All posts by Snider, Christy

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Digital Humanities, U.S. Survey

The United States Constitution, 1789 [H5P Interactive Content]

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The United States struggled during its early years under the Articles of Confederation dealing with external powers and internal rebellions. In 1787, invitations were sent to all the states to attend a convention to discuss the changes necessary to create a national government strong enough to meet the needs of the new nation without trampling over the rights of the American people. The delegates met in Philadelphia in May 1787. After four months of debate and compromise, they submitted, a completely new government – the Constitution – to the states for ratification. Despite extensive debates about potential flaws in the proposed system, the Constitution was ratified in June 1788 and went into effect in 1789.

As you move through the different sections of the Constitution, you should make sure you can answer the questions asked on the embedded dialogue cards.

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H5P, U.S. Survey

New H5P Drag and Drop Activity

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The activity below includes quotes about the treatment of Japanese Americans from governmental documents, newspaper accounts, and representatives of local US organizations. If the quote mentions a security rational for the treatment of Japanese immigrants drag and drop the purple security label on the quote. If the quote focuses solely on race as the motivation for the treatment of Japanese Americans drag and drop the green race label on the quote. When you have labeled all the quotes, you can check to see the accuracy of your understanding.

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Digital Humanities, U.S. Survey

New HP5 Content – English Bill of Rights 1689

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I figured out how to use to the drag and drop HP5 content.  It is not intuitive even after going through the tutorial.  I found this video very helpful even though I didn’t use Drupal.  The point of activity below is to have students drag the common definition/meaning and drop it on the formal wording from the 1689 Bill of Rights.  I found in the past that although I assigned students to read the Bill of Rights not all of them really understood what it was saying.  Hopefully an activity like this will address that.

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Digital Humanities

H5P Content

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I’ve been playing around with the H5P interactive content that I can embed in my canvas courses.  So far, I’ve only used a few of the tools.  But I’m finding them really cool and handy.

I’ve created a timeline for my survey course.

I also made a map that shows the changes that occurred during the  Dominion of New England for the US survey course.

I have an image of the Patrioic Ladies of Edenton, NC upon which I’ve added annotated hotspots for my US Women’s History course.Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Rock & Roll History

Cardi B

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Interesting Vox article on how Cardi B works hard for her shmoney.  It sadly didn’t try to connect Cardi B to any female artists beyond Beyonce.  Perhaps if Constance Grady had looked back a bit further to the 1970s or 1980s could have made connections between Cardi B with someone like Madonna or Donna Summer, both of whom have more relevance to understanding Cardi B than do comparisons with her contemporaries.  Grady has plenty of other stories, however, that make some great historical/modern day connections.

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History + Writing

Susanna Calkins – Historical Fiction Writer to Speak at Berry College

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Copy of Live Concert

Dr. Calkins holds a Ph.D. in history from Purdue University and works at the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching at Northwestern University.  She writes an award-winning series for Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press featuring a chambermaid turned printer’s apprentice in seventeenth-century England. Currently, she is working on a new series set in 1920s Chicago.  Her website is: http://www.susannacalkins.com/Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Digital Humanities, Higher Education, U.S. Survey

Infographic Syllabus

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After being inspired by a couple of different things I’ve read and some examples from people who have done similar things, I’ve turned my syllabi this year in less ‘wordy contracts’ and more infograph.  Mind you there are still lots of words on the syllabus – but it is less wordy than previously, the font is bigger, and it should stand out from the other syllabi students will be receiving.

Made with Piktochart – better control over look and design.

Made with MS Word – not exactly what I wanted.

Syllabus for same course that was used last semester.

I used Piktochart to create it, after a failed first attempt using word.  They have lots of snazzy templates, but I couldn’t really find something I ‘loved’.  Therefore, I ended up building something from scratch.  I based the color scheme and lots of the design elements off of pages from old books (especially books with pictures).  I’m pretty satisfied with the final product, although it took much longer to produce than usual.  Hopefully, in the future it won’t be so time consuming.  Here is a link to the full-size version.Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

U.S. Women's History

Who do they think is going to do this?

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While working on my book manuscript today I ran across a letter from Sophonisba Breckinridge, a University of Chicago professor, to the famous Chicago social worker, Jane Addams.  In this letter she mentions Carrie Chapman Catt sending her a book manuscript that Catt believed needed a lot of work.  I thought Breckinridge’s question, “Who do they think is going to do this?” Might be equivalent to saying “Presume much?” today.

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Higher Education

Reading Strategically in College and Grad School

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This post is primary focused on how grad students should go about tackling the tremendous amount of the reading they need to do.  It offers some advice, however, that undergrads should probably take to heart.

My piece of advice is:

“Reading without taking notes is time wasted. Taking notes on your reading will help you process the information more deeply. In graduate school, the purpose of reading is not to learn definitions or simple facts, but instead to develop a deep understanding of concepts and to be able to apply those ideas to your work. To do that, you cannot simply passively read texts. Taking notes and annotating your texts while reading will help you think deeply about what you read. Good note taking will also save you time in the future. Marking useful quotes or annotating your readings well means you will not have to read that same text over again to find the main points.”

Source: Reading Strategically | Graduate Connections | University of Nebraska–LincolnFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

U.S. Survey

Jack Daniel’s and African American History

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Even if Jack Daniel’s is only doing this as a marketing move, I love how it acknowledges some of the real accomplishments and influence of slaves in creating Southern culture/life.

On its 150th anniversary, the Tennessee whiskey distillery concedes that its official history didn’t tell the whole story of its origins.

Source: Jack Daniel’s Embraces a Hidden Ingredient: Help From a Slave – The New York TimesFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Rock & Roll History

Led Zeppelin Not Guilty of Stealing ‘Stairway’ Rift

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Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were found not guilty of stealing the guitar rift for Stairway to Heaven from the song Taurus by Spirit. There probably is enough difference that you can’t PROVE their guilt, but it is pretty darn similar. I’ve linked to Taurus so you can judge for yourself.

https://open.spotify.com/track/56LAHIIyWXTg7vYmVSGBUf

Source: The Latest: Led Zeppelin thankful ‘Stairway’ rift is settledFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather