Tag Archives: Historical Reflection

They don’t call me “Dr. Excitement” for nothin’, you know! (Be True to Your School, 5)

[Note:  In a previous post in this series, I discussed how certain personal eccentricities helped me construct a “classroom persona,” one “Dr.,” beard, polyester suit, and awful pun at a time.  In this entry, I’d like to offer a few … Continue reading

Posted in "The Race Beat", Age of Jim Crow, American History, Civil Rights Movement, Civil War, Cold War, Dr. Martin Luther King, Elias Boudinot, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, Interdisciplinary Work, Prep School, prep school teaching with a PhD, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Teaching, The Blues, Uncategorized, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

“Who was that Masked Man?”: Building a Classroom Persona (Be True to Your School, 4)

[NOTE:  In a previous post in this series, I saluted the two best teachers I’ve ever had, Miss Gertrude Weaver (high school) and Professor James Rabun (graduate school).  In addition to deep knowledge of history and loads of energy and … Continue reading

Posted in "big bucks", American History, building a classroom persona, classroom eccentricities, Delaware, Education, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, History Teaching, jogging, memoir, New Jersey, Prep School, prep school teaching with a PhD, Retirement, Southern (Georgia) History, Teaching, The Blues, Uncategorized, WP Long Read | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

The Ol’ History Curriculum Merry-go-Round Comes ‘Round Again (History Lesson Plans, 12)

[NOTE:  In a two-part series in The American Historian, David Arnold reviews a recent movement aimed at reforming  the way history is taught in colleges and universities.  An eighteen-year veteran of teaching history in a community college, Professor Arnold’s average … Continue reading

Posted in "Education Courses", American History, Education, Elective History Course for 9th and 10th Graders, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, History graduate school, History Teaching, Interdisciplinary Work, memoir, Prep School, prep school teaching with a PhD, Retirement, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

“Teaching 21st-Century Students”: A Reflection (Be True to Your School, 3)

[Note:  I’ve spent my career studying, teaching, and reflecting on History, and, whenever those above me in the administrative food chain asked my opinion on some academic topic, I was not behindhand in responding. Here’s an example:  as a follow-up to our opening faculty … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Elective History Course for 9th and 10th Graders, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, Prep School, prep school teaching with a PhD, Research, Retirement, Teaching, Uncategorized, WP Long Read | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Post for Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, 2016

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., has long been one of my personal heroes, beginning when I was a youngster growing up in an industrial suburb of Baltimore, Maryland.  Later, after I decided that I wanted to teach History, I … Continue reading

Posted in "The Race Beat", Age of Jim Crow, American History, Civil Rights Movement, Current Events, Dr. Martin Luther King, Georgia History, Historical Reflection, History, Martin Luther King, Popular Culture, Southern History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Creeks and Cherokees–Walking Native Ground (In Pursuit of Dead Georgians, 23)

[NOTE:  Recently, I finished reading Tiya Miles’s fine study, The House on Diamond Hill: A Cherokee Plantation Story, the history of the property we now know as the Chief Vann House State Historic Site, in Chatsworth, Georgia. The House on … Continue reading

Posted in American History, Books, Cherokee Indians, Creek Indians, Georgia History, Historical Reflection, History, Research, Southern (Georgia) History, Southern History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Bubba’s Baedeker: A History Book as Travel Guide to the “Redneck Riviera”

A Review of Harvey H. Jackson III, The Rise and Decline of the Redneck Riviera:  An Insider’s History of the Florida-Alabama Coast  (Athens, Ga., University of Georgia Press, 2012) [NOTE: I first read Hardy Jackson’s book in 2012, and it stirred in me … Continue reading

Posted in American History, Books, Current Events, Historical Reflection, History, Popular Culture, Research, Retirement, Southern History, Uncategorized, WP Long Read | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Growing Up in Colonial New England (Adventures in Interdisciplinary Land, 6)

[Note: One of the “joys” of teaching in a prep school with a PhD., at least in the state of Georgia, was the state’s assumption, “back in the day,” that folks like me were deficient in “professional education” courses and … Continue reading

Posted in "Education Courses", American History, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, Interdisciplinary Work, Research, Retirement, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Reflecting in History’s Mirror (History Lesson Plans, 3)

[NOTE: In a previous post, I introduced the “Lecture-Discussion” conundrum, the pedagogical approach favored by the prep school history department that had hired me. What did “Lecture-Discussion” mean, as a way to impart information to adolescents? I firmly believed, as … Continue reading

Posted in American History, Civil Rights Movement, Historical Reflection, History, History Curriculum, Interdisciplinary Work, prep school teaching with a PhD, Retirement, Southern History, Teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments