Why this blog?

Just a few days ago, I graduated from the Klingenstein Independent School Leadership program at Columbia University. The end of a year of studying heralds a summer of a different kind of intellectual preparation as I get ready to teach World History (probably among other things) at an independent school in the Tampa Bay Area. Raised by an intensely patriotic French woman, I have always been predisposed to be a committed Francophile and something of a Europeanist.

But the world is changing around this jeune femme, and it's time to embrace the teaching of world history in a more intentional way. I am excited about how world history, as a discipline, can be used to teach historical thinking skills. I am excited to think about what my students should know and be able to do when they leave my class. Much to my own surprise, I am really looking forward to embarking on this journey.

Enthusiasm notwithstanding... I have a HELL of a lot of work to do. If there is one thing I learned from Kevin Mattingly in his brain-based learning course, you have to think to learn. (For more on that, see the iBook I coauthored with my colleague, Christopher Bertha, entitled "How People Learn" - available for free on iTunes. I cannot promise that this will be my only shameless plug, but I'll keep them to a minimum.) So, if I have to think to learn, I will write to force myself to think. And nothing keeps me honest like a public forum. So, here we go. First up, reading suggested by my friend and mentor Patrick: The Human Web: A Bird's-Eye View of World History by J.R. and William McNeill.

I will post about epiphanies, teaching ideas, general confusion, and AP musings. If there are other world historians or general teaching enthusiasts out there, feel free to set me straight when necessary. Pretty sure it will be necessary on a fairly regular basis.

Allons-y!