Mike Caulfield on the importance of the Contol-F key – I have found Mike Caulfield’s materials on digital/information literacy to be very helpful. Here, he explains the importance of teaching pupils about the use of the Control-F key for quickly checking the reliability of web pages.
America and Fascism Sarah Churchwell
‘When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and waving the cross.’
‘Interesting Twitter thread on America and Fascism (and how famous quotations evolve – ‘cultural mythology’) by Sarah Churchwell.
Oh and another apt quote from Sinclair Lewis. In It Can’t Happen Here a character notes of the American fascist dictator, “Buzz isn’t important—it’s the sickness that made us throw him up that we’ve got to attend to.” ?
— Sarah Churchwell (@sarahchurchwell) June 2, 2020
Churchill, heroic relic or relevant now? Although written back in 2003, this evaluation of Winston Churchill by Edward Rothstein, drawing on a range of biographies of Churchill shows the limitations of the enquiry question ‘Churchill, hero or villain?’
‘Churchill poses a challenge because there is no simple way of accounting both for the scope of his achievements and for the range of his failures’. Available online at https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/29/arts/churchill-heroic-relic-or-relevant-now.html
A brief history of handwashing
Topical at the moment of writing, and an example of how newpapers can be a useful source for history teachers. A good example of the use of ‘historical perspectives’ (i.e. is there any issue, question or problem into which we cannot gain more insight and understanding by looking at what has gone before?) If you did want to use this as part of a series of lessons on medicine/public health, it would be good used in conjunction with the first chapter of Atul Gawunde’s book ‘Better’, ‘On the washing of hands’, which has an excellent brief 2 page summary on Semmelweis, and which also brings ‘the story’ of handwashing right up to the present day. Linking the past to current issues and problems can be g a good way of persuading pupils of the relevance of history to their lives.
How to strengthen pupils’ ability to respond to causation questions
I came across this interesting post from ‘A history teacher shares…’, suggesting, and showing how, the use of the word ‘although’ can improve pupils’ ability to respond to, and understand, questions about causation. The post can be found at: