World History
Astronomer Copernicus was born in Poland. I guess I should have known this. However, I am not alone. A recent contestant on the American TV show Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? thought that he might have been born in Italy. He decided to stop at $100,000 rather than risk losing the money. His 5th Grade guide also thought the answer was Italy.
I have to admit my answer would have been Italy. My only doubt was perhaps that the answer was Germany instead. Wrong! Wikipedia notes, "Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473, in a house on St. Anne's Street (now Copernicus Street) in the city of Toru? (Thorn). Toru? was situated on the Vistula River in the Royal Prussia region of the Kingdom of Poland."
So, how many 5th graders know this? This is a good trivia but not something that most 5th Grade students (outside of Poland!) would know. Hey, I have four college degrees (three graduate) and history is one of my passions. I was still way off. I think the producers of this show cherry pick questions that maybe some 5th Graders are exposed to but would still be tough for just about anyone.
Or maybe I should have flunked out in the 5th Grade...
- Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus CopernicusNicolaus Copernicus presented an alternative model of the universe that broke with that proposed by Ptolemy in the second century c.e. and thus with the prevailing assumptions of astronomers in his own time. Although he did no observations...
- Nazi Blitzkrieg: Poland, 1939
Nazi Blitzkrieg: Poland, 1939 - A Polish officer's account of the battles and personal losses during the invasion by Hitler and Stalin. This is from "A Katyn and World War Two Diary." Katyn was the scene of a Soviet war crime where 4,000 to 5,000...
- Rubrics For Every Assignment
One of the questions I get (and I get a lot of them) is how do you grade online assignments. My short answer is that I like rubrics, but there are as many rubrics as there are assignments. So one of the webpages I like is Ribistar which has...
- Become An Ap Grader
When I tell people that I grade exams their first reaction is to say that grading is the worst part of their job, so why would anyone want to go. Well 1) I am a much better teacher because of the work I have done as an AP grader in two different...
- Historic Italy Through Google Street Views
Larry Ferlazzo has posted a webpage with what he thinks are the best social studies sites for 2012 so far. One of the sites is a Google (who would have guessed)site with a street view collection of images in Italy including the Appian Way, the baths...
World History
Copernicus was a Pole
Astronomer Copernicus was born in Poland. I guess I should have known this. However, I am not alone. A recent contestant on the American TV show Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? thought that he might have been born in Italy. He decided to stop at $100,000 rather than risk losing the money. His 5th Grade guide also thought the answer was Italy.I have to admit my answer would have been Italy. My only doubt was perhaps that the answer was Germany instead. Wrong! Wikipedia notes, "Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473, in a house on St. Anne's Street (now Copernicus Street) in the city of Toru? (Thorn). Toru? was situated on the Vistula River in the Royal Prussia region of the Kingdom of Poland."
So, how many 5th graders know this? This is a good trivia but not something that most 5th Grade students (outside of Poland!) would know. Hey, I have four college degrees (three graduate) and history is one of my passions. I was still way off. I think the producers of this show cherry pick questions that maybe some 5th Graders are exposed to but would still be tough for just about anyone.
Or maybe I should have flunked out in the 5th Grade...
- Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus CopernicusNicolaus Copernicus presented an alternative model of the universe that broke with that proposed by Ptolemy in the second century c.e. and thus with the prevailing assumptions of astronomers in his own time. Although he did no observations...
- Nazi Blitzkrieg: Poland, 1939
Nazi Blitzkrieg: Poland, 1939 - A Polish officer's account of the battles and personal losses during the invasion by Hitler and Stalin. This is from "A Katyn and World War Two Diary." Katyn was the scene of a Soviet war crime where 4,000 to 5,000...
- Rubrics For Every Assignment
One of the questions I get (and I get a lot of them) is how do you grade online assignments. My short answer is that I like rubrics, but there are as many rubrics as there are assignments. So one of the webpages I like is Ribistar which has...
- Become An Ap Grader
When I tell people that I grade exams their first reaction is to say that grading is the worst part of their job, so why would anyone want to go. Well 1) I am a much better teacher because of the work I have done as an AP grader in two different...
- Historic Italy Through Google Street Views
Larry Ferlazzo has posted a webpage with what he thinks are the best social studies sites for 2012 so far. One of the sites is a Google (who would have guessed)site with a street view collection of images in Italy including the Appian Way, the baths...