The Learning Professor

Friday, June 29, 2012

Website Spotlight: History Now

Website URL: http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-now/2012-03/perspectives-america%E2%80%99s-wars

History Now Online journal
Produced by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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.

A typical issue of this quarterly journal will contain the following major sections:

1. "The Historian's Perspective" offers 4-6 scholarly essays.

2. "From the Teacher's Desk" has lesson plans for elementary school, middle school, and high school..

3. Interactive History section provides timelines, quizzes, and maps.

4. "Ask the Archivist" offers suggested online sources. Really good!

Here are some issues of the History Now journal I have found particularly valuable to use with my classes:

Age of Exploration
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/06_2007/historian4.php

Three Worlds Meet (Exploration era)
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/09_2010/index.php

African Immigration to Colonial America
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/03_2005/historian3.php

American Revolution
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/09_2009/index.php

Barbary Pirates
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/06_2009/historian3.php

The Indian Removal Act
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/12_2009/historian5.php

Abolition
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/09_2005/index.php

The Seneca Falls Convention
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/03_2006/historian.php

Influence of Uncle Tom's Cabin
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/06_2008/historian2.php

Choosing Best Route to Freedom: Slave Escape simulation
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/09_2005/interactive.php

Lincoln's Civil Religion
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/12_2005/historian4.php

Lincoln's Religion
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/12_2008/historian4.php

Immigration
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/03_2005/index.php

Great Depression
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/03_2009/index.php

World War II
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/12_2007/index.php

Cold War
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historynow/03_2011/issue.php

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~~For a review of this site:

TeachingHistory.org (National History Education Clearinghouse)
http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/website-reviews/23358

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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 various of the U.S. History survey course modules on the wiki.

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: Immigration (Library of Congress)

Website URL: http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/introduction.html

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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I ask the students to work through the following links:

Guide to Navigation of the website:

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/introduction3.html

I. African

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/african.html

Click through the subtopic links at the bottom of the page:

Introduction | Beginnings | A Journey in Chains | Africans in America | Resistance and Abolition | Emancipation and Reconstruction | Moving North, Heading West | An Artistic Rebirth | A Social Revolution | New Beginnings |

II. German
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/german.html

Click through the subtopic links at the bottom of the page:

Introduction | The Call of Tolerance | Building a New Nation | A New Surge of Growth | Filling the Nation's Breadbasket | Urban Germans | Building Institutions, Shaping Tastes | Shadows of War

III. Irish
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/irish.html

Click through the subtopic links at the bottom of the page:

Colonial Immigration | Irish-Catholic Immigration to America | Adaptation and Assimilation | Joining the Workforce | Religious Conflict and Discrimination | Racial Tensions | Irish Identity, Influence and Opportunity

IV. Scandinavian
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/scandinavian.html

Click through the subtopic links at the bottom of the page:

Introduction | The Swedes | The Norwegians | The Danes | The Finns | The Icelanders | Scandinavian America

V. Italian
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/italian.html

Click through the subtopic links at the bottom of the page:

Introduction | Early Arrivals | The Great Arrival | L’Isola dell Lagrime | A City of Villages | Tenements and Toil | Working Across the Country | Under Attack | A Century in the Spotlight

VI. Polish/Russian
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/polish.html

Click through the subtopic links at the bottom of the page:

Introduction | Russian Beginnings | Soviet Exiles | The Nation of Polonia | A People at Risk | The Lower East Side

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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 module on the wiki:
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/Immigration

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: Civil War (Ken Burns)

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

Website Spotlight: Uncle Tom's Cabin & American Culture

Website URL: http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/sitemap.html

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.

++++++++++

I ask the students to work through the following links:

Pilgrim's Progress
http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/christn/jbpphp.html

African Colonization
http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/abolitn/colonizhp.html

Minstrel Song Sheets
http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/minstrel/migallsof.html

Minstrel Playbills
http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/minstrel/mibillshp.html

Minstrel Advertisements
http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/minstrel/miadshp.html

Minstrelsy: A Digital Enactment
http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/minstrel/movie/mimovhp.html

Uncle Tom's Cabin as a Children's Book
http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/childrn/cbhp.html

~~For reviews of this website:

History Matters (The U.S. Survey Course on the Web)
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4909/
TeachingHistory.org (National History Education Clearinghouse)
http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/website-reviews/14658

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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 module on the wiki:
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/The+1850s

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: The War

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

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 (I also use this particular website extensively in an upper-division course covering World War II) 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.

++++++++++

I ask the students to work through the following links:

A. AT HOME

1. War Production
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_home_war_production.htm

2. Communication

a. News and Censorship
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_home_communication_news_censorship.htm

Fireside Chats

b. Letters and Diaries
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_home_communication_letters_diaries.htm

Good material about V-Mail

c. Propaganda
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_home_communication_propaganda.htm

3. Family
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_home_family.htm

Rosie the Riveter
War Rationing and Stamps

4. Civil Rights

a. Japanese Americans
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_home_civil_rights_japanese_american.htm

b. African-Americans and Mexican-Americans
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_home_civil_rights_minorities.htm

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B. AT WAR

1. Life in the Infantry
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_infantry.htm

Use the right-hand sidebar to click through the personal recollections.

2. Face of Battle

a. Training
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_battle_training.htm

b. Combat
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_battle_combat.htm

Sidebar: Role of Medics

c. Aftermath
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_battle_aftermath.htm

Where American war dead are buried

Sidebar: Daniel Inouye: Even a decorated soldier in uniform experienced racial prejudice back home.

3. Timeline (by year: 1939-1945)
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_timeline_1939.htm

Good photos as you click through each year.

4. Fighting for Democracy

a. Japanese Americans
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_democracy_japanese_american.htm

b. African Americans
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_democracy_african_american.htm

Daniel Inouye: Transfusions of African-American blood saved his life.

c. Latino and Native Americans
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_war_democracy_latino.htm

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C. BATTLES

Access these excellent compilations from the Search menu page:
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/search.php

Pearl Harbor
The Philippines (Bataan)
Guadalcanal
North Africa
Sicily and invasion of Italy
The Air War
Tarawa
Italy (Monte Cassino)
Italy (Anzio)
D-Day (June 6, 1944)
Normandy
Saipan
Philippine Sea (Marianas Turkey Shoot)
Northern Italy (442nd/100th RCT)
Holland (Operation Market Garden)
Peleliu
Hurtgen Forest
Vosges Mountains (The Lost Battalion)
Philippines (Leyte Gulf)
Battle of the Bulge
Iwo Jima
Firebombing (Germany and Japan)
Okinawa

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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 module on the wiki:
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/World+War+II

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: WWII: Behind Closed Doors

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

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 (I also use this particular website extensively in an upper-division course covering World War II) 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.

++++++++++

I ask the students to work through the following links:

Episode 1 - Unlikely Friends
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/episode-1/index.html

Stalin's Pact with Hitler
Terror in Eastern Poland
Stalin Ignores Warnings
Operation Barbarossa
Stalin Allies with the West
The Battle for Moscow
A Problem with Poland
Setback — A Defeat at Kharkov
Molotov Presses for a Second Front

Episode 2 - Cracks in the Alliance
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/episode-2/index.html

Hitler Attacks / Churchill Negotiates
The Battle of Stalingrad
Stalin – A Hero in the West
The Battle of Kursk
The “Big Three” Finally Meet
The Red Army Re-enters Poland
Warsaw Resistance Fighters Rise Up
A Conference in Quebec

Episode 3 - Dividing the World
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/episode-3/index.html

Churchill’s Secret Proposal
A Grand Deception in Poland
The Red Army Captures Budapest
The “Big Three’s” Final Meeting
Europe War Ends, Tensions Mount
The Potsdam Conference
A Devastating New Weapon
Stalin Persecutes His Comrades
The Cold War

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Maps:
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/maps/index.html

Stalin Stands Alone
Struggle for Poland
Prelude to the Cold War
Supplying the Allies
The Conferences

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In-Depth:

1. Uneasy Allies
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/in-depth/uneasy-allies.html

Three Allies, Three Sets of Objectives
Negotiations at the Allied Conferences
The Inevitable Postwar Tensions

2. The Conferences
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/in-depth/the-conferences.html

Atlantic
Casablanca
Quebec, 1943
Cairo
Teheran
Yalta
Potsdam

3. Supplying the Allies
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/in-depth/the-conferences.html

The U.S. Lend-Lease Program

4. Struggle for Poland
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/in-depth/struggle-poland.html

5. Stalin’s Spies and Secret Police
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/in-depth/stalins-spies.html

6. Stalin Stands Alone
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/in-depth/stalin-stands.html

Germany Invades Soviet Union
Siege of Leningrad
Battle of Stalingrad

7. Prelude to the Cold War
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/in-depth/prelude-coldwar.html

8. Katyn Massacre
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/in-depth/katyn-massacre.html

9. Governments in Exile
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/in-depth/govt-exile.html

10. Fighting with the Allies
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/in-depth/fighting-allies.html

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Timeline:
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/timeline/index.html

Integrates Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, World Events, World War II events.

Use the vertical scroll bar to move through the timeline.

+++

Biographies:
http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/biographies/index.html

Stalin
Churchill
Hopkins
Marshall
Molotov
Zhukov

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Snapshot Lesson: [This one is good]:

Supporting the Allies: The Lend–Lease Act

http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/education/snapshot-lessons/lendleaseact.html

http://www.historians.org/projects/GIRoundtable/Lend_Lease/LendLease1.htm

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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 module on the wiki:
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/World+War+II

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: World War II (BBC)

Website URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/

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 (I also use this particular website extensively in an upper-division course covering World War II) 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.

++++++++++

I ask the students to work through the following links:

I. World War Two: Key Events
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ww2_summary_01.shtml

II. The Gathering Storm

The Rise of Adolf Hitler
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/hitler_01.shtml

Japan's Quest for Empire 1931-1945
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/japan_quest_empire_01.shtml

III. Blitzkrieg: Germany's 'Lighting War'

Blitzkrieg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/blitzkrieg_01.shtml

The Fall of France
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/fall_france_01.shtml

Dunkirk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff2_dunkirk.shtml

Animated Map: The Fall of France (Dunkirk)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_fall_france_campaign.shtml

IV. Britain Stands Alone

Winston Churchill: Defender of Democracy
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/churchill_defender_01.shtml

The Battle of Britain (audio and video clips from BBC)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/battle_of_britain

Battle of Britain (text)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff3_battlebritain.shtml

The Battle of the Atlantic
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/battle_atlantic_01.shtml

The Battle of the Atlantic Game
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_gms_battle_atlantic.shtml

The Blitz
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff3_blitz.shtml

V. The Allies in Retreat

Hitler and 'Lebensraum' in the East
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/hitler_lebensraum_01.shtml

Hitler's Invasion of Russia in World War Two
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/hitler_russia_invasion_01.shtml

The Dieppe Raid (1)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff4_diepperaid.shtml

The Dieppe Raid (2)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/dieppe_raid_01.shtml

Colonies, Colonials and World War Two
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/colonies_colonials_01.shtml

Rommel in the Desert
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/rommel_desert_01.shtml

VI. The Tide of War Turns

World War Two: The Battle of El Alamein
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/battle_el_alamein_01.shtml

Animated Map: The Battle of El Alamein
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_el_alamein.shtml

The Battle of Midway
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/battle_midway_01.shtml

Partisans: War in the Balkans 1941-1945
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/partisan_fighters_01.shtml

VII. The Axis in Retreat

Animated Map: The Italian Campaign
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_italy_campaign.shtml

World War Two: The Battle of Monte Cassino
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/battle_cassino_01.shtml

VIII. Special Section: D-Day and Operation Overlord

D-Day: Beachhead
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/dday_beachhead_01.shtml

Animated Map: The D-Day Landings
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_d_day.shtml

Operation Overlord: D-Day to Paris
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/overlord_d_day_paris_01.shtml

Animated Map: Operation Overlord (On to Paris)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_overlord_campaign.shtml

The Allies at War (With Each Other)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/allies_at_war_01.shtml

GI Joe: US Soldiers of World War Two
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/us_soldiers_01.shtml

IX. Victory in Europe and Japan

The Battle of Arnhem (Operation Market Garden)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/battle_arnhem_01.shtml

Animated Map: The Battle of Arnhem
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_arnhem.shtml

The Battle of the Bulge
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/battle_bulge_01.shtml

The Battle for Berlin in World War Two
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/berlin_01.shtml

World War Two: How the Allies Won
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/how_the_allies_won_01.shtml

V-weapons Attack Britain
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff7_vweapons.shtml

X. Post-war Reconstruction and Retribution

Why Churchill Lost in 1945
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/election_01.shtml

XI. Special Section: The Secret War

Breaking Germany's Enigma Code
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/enigma_01.shtml

Double Cross - MI5 in World War Two (Double Agents)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/mi5_ww2_01.shtml

British Special Operations Executive (SOE): Tools and Gadgets Gallery
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/soe_gallery.shtml

Training SOE Saboteurs in World War Two
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/soe_training_01.shtml

SOE Quiz: Destination D-Day (Game to See If You Can Make It as a Secret Agent)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_gms_soe_quiz.shtml
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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 module on the wiki:
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/World+War+II

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