NECC 2008 Notes

ISTE’s NETS•T Refreshed Roll-Out

We need real world, relevant assignments because we’ve already done well moving from the sage on the stage to the guide on the side. At this point we need to re-inspire teachers.

The new teacher standards include:
Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity
Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments
Model digital-age work and learning
Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility
Engage in professional growth and leadership

There is a new tool available through ISTE’s website that will assist administrators in determining the level of technology integration occurring with their teachers.

Check out fact flippers: www.tammyworcester.com

Dan Edelson, Getting out of the Classroom with Technology

Volunteer Geography: A variant of citizen science. For example, students can make and share field observations and analyze and provide interpretations of that data. The concept is that students collect data by taking measurements, thy submit the data via a web form, they visualize it using interactive maps, they analyze patterns based on the data and visualization, and they may report back to others in their classes. One problem with this is that students will only be able to see small amounts of data if they are involved during the start if the project. An example of this was students testing soil samples following use of salt on icy roads. Students get to experience the full spectrum of the scientific process. In this case, students used probes and collected data in the classroom and submitted information via a website.

NGS FieldScope allows students to collect real world data. NGS chooses a region to study and invites teachers and students to participate. The teachers must purchase the equipment which costs about $1,000.

Chris Dede, Ubiquitous Computing

Goal: Repurpose common items for educational purposes (e.g., using cell phones for augmented learning).

Cheryl Lemke

We need to recognize that adolescent learning includes the home, school, peers, work, distributed resources, and communities – not just school. Our goal at this point is scalability of using technology tools for 21st century teaching, not just focusing on use in our own classrooms.

She suggests we use research-based methods to develop lessons and units that serve as “sheet music.” The teachers base their instruction on the sheet music, but also improvise.

A good teacher blog including student podcasts is “Learning on the Go.” The teacher sets up her class as a fictional consulting agency and the students solve real world algebra problems. Another teacher uses authentic travel agent activities to teach about Greek history.

SimCalc: http://www.simcalc.umassd.edu/software (teaches about perspective)

Media multi-tasking: We can only do one thing at a time, but we can quickly move from one thing to another. Kids are better at multi-tasking than adults. When learning, students are distracted when multi-tasking (except for things like music without lyrics in the background).

Universe: http://universe.daylife.com (identifies what is going on online in real time using a visual perspective)

Venezuela started teaching critical thinking to their elementary and middle school students 10 years ago. Now, they are finding increased average adult IQs across the country.

See http://www.flatworld.com

Alan November, “Designing Rigorous and Globally Connected Assignments”

This presentation is available from the “Archive of Articles” on NovemberLearning.com. This presentation is available at Digital Farm.

Students are connected to everyone in their lives – except their teachers because schools block everything. “Schools are the learning police.” There is more freedom in Chinese schools in terms of the Internet than here. We are so worried about their safety that we block their learning.

Vocabulary of the Web: Students need to learn information resources. This type of information is available on http://novemberlearning.com/blc

By adding site:en to Google searches, you will only get sites with an English country code. To get Turkey-based sites, type site:tr.

Adding view:timeline to a search, you can access the most recent information about a given search term.

Type link:http://Wikipedia.com to find out how many links exist to that particular site.

Hall Davidson, “It’s in Your Pocket: Teaching Spectacularly with Cell Phones”

http://www.myspace.com/sidekicknation (How kids use video on a daily basis)


Every classroom should have a student-designated web researcher. The teacher should never have to answer a factual question, they should only have to respond to higher-order thinking questions.

There is a Google feature that allows you to create your own search engine. November believes teachers and students should jointly build search engines. This will give students less stimuli when they do searches.

It would be nice if students could develop resources that teach content and then future students review these tutorials before class. Students, then, are responsible for learning their own content and class time is replaced with problem solving. When there’s not a lot of Internet access, students could have a DVD with all the information at home (because DVDs are more common in the home than Internet connections).

The http://jingproject.com is a downloadable application that allows you to create screencasts.

Instead of teaching teachers to use technology, November jokes that we should send two of our students to the training and one of the students should be the biggest trouble-maker in the class.

Wikipedia isn’t an encyclopedia, it’s a publishing house. Third grade students were told they would visit the Pitot House and write an article they would submit to the largest encyclopedia in the class. The students wrote and published their Wikipedia article and now they follow the RSS feed for the article and critique what other people write.

http://kiva.com: Organizes donations to small business entrepreneurs. The donors get their money back and they get reports on their projects. You can also talk to the other people who have invested in the same entrepreneurial project.


http://jott.com alters voice to text. You can call this service from your cell phone. Another option is fozme.com

http://polleverywhere.com: Allows you to do automatic polls from cell phones (like the classroom response systems)

Terry Cavanaugh, GIS, Google Maps, and More for Literacy Projects

http://books.google.com

There are interactive maps that show all he locations mentioned in a book (e.g., The Travels of Marco Polo). [Note to self – check out the Bible.]

Gutenkarte (http://gutenkarte.org) also makes a map of a text, showing what places are most frequently mentioned. Amazon’s Concordance also does this by telling the 100 most used words in a given text.

http://editgrid.com allows you to map a story using latitude and longitude in a spreadsheet.

http://www.goglelittrips.com has 23 stories you can follow on Google Earth. You download the .kmz file and use it with Google Earth. An example is with Make Way for Ducklings. The entire story is mapped as sections are mentioned. Also, people have added pictures of items and informational text from specific locations in the book. Anyone can make a Google Lit Trip.

http://wetellstories.co.uk/stories/week1/: Tells a story using a map – the text is embedded in the map.

Teachers can get the Pro Version of Google Earth by writing to Google and requesting it. It is possible to make a map for each student so they can each map out a story.

A dimensional mouse allows you to move in three dimensions. They are available through Amazon.

Using virtual map pins, students can add quotes from book, write facts about the locations mentioned, and adding multimedia books. This is a means of having students have greater interactivity with books.

In September, cameras will have cameras with embedded geo-tags. Some buildings are going to start putting in geo-tagging points in the buildings.

Tony Vincent, Audio is Great! Video is Cool! IPods Can Do More!

Learning in Hand iPods is his iPod podcast. See http://learninginhand.com/ipods

http://spokentext.com will speak any text into audio.

You can create cover art and lyrics (or primary source text) through going to Get Info for an individual song.

See http://NotontheTest.org

iPrep Press has comic books you can download to your iPod. BrainQuest also has quizzes for the iPod.

Ipod-notes.com allows you to combine Notes files

IPrepPress allows you to download a dictionary and many primary sources. Get 100 Words every high school students should know.

ManyBooks.com allows you to download books in the public domain.

iWriter allows you to link stories together as story

iQuizMaker allows you to make quizzes for your iPod. You can also share iQuizzes by going to iQuizShare (http://iquizshare.com/)

Use monitor mode to make your iSight camera not cause a mirroring effect.




