Chapter One
I do not intend to suggest in what follows that I got everything right straight off as I moved through my career. I owe some apologies to former students for mistakes and false starts along the way. Suffice it to note here that only my approach to functional grammar contained an element of originality. Teaching grammar functionally will be dealt with later.
My bias in favour of science and technical teachers will become obvious as the book proceeds. As a general rule, these groups will consistently be among the most knowledgeable on staff in their own disciplines, and I have always admired people who are good at what they do (even Panzer generals). There are, of course, always a few number jocks and auto jocks who know little except numbers and motors, but that will do no harm so long as such people confine their careers to their home area.
The attitude that technical teachers are not "real" teachers because they have not gone through the same academic routine as the rest of us is especially prevalent among humanities teachers, a strange prejudice for a group with such sorry record in communication.
Appendix F contains a sample history exam set for Grade 10s during my final years of teaching. I include it to illustrate the content of the media approach to the teaching of History described in Chapters Six and Seven. It also is intended as an example of what a properly constructed History test should look like: while the content being tested often determines the form of the examination question, the following general principles should be reflected in any test. A teacher's testing technique is a sure test of his teaching and evaluation skills, and a sure indication of what he has to offer his students. A poor showing here indicates someone who needs guidance and some in-service training, not to mention scholarship in history. A poor exam indicates a weak grasp not only of facts but of the central principles of Change and Power which make the study of history intelligible.
Recall questions (fill in the blank) should never comprise more than 20% of a test. Matching questions should be limited to seven to nine related items.
Dates, mountains, rivers, events, personalities, etc., should never be lumped together or spread out over more than one page. Multiple choice questions should be a major part of any test, and should be thought items. A student who has done his work should be able to reason out the answer. The following should be avoided:
The Declaration of Independence was signed in (1) 1707 (2) 1776 (3) 1779
(4) 1815...........................................................................................( )
The above is merely a disguised recall question: The Declaration of Independence was signed in ________.
One can hardly have too many multiple choice questions, but the next example betrays a teacher who grasp of the subject is tenuous:
The Protestant Reformation was (1) A Catholic change (2) A Protestant change (3) Both of the above (4) Neither of above......................................( )
A philosopher could not answer that one, and anyone who sets the next question needs assistance urgently:
TRUE OR FALSE: Germany invented the automobile.............( )
Finally, beware the English Teacher Subjective Syndrome, a dependence on a series of short essays or paragraphs which take ten minutes to set and an eternity to mark:
l. Comment on the effect of the Industrial Revolution. Use examples from your reading.
2. Discuss the position and powers of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages and Protestant objections. Be brief.
One effective method of handling essay questions is also dealt with in Appendix E.
Students in small rural schools who have only a single teacher of writing to contend with may be better off than those in a large urban school, particularly if the teacher follows a sound program in teaching exposition. The smaller school may be less subject to damaging compromises. Unfortunately, small schools often attract the least experienced teachers, who find themselves burdened with teaching several disparate subjects and organizing the school's athletic activities. In addressing instruction in composition, they are left to their own resources as much as anyone else.
It will be instructive to inquire why colleges of education typically seem to do little to anticipate all this, particularly by ensuring that their graduates bring an adequate grasp of subject matter to the classroom, rather than a superficial background in methodology.
Chapter Two
Conant, James, The American High School Today, New York, McGraw-Hill, c1959.
(6)
Our school had made a first move in that direction. Large TV monitors had been installed in most of the classrooms, and a network of cable strung throughout the school. The first were soon pulled for lack of demand, and the cable disappeared into the electronics workshop during the following decades.
Librarians can manufacture impressive circulation numbers by counting each "use" as a circulation. For example, I used to circulate book carts of history books and materials to classrooms, especially on the World Wars. Given some 250 items per cart, and three classes a day (avg. 35 pupils), with teacher-supervised overnight loans, I could have claimed 150 loans per day. Understanding how a school of 900 students could average 700 circulations a day would require either a unique accounting system or divine intervention.
Chapter Four
He had joined the army in 1950 at the same time I had enlisted in the Air Force, but had gone one better by serving in Korea with a front-line medical unit.
The names will be familiar to anyone working in the area of listening and communications theory.
A stimulating statement of this reality may be found in "What should children learn?" by Paul Gagnon, Atlantic Monthly, vol. 276, no. 6, December 1995.
Chapter Five
Much of this material will be round in John Keegan's important new work, A history of warfare. I am not advocating the teaching of military history; rather, I am trying to underline the point that warfare is a key indicator of technology and capacity for change, and thus is an essential component of any strategy to escape from the Grinder fixation on textbooks. The inability of new teachers, who are prone to regard an interest in warfare as an eccentricity, to draw on the wealth of insight available from the study of warfare as a cultural phenomenon is a symptom of their inability to move beyond Fact One to Fact 849.
See Emery, Fred, A choice of futures: to enlighten or inform. Canberra, Australian National university, 1975.
The following is an example of an annotated textbook narrative line where the complexity of the topic makes a simple abstract of a text unsuitable. Henry VIII can be such a complex subject, so this example contains more capitalized annotation than is usually required to link up with the main themes.
Henry became King at age___ in 1509. He was extremely_________
very _______________, a good ___________ , and a capital____________.
He was very fluent in languages such as __________and ___________. His favorite sport was ____________.
Tall and strong, Henry could _______, ________ and ______with the toughest
of Englishmen. He was the best ___________ in England. One of Henry's first
acts was to execute _______and Dudley, two of his father's _______________,
simply to ______________. The headman's axe and the hangman's ________ was
common in Henry's reign.
Henry married _________________ two weeks before his coronation, but needed special permission from the Pope, because his new wife was his brother's ___________.
Despite Henry VII's advice to avoid war, Henry VIII longed for popularity and glory on the ________________. He found an opportunity to do this and increase his power and popularity in the conflicts between the ____________ kings of France and the____________emperors of Germany.
NOTE:HENRY VII. FERDINAND OF SPAIN, LOUIS XII OF FRANCE,
AND MAXIMILIAN (HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR) WERE ELDERLY, PRUDENT, AND CONSERVATIVE. WITHIN A FEW YEARS, THEY WERE REPLACED BY THREE YOUNG MEN HUNGRY FOR POWER AND GLORY: HENRY VIII, FRANCIS I FRANCE) AND CHARLES V (SPAIN, HRE).
HENRY'S CHIEF ROUTE TO POWER LAY IN HIS GENIUS IN KEEPING CHARLES AND FRANCIS AT EACH OTHER'S THROATS, AND, THEREFORE, ALWAYS IN NEED OF HIS SUPPORT.
Maximilian, the ___________ Emperor, had reigned over a Germany divided into many small states which often ignored his authority. Through ___________ he managed to ring hostile _________ with states friendly to him. The HRE and France were often in conflict with each other over territory in ___________.
NNB: HENRY OFTEN TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN CHARLES AND FRANCIS TO FAVOR FIRST ONE, THEN THE OTHER. THUS HE MANAGED TO KEEP BOTH OF THEM DEPENDENT UPON HIS SUPPORT, AND ANXIOUS TO BE ON FRIENDLY TERMS. THIS WAS TO BE A CRUCIAL FACTOR IN BLUNTING THE EVENTUAL EXCOMMUNICATION OF HENRY BY THE POPE, SINCE THE ORDER OF THE POPE WOULD BE MEANINGLESS WITHOUT HE SUPPORT OF FRANCE AND THE HRE. HOWEVER, NEITHER COULD AFFORD TO ANTAGONIZE HENRY.
When the subject of knighthood and chivalry is raised, some smart Alec is sure to ask about chastity belts, and this is a great chance to establish a connection between current misconceptions and real life medieval history, although some students may lack the stomach to handle the answer.
Chastity belts are popularly supposed to have been devices employed by knights to prevent their lady loves from "sleeping around" while the knights were off campaigning in the Holy Land. In fact, they were quite useless for that purpose, and their use has been greatly exaggerated.
A Chastity belt was an iron frame which fitted closely around the abdomen. It's purpose was to ensure a slow, painful death if the wearer became pregnant.
Chapter Six
Persecution of the Jews in Spain and Europe, especially the pogroms and ghettoes; the position of women in feudal society; the 30 Years War between Protestants and Catholics; the Huguenots; Puritanism; the suppressions of the Irish and Scots; the conquest of the New World; the Reign of Terror; Islam and Christianity; the Dissenters; Slavery; among others, led to Tolerance as a sub-theme to Power and Change.
The matter can be taken further. There is scarcely a social issue of any importance, be it abortion, capital punishment, or social reformation of anti-social behaviour which is not influenced by scientific or pseudo-scientific assumptions about causation in human behaviour. Even education has its share of those who would diagnose social illnesses and offer themselves as care-givers. Manipulating others is a natural outgrowth of an age with a technological soul. Insight into human behaviour can be liberating, but the critical philosophical examination of alleged cause and effect in human behaviour is an indispensable complement to scientific study.
A popular class exercise at this point was a quiz testing the political attitudes of the students. Year after year the results consistently belied the myth of a generation gap: student scores were invariably slightly right of centre and within a point or two. I would write an average score behind the screen before administering the test, and I would raise the screen after they had tabulated their results and determined the class average. As a rule, the score I had previously recorded coincided with the average of that day.
In other words, student political attitudes, far from being potentially revolutionary, reflected those of their culture and parents exactly, and were dull compared to the historical personalities they had been studying.
Bronowski disclaims any knowledge of why the native civilizations of America failed to develop the concept of the wheel, other than to suggest that they had not been on the continent long enough. My theory is that the concept of the wheel as a working tool required enough motive power to make the cart a practical invention, but there were no horses or oxen in the New World. As already noted, the early native populations followed many other cultures in failing to perceive the value of domesticating and breeding the horse as a work animal, and as a instrument of power. Geographical isolation, again, may have contributed to this outcome. In developing the themes of Power and Change, I was surprised to find how often the horse rears its head in human history.
Keegan, John, A history of warfare. New York, Alfred A Knopf, 1994.
Appendix A - Organizing Essays
I am not writing a textbook on composition, but it is important to make clear what I mean by the term writing, in the restricted sense of the ordering of language to convey ideas.
The following is an instructional handout given to my history students who had been assigned a formal book review but who had not, in most cases, seen this kind of formal expository assignment before, nor had they received instruction in expository writing in any systematic way. Since I could not, as a history teacher, digress to review and instruct my students adequately in the principles of composition, I resorted to giving them models by which they could pattern their work. Student models were the most useful and I had only to offer some commentary respecting unity and coherence, The model is an expository essay rather than merely a paragraph, but a sound training in paragraph writing will make the extension to the essay form a relatively simple matter.
