Crusades hosted by Terry Jones (Monty Python) is a 1995 British television series, which examined European Christians’ efforts to take Jerusalem and other cities in the Holy Land from the Muslim Turks. In four episodes, Jones provides a basic understanding of the motivations both European Christians and the Muslim Turks. Its use of dark humor to deal with many of the unpleasant episodes of the Crusades makes the series useful in the classroom. Jones brings all his skills to the presentation of the series: trained historian, writer; comedian all can be seen in his presentation. Additionally, he holds the students attention. Below is the list of links to the programs in the series.
One of my favorite series, it is my go to program on this topic. As a historian myself, I fully understand that the historiography of any event needs to be examined from as many aspects as possible in order to obtain complete understanding of it.
The Day the Universe Changed is a 1985 BBC television series, which aired in the United States on PBS. Written and presented by James Burke, the series postulates a very simple; yet very powerful idea that when what a society knows changes, for them the universe changes. Thirty-five years on, the main theme and its presentation hold up. Burke walks through the advancement of Science and Technology throughout Western Civilization, starting with the Greeks and ending with what was then the present. Along the way, he highlights the main theme, and concludes that increasingly we live in a world in which change occurs quicker than our ability to understand it and is the only constant.
Burke’s argument is one of the main reasons I became a historian. Viewing the series on PBS when it originally aired in the United States, the argument and its presentation made it lasting impression, which is why it has importance today. Available for free at archive.org, the series has had the impact that James Burke intended.
In earlier post I explained the reasoning behind the Document Archive not having a traditional HTML navigational structure. The purpose is to provide students and teachers a distraction free experience, so students can focus on the assignment they have been given. Nevertheless, teachers need a complete list of resources that are available at keegan.wiki | Document Archive . Below is a Word Document containing a complete list of links to instructional materials available at the archive. I hope teachers will find it useful.
Since Microsoft Office365 announced that it will discontinue the public facing website feature, I have been working on an alternative. I described the first part of that alternative in an earlier post. Once I moved all my Word Documents, and PowerPoint presentations to OneDrive for Business, I had to find a place to put the webpages. Until recently, I used jgkeegan.org, which pointed to the public facing website, as my Document Archive. That is to say I put any webpages there I want to share publicly, but I do not feel belong on my personal website jgkeegan.com. In the main, the pages stored there were for the presentation of teaching resources on a variety of history/social studies topics.
I could not move the domain that pointed to the public facing website because I use that for email. So I registered another domain keegan.wiki. I have just completed creating public links for all my documents in OneDrive for Business and rewriting all the webpages in HTML5 for the new domain. The Document Archive is live. I should note the archive does not have a traditional HTML navigation structure, while the site has an index page it does not link to any other page apart from the copyright statement. Each page stands on its own and is linked to from my Teaching Resources page, the Topics page, or from a page about a specific topic. Additionally, each page is designed for use in an academic, professional environment where laptops, desktops, and iPads are readily available. Its minimum optimal screen size is the iPad mini 7.9 inches diagonal. Use of this site on any screen smaller than 7.9 inches diagonal is not recommended. This allows teachers, the target audience, to use a specific resource page without any distractions such as links to other pages within or outside the site. Except for a link to the copyright statement in the footer, students are presented with a webpage that has a finite set of links related to a specific assignment.
My hope is that teachers across the United States will find the resources in this document archive useful.
I have just completed a new resources page for the United States Constitution. I have taken all the resources from the unit the Launching of a New Constitution, and simply listed them without the lesson plans or reference to them. Additionally, I have embedded appropriate Schoolhouse Rock videos on the page. Many users have asked for the resources to be presented in this format.
I finally finished a worksheet for the Declaration of Independence. It’s been on the back burner so long that I forget when I started it. My goal is to provide a portfolio of quality social studies teaching resources for school districts, teachers, and those that are homeschooling students.
The Declaration of Independence worksheet is in two formats. A classroom format that students can fill-in by hand, and a lab format that students can fill-in using Microsoft Word. The lab or form version does not work in Word on-line, if anyone is interested in that copy email me a request and I will provide the file.
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