Check out doc imaging and doc scanning on the PC.

Get book making ideas from web.mac.com/lindaoaks and check out her handouts on the NECC site

Download handouts from NECC site for Sharon Hirschy about making class books using PPT

CUE 2009: "50 Ways to Use Video Streaming" and "Walk with the STARs"

Check out songs in Discovery Streaming.

Have students listen for certain words during a video and clap or stomp when they hear those words. This helps keep students listening and engaged with the video.

Celebrate students’ birthdays by having everyone look at what happened on their birthdays using the calendar feature. One teacher starts the day fifteen minutes early and shows the videos from the day. The door is closed until school is to start and you cannot view the videos if you weren’t there early.

For the slidesteaching specifics about discovery streaming, visit http://geekybird.com and go to “The Bird Cage.”


Use gCast to immediately post podcasts from the phone. It uses a 1-888- number.

http://www.lookybook.com has books you can read online and see the pages.

Use http://spaceplace.nasa.gov to play Nasa-related games.

Go to http://a.placebetween.us suggests where you might want to meet between two people and what type of meals might be available.

X Timeline is a good timeliner creator.

Comics are available for the making from Comiqs, Blabberize, Pixton, …

Brain Blaze, iFlash, Trace, EduBlaster are great games in the Apps Store in iTunes.

http://discoveryedspeakersbureau.com watch iPod is a mega-VCR is a great way to learn how to use iPods.

http://online-stopwatch.com is a great place to find live stop watches.

http://labs.ideeinc.com/multicolr allows you to find Flickr images that are sorted and searchable by color.

http://xtranormal.com is a means of creating digital stories quickly using pre-designed characters and backgrounds.

http://glogster.com allows you to make posters online that are clickable.

http://blabberize.com allows you to put in one or two graphics and have the characters look like they are talking and you can record audio.

http://animoto.com allows you to make rock videos. You can access it for free as a DEN Star.

CUE 2009: "Web 2.0—Powerful Practices from Experienced Presenters" by Paul Devoto and Joe Wood

Paul Devoto
Joe Wood

Adolescents send an average if 200 texts a day.

Students learn, unlearn, and relearn.

3L’s: They link (into the world via the Internet), lurk (watch others), and lunge (jump right into it)

Teachers are not connecting on social networks while all students are doing it, even if they don’t have computers at home.

Zinch is a social networking site used to network high school seniors with colleges.

The number 14th most downloaded application for the iPhone is Facebook.

Twitter=”micro-blogging”

Students interact with media more than 72 hours per work, only 10% of which is for education.
Information is cheap today.

Bloom’s taxonomy was modified in 2001: create is now the highest level of the taxonomy.

All children have incredible abilities and we squander them.

None of the top 10 jobs today will exist in ten years so it’s critical we teach students to learn how to learn.
Read A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. He states that the future belongs to “designers, inventors, teachers, and storytellers.” He continues by noting design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning will be the most important skills for the future.

“Textperts”=Tech Experts (each class has 4-5 textperts); Texpert selection needs to be skilled at computers, they have to be friendly to others, they have to be responsible academically (complete their other work, Testperts get special chairs and a table. They have to complete all the work just like the other students. Students rate textperts every few weeks. The teacher also asks whether any of the textperts were rude, who was most friendly, and whether they’ve received help from each textpert. This is feedback to the teacher and students receive some feedback (only the positive feedback). This encourages a sense of community and empowerment for the students.

Recommended classroom rules: Help others when asked, share ideas, respect all ideas, have fun, and make it meaningful.

Early finishers help others, finish projects from other classrooms, and have “creative free time” (and they must be creating something).

Google’s employees spend 80% of their time is spent doing their work, and 20% is spent doing something creative.

Apple Remote Desktop allows you to see all your student’s screens and to double-click to take over the screen. It also allows you to collect artifacts of what students are doing.

The fine for using someone’s photo without asking for permission is $1,400.

Creative Commons: Allows users to share work with anyone. When ever you create something, you receive copyright protection. Creative Commons allows you to choose the level of copyright. Google and Flikr all offer Creative Commons sections. You can search in Google for Creative Commons items (can you specify images?). You can go to http://www.flikr.com/Creative Commons to access free photos.
http://FreetypingGame.com is a free online typing game.

CUE 2009: "Robert Marzano, March 6, 2009"

Three-to-five years ago, Marzano started studying technology.

Interactive white boards and voting: Students had learning gains of 14%ile-17%ile. The longer teachers use the boards (the more experience they have), the greater the learning gains. The amount of time the technology was used in the classroom also added learning gains, up to 85% of the time at which there was a decrease in student learning. The best conditions for using this technology is an experienced teacher whose used the technology for to years or more who uses the technology about 75% of the time and they have been trained to use the technology. Under these conditions, you could expect an average 30% gain in student learning. Twenty-three percent of the teachers did better without the technology than with the technology (usually this number is much higher in educational statistics). Therefore, weaker teachers require professional development and proper use of interact whiteboard technologies.
Proper use of the technology includes:

• Keeping a clear focus on the content (not the bells and whistles), and,
• Keeping track of which students are “getting it” and which are not (response rates can increase student engagement, but can turn students off as soon as a single students is called upon; increase wait time and “thumbs up, thumbs down,” electronic voting, etc. can help increase student response).

Formative assessment, record keeping, and teacher feedback: Providing feedback from classroom assessments to provide students with a clear picture of their progress on learning goals and how they might improve. Telling students whether they are right or wrong actually has a decrease effect in student knowledge of the content. The more information that helps students understand why their answers are correct or incorrect, the greatest learning gains (20%). The same amount of gain occurs when having students repeat a task until they get the answers correct.
Some of the ways to increase content learning is to ensure there is no single assessment to determine if students are learning. The ability to determine what to work on with students based on a state assessment (from class wide results), is nearly zero.
He recommends using data to keep track over time based on a standard teacher-created rubric when dealing with teacher created tests. When using rubrics and student progress tracking there us a =n average if 75% academic gain.
Using electronic record keeping makes this process easy. A key is the teacher must alter their teaching using the data.

Use of the Internet in the classroom is a key area to study, but Marzano does not yet have data to support his theories in this area.

Fair Use Guidelines

To determine you are working within fair use guidelines, consider using this checklist:

http://www.copyright.iupui.edu/checklist.htm

Law-Related Websites

Library of Congress/Thomas
CSPAN
FedWorld
FindLaw
LexisONE
Nevada State Legislature
Ninth Circuit Court
Oyez
U.S. Department of Education
Nevada Department of Education
U.S. Supreme Court

Note: I am currently enrolled in EDA 755, School Law, with Dr. Bob McCord at UNLV. Upcoming posts will relate to this course.