My students were expected to show up in class with a title page and a formal outline (which they had previously discussed with me), They had one hour to produce a 500 word essay.
It is fair to say that an assignment of this sort would cause consternation if not dismay in most high school classes. One of my students looked at the assignment and announced: "I can't do this!" I assured them that they could, and gave them several models to pattern their review after, one of which is included in Appendix B. The key to the review was simply having a clear opinion as to what the reviewed book was all about (it could be either fiction or non-fiction) and proceeding to support that opinion. What reasons, I asked, would you give to a friend which might convince him whether the book was or was not worth reading?
Note that the book review links up with the library's resources. As we shall see, that is not always welcome to teachers. I shall discuss the results of this approach later, in the chapter on teaching history.
I first prepared a sample outline (the students had already been introduced to the outline pattern), which was reviewed to coach them on how to organize their material. Note that the essential feature of the formal outline is a statement of the Aim the essay will pursue. I usually had students visit me in the library for assistance in stating a clear Aim or thesis for their review. Once past that hurdle, most students had a relatively easy time completing the assignment.
Review of the Fall of Spain
Aim: to show how religious intolerance and conflict led Philip II to ruin his country
I. Spain at the time of the Reformation
II. The fatal policies of Philip II
2. Out of date ideas in trade, sea warfare
2. Revolt in Spanish Netherlands
b. Resistance of the Dutch
b. ?
III. Religious war in France and the triumph of the Dutch
2. Henry of Navarre and the alliance with Dutch and English
2. ?
IV. Failures of Philip II
B. etc
REMEMBER
Use a good thesis (main idea) paragraph at the beginning to give the precise scope of your essay.
Use linking words and turn signals to unify paragraphs and enable the reader to follow your thought.
Use a strong conclusion to recall the main idea and create a single strong impression.
The next step was to help students produce a unified and coherent essay, based on 1) A clear Aim statement, which was part of the 2) thesis paragraph. A running commentary on a student submission (partially included here) was provided to demonstrate how to proceed.
Writing your essay
Writing an essay is NOT simply stringing together loosely related facts or quotes. For our purposes, good writing involves:
1) Deciding on an AIM for the essay (English teachers will call this a thesis statement). It will provide a CONTROLLING IIDEA which will allow you to "fit in" those items in your material which MATCH.
If only a few of details match the AIM, then your thesis or Aim may be too narrow. If ALL details fit, then it is likely too broad, and will cease to control anything--your essay will then tend to wander about without clear direction, confusing the reader (if the reader happens to be the teacher, then you are in trouble).
FIRST SAMPLE AIM STATEMENT (you are free to choose your own)
Aim: to show that the divorce of Henry VIII, and the struggle for power which followed it, made conflict with the Roman Catholic Church inevitable, and purchased the triumph of the National State over the Church at a heavy cost in cultural heritage,
This is broad enough to cover all the material, and specific enough to allow you to RELATE THE FACTS TO EACH OTHER (see below)
SAMPLE OF A STUDENT AIM STATEMENT WHICH IS NARROWER IN SCOPE
AIM: It's hard to believe that in four years two men, Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell, destroyed a thousand years of history in England's monasteries. The Monasteries throughout Britain were looted and destroyed for reasons that today we still cannot justify or understand.
You can agree or disagree with this, but it does provide a FOCUS for your material, and that is all-important.
Once you have an adequate AIM or thesis statement, you will find that the material comes together in a rush:
FOR EXAMPLE: You need to link:
Henry's title "Defender of the faith"
Henry's divorce
Struggle for power between king and Pope
Possible opening paragraph: (Assuming first Aim statement)
In 1520, Henry VIII wrote an attack on the doctrines of Martin Luther and was rewarded by the Pope with the title, "Defender of the Faith". Yet by 1527 he had been excommunicated. What had happened? Henry had fallen in love and was on a collision course with the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church.
Note that you can now happily proceed to ring in Wolsey's failed attempts at an annulment, and Cromwell and his bid to the Universities. The theme of a power struggle between Church and State will allow you to bring in the conflict between Henry and Charles V, the Pope's stalling, etc.
Note that since the Aim established POWER as a main theme, you are set up to bring in Margaret Giggs and the Friars Observant as helpless victims of the titanic struggle between Church and State, not to mention the Abbot of Glastonbury.
By concentrating on the aspect of POWER STRUGGLE, you can show how Henry co-opted the support of the rich and created a landed aristocracy loyal to him (an excuse to bring in Jack Homer here) and even blunted the resistance of the Ordinary Folk by allowing them a division of the spoils ("I did as others did ").
You can then proceed to outline the tragic cost of this POWER STRUGGLE: destruction of cathedrals: stained glass windows, fine sculpture and wood carvings, etc--and even contrast all this with the fate of the lead: keels in Henry's navy.
2) TRANSITIONS
Once you yourself know where you are going in the essay, you must ALLOW THE READER TO FOLLOW. Transitions (sometimes called turn signals) are a vital ingredient of any good essay.
