History and Social Science
-
Buried Treasure: X Marks the Spot
Before students write a story, ask them to draw an illustrated map. Visualizing, creating, drawing, painting, coloring, and discussing a map stimulates the imagination in ways that words sometimes cannot. It worked for Robert Louis Stevenson (1854-1894), who spent a rainy day with his son drawing this map, which inspired his masterpiece Treasure Island: This marvelous text in Continue reading
-
Our Boston Marathon
Our Boston Marathon is a glorious celebration every Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts. Although I’m not a runner, the Boston Marathon has always been a rite of spring. In childhood, my father and I watched runners on Rt. 135, across the street from Tasty Treat in Ashland. I played the national anthem at the start as a Continue reading
-
On Globes: Get The Whole World in Their Hands
When held in the hands of a student, globes are terrific teaching tools. That’s because globes are meant to be touched, turned, examined, read, and best of all, played with. If you gave a student a globe to hold for fifteen minutes and asked him to write a list of ten new things he learned Continue reading
-
Bicycle Emancipation
“I think bicycling has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world…Women feel freedom and self-reliance…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” Susan B. Anthony spoke these words to famed journalist Nellie Bly in 1896. She added she was delighted whenever she saw women bicycling. More than horses ever could, bicycles gave women the Continue reading
Write Away 