"Teaching Literacy through Historical Children's Books"—Notes from the UNLV/CCSD Cohort Presentation

The below notes accompany the presentation delivered to participants in the UNLV/CCSD Cohort Program on December 12, 2008. Thank you to Sue Hendrix and Barbara Johnson for facilitating the presentation.

Click here for presentation slides (a video of the presentation appears below).

General notes of interest (from Courtney):

• Always teach literacy.
• Always use cross-curricular standards-based objectives.
• Use PVC pipe to create telephone headsets so students can hear themselves reading.
• As an alternative to whole class brainstorming, have students engage in small group brainstorming.

Resources mentioned during the presentation:

• Bloom's Taxonomy
• Accelerated Reader
• Fourth-Grade Hump
• Museum in a Book
• Declaration of Independence by Rod Gragg
• Lewis and Clark on the Trail of Discovery by Rod Gragg
• From Fields of Fire and Glory: Letters of the Civil War by Rod Gragg
  
• The ABC's of Evaluation by Sandra Schurr: A book containing cross-curricular ideas for alternative assessment methods.
  
• Book lists for historical children's literature (all are in Excel format)
  
• Native Americans of the Colonial Era/Technology Integration—booklist
• Colonial America/Simulations—booklist
• American Revolution/Primary Sources—booklist
• Civil War/Digital Storytelling—booklist
• Westward Expansion/Children's Literature—booklist
• Civil Rights/Service Learning—booklist
• Immigration/Collaborative Biographies—booklist
• The 1930s/Arts Integration—booklist
• Social bookmarking
• Recommended sites:
• Social_Studies and Native_Americans
• "What is Social Bookmarking?": Training Videos
• Introduction to Social Bookmarking
  
• Bundling Tags in Delicious
• Procuring a Delicious Account
  
• Links to teacher's guides
• Patty Reed's Doll
  
• Sallie Fox
  
• Little House Series (inc. Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, On the Banks of Plum Creek, The Long Winter)
  
• Exploration Picture Books (e.g., Apples to Oregon, Sarah, Plain and Tall, Conestoga Wagons, Daily Life in a Covered Wagon, You Wouldn't Want to Live in a Wild West Town, America at the Tine of Lewis and Clark)
  

Petersen Professional Development School, October 10, 2008

Introduction to the Internet for English Language Learners
Recommendations by Christy G. Keeler, Ph.D.

Searching: http://www.google.com/

Google Images
Google Maps
Google News

Language Translation

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/
http://www.google.com/language_tools

iTunes: http://www.apple.com/iTunes

Click on “iTunes Store”
Type into Search Bar
Click on “Submit” when you find a podcast you like
Go to “Podcasts” (left-hand navigation bar)
Click the arrow so it faces down
Possible Language-Learning Podcasts

English A+—Finally Learn English (Por Fin Aprende Inglés)
ESL Aloud
Effortless English Podcast
Tu Ingles

Videos: http://www.youtube.com/
ParentLink: https://parentlink.ccsd.net/
Encylopedia: http://www.wikipedia.org/
Dictionary: http://www.dictionary.com/
Books for Children: http://www.childrenslibrary.org/
Click on "Read Books
Use the pull-down menu to choose Spanish

Innovative Project-Based Learning: From Kindergarten to College

Presented by Christy G. Keeler, Ph.D. and Heather B. Rampton, M.Ed.
at the National Educational Computing Conference, San Antonio 2008
and at the Computer Using Educators Annual Conference 2010

Click here to download the session slideshow (CUE)
Click here to download the session slideshow (NECC)
Click here to download an audio recording of the presentation

Session Outline and Notes

1. View sample student-made project (“Mixed-Up Chameleon”)
2. Introduction and PBL overview
3. The Strategies
1. Video Methods
1. Adapting literature into first-person using video (“Mixed-Up Chameleon”)
2. Research-based video reports (“St. Patrick’s Day” — Not available online)
2. Audio (see "Audio Digital Storytelling")
   
1. Mock interviews (“Tomorsky’s Simpson Book Review”)
2. Process practice songs (“Gravity”)
3. “Day in the Life”
1. Man-on-the-street (“New York City Draft Riots")
2. Journal memoirs (“Civil War Nurse”)
4. Content-based podcasts (“Civil War Metaphors”)
3. Blogs
1. Journaling (“Harriet Tubman”)
2. Daily homework (“Baula’s Logic…”)
3. e-portfolios (“Dennison’s Pre-service Teacher Portfolio”)
4. Digital Photography
1. Scavenger hunts (“Geometry”)
5. Page Layout Software
1. Mock newspaper reports (“Saia’s 1930s Newspaper Book Review”)
2. Tri-fold brochures (“Kuennen’s Book Review”)
3. Comic Life ("Hatchet Book Report")
   
6. Common Applications
1. Virtual museums using slideshows (“Native Americans of the Colonial Era”)—see "Educational Virtual Museums"
   
2. Slideshow-based games
   
4. Goal Setting
5. Closing

For more ideas, see "Elementary-Level PBL."

PowerPoint to Podcasts

Eric Langhorst and I presented "A Whirlwind of Possibilities: Technology Integration for Social Studies Teachers" at the 2007 NCSS Conference and I presented the session again at the CUE Conference in 2008. The article on which this presentation is based was published in the Spring 2008 issue of Social Studies Research and Practice. We recommend teachers and administrators take special note to review the table at the end of the article. The table includes a multitude of methods teachers may choose to use to integrate technologies into their social studies lessons and the suggestions are organized by the needed technical skill to deliver the lesson.

An audio version of the CUE presentation is available here.
The presentation slides are available here (but note that the supporting files are not attached). Please direct any questions or comments regarding this presentation and article to me, Dr. Christy Keeler.

CUE 2008: Hints for Using PhotoStory (by Hall Davidson)

Imtoo is an application that converts PhotoStory files from wmv's to m4v's for iPods.

Ideally, use fewer than 15 photos in PhotoStory projects.

Create projects in PhotoStory and then MovieMaker to bring movies (or more pictures) together.

CUE 2008: "My Hero Media Arts Curriculum and Short Film Festival" by Wendy Millette and Christopher Cain

The My Hero Project is now accepting entries into their short film festival (http://www.myhero.com/filmfestival) and virtual gallery (http://www.myhero.com/gallery).

Suggestions for improving video interest:

• Use a cut-away (show video of something else in the room)
• Use a B-roll (a video of something off-site from the video)
• Use alternative directionality of shots, a reversal (e.g., shoot the interviewee and interviewer simultaneously)

Suggestions for improving audio production:

• Post-production, add voice-overs, music, sound effects

Nextvista.org
An opportunity for students to share their service learning and content videos is also available at http://www.nextvista.org.

NCHE 2008: "America's Growing Pains" by Delise Sanders and Linda Flowers

This session was on teaching elementary-level students to engage in historical research. They began with a discussion of using pictures as primary sources.

When reviewing pictures with many people pictured, have each child choose one individual in the picture. Have children write about that individual by creating a story.

When reviewing pictures with much detail, cut the picture into sections and give groups of students one of the sections for analysis. Then, bring the groups together to share their sections and analyze the entire picture.

Have students prepare history reports over four week periods. Work students through the process of reading, researching, organizing, and writing. As students are reading, have them use highlighters to show different stages in an historical figure’s life. For example, use a yellow highlighter for young years, blue for middle years, and pink for older years. Research should take about two weeks and a good resource for helping students organize their research is:
Scholastic Teaching Resources. Grades 4-6 Graphic Organizer Booklets
The culminating projects can include a written report, a display board (including 5-8 primary sources), and a CD cover (including names of songs that relate to the individual’s life).

When choosing historical figures for students to research, choose atypical figures (not Lincoln). For example, choose women spies of the American Revolution or local heroes.

Recommended ideas and resources for teaching literacy through historical children's books:

• Review Nancy Polette's books that include activities with picture books.
• Make a commercial out of the front flap information.
• Create reader’s theatre out of what is in the book.
• Make a large picture of a person with the body of the person being the book report.
• Use Dinah Zike foldables for reporting on character sketches and telling, the beginning/middle/end of texts.
• Draw a mountain and show progression, climax, and resolution in a book. Practice with a picture book and have students do the activity with a chapter book.

NCHE 2008: "Teachers as Researchers" by Phil Nicolosi

This incredible presentation focused as much on using historical documents in the classroom as

History is an action verb and is messy. It is like a puzzle with some pieces missing. The historian's job is to place the pieces together so it can create a picture.

Fisher recommends students approach primary sources using the following acronym:
A - Author (include position and perspective)
D - Date (include context - what else is going on)
A - Audience (to whom is it written)
P - Purpose (why was it written)
T - Tone (words/phrases used to convey the purpose)

When students report on a historical event in Fisher's classes, they must:

• Include as least one source that is an image;
• Include as least one source that supports each point that could create a counter argument; and,
  
• Include an analysis of each document.

In the history classroom, we often expect students to repeat what they read rather than constructing new knowledge or creating their own knowledge. In a science classroom, students do science in their lab coats doing experiments. In the math class, they work through problems, showing their method of moving from the problem to the answer. They are being mathematicians. In the history classroom, students are often no more than clerics -- writing down everything they hear. History teachers need to require their students to show their work and tell how they came to their answers. Students should reference primary sources and tell how they come to the conclusions they identify.

SITE 2008: "Thinking Creatively: Teachers as Designers of Technology, Pedagogy, and Content (TPACK)"

Notes from Presentation by
Punya Mishra and Matthew J. Koehler
Michigan State University

Their wiki is available at http://www.tpck.org.
They ask how the context of classrooms and our world

Teaching with technology is complex.
Learning: The act of learning to think in a disciplined manner.
"The book is a machine to think with." - Unknown

Standard approaches to teaching with technology are not working so there is a need for creative solutions. In a world characterized by change, it makes sense to provide lots of ideas o some creative examples arise. An example of a creative solution is using micro-loans to enhance third world economies. Creativity must be lead to something that is novel, effective (valuable, useful, logical), and whole (elegant, complex, understandable, well-crafted). It is a variation on a theme - you "tweak" an idea to improve it.

NEW = Novel, Effective, Whole

We live in a "new media ecology" where creativity is the only solution and the only way to be creative is be novel by "tweaking" old ideas.

TPACK = Total PACKage
The total package is considering content, pedagogy, and technology within a context.

TPACK works as well with high-end technologies as with older technologies (e.g., white boards). The key is that it is a new way to use or do something than was done in the past.

"The walls between art and engineering exist nly in our minds." -Theo Jansen
Mishra and Koehler states that the walls between "pedagogy, content, and technology exist only in our minds."

My question: How do we effectively share the knobs that we find?

The following notes are from the discussion with the authors following the keynote presentation.

Some activities they use to teach creativity:
Write a short story with a beginning, middle, and end in 55 words or less.
On the first day of class, give every students a 1, 2, 3, or 4. Students then move to a corner of the room with those with like numbers and are given an envelope with a creative task and tools. Students have one hour to complete their task (e.g., create an invitation; in the envelope is playdough or glue and paper or glue and scissors). At the end of class, ask students why they felt limited to use the tools in their possession or how they creatively worked around the limit of their tools.

They argue that is important to find the right blend of of pedagogy, technology, and content for the teacher. It doesn't have to be "glitzy." The most important thing in teacher education is changing the teacher's mindset to allow them to think creatively.

Constraints actually motivate creativity. Because teachers may not have access to technologies or environments conducive to TPACK, they need to feel empowered to think within their context to find creative solutions to do what they want.

Book: Isaac's Storm

Erik Larson, author of Isaac's Storm, uses a fast-paced non-fiction genre to deliver the story of the hurricane that destroyed Galveston in 1900. The text does an excellent job of merging drama with geography and history and provides a nice model for comparison to more recent hurricanes/cyclones.

This text would provide an excellent starting point for a physical geography course, allowing the instructor to teach about the history of weather reporting, the science of weather, and the social implications surrounding prediction of natural hazards, the realities of living and dying through natural disasters, and the role of public institutions and individuals in providing aid to destroyed regions. The book would serve as a wonderful case study for comparison to more recent hurricanes traveling through the Gulf of Mexico.

In typical fashion, Erik Larson does a fabulous job of linking the personal stories to the science while proving readers with "edge-of-their-seats" stories. It is difficult to believe Larson's texts are non-fiction because of the level of detail he provides his readers.

I highly recommend this book, along with his previous books: Thunderstruckand Devil in the White City.

NCSS: Teacher Created Materials—Social Studies Strategies for Active Learning

Carousel Brainstorming

Place large post-it notes around the classroom on the walls and put students in groups of four. On each post-it, write a unique question. Give each group of students a single marker and ensure all groups have different colors.

Have groups each go to one large post-it and write their answers. After a few moments, have students transfer to the next post-it. On the new post-it, they should put a check by the items with which they agree that were written by the previous group and they should add additional items. Continue circling in this way until al groups have visited all post-its.

Vote on It

Give students a problem (e.g., who will you choose as the first president of the United States, which wagon master should you choose to lead you across the west). Provide students with profile cards for several possible candidates and let them work in groups to decide who they think is most qualified. Students then vote on who they think is most and least qualified. Then, the teacher will provide more information about each candidate and provide the name of the candidate. Students will learn if they would have selected the same person others selected historically.