Sample transitions
Suppose you have talked of the Friars Observant, the fate of the Pilgrimage of Grace, and the Acts of Supremacy and Succession, and wish to lead into the attack on Church property:
"These actions"(links to preceding comment) started a strong hatred between the Pope and Henry. The Pope finally sided with Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor) and both were a threat to Henry. The threat of war was strong and so Henry was in need of money." (Student transition)
NOTE HOW WORDS LIKE "HATRED" REINFORCE THE THEME OF POWER STRUGGLE AND HOW THE REPETITION OF "THREAT" IN THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH ALLOWS YOU TO LINK THE EARLIER DATA (ACTS, FRIARS, DIVORCE, ETC) TO THE DATA TO COME (THE SPECIFICS OF THE ATTACKS ON THE MONASTERIES).
Transitions are also important between sentences.
Student Example:
"Many felt that this was the Protestant Era, and that the Catholics had been in power long enough, and that it was the Protestant's turn. Another common belief was that Henry's greed had gotten the best of him."
Note how this helps to move from the POWER theme to the destruction of the monasteries within a paragraph.
Second Student Example:
"...even though the Pope had dubbed Henry "Defender of the Faith"
for writing a book condemning Luther. All these factors led to two new Acts..."
The transition phrase helps to link the Divorce and Henry's avowed Catholicism to the Acts of Supremacy and Succession and the oaths required of all citizens.
You can contrast such things as pensioning of clergy and the sharing of the loot from the shrines with some failed attempts at opposition to Henry, as in the following student example:
"Henry doesn't go unchallenged though, He has to contend with rebellious religious groups such as the Pilgrimage of Grace. These he puts down with ease, along with the Exeter Conspiracy."
CONCLUSIONS
The conclusion should reinforce the main points of the Aim and give the essay a strong finish. The following was the conclusion to the student Thesis statement:
"Many other leaders tried to undo the disaster caused by Henry's greed and hatred, but these actions were useless. To bring back the masterpieces was impossible, and therefore many irreplaceable manuscripts, artworks, and jewels were forever lost."
Appendix B - The Teachable Book Review
An outline for Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn
Aim: to show that it was possible for Huckleberry Finn to overcome the prejudices of his upbringing and learn to treat a Negro as a human being and friend.
I. Huckleberry Finn
II. Jim
A. Fled to avoid being
sold
B. Fight for freedom troubles Huckleberry
The adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Huckleberry Finn was a young boy who lived on the streets most of his life. His father was a drunk who often beat Huckleberry for no real reason. He was raised to think that Negroes were inferior to white people and didn't deserve the same rights as everyone else! This makes the basis for the story.
Jim, a Negro who was a slave, worked for Miss Watson and ran off when he found out she was going to sell him. He was raised as being inferior and did what he was told! Jim's fight for freedom poses a conflict for Huckleberry's beliefs and causes a lot of turmoil for him.
Huckleberry helps Jim escape from one crisis after another, and he realizes that he is breaking the law and going against his upbringing! As he thinks about it he knows he would feel just as bad if not worse if he turned Jim in. He knew that Jim depended upon him and thought that Huckleberry was the best friend a person could have; so he continues to help Jim escape to freedom.
As time passes, Jim and Huckleberry become the best of friends, depending upon each other for friendship, company, comfort, and necessities like food! Jim does many things for Huckleberry, and Huckleberry begins to think that it doesn't matter what color your skin is; it's your heart that counts. By the end of the story each is willing to give up something to save the other--Jim gives up his freedom to save Tom, Huck and his friend, and Huckleberry gives up his own freedom from civilization: since everyone thinks that he is dead, he takes the chance of being thrown in jail for helping a runaway slave. The story does end on a happy note. Jim is free because because Miss Watson freed him in her will, and Huckleberry just gets a lecture.
The story is worth reading for the mystery, adventure, and the strong lessons in friendship and prejudice. Friendship is the essence of life, and prejudice is the downfall of all of us. "I was mighty thankful to that doctor for doing Jim a good turn; and I was glad it was according to my judgment of him too; because I thought he had a good heart in him and was a man..." Huckleberry is saying this about Jim; someone he taught wasn't a man and didn't have a heart.
Video Programs useful for Developing Units on Power and Change
Cataloguing information is incomplete. Many fine programs have become available since I retired, so the listing is far from exhaustive. It is offered in the hope that the annotations will give an accurate impression of how to integrate AV selections into course development.
The Grain in the Stone (Ascent of Man ) 35 mm color
Narrator Jacob Bronowski
Details the fundamental rational concepts which underlie the rise of civilization, from the birth of agriculture to the rise of cities. Shows how society, if it is to have art, science, technology or government must produce a surplus sufficient to allow individuals to free themselves from food gathering. (The concept of a Surplus links with Scarcity, for if there is not enough to go around, the rich and the strong will monopolize what is available--hence the rise of classes and the feudal hierarchy)
The Wastes of War (First Eden Series) 55 mm color Narrator: Richard Attenborough.
Details the rise and fall of medieval Islam, the coming of the crusades and the Black Death, and the impact of the new technology on the Mediterranean World. Good for explaining the prominence of the mounted soldier in the Middle Ages and the role of chivalry in fixing the position of rich and poor.
Medieval world, Medieval Knights, French Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Napoleonic Era.
