World History
- Teaching About The U.s. Congress
The article Teaching about the U.S. Congress is another excellent ERIC Digest which gives ideas for teaching about American Congressional history and assorted helpful resources in teaching about it. It is from 2001. The authors are Thomas S. Vontz and...
- We The People...the Citizen And The Constitution
We the People...The Citizen and the Constitution. This is a description of an American program to teach about the history of the U.S. Constituion in schools. From the site: "We the People... The Citizen and the Constitution" is a national civic...
- Summer Programs In Japan & Korea For Teachers
These summer programs, sponsored by the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) and the Program for Teaching East Asia at the University of Colorado are open to secondary teachers nationwide. Teachers selected for the programs will receive...
- Online History E-textbook
Years ago I worked with a group that was trying to get interactive textbooks up and free online. We managed to get the textbook up, but not the funding. But, for those of you who want to share a great e-textbook with your students, here is...
- This Blog Continues All Summer
Virginia does two things that I'd love to see changed. 1) We have our state end of the year exams several weeks before the end of the year and 2) Our state legislature (both parties) consistently say they are for "education first," but refuse...
World History
Sea of Japan vs. East Sea Controversy
There is a bill in my Virginia legislature co-sponsored by Delegate Tim Hugo (R) and Senators Dick Black (R) and Dave Marsden (D) to force all localities to use the "East Sea" when using "Sea of Japan" in our textbooks. This is a nice example of government and education intersecting.
- If we are only using ebooks, does "textbook" cover it. That sounds silly, but legislators need to be very specific. Of course most teachers use many resources other than a textbook so does that mean if it passes it doesn't apply to handouts (digital or paper) since they are decidedly not textbooks. Both "Sea of Japan" and "East Sea" are in our state requirements to teach, called the Standards of Learning. For what it is worth, our textbook already has both as you can see above.
- In Virginia, and in the US government it always helps to have co-sponsors (or as we can them in VA, co-patrons) so a bill has the chance to die twice. Here is what the bill is doing in our state senate and here is what is going on in the house.
- It has bipartisan support, although limited as you can see from the co-patrons in the House and the Senate.
- McGuireWoods, one of the states most powerful lobbying firms is now involved.
- It actually has international implications as the Japanese ambassador to the US just met with Virginia's governor on the issue. Since Japan is a big trading partner with Virginia it obviously has economic ramifications as well.
- Where is the line between state legislators and localities and for that matter the federal government and the two lower entities. In Virginia we have something called the Dillon Rule which muddies our line which makes me wonder if this piece truly falls under it.
- What exactly is the controversy? The Japanese support the name "Sea of Japan" and the South Korean prefer "East Sea."
So if you want an interesting example to discuss with your students this might be one of many where government impacts them in school. Of course there are so many more!
- Teaching About The U.s. Congress
The article Teaching about the U.S. Congress is another excellent ERIC Digest which gives ideas for teaching about American Congressional history and assorted helpful resources in teaching about it. It is from 2001. The authors are Thomas S. Vontz and...
- We The People...the Citizen And The Constitution
We the People...The Citizen and the Constitution. This is a description of an American program to teach about the history of the U.S. Constituion in schools. From the site: "We the People... The Citizen and the Constitution" is a national civic...
- Summer Programs In Japan & Korea For Teachers
These summer programs, sponsored by the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) and the Program for Teaching East Asia at the University of Colorado are open to secondary teachers nationwide. Teachers selected for the programs will receive...
- Online History E-textbook
Years ago I worked with a group that was trying to get interactive textbooks up and free online. We managed to get the textbook up, but not the funding. But, for those of you who want to share a great e-textbook with your students, here is...
- This Blog Continues All Summer
Virginia does two things that I'd love to see changed. 1) We have our state end of the year exams several weeks before the end of the year and 2) Our state legislature (both parties) consistently say they are for "education first," but refuse...