PrimarySourceLearning.org

An organization that provides PowerPoint presentations in conjunction with the Library of Congress that teach about primary sources.

NewsReels.com

Allows you to access news reel clips from several historical eras.

Book: Peter and the Starcatchers

I just completed reading Peter and the Starcatchers by David Barry, Ridley Pearson, and Greg Call. The book is the prequel to Peter Pan and explains how he came to be in Neverland, how he became the boy who would never grow up, how he gained the ability to fly, and how he and Tink became friends.

The book is a delightful, fanciful read.

Book: Angels and Demons

I just completed reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. This excellent fictional book recounts a story about the Illuminati and the conflicts between science and religion. The text focuses on the Catholic Church and I learned a lot about Catholic traditions through reading the text - though I have to do some research to separate fact from fiction.

The text is of the same genre as The Da Vinci Code and is an equally enjoyable and informative read.

I am now interested in reading Digital Fortress, also by Dan Brown, but may take a break and head back to Eric Larson to read Isaac's Storm (I loved Thunderstruck and Devil in the White City).

Kaleidoscope of Early Culture in Las Vegas

September 29-30 at the Springs Preserve and Lost City Museum
With renowned author Joy Hakim and artist/author Roy Purcell
Sponsored by the Nevada Council for History Education
Co-sponsored by the National Council for History Education, Stephens Press, Clark County Education Foundation, Springs Preserve, Lost City Museum, Houghton-Mifflin, Smithsonian Books, and ABC_CLIO

Dr. Linda Miller, College of Southern Nevada, introduced the conference and several of the presenters and conference sponsors.

Judging a Book by Its Cover: Introduction to the Art of Book Binding
Presented by Jennifer Jacobi

Tools of bookbinding include:

• Bone folders (used to smooth down book bindings without bruising the paper).
• Awl (Makes holes)
• Pliers (Assist in pulling thread through)
• Clamps (To keep the book in place)
• Adhesives (She likes “Books by Hand”; PVA is archival quality; Glue sticks work well)
• Tread (Linen-based for archival quality)
• Paper (The interior and end-papers and fly-leaves of the book; she prefers recycled and handmade papers, leather, or book cloth. Leather covers require separate tools)
• Book press (Can be used in lieu of stacking books on top of each other)
• Needles (She uses embroidery needles)
• Optional: binder’s board (for hard-cover books)

Books can be glued together or sewn together.

Jenifer introduced several book structures and then demonstrated making a book.

To make a book, use 8.5” X 11” pages and fold them in half and in half again. Measure twice the length of the book in thread and make a child’s shoulder strap. Position the paper so it’ is even on both sides and clip the book together to hold it in place. Place the awl through the center of the book and 1” from the ends. Thread the needle adding a double-knot on one end. Sew the book beginning at the interior on one end. Go in through the center, out through the bottom, back in through the center, and back out from the top. This gives the book a nicer look. Tie a double-knot that the end next to the original knot. Trim the knots.

The Cultural and Historical Resources of the Las Vegas Springs
Presented by Marcel Parent

An audio of Marcel's presentation is available here.

The Springs Preserve has been known as the “Big Springs” historically. It covers 180 acres of and is the richest and most unique cultural and biological resource in Southern Nevada. It has 10,000 years of biological, geological, and cultural history.

By the 1840s, Las Vegas was officially on the map. It was a poster-child for advertising migration to the west. In May of 1905, the first land auction occurred in Las Vegas and the railroad came through later that year.

Water supply issues began in the 1910’s and by 1962, the springs stopped flowing.

The region has identified a mass of archaeological artifacts including prehistorical and historic ceramic shards, stone tool pieces (one Elko eared projectile point from 100 BC), glass pieces, animal remains (mostly bones), manos (6 samples all of an oval form designed for use with one hand), metates, C-14 samples (charcoal from hearths and camp fires wit the earliest dated to 700 AD), soil samples, nails, and metal pieces. The archaeological digs continue. Some of the pieces go back to 100 BC. They have identified artifacts from all the tribes that have inhabited the area including the Anasazi, Pythians, and Paiutes.

The history of water on this site is the history of its people. Without water in this area, travelers would not have stopped in this Valley. Without the springs and aquifers that led to the surface, Las Vegas would never have been developed. There are some still functioning wells on-site; the remainder are dry. With water coming from Lake Mead, the demands for water from the Big Springs as the sole water source for Las Vegas lessened. Local use of the Springs water continued until they ran dry. They will never deliver water again. By 1962, water on the Springs Preserve site was gone.

A spring mound on the Springs Preserve site took 10,000 years to create and is currently viewable at the Springs Preserve. It is the only remaining unexcavated spring mound in the Las Vegas Valley. Archaeologists feel they will probably not learn new information from excavating this mound so have elected to maintain it in its present form.

The spring mound shows evidence of human use for at least 5,000 years. Springs attract plants, animals, and eventually humans. Humans leave refuse that describes human eating habits. Projectile point sizes determine the type of game hunted by indigenous people.

The focus of the Springs Preserve is on conservation, preservation, and archaeological study. Research began here in the early 1970s and began to increase over the last decade. The Preserve includes four trails: Crossroads, Exploration, Springs, and Cienega. There are four major areas of the Preserve including the Big Springs Theatre, Natural Mojave, People of the Springs, and New Frontier Gallery.

People have successfully adapted to the Las Vegas Valley desert for a millennium. Early settlements were close to water. There have been people here, however, since 8000 BC. Early peoples of the pre-ceramic period were here from 8000 BC to 300 AD. They avoided spending extended period of time in this Valley, coming seasonally as hunters and gatherers. Ancient Puebloan people lived in the Valley.

The Preserve includes sample living structures from early human inhabitants.

Before 1830, there is no evidence of Euro-Americans in the Las Vegas Valley. The first scouting expedition was with Rafael Rivera and there was later a tragic battle between the Natives and Euro-Americans over natural resources of the Valley.

Freemont used Las Vegas as a camp ground and praised the presence of water. Though he said it was too warm to enjoy drinking, it was a wonderful bathing place.

Settlers began coming to Las Vegas in the 1850s. Euro-American buildings began development in the 1870s. There are derricks dating back to 1910. Streams ran from this area to other settlements in the Valley, but the water became contaminated as it ran downstream because of cattle and other farm animals.

Adobe was a natural building element for the area.

Derricks are named because of their resemblance to the gallows using the hangman’s noose that were developed by the British executioner named Thomas Derrick.

The Springhouse will be one of the first reconstruction projects on the Preserve. Some of the other buildings on site include the chicken coup, settler’s basin, caretaker’s house, and caretaker’s barn.

History of the Lost City: Native American Cultures

Presented by Eva Jensen

An audio of Eva's presentation is available here.

Paleo Period: 13,400 years ago

• The climate was cooler and wetter and the valley had shallow lakes and springs with marsh resources. The people primarily hunted large game.

Archaic: 10,000 years ago

• The climate dried and Southern Nevada became the Mojave desert that we know today; the lakes and springs diminished and dried. There was a resource shift toward desert plants and animals.

The shift toward the Basketmaker Period happened between 300 BC and 400 AD

• Desert springs and streams formed providing an area for growing plants, and corn cultivation begins. Evidence of domestic corn in Moapa Valley exists from around 200 AD. They planted the corn in gravel.

Basketmaker Period: 2,000 years ago

• Though the people continued to hunt, they did this opportunistically. Instead, they shifted toward an almost exclusive diet based on horticulture with the main crop being corn. Homes appeared in clusters of one to four pit houses with interior hearths.

Pueblo I: 600 AD-1000 AD

• The changes in technology in this era were the addition of the bow and arrow and the development of pottery. The climate was hot and dry. There was either migration, trade, or seasonal movement between this area and the Arizona strip.
  
• People in Southern Nevada lived in pueblo houses while dwellers were in Arizona. The Hopi were descendants of the Anasazi (now the preferred term is Ancestral Puebloan) and these were the people living in Southern Nevada during this period.

Pueblo II: 1000 AD – 1150

• There were cluster settlements if above ground adobe pueblo houses. They made investments in horticulture and food storage rooms.
• Corrugated pottery (pinched by hand to make an outside design) was introduced in 1050 AD. For this area, the corrugated period lasted for only for 100 years. There was also an increase in imported pottery to this region that ended after 1100 (even though they are still making that pottery on the Arizona strip). Pottery was made with local materials including clay and gravel. They smoothed the surface with a stone, painted with “bee weed,” and used yucca fiber brushes for painting. They did not use kilns; instead, relying on heated wood that was set under the dried (but not fired) bowls. More wood was placed on top, and then more wood placed on top of that. They then set the wood on fire and this chemically changed the bowl to keep it intact. Pottery was primarily utilitarian with the tight-necked pottery for carrying water and large-mouthed pieces for storage of dried goods or for use as cooking pots.
• The maximum population of this area was probably about 500.
• Specialization was not an element of these Native cultures, though some families may have been experts in certain trades. There is some evidence that there were some specialists whose products traveled (but the method of dispersion is unknown).
• Currently archaeologists have not been focused on identifying the materials in pottery as unique to a geographic location. One type of pottery is clearly from Arizona. Designs are unique to given locations and eras.
• Some trade goods found in the area include shells from Baja, California. There are many shell beads found in this area. Archaeologists also have found red pottery (from the Four Corners area). The people in this area found turquoise and salt that they mined to use for trade and they also grew cotton.

Abandonment: 1150 AD

• There was increased population and a prolonged drought. Though the indigenous people stored food for drought, by the third year of drought there was little food remaining. There was also pressure from outside groups. Archaeologists have identified a breakdown in trade with other regions. There may have also been disease, but there is no evidence to support this assertion.
• The abandonment occurred after 1,000 years of constant habitation in the area.
• People were buried in the floor of an abandoned room in a flexed position.

Southern Paiute: 1200 AD

• The Southern Paiute indicated that they have always been here. Archaeological information shows a change in arrow points and pottery. When Spanish travelers came through this area, the Southern Paiute tribe were here. Their culture included master weavers.
• Water jugs were woven baskets covered with pine pitch. By the 1800s, the Southern Paiutes focused on creating artistic baskets, using their craft to sell and trade for food. The Southern Paiute “treasure baskets” are among the finest in the West.

Explorers and trappers including Jedediah Smith came through this area and did not note that the dwellings were very old.

In the 1920s, the Lost City area became a region of archaeological focus. By 1935, the Hoover Dam building project was underway and it was clear that Lake Mead would cover much of the region’s treasures. To address this issue, the Civilian Corps of Engineers came and preserved as much as they could before the Colorado River flooded.

Even today, there are new items found on a regular basis. By law, builders must report when they find human remains, but not when finding other artifacts. Many areas still need excavating, but funds are simply not available or areslow in coming.

There were cultural connections between the people here at the Lost City and those at the Springs, but it is unknown whether they had familial connections.

Some available resources include Intrigue of the Past: A Teacher’s Activity Guide for Fourth through Seventh Grades published by Shelly Smith, Jeanne Moe, Kelly Letts, and Danielle Paterson and the related text titled Discovering Archeology in Nevada. Kathy August (at the Redrock Visitor’s Center) does archaeological trainings in Nevada using these curricular materials. The materials are both science and social studies focused. A more content-specific resource is from the Desert Research Institute called Reading the Stones: The Archeology of Yucca Mountain. It was illustrated by William Hartwell and David Valentine with illustrations by Susan Edwards and contributions by Kelly Varley.

Ethno-archeology: Archaeologists sit and live with a Bedouin group of people and record what they observe. Then, they excavate the site and see if the patterns of the ground correlate with what they observed. This is a means of determining whether archaeologists accurately interpret archaeological finds.

Hunter/gathers probably worked much fewer than 40 hours per week so they had more leisure time then we do. There is evidence that they played dice games and games with balls.

The Civilian Conservation Crops, a program within Roosevelt’s New Deal, built the Lost City Museum in the early 1940s. Camps came in many forms such as flood control projects, rural electrification administrations, dam building and repair projects, etc. The CCC was responsible for much migration around the country that resulted in intermarrying of families across the country. For more information on the Corp, Eva recommends The Civilian Conservation Corps in Nevada: From Boys to Men by Renee Crona Kolvet and Victoria Ford.

Eva Jensen and Dr. Linda Miller have worked together to develop a curriculum about Early Nevadans.

Environmentalism in Nevada
Presented by Jeff Hinton

An audio of Jeff's presentation is available here.

Western historians ask whether the West is an "exceptional" place. Throughout history, deserts have been considered wastelands. They are characterized as being hostile and foreboding or places to be exploited. Even John Muir was not complimentary of Nevada’s desert. Freemont was the most detailed in describing early Nevada geography. He included “revolting” in his description of Southern Nevada. He could not decide which of the deserts was the most “despicable,” but Lovelock and Las Vegas rated very high. Wilderness and wasteland have been used synonymously historically. John Christianson related the harshness of the wilderness with the harshness of life through metaphor. Others see the desert as a place of sublime beauty.

How did the Las Vegas desert change from being inhospitable to preferential? Some of the earliest descriptions of Las Vegas come from Mormon missionaries. Brigham Young recognized a need for supply routes in proximity to Salt Lake City and California (the Mormon gateway to the world because of its horticultural possibilities). Las Vegas served as a desert oasis for weary, parched travelers, There was a 50-mile trek between the Muddy and Virgin Rivers called the Journey of Death. There was no water between the two locations. It would take about 27 hours to cross this part of the trail. Some defined the area as “dreary.”

Samuel Clemens wrote Roughing It of his time in the West. In the text, he wrote that Southern Nevada was a "hideous," "lifeless" place.

Wilderness is a concept of Western thought. Wilderness was the antithesis of paradise and subduing the wilderness became a goal of Westerners. Many even identified wilderness with evil, because of Biblical connotations. There was a fear and loathing of wilderness, identified even by the Pilgrims of the Eastern shore of North America. Some feared that spending time in the wilderness would return them to a savage state. Therefore, pioneers had to take on a military stance when entering the wilderness and saw the wilderness as something to be conquered. As Americans shift westward, they take their European views of wilderness with them.

With the Industrial Revolution, many began to rethink wilderness. There was new emphasis on appreciating nature. Romantics were instrumental in the shift in thinking about wilderness and nature. In the 1900s, John Muir begins to describe nature as a religious place. He challenged people to think about the costs and benefits of taming the wilderness (e.g., building Hoover Dam therefore flooding the region).

Jeff read about the environmental effects of mining on public land. Laws from 1872 allowed mining to contaminate our region and the long-term results of that mining.

Curriculum and the Lost City
Presented by Dr. Linda Miller

Linda worked with Eva Jensen developing curricula called Teaching with Historic Places. It appears on the website for the National Register of Historic Places (http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp).

Linda gave groups of four attendees a primary source artifact and asked us to analyze it using pre-made analysis sheets. These sheets are available at http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons.

WtP: Pictures

Thank you to all my new mentors and friends for a wonderful week learning about the We the People curriculum. You can access our photos on Flickr at our We the People — Nevada site.



I will miss you all and look forward to seeing you in your classrooms and at future social studies events!

I do have some bad news...
TeacherTube experienced an error between July 24 and August 14. All videos uploaded during the Institute were lost on their server (where I was storing the videos because they were so memory intensive). I'm very sad to say, I no longer have copies of the videos taken during the Institute.

WtP: Simulated Hearing

Our week at the We the People Summer Institute concluded with a simulated Congressional hearing with esteemed judges (organized by Shane) including:

• Judy Simpson — "The Mother of Civic Education in Nevada"
• Dr. Kathy Obenchain — University of Nevada, Reno
• Martha Gould — Washoe County School District
• Denny Gear — Teacher
  
• Fred Lokan
• Travis Souza
• Marcus White — Harry Reid's Office

The Judges in the Courtroom

A View of the Courtroom

Judges were introduced individually with special recognition of Judy Simpson for her passion for civic education and how this passion has driven civic education in Nevada as well as internationally. She has been training individuals in the We the People program for 21 years.

Congressional Hearings

The Unit 1 judges took their places and the Unit 1 participants greeted each judge individually while he audience stood. The lead judge read the questions for Unit 1 and the team began to present. This model continued for all units, with changes in judges and Unit teams following each presentation.

A View of the Audience

Units 1 and 5 (Angela's Group)

Units 2 and 4 (Kit's Group)

Units 3 and 6 (Milt's Group) (This is my awesome E-Team group!)

WtP: Unit 5 — What does the Bill of Rights protect?

Presented by David Tanenhaus, Ph.D. — University of Nevada, Las Vegas

_________________________________________________________________

Note: My notes for this section were less-than-adequate. I give my thanks to a private donor of notes for this cause.

"The First Amendment and how the courts have thought about it. Courts and citizens revisit these cases because they represent fundamental concepts of security and liberty. Interpretations are different during different historical times.

Why do we have a Bill of Rights? People who thought we should not ratify (anti-feds) are responsible for adding it to the Constitution. Federalists thought we should not have it because they did not want enumerated freedoms--if you leave rights out, they will not be available (like privacy). Also, the state constitutions already had bills of rights. Madison initially thought it was not needed, but changed his mind later.

Alien and sedition acts of 1790s--made it almost impossible to criticize the government. Had a sunset clause, as all laws passed during time of crisis should. We may not be thinking clearly during times of crisis.

Why didn't the republican newspaper editors take the govt to the supreme court--no precedent, prior to Marbury v. Madison. Court was made up of federalist judges who might not be unbiased.

What was freedom of the press in 1790? English Law--No prior restraint, but if they publish something harmful, you can prosecute. Some said the first amendment only applied to keeping govt. from restricting publishing something.

Women's voices in the 19th century--women could speak, write, petition. Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments echoes the language of the Declaration and first amendment right.

Women were instrumental in the abolition of slavery.
Women's Christian Temperance Union.
World War I--a lot of protests from women. Some people wanted to just call this treason. Espionage act in 1917--still on the books--makes it a crime for anyone to willfully make false statements with intent to interfere with the military success of the U.S. or undermine the morale of soldiers or obstruct the signing up to serve in the military. Postmaster could exclude from mail anything printed that would do these things.
People are starting to go to court to see if their rights are being violated. Paterson v. Colorado 1907 (bad tendency test) Doesn't matter whether what you said is true or false, if it hurts the war effort you can be convicted.

Schenck vs. U.S 1919--clear and present danger test--fire in a crowded theater--justification for limiting freedom of speech.
Over the summer, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes has a change of heart. He hears another case the next year--Abrams v. U.S. Holmes dissents in this case with the clear and present danger test. Modern first amendment theory is based upon his dissent. You get closer to the truth when there are many ideas in the marketplace. "

-Anonymous
_________________________________________________________________

And, now... back to my notes...

Franklin Roosevelt introduced the four freedoms that became the thinking for modern human rights movements. The freedoms he enunciates in his 1941 state of the Union address to Congress:

1. Freedom of speech and expression
2. Freedom of every person to worship God in his on way
3. Freedom from want ("economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants")
4. Freedom from fear
   

Jehovah's Witnesses began engaging in several court cases following the prejudicial treatment of their faith under Hitler's regime. Saluting the flag in public schools was an issue they felt violated their religious beliefs. In 1940, a brother and sister (ages 10 and 12) refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance in school and the children were excluded from school until they agreed to say the Pledge at school. The principal, supported by the school board, refused to let the children even attend part of the school day if they will not say the Pledge. The school board later expelled the children so the father felt no alternative but to appeal the case to the courts. The case was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court where the cause of the Jehovah's Witnesses won. A brief to the Court argued that our nation differed from Nazi Germany because of our individual rights to religious freedom. Nonetheless, the Court decided in favor of the school district.

Justice Jackson, during World War II, responded to the case of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, a second Jehovah's Witness case similar to the 1941 case. In his Opinion which overturned the 1941 Opinion, he states: "Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard." He argued that if we do not allow people to have dissenting opinions, we will end up eliminating those with those opinions: "Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating the dissenters." This was the Court's reaction to the Jehovah's Witnesses appeal to not say the Pledge of Allegiance. The Opinion was delivered in 1943.

