Teachers...need bell work

[DHonks]

Hey folks, I'm trying to compile better resources for bellwork/warmups. I teach 7th grade history, US hist from 1850-1941. Does anyone have a good site or collection of things for students to analyze, such as political cartoons?

[brewcrewman17]

This isn't helpful for what you're asking for, but I feel compelled to say it anyway: 1850-1941 is probably my least favorite period of American history. A lot of people love WWI and the Civil War, but if I were to rank American wars by my interest in them, those two would be near the bottom (honestly, I'm more interested in the Korean War or the War of 1812 than those two). I'm not saying it's not an important period, because the civil war particularly especially is important, but it just doesn't spark my interest.

[UtilityInfielder]

I don't know of an end all be all site...but I usually check the library of congress and wisconsin historical society online collections. Usually I can find something that works that way. There are entire collections on Abraham lincoln, the robber barons, WWI, Civil War, etc. When you get closer to 1941 the website "Dr. Seuss goes to war" has some good prewar cartoons, especially regarding interventionist. My last resort is usually doing a good image search. Besides cartoons there are sketches online too. I also use some repro artifacts that kids can look at and pass around as class is starting, or music too. There are some cds and downloads of period songs. I even learned some on guitar and played them for students..which they usually get a kick out of.

[Mike Felder]

I've found this site interesting...it has lots of different wartime posters from WWII.

 

Here

 

EDIT: I'm an idiot...after I posted, I realized you said up to 1941. There might be a few posters in there from the lead-up into the war, though.

[hawing]

I don't know of an end all be all site...but I usually check the library of congress and wisconsin historical society online collections.

Woohoo! (that's my employer - though my job does not involve creating website content)

Of course, with our website having a Wisconsin emphasis, that may not help DHonks as much.

 

 

[DHonks]

I absolutely love the time period, but I also hate it at the same time. I hate that the first half of the class focuses on the US, while the second is more of "Western World." So the 7th graders get used to looking at America's internal strife, then suddenly are forced to look at the US interacting with the world. What makes it rough is that they had colonial history in 5th grade, so they've all forgotten it 1 1/2 years later. We started this past Monday, and I know my first 10 days will be teaching them skills and re-teaching them things they should have learned but can't remember.

[UtilityInfielder]

Its always that way...especially with 7th graders (I student taught 7th grade) another thing to think about is video clips..there are some sites that offer downloadable video clips I burned them on to a DVD or used my LCD projector (I got lucky and bought a college buddy's old one for 200 bucks) to show the video clip at the start of class and then write a response. Just another idea.