Old 16 mm film titles from Encyclopedia Britannica Films
May be available from Sask Media, but better Videos may be available
Medieval England: Peasant's revolt 27 mm color
The revolt of 1381 in which serfs and free yeomen farmers first challenged feudalism, beginning a process of economic and political change which would lead to English greatness.
The Middle Ages EAV Video color
Parts 1,2 (20 min each) Manuals
Part I examines the structure of feudal society and class relationships. Part 2 The outlook of medieval Europe: religious. Only the hereafter counts, hence no need for change in this world, a view reflecting a society where wealth rests in land rather than business and trade. Explores the fear of death and the love of life.
Medieval guilds EAV Video color 21 mm
The growth of commerce and trade in the Middle Ages. with the beginnings of the Middle Class.
The Renaissance, its beginnings in Italy
Encyclopedia Britannica color 26 mins Video copy of 35 mm film. Manual available
In the light of the above(Day the Universe Changed Series) BBC
50 min color Narrator: James Burke
Details the rebirth of Science in the Middle Ages. Surveys the Empire of Charlemagne, the civilization of the Moors, and the revolutionary change from faith to critical questioning.
I, Leonardo: a journey of the mind. 55 min color Narrator:Richard Burton
IBM documentary gives a profile of great new Renaissance horizons in art and science.
Point of view (Day the Universe changed) BBC
50 min color Narrator: James Burke
The impact of perspective geometry on the Renaissance and Age of Discovery.
Shows how gridding led from realistic art in the Renaissance to the Age of Discovery and the modern missile cruiser.
Age of discovery: Spanish and Portuguese explorations; English and French explorations.
14 min each color 16mm
Better titles may be available.
Infinitely reasonable (Day the Universe Changed) BBC
50 min color Narrator: James Burke
Details how the medieval church could not accept the implication that man was only a cog in a universal clock. Explains how the revolution in thought begun in Renaissance Italy benefited not the Catholic Church but the Protestant and Middle Classes in Northern Europe as science fled the Inquisition.
The Starry Messenger (Ascent of Man)
50 min color Narrator: Jacob Bronowski
The trial of Galileo and the flight of science to northern Europe shows why the benefits of the Renaissance were realized in England and Northern Europe rather than in Italy. (Can be used to make the point that it is not an accident that your students speak English, and that southern Europe became an economic backwater for centuries.
The Protestant Reformation EAV Video color
Parts 1, 2 (19 min each) Manuals
Documents the challenge to the Catholic Church and the rise of Protestantism and the Middle Class. Effective survey of the transition from Feudalism to Capitalism.
A matter of conscience (film) 30 min color
An effective school adaptation of the film "Man for all seasons" detailing the famous confrontation between Henry VIII and Sir Thomas More
The English Revolution (Western Man series)
30 min 36 sec color
The rise of Cromwell and the Puritan Revolution against Charles I. Good for detailing the rising power of the Protestant Middle Class
A matter of fact (Day the Universe Changed)
50 min color Narrator: James Burke
The invention of printing and its effect on our world, including the production of indulgences and Luther's response. Glimpse of the static, unchanging lifestyle of the monk which was about to be turned upside down by an invention which best served the changing, dynamic world of the new Capitalism. Good anticipation of the Industrial Revolution and the computer.
Dissolution of the monasteries Warwick Films
27 min color
Henry VIII destroys the power of the Catholic Church, but wastes a great heritage. Details the greatest transfer of wealth and power in English history, and the triumph of state over church. (also available: a three-part audiotape (20 min each) on the Reformation, produced by CBC Morningside.
Elizabeth, the queen who changed the world
Encyclopedia Britannica 26 min color
The Spanish Armada BBC
Parts 1 to 3, (50 min each) color
Traces the origin and fate of Philip II's great crusade against Protestant England. Helps show how Philip's intolerance hastened the eventual decline of the Spanish Empire and how the fear that God might be English broke Philip's spirit.
The English Civil War Warwick Films
40 min color manual
Reveals that the English Civil War and the victory of the Protestant Middle Class was a nasty and lengthy affair. Good period reconstruction.
The French Revolution and Napoleon (Western Man) Random House
37 min 30 sec color
Excellent and detailed description of the end of feudalism and royalty in France, and the rise of French nationalism
Rethinking the French Revolution CBC Journal
Parts 1,2 color (30 min each)
Critical examination of the myth of freedom and rights of man usually associated with the Revolution. Shows how the myth of infallibility of Natural Man (Rousseau) laid the basis for the Reign of Terror and the rise of Napoleon.
Drive for power (Ascent of Man series)
55 min color Narrator: Jacob Bronowski
Science and the Industrial Revolution in England, narrated by Jacob Bronowski. Links the driving, entrepreneurial spirit emerging from the Reformation with the Romantic Age in literature, and show how the growth of technology has made it possible to imagine a world which belongs to everybody, not just to the dominant groups of societies based on scarcity.
Fit to rule (Day the Universe Changed) BBC
50 min color Narrator: James Burke
Explains how the idea of the Survival of the Fittest, originating with Charles Darwin, upset the comfortable, unchanging world of the Bible, and gave Nazis, Communists and Libertarians an excuse to justify brainwashing and the remaking of individuals for an ideal society. Includes references to Marx, the revolutions of 1848. Excellent for the cultural impact of science.
