Student Workshops
The theme for my Roving Scholar workshops for upper secondary is “We The People: America, Its People, and Its Politics.” Students and I will analyze the development of American society, culture, and politics and the impact of Constitutional and political controversies on the lives of individual Americans. Workshops incorporate a variety of pedagogical techniques including, but not limited to, traditional lecture, Socratic questioning, interactive lectures, cooperative learning, writing across the curriculum, the case method, and active learning.
Political Junkie: Election 2012
The world is watching as America's presidential and Congressional election season heats up. WIll we re-elect our nation's first Afican-American president? How will recent controversial Supreme Court decisions in Citizen's United and healthcare impact voters? Has the Tea Party lost its sway of middle and working class whites? Can the Democrats retain the Senate and regain the House, or will a hyper-energized base allow the Republicans to wrest the reins of power away? This workshop will use American media sources and the power of the Internet to analyze issues, candidates, and outcomes as they develop.
Hamilton v. Jefferson: Founding Rivals
Tension between two opposing historical figures has not impacted American history more than the rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. One, the impoverished illegitimate son of a Scottish merchant; the other, the scion of arguably the most influential family in British North America. Both charismatic, brilliant, ardent revolutionaries whose fingerprints are embedded in the documents which serve as the foundation of the nation. This workshop is an examination of the lasting influence of two of America’s most controversial and revered Founding Fathers and how their conflicting aspirations and interpretations of the Constitution created the modern political system, irrevocably altering America’s social, political and cultural development.
Beyond King: Civil Rights Reconsidered
A deeper examination of lives of the foot soldiers of the movement, exploring its roots in post-Reconstruction America and the American labor movement, this workshop moves beyond the “great man” interpretation of the movement. Using archival audio and video, as well as contemporary accounts and photographs, students will learn to identify other leaders, particularly women, who directly shaped the actions on the ground and their motivations for risking their lives for the cause.
Heart of Atlanta Motel et al: Living the Constitution
Mention the third branch of the federal government and heads nod before the final syllable is out. This workshop deconstructs monolithic Supreme Court decisions into their composite people, places, and politics. Students will not only explore the constitutional issues involved in landmark cases such as Brown vs. B.O.E. and Roe v. Wade which altered the everyday existence of all Americans, but also hone their historical thinking skills by analyzing the litigants' backstories for contextual clues as to their historical importance.
This Land Is My Land: Music as Politics
American popular culture has always reflected its people’s diverse roots. Music has served not only as a celebration of that diversity, but also as a vehicle for social and political protest. This workshop studies a variety of songs and genres from American music, placing them, and their creators, in historical context, while discovering the political message of the artists. (Can be presented as a companion to the “Sex, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll: History as Story” and/or the Digital: The Last (Historical) Frontier teacher workshops.)
October Snow: Reflections on a Rural Girlhood in Reagan’s America
Personalization of history is one of the most effective methods of instruction. This workshop is an introspective look at my childhood as the daughter of white, Southern school teachers in the waning days of the Cold War and how historical events shaped my perception of America and my place in it.