We ended with a discussion of cases related to students' freedom of speech beginning with Tinker v. DesMoines and continuing with Morse et al. v. Frederick (the "Bong Hits for Jesus" case). The decision in the Morse case was not related to time, manner, and place. In Oyez, it states: "Chief Justice John Roberts's majority opinion held that although students do have some right to political speech even while in school, this right does not extend to pro-drug messages that may undermine the school's important mission to discourage drug use."

Post 9-11 Questions to Debate

1. Is the war on terrorism a new kind of war?
2. How do you fight a war on terrorism without sacrificing freedoms or by bcoming terrorists yourselves?
3. How do you balance liberty and security?

WtP: Nevada We the People Alumni Network

Kim Stanhouse presented on the Nevada We the People Alumni Network (STAR). This is a network of former students who participated in the We the People curricula who make themselves available to assist teachers as they use the curriculum in their classrooms. There are Northern and Southern Nevada networks. To find an individual from this network to support in the classroom, contact Marcia Ellis.


After her presentation, Mark Towell (including ideas from Milt Hyams) presented additional ideas for finding classroom assistance. Angela Orr also noted that she and the other mentors of this Institute are very eager to help teachers to be successful with this curriculum in their individual classrooms. They are willing to make themselves available throughout the school year as teachers implement We the People .

WtP: Pro Se Court

Angela led us in a demonstration lesson of Pro Se Court, a method that uses the jigsaw method to have students argue in court.

She chose a court case, Hazelwood School District vs. Kuhlmeier. We reviewed the article by reading a brief description of the case and the appellate process. She then separated us into three groups, one representing Hazelwood (the petitioners), one group representing the respondents (Kuhlmeier), and the third group being justices. We met in our groups and discussed how to best argue our side of the case. We then returned to the classroom and separated into groups of three people (with one individual representing the petitioners, respondents, and justices).

The petitioners began by arguing their cases and had 90 seconds to present their side. The justice then asked two questions of the petitioners. This was repeated with the respondents and then each group (beginning with the petitioners) was provided 20 seconds for a rebuttal.

The justice then had 1-2 minutes to write her response. All justices moved to the front of the room and each, in turn, read his/her decision.

I was a respondent. In our mock court, Hazelwood School District won with a 4-2 decision. In the real case, Hazelwood also won with a decision of 5-3.

Oyez is a website allowing users to access all Supreme Court decisions. It is easy to access and provides short amount of information on cases. This is a wonderful resource for gaining information for this activity.

WtP: Unit 4 — How have the protections of the Bill of Rights been developed and expanded?

Presented by David Tanenhaus, Ph.D. — University of Nevada, Las Vegas

The notion of a living constitution is that the inherent structure is relatively stable and is accepted as the higher law of the land.

David began with a discussion of Justice Thurgood Marshall's "Commentary: Reflections on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution." Next, we discussed Sanford Levinson's "Why I Did Not Sign the Constitution: With a Chance to Endorse It, I Had to Decline." He also addressed the issue, as did Leeson and Casper, of a lack of an explanation of the term "citizen" in the Constitution.

Many scholars would argue that understanding our Constitution requires moving beyond the formal Constitution (see below) toward a close and thorough review of court precedents, habits, understanding, and attitudes.

Key Elements of the Formal Constitution:

• 1787: U.S. Constitution
• 1789: Bill of Rights
• 1795: 11th Amendment
• 1804: 12th Amendment

The Dred Scott Case (1857)

Dred Scott, his wife, and children were owned by a doctor and soldier. The family owning the Scotts took their family and slaves into a free territory. Scott asked why he shouldn't be free if living in a free territory.

The main question set before the Supreme Court was whether children of imported slaves could ever attain full citizenship. Taney answered that without an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, blacks could never become full U.S. citizens. This concept alone would probably not been enough to inflame the north into the Civil War. The decision further argued that it was not possible to abolish slavery in the territories because of Constitutional provisions relating to property. This was the first time in U.S. history that the Supreme Court struck down major legislation.

The fear of the Northerners was that another Dred Scott was on its way that would result in creating slave states from non-slave states. They were worried there was an effort to nationalize slavery.

At this point, the people thought of the Constitution as a static document that they could not change. However, the only way to make a change was to amend the Constitution. The people saw the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Bible as sacred documents.

It took the Civil War for Americans to accept that they were able to have a living, evolving Constitution.

The Civil Rights Act (1866) states that blacks and whites have the same rights.

The Fourteenth Amendment (1868)

The goal of the Amendment was to overturn the Dred Scott decision as well as overturn other court cases that did not recognize blacks as equal citizens. The first Section establishes natural-born citizenship for both the United States and your resident state (dual citizenship). Though it guarantees "privileges and immunities," it does not specify these privileges and immunities.

This amendment established natural-born citizenship to both the nation and resident states (dual citizenship) in addition to due process of law (The "Due Process Clause"). It also adds an "Equal Protection Clause."

• Privileges and Immunities Clause: Our rights as U.S. citizens are very limited according to the Supreme Court in the Slaughterhouse cases. It had originally seemed that this would be the mot important part of the Amendment, but court decisions over time have made this clause of less-than-expected importance.

Civil Rights Act (1875): Public accommodations cannot discriminate against people because of race.

Civil Rights Cases (1883): The Supreme Court questions whether it was acceptable for Congress to pass acts related to state discrimination. Though it ensures no discrimination within states, the decision does not extend to individuals.

Harlan was a slave owner who changed his mind about slave ownership and later became a Justice of the Supreme Court. He wrote a dissenting opinion that the 13th and 14th Amendments did change the fundamental law and reiterated that it was Congress, not the Courts, had the power to write legislation.

Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) supports the Jim Crow laws that were established between 1883 and 1896). Note that these laws were started in the north. The South, because slavery was still in force, did not need these laws - they were already discriminating against the blacks. Some of the elements included in the Jim Crow laws that limited people from voting (poll tax, literacy, "reasonable interpretations" of the Constitution, and tests about the government). There were recommendations to have separate everything from rail cars to different bibles on which to testify in court. In the Plessy decision, Brown stated you cannot legislate morality. The decision ended by stating that if the state laws were "reasonable," they could pass any laws they would like. Justic Harlan wrote a dissenting opinion in which he said this decision would be as disastrous as the Dred Scott decision.

Incorporation is the concept that the 14th Amendment extends all Amendments in the Bill of Rights to individual citizens (instead of the rights being limited to only the states). Based on court cases, not all rights have yet been incorporated so they relate to individual rights. The 2nd (bear arms) and 3rd (quartering soldiers) have not yet been incorporated under the 14th Amendment.