Rick, I feel your pain. You will not believe how hard my staff and I work at getting schools within ten miles of Surratt House to bring their students to visit. Some will invite us to bring our program into the schools, but nothing beats a visit to the museum in teaching what life was like 150 years ago - even if no mention is made of the Lincoln assassination.

(11-08-2014 03:36 PM)Jim Garrett Wrote:  You could do a presentation about the true story of John Wilkes Booth not being the man shot in the barn!

I have one entitled "The Postmortem Career of John Wilkes Booth" where I discuss the origins of the "Booth the Mummy" and its travelings legend. I also let people know at the end that the mummy WAS NOT John Wilkes Booth, The presentation also includes 6 different photos of the mummy.

Rick Brown
HistoryBuff.com
A Nonprofit Organization

(11-07-2014 10:02 AM)mgambuzza Wrote:  To all that have replied: Thanks for the very good advice and offers to help. I think I will construct my own ppt and take the aggregate of all your good advice. Who knows, maybe I can get a student(s) interested enough so it is a life long interest as it is for many of us. I will certainly give a plug to the Surratt Society and museum as well as the escape route tour.

Have you yet given your presentation? If - would you mind to share what you finally decided to do, and how things worked out?

Actually, I have seven different presentations that I can do. Just finished polishing the eighth one. I have not been able to book any presentation since fall.

Rick Brown
HistoryBuff.com
A Nonprofit Organization

"Not everything you read on the Internet is true." Abraham Lincoln

Food for Thought.You have to Hook kids before you Pull them!I have 35yrs of teaching experience in high school history.These kids were from"At-Risk" to "AP" students.Boy,were they thirsty for knowledge,now,no respect towards adults!I retired in 2000 at 55yrs of age.I went out on my terms!

(01-06-2015 06:53 AM)HerbS Wrote:  Food for Thought.You have to Hook kids before you Pull them!I have 35yrs of teaching experience in high school history.These kids were from"At-Risk" to "AP" students.Boy,were they thirsty for knowledge,now,no respect towards adults!I retired in 2000 at 55yrs of age.I went out on my terms!

Update: Mission success! Students were really interested and it went very well. How could anyone not find the story interesting? It has it all!

Thanks again for all of the comments!

Congratulations, Mike! It's easy to get kids' attention when you are telling them an appealing part of history (and of course, blood and guts are always popular). The problem with many teachers that I have dealt with over the years (especially many of the younger generation) is that it's too much trouble to stray outside the bounds of the prescribed curriculum and do research to liven up the course of study.

Also, very few states include the social sciences on their agenda of standardized tests, so teachers do not go out of their way to teach those subjects. Those tests are heavy on reading skills, however, and I consider history one of the best ways to learn both reading skills as well as politics, sociology, anthropology, etc.

(01-06-2015 08:42 AM)mgambuzza Wrote:  

(01-06-2015 06:53 AM)HerbS Wrote:  Food for Thought.You have to Hook kids before you Pull them!I have 35yrs of teaching experience in high school history.These kids were from"At-Risk" to "AP" students.Boy,were they thirsty for knowledge,now,no respect towards adults!I retired in 2000 at 55yrs of age.I went out on my terms!

Update: Mission success! Students were really interested and it went very well. How could anyone not find the story interesting? It has it all!

Thanks again for all of the comments!

Congrats!!! Maybe you can repeat one day it in another class? I can well imagine it was great fun! I would love to offer a CW course for students (as American history is poorly - precisely zero - covered in our university's English department) and once sent my ideas and course outline in - to no avail. Either no interest or no money or both...

It is off topic, but:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EVA!!!!

(01-06-2015 07:29 PM)wpbinzel Wrote:  It is off topic, but:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EVA!!!!

Happy Birthday, Eva! I hope you have a wonderful birthday. You are such a great contributor to the forum with your knowledge and curiousity about Lincoln and his times. Not to mention that your trivia questions are a lot of fun.

Happy Birthday, Eva!!

Thanks for being a great friend and for your contributions to the Forum!

Thank you so much, Bill, Linda and Betty!!!!
Thank you for your kind words! (Off topic is what I actually often tend to be...)

Happy Birthday, Eva! Everyone learns so much from you! I am in the process of becoming a soccer fan, and I know how much German soccer is loved. So my birthday wish for you is the German soccer teams Bayern Munich and Gladbach have great years in 2015. Also, that you meet and enjoy coffee/lunch with Manuel Neuer and Jürgen Klopp.

Thank you very much, Roger! The wishes for Bayern (unbeatable #1 this season) will sure work out, and underdog Gladbach currently ranks a fantastic #4! (As for Jürgen Klopp - he's of neither of the two teams but the best-looking and most popular coach in the Bundesliga, despite the beard, while he still can't beat Manuel Neuer, who's also the best German goalkeeper.)

Happy Birthday Eva! To a born German,from a ancestoral German. I totally agree with Linda Anderson's,and other's posts!

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Once you have been in education long enough[25yrs] there is some$$$$ to be made! Unlike,big busineses[Kodak-Xerox-Bausch+Lomb-many others].