In the previous installment, I overcame my apprehension at introducing the politicolors, and began to share student responses to political theory. At one time, I had been worried about the abstract nature of such an approach, yet here they were truly excited to use colored pencils in their notes and
When last we met, I was explaining my dread, as I contemplated using Will’s boxes with my 4th-6th classroom. Here was this rich, layered theory, which I still hadn’t mastered; yet, the politicolors had given dimension to the founding, I’d never before imagined. Could I bring them
After a year to digest Will’s colors and boxes, I felt ready to use them with my class. It wasn’t without apprehension. Although I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and re-envisioning the National Academy (primarily through writing and this site), I want to approach mastery before
Looking for a way to make Thomas Hobbes more to your students than life as “nasty, brutish, and short”? Today, I shared with my 4th-6th graders Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas. You’ve no doubt seen the Chuck Jones animated version, but I’m going to visit
In Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jerod Diamond makes an interesting observation about peninsulas: the landform, much like an island, isolates a people. Peninsulas act as a force multiplier, granting a space easier defense, so that a polity might survive invasion by a much more powerful culture. (Think: Hot Gates and