Celebrate Lincoln's 200th

The Vermont Commission on the Lincoln Bicentennial has scheduled the following educational and entertaining offerings to celebrate this historic event. Please feel free to email me for more details or with any questions.

MUSIC – LINDA RADTKE, “VERMONT CIVIL WAR SONGBOOK”
Feb. 25, 2009: State House, Montpelier, 7 pm

MUSIC – COUNTERPOINT, “LINCOLN AND LIBERTY”
Apr. 26, 2009: McCarthy Arts Center, St. Michael’s College, 4pm

MUSIC – “A LINCOLN PORTRAIT”
Feb. 2009 (TBD): Middlebury College Orchestra, Middlebury Arts Center

FIRST WEDNESDAYS SERIES
Feb. 4, 2009: Brooks Memorial Library, 7pm, Manisha Sinha, author of The Counter-Revolution Of Slavery
Feb. 4, 2009: Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, author of Mr. and Mrs. Prince, St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 7pm
Mar. 4, 2009: Rutland Free Library, Rutland, 7pm, Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
Apr. 1, 2009: Goodrich Memorial Library, 7pm, Newport, Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina

PUBLIC LECTURES
Mar. 12, 2009: Blake Memorial Library, East Corinth, 7 pm

HILDENE
Jan. 31, 2009: Lincoln Birthday Luncheon, Award Presentation for Lincoln Essay Contest,
Keynote Speaker Ronald White, author of Lincoln’s Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural, Equinox, Manchester
Jan. 22, 2009: Seth Bongartz- Lincoln the Politician
Feb. 7, 2009: Abe Lincoln's Hat -Interactive reading of the book and cupcakes to celebrate Mr. Lincoln's birthday!
Feb. 26, 2009: Craig Symonds- Lincoln as Commander in Chief
Mar. 26, 2009: Brian Dirck- Lincoln the Lawyer
Apr. 23, 2009: Michael Burlingame, Influence on, and Development of Lincoln’s Character

HUMANITIES COUNCIL READING & DISCUSSION OFFERINGS
“Lincoln: The Bicentennial of his Birth” (3 sessions)
“Our Civil War Legacy” (5 sessions)
“Influential First Ladies” (5 sessions)
“Seminal Statements of American Values” (5 sessions)

OTHER EVENTS
Feb. 12, 2009: State House, Montpelier, Friends of the State House Lincoln celebration
Workshops with Vermont teachers, dates and locations TBD

Changing Views of History, Changing Views of Race Webinar

PBS Teachers is introducing a series of free monthly webinars for pre-K-12 educators beginning this month called “PBS Teachers Live!” The series features leading education experts, authors, or producers of PBS programs who will discuss timely and relevant curriculum-related topics, and demonstrate specific, tangible ways in which educators can integrate digital media and technology into the classroom. The first webinar is scheduled for Jan. 28, at 8 p.m. and is titled "Changing Views of History, Changing Views of Race" with guest speaker Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Click here to register and find out more.

Telling the Holocaust Like It Wasn’t

I was made aware of this article in the New York Times by Tom White from the Cohen Center for Holocaust studies in Keene (who also presented at this year's VASS conference). If your students investigate the Holocaust (and are old enough), analyzing these films might result in some interesting inquiry.

Telling the Holocaust Like It Wasn't

Cool Economics Stuff

One of my new favorite things to check out is the Freakonomics blog on the New York Times web site. By the guys who wrote the book of the same name, it covers things as overwhelming as the current financial crisis and as seemingly mundane as trayless college cafeterias, the Twilight book series, and Guitar Hero. Another NYT blog, Economix, bills itself as "explaining the science of everyday life." This blog appears to cover some of the more traditional economics topics you might be addressing in your class, such as migration patterns, the changing demographics of women in the workforce, and historical comparisons of banking crises over the years.

Speaking of the current financial crisis, according to The Foundation for Teaching Economics, "The financial meltdown of 2008 will challenge economists for explanations for a long time to come. However, the facts that have emerged thus far point strongly to policy actions by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world as creators of the conditions that led to financial chaos." They have published a primer to the meltdown on their web site. Click here to access that information.

• What other interesting economics resources do you use that spark interest in your students?

Immigration: New YA Fiction by Julia Alvarez

The following are excerpts from Nancy Price Graff's review of Julia Alvarez's new novel Return to Sender taken from the Times Argus on January 11, 2009. To read the full article click here.

"Julia Alvarez's new children's novel, "Return to Sender," is so full of heartache that it almost weeps. Eleven-year-old Mari Cruz is Mexican, an illegal immigrant living on a dairy farm in Vermont, where her father and two uncles provide the labor that keeps the farm running. Her mother has been missing for many months after returning to Mexico to attend her father's funeral.

Mari's story is plot-driven, reflecting the poignant, helpless situation in which she and her family find themselves. For them, this rural Vermont farm is an oasis that offers temporary shelter but no sanctuary.Although the girls attend school, they are virtually imprisoned on the farm, along with their father and uncles, for fear of tipping off the authorities. Mari cannot even mail the many long, heartbreaking letters she writes to her mother and to her grandparents in Mexico because the letters might be traced back to the farm.

For the same reason, the family cannot stay in touch with relatives by phone or use it to help find Mari's mother. As Mari makes abundantly clear, their physical, social and cultural isolation and constant fear create a unique kind of hell that leaves them little to do except work hard and hope one day life will be better."

• Have you read this novel yet? If so, what are your impressions? Will you use it with your students?