.S. History survey course students at Azusa Pacific University to enrich the regular material in our learning modules.

In this post, I limit myself to those specific aspects of the website which I find fit particularly well within our face-to-face class sessions (each student is required to bring a laptop to class) or as the basis for the students' regularly-assigned written reactions.

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Begin with this:

~Ben A to Z (Ben's Interests and Achievements)
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/az.html

Then work through each of the following links:

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CITIZEN BEN:
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l2_citizen.html

1. Networker
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_citizen_networker.html

2. Firefighter
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_citizen_firefighter.html

3. Founding Father
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_citizen_founding.html

4. Abolitionist
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_citizen_abolitionist.html

5. Insurance Ben-efactor
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_citizen_insurance.html

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WIT AND WISDOM:
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l2_wit.html

1. Name That Ben: [be sure to click on "Silence Dogood" and read Ben's first Silence Dogood letter]
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_wit_name.html

2. Read All About It [click on "Apology for Printers"]
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_wit_read.html

3. Master Marketer
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_wit_master.html

4. Franklin Funnies
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_wit_franklin.html

5. Self-Improvement
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_wit_self.html

~Take Ben's Virtue Quiz
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/exp_virtue.html

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INQUIRING MIND:
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l2_inquiringmind.html

1. Glass Armonica [click on "Hear a Mozart composition"]
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_inquiring_glass.html

2. Health
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_inquiring_medical.html

3. Weather Wise
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_inquiring_weather.html

4. It's The Little Things [Ben's Various Inventions]
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_inquiring_little.html

5. Mesmer
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_inquiring_mesmer.html

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WORLD OF INFLUENCE:
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l2_world.html

1. Celebrity
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_world_celebrity.html

2. Agriculture
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_world_agriculture.html

3. Man of Letters
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_world_letters.html

4. France
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_world_france.html

5. Spies
http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/l3_world_spies.html

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Concluding Note:

I hope you will use this blog post in conjunction with both the modules on my Learning Professor wiki and the numerous other posts in my Website Spotlight series.

1. The website spotlighted in this post fits within the following U.S. History survey course modules on the wiki:
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/Colonial+Era
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/Road+to+Revolution
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/Revolution
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/Constitution

2. The other blog posts in my Website Spotlight series--chronologically displayed by U.S. History survey course module-- can be found on this wiki page:
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/WEBSITE+SPOTLIGHT 

Website Spotlight: Benjamin Franklin

Website URL: http://www.benfranklin300.org/exhibition/_html/0_0/index.htm

Chapter One: Character Matters (1706-1723)

a. A Voracious Reader
b. Silence Dogood

Chapter Two: B. Franklin, Printer (1723-1748)

a. Way to Wealth
b. At Home in Philadelphia

Chapter Three: Civic Visions (1731-1751)

a. Improving the Self and Community

"As a lifelong learner, Franklin taught himself to read French, German, Italian, and Spanish, on top of the Latin he learned as a child."

b. Protecting the Citizens

Chapter Four: Useful Knowledge (1747-1785)

a. A Society of "Ingenious Men"
b. Shipboard Amusements [see "Swimming by Kite"]
c. Electrical Fire

Chapter Five: World Stage (1744-1787)

a. Forging Unification
[Albany Congress!!]
[Glass Armonica]
b. Declaring Independence
c. Forming Alliances
d. Mastering Diplomacy
e. Creating a Constitution

Chapter Six: Seeing Franklin (1787-Today)
His unfinished Autobiography