Scramble for Africa Warwick Videos
36 min color
A brief view of the history of Imperialism in Africa, covering the causes of European expansionism and its long-term effects.
Outbreak of the First World War Warwick Videos
36 min color
An famous German historian argues that Germany was in fact mainly responsible for the First World War.
Decline of Tsarism Visual Education Centre
30 min color
Excellent summary of the last years of autocratic rule, and of the personalities and causes of the October Revolution.
Ten days that shook the world
120 min (4 parts of 30 min each) B&W Narrator: Orson Welles
A detailed picture of the old aristocratic world, of the career of Lenin, and of the defeat and chaos in the Russian of 1917.
Appendix D - Non-standard background readings in Social and Military history guaranteed to perk up an otherwise uninspired progression from Fact One to Fact 849.
Adams, R Watership Down, New York, Macmillan, c1972 (Sociology (Fic))
****Ajami, Fouad, Dream palace of the Arabs, N.Y. Pantheon Books, 1998.
Barnett, C Hitler's generals, New York, Grove Weidenfeld, c1989 (WW II)
**Beevor, A Stalingrad, New York, Viking, 1998 (WW II)*Berton, P The Great Depression, Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, (Social History) c1989
Brown, R Castles, Dorsett, Ill., Blandford, 1980 (Medieval History)
Buell, T, The warrior generals, New York, Three Rivers Press {c1977} (Civil War)
Catton, B American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War (U.S. Civil War) New York, Am. Heritage, c1960
Cohen, R Military misfortunes, London, Free Press, c1990 (Military failure)
Daws, G Prisoners of the Japanese, N.p., Greenwillow Books, c1994 (Pacific War)
Erickson, L Road to Stalingrad, Boulder, CO, Westview Press, 1984 (WW II)
***Ferguson, Niall, The war of the world (London,Penquin Books,c2006) (19th and 20th C Europe)
****Ferguson, Niall, Civilization, London, Penquin. 2011
***Feith, Douglas, War and decision (New York,Harper Collins,c23008) (War in Iraq)
***Figes, O A people's tragedy, New York, Viking, 1997 (Russian Revolution)
Foote, S The Civil War (3v), New York, Random House, 1958-74 (U.S. Civil War)
Franck, I The silk road, New York, Facts on File, 1986 (Medieval History)
*Freeman, Charles, The closing of the western mind, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2003 (Christianity - History)
Galbraith, K Culture of contentment, Boston, Houghton-Mifflin,c1993 (Social History)
--------------- Anatomy of power, Boston, Houghton-Mifflin, c1983 (Social History)
***Goldberg, Jonah, Liberal Fascism, New York, Broadway Books, C2007,2009.
****Hanson, Victor Davis, The father of us all , New York, Bloomsbury Press, c2010 (Military History)
Hardy, R Longbow, New York, Lyons and Burford, c1993 (Medieval History)
**Harries, M&S Soldiers of the sun, New York, R.R. Bowker, 1987, 1991 (Military Hist-Japan)
***Horowitz, David, Unholy Alliance, Washington, D.C., Regnery Publishing [c2004] (The Left and Radical Islam)
**Howarth, D Trafalgar, New York, Atheneum, 1969 (Naval History)
--------------- Tahiti, New York, Viking, 1983 (Age of Exploration)
Holmes, R Acts of war, New York, Free Press, c1985 (War psychology)
Humble, R Famous land battles, Boston, Little, Brown, c1979 (Military History)
***Johnson, P Intellectuals, {London, Phoenix, c1988} (Tyranny of ideas)
---------------- Modern Times, Toronto, Douglas & McIntyre, 1996 (Tyranny of ideas)
****Kagan, D and Kagan F, While America Sleeps, New York, St.Martin`s Griffin, C2000 (Military History -20th Century)
**** Keegan, J, The face of battle, New York, Viking, c1979 (Military History)--------------- A history of warfare, New York, Alfred A Knopf, c1994 (Military History)
--------------- Warpaths, Toronto, Key Porter Books, c1995 (U.S.-Military History)
--------------- The First World War, New York, Alfred A Knopf, 1999 (WW I)
Kelly, O King of the killing zone, New York, WW Morton, c1989 (Tank warfare)
**Kennedy, P Preparing for the 21st Century, N.Y, Random House,1993 (Human prospect)
---------------- The rise and fall of the Great Powers, London, Fontana,c1988 (Geopolitics)
****Lewis, Bernard, What went wrong? New York, Oxford University Press, c2002 (Islam - History)
-----------------The Crisis in Islam, N.Y., Modern Library, 2003
Lucas, J.S. Warfare on the Eastern Front, N.Y., Stein and Day, c1979 (WW II -- Russia)
*Macksey, K Technology in war, New York, Prentice-Hall, c1986 (Military science)
***MacCulloch, Diarmaid, The Reformation, [New York, Viking, 2004]
*Manchester, W Goodbye, Darkness, Toronto, Little, Brown, c1979 (Pacific War)
***Manji, Irshad, The trouble with Islam, Toronto, Random House, c2003
Markhov,W Battles of world history, N.Y. Hippocrene Books, 1979 (Military History)
**Massie, R Dreadnought, New York, Random House, c1991 (WW I - Causes)
****Nickson, Elizabeth, Eco-facists. Broadside Books, c2012 (Radical Envirmemntalism)
Nicolson, Adam, Seize the fire: heroism, duty, and the battle of Trafalgar, HarperCollins,2005. (Battle of Trafalgar)
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**Oman, C Art of war in the Middle Ages (2v), Ithaca, NY, Cornell (Military History)
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Woodham-Smith, Cecil, The great hunger - Ireland 1845-1849, New York, Harper & Row{cl962}
What an examination in History should look like
The surest indication of weak teaching is the inability to set a sound examination in the humanities in general, and history in particular. A weak teacher will not be able to visualize the testing formats which will test knowledge worth having rather than mindless rote memory, partly because her students will not have learned to do anything rare, but chiefly because every item of content has a testing format most adaptable to it, so that weakness in subject mastery translates as weakness in testing technique. Note the all-important point that a weak teacher usually lacks subject mastery, not competence, and is normally perfectly teachable if he can bring himself to an admission that there is something to learn. But the Compact will soon smother such willingness as survives vanity and insecurity, for to try something new risks instability in the classroom if unsuccessful.
When I first began teaching history through AV, I felt satisfied to see classes attaining the usual 62-65% average. As the years followed, however, I was surprised to see class averages slowly rise, until averages exceeded 70%. Since the results were the same for the other colleague teaching the course (who happened also to be my wife) I began to wonder what was happening, particularly since the students I was teaching were supposed to be the functionally illiterate, TV-impoverished modern generation. The reader need only look over the following excerpts from one of my typical Grade Ten final examinations to determine that the standard expected substantially exceeds standard grinder norms, so that there can be no suggestion that the my approach was too easy. I had to conclude finally that averages naturally tended to rise the more that the course became unified around its central themes, the more extraneous material was weeded out, and the better I got at making connections between past and present. I had no practical way of isolating an increase in short-term literacy as a result of my efforts in teaching History, so the reader will have to judge the standards I set for himself, which is why the final exam is printed in its entirety. At least I can make a valid claim to have avoided mark inflation.
A comment on how to approach formal essays on history examinations, when a majority one's students are likely to have some weaknesses in literacy, follows the sample test.
**********
Social Studies 10 - Final Exam (250 marks)
Part A - Completions (67 marks)
1. July 14 is the French national holiday in commemoration
of the fall of the _____________________
2. In retaliation for harsh working conditions, or
unemployment, workers sometimes destroyed
machinery. One such group was known as the _____________________
3. An early writer who protested harsh working
conditions and founded communism was _____________________
4. A famous signer of the Declaration of Independence
who was a scientist, newspaperman and ambassador was _____________________
5. The Committee of Public Safety was most famous for its
part in the _____________________
6. Napoleon gained fame as the originator of the French
system of law known as the _____________________
7. Name the event or persons associated with the following dates:
Part B - Matching. Some choices are used more than once. (75 marks)
A. Great Rulers (10 marks)
|
1. Frederick the Great 2. Maria Theresa 3. George II 4. Louis XIV 5. Babar |
Mogul Empire..................................( ) |
B. Leaders who made a difference (10 marks)
|
1. Robert Walpole 2. Ivan the Terrible 3. Wolfe 4. Clive 5. Cook 6. Bonnie Prince Charlie 7. Catherine the Great |
Opponent of Montcalm.......................................( ) Conquered India.................................................( ) Took lion's share of Poland.................................( ) Murdered own son.............................................( ) Last Stuart Pretender..........................................( ) First British Prime Minister..................................( ) British explorer...................................................( ) Culloden.............................................................( ) Spoke to the king in Latin....................................( )
|
C. Significant treaties (8 marks)
|
1. Utrecht 2. Westphalia 3. Aix-la-Chapelle 4.Paris
| England gained
Newfoundland..............................( )
Prussia took Silesia...............................................( ) India becomes British colony................................( ) French and Spanish thrones never to be united........( ) 341 German states...............................................( ) Britain gained New France.....................................( ) Ended War of the Austrian Succession....................( ) Ended War of the Spanish Succession.....................( ) |
D. Kings and Nerds (7 marks)
|
1. Good King Wenceslas I 2. James I 3. George IV 4. Charles II 5. Ivan IV 6. Anne |
Royal playboy......................................... .............( ) Liked food fights...................................................( ) Liked tortures.......................................................( ) 17 children...........................................................( ) Picked nose..........................................................( ) Royal Czech drunk.................................................( ) Talked to trees......................................................( )
|
E. Famous Religious Groups (8 marks)
|
1. Quakers 2. Pilgrim Fathers 3. Jesuits 4. Lollards 5. Anabaptists
|
Only poor
saved.................................................( ) Counter-Reformation..........................................( ) Led by Wycliffe..................................................( ) Traveled on Mayflower.......................................( ) New Plymouth colony.........................................( ) Founded by Loyola.............................................( ) Also called Society of Jesus.................................( ) |
F. Famous Englishmen (7 marks)
|
1. Bonnie Prince Charlie 2. Tumbledown Dick 3. Calvin 4. Raleigh 5. Anne 6. Elizabeth I 7. William IV |
Last Tudor monarch.......................................( ) Discovered tobacco........................................( ) Wanted kingdom of God on earth....................( ) Helped pass the Great Reform Bill....................( ) Young Pretender (Stuart)................................( ) Son of Cromwell............................................( ) Last Stuart monarch.......................................( ) |
G. Renaissance, Reformation, Age of Discovery (8 marks)
| 1. Tetzel
2. Pizarro 3. St. Benedict 4. Michelangelo 5. Leonardo da Vinci 6. Galileo 7. Vasco da Gama
|
Discovered sea route to
India...........................( ) Painted Mona Lisa...........................................( ) Invented telescope..........................................( ) Conquered Incas.............................................( ) Set rules for monks.........................................( ) Painted Sistine Chapel.....................................( ) Sold indulgences............................................( ) Painted Last Supper........................................( ) |
H. Great Proclamations (10 marks)
| 1. Edict of Nantes
2. Petition of Right 3. Bill of Rights 4. Habeas Corpus 5. 95 Theses 6. Act of Supremacy 7. Declaration of Independence |
Posted by
Luther...........................................( ) No prison without trial...................................( ) Henry VIII Head of Church.............................( ) Made U.S. a nation........................................( ) Passed under William and Mary.......................( ) Gave rights to French Protestants....................( ) Presented to Charles I...................................( ) No taxes unless Parliament agrees..................( ) America breaks with England.........................( ) Luther splits with the Catholic Church.............( ) |
I. Great Political Leaders (7 marks)
|
1. Robespierre 2. Napoleon 3. Charlemagne 4. George Washington 5. Shaftesbury |
First U.S.
President.......................................( ) Factory Acts.................................................( ) Defeated at Waterloo.....................................( ) Reign of Terror.............................................( ) First Holy Roman Emperor.............................( ) Continental System........................................( ) Wanted to execute Tom Paine.........................( ) |
PART C - Multiple Choice (48 marks)
1. Name Cromwell's force in the Civil War (1) New Model Army (2) ArmadaPart D - Map (20 marks)
Identify the numbered countries
1. _____________________________ 11. _____________________________
2. ____________________________ 12. _____________________________
3. _____________________________ 13. _____________________________
4. _____________________________ 14. _____________________________
5. _____________________________ 15. _____________________________
6. _____________________________ 16. _____________________________
7. _____________________________ 17. _____________________________
8. _____________________________ 18. _____________________________
9. _____________________________ 19. _____________________________
10. ____________________________ 20. _____________________________
Part E- Essays (20 marks each)
Use foolscap. YOU MUST INCLUCE REFERENCES TO SPECIFIC PEOPLE AND EVENTS
1. Beginning with the first challenges to the power of the Pope, outline the transition of power from Pope to common man in the centuries studied. You must show not only how power moved from class to class, but also explain why each class acted as it did, and show the results.
2. Show how intolerant attitudes arise in religious and political conflicts. Give concrete examples of how intolerant attitudes led to pain and suffering to individuals, groups and nations in the centuries studied, and how it made revolutions violent and unpredictable. How does democracy seek to avoid the problems of intolerance?
Helping illiterates to produce passable exam essays
Essay One
It will not take long to discover that most contemporary high school students will come a cropper on essay questions of this type. Most teachers will give up and Mickey-Mouse the written segment of their examinations. I was reluctant to do that without a struggle, but it was clear that a new approach was in order.
I sought at first to give students a break by revealing questions to the students before the examination date. The students bombed even though they had this advance notice. I then decided to review how one might approach an answer by listing possible details in an outline form that the students would be familiar with from the in-class essays. I made no attempt to provide a complete answer; rather, the idea was to show them what kinds of detail might be appropriate to an answer, leaving them to complete the organization of the material in their own words, which is really all teachers can expect students to do in any case. The students had both questions, but I reviewed only the first, leaving them to cope with the second on their own.
The students did tolerably well on the question I had reviewed. They bombed on the second question. Only when I reviewed both questions did the results come out satisfactorily. The problem is not that students don't have the details cashed away somewhere: it is simply that they can't read the questions and order the appropriate details. In a word, they can't write. This basic inability to function in a written examination is a paradigm case of functional illiteracy for the masses struggling though the public school system. Public education can ignore it only in dire peril.
The rough outlines I followed in preparing the students are printed below.
Essay Outlines
The following outlines are intended to help you organize your thoughts on the exam essays. THEY ARE NOT NECESSARILY COMPLETE, NOR ARE YOU OBLIGED TO FOLLOW THEM IN WHOLE OR IN PART. In each case, you must select your facts according to the controlling ideas, making sure that your transitions flow naturally from main idea to conclusion.
Essay One - (details and further subdivisions to be developed in class)
Aim: to show and explain the transfer of power from Pope to people (4 Ps)
I. R.C. Church and Feudalism2. Rise of the National State
Aim: to show that many people and nations have suffered from intolerance and persecution for their religious or political beliefs. Three examples are the Thirty Years War, Philip II and the Spanish Inquisition, and the treatment of Jew and Huguenots in Spain and France.
I. Thirty Years War
B. Loss of life and breaking up of countries
II. Fall of Spain
B. The waste of the wealth of the New World (in war, etc.)
III. Effects of the persecution of Jews and Huguenots on England, France, Germany, and Spain. (Subdivisions for particular groups, e.g., Anabaptists Albigensians, etc.)
IV. Triumph of the Middle Class. (Contrast religious tolerance in Holland with Inquisition; Middle Class in England benefits from the flight of science, etc.)
V. Something else.