New Mexico Historic Atlas and Lesson Plans

The New Mexico Humanities Council has posted onto their website an Atlas of Historic New Mexico Maps. The page has 20 annotated maps with images from the various period. Included with this atlas are lesson plans for fourth, seventh and ninth grades, with internet resources and handouts.

In 2010, the University of New Mexico Press will be publishing the print version of the Atlas of Historic New Mexico Maps, which will include over 100 maps.

To view this website, click on the following link.

Civil Rights and Segregation Comic Books

Learning history from comic books? You betcha! Here are two comic books that deal with the civil rights era of the 50s and 60s:



* Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story



* George Wallace for the Big Job



The George Wallace comic book is especially interesting. This was distributed in Alabama during his campaign for governor in 1962. It could be considered a primary source document.



The comic book offers testimonials of how as a state legislator he helped out war widows and orphans, increased pensions for the elderly and supported fledgling industries in the state. As a judge he was "fair, but firm in enforcing the law." He sounds like he was an outstanding public servant. Oh, and then there was the fact that he believed that "education in segregated schools is the foundation upon which our whole future must be built." And let us not forget candidate Wallace's promise:

These comic books can be found on Ethan Persoff's web site. Warning: some material on the site may not be appropriate for children.

I found the link to these comic books on the Boing Boing blog. Once again, Warning: some material on that blog is definately not appropriate for children.

Teaching English

I begin my first year of teaching as an English teacher instead of as a social studies teacher. It will be a challenge; however, I am up to that challenge. Since I will be focusing on English, I will put this blog on temporary hiatus. That does not mean that I won't post items on this site from time to time. I intend to infuse some social studies into my English classes. Until then, join me on My Quest for the Perfect English Lesson.

Thomas Jefferson

The Library of Congress has an online exhibit about Thomas Jefferson's life. The exhibit includes stories, documents, maps and drawings about this former President of the United States.

Independence Day

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence
Tomorrow is July 4th. To celebrate, I give you the document that started it all. Here, here, and here are transcriptions of the Declaration of Independence.

However, what worth is the document if you can't teach it? As good citizens, your students should learn about the document by examining and evaluating it. Therefore, here, here, and here are some good lesson plans that you can use to teach them how to do that.

Oh, by the way, would you like to buy a copy of the document so that you can put it on your classroom wall?

1492

Here's a great site that you can share with your students: 1492: An Ongoing Voyage (an Exhibit of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.) It includes text, photos, artwork, and primary sources. It details not only what the Europeans were doing, but also what was happening in the Americas before Columbus.

Calisphere: A World of Primary Sources

Here is a link to the University of California "Calisphere" site. This site has priamry source photographs on California history from 1848 to the 1970s. The photographs are divided into historical periods. Each section contains an brief overview of the period, questions for students to consider about the photographs, activities and worksheets.

Although the site focuses only on California history, teachers should find stuff they can use in a U.S. History class. For instance, the site has photos that relate to Western Expansion, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Dust Bowl and the Depression, Japanese Internment Camps, etc.