Providing a Path for Lifelong Learning
We are now two weeks into emergency online teaching and I’m writing this from my closet if that tells you anything about my experience so far. I’ve had to accept that I look ridiculous when I record myself teaching, I can’t possibly grade things meaningfully while my children are in the same room as me… Continue reading Learning and Community
Hey, all you Centre students! As registration is approaching I thought I would give y'all a quick roundup on our Spring course offerings: History Survey Classes: These courses have wide chronological and geographical coverage. They are designed to introduce students to major events and ideas but they are also intended to expose students to how… Continue reading History Courses Spring 2019
I know this is hard to believe, but we here at Centre Trail aren't the only student/faculty blogs on campus. In fact, our friend Dr. Young over in the Chemistry program has her students writing really fascinating blog posts that discuss chemistry in our world at large. Ever wondered if we need better, safer batteries?… Continue reading Centre Student Blogs
This summer I saw Hamilton. If you have been living under a rock somewhere and the genius of Lin Manuel Miranda has somehow escaped you, do a quick Google search. I'll wait. Much to my 6 year old's dismay, I did not take him with me--I took my husband instead. We didn't get to sit… Continue reading We’re Gonna Teach ‘Em How to Say Goodbye
Below is a story from Tara's CentreTerm Class on Alternate History. Our author is Aarthi Vadhanam, a senior math major, who chose to think about the creation of the modern Middle East. In this story, she imagines an Iran that was friendly with the United States and a major player in Middle Eastern politics. She… Continue reading We are Pain and What Cures Pain, Both
Did you know that the phrase "founding fathers" wasn't coined until 1916? It was then that Warren Harding used that wording in a speech to the Republican National Convention. Somehow, I always find this a surprising fact. Have Americans only thought about the revolutionary generations as father figures for a century? Americans before 1916 certainly… Continue reading “Founding Fathers”
I'm teaching a Centre Term class on Counterfactual and Alternate history. We spend our time asking "What if?" and reading short stories and articles that also ask this question. By the end of the term, my students will write their own alt hist short story and a historian's counterfactual argument. Asking "what if?" is a… Continue reading What If?
CentreTerm keeps us busy here! We are working on updating you more regularly, but for now I thought I would give a little early update on how my class, History and Video Games, has been going. So far I am thrilled with the student work in keeping our site updated. You can visit the class… Continue reading Update on History and Video Games
It's that time of year on college campuses, when we are all feeling the crunch. You may have noticed that our content has slowed down on the site a little recently. Well, it's a mixture of being buried under grading and generally being ready for this to be over. There. I said it. I am… Continue reading The semester is ending…
This term, I've focused my upper-level colonial America course on biographies*. Our books, with one exception, use a biographical lens to examine the time period. In part, I chose to use biography because European colonists themselves were biographical people; interested in a narrative of who they were, how they came to be in this "new… Continue reading History through Biography*
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