Twisted History?

Today's focus is on my favorite topic, American history. It should come as no surprise that I love the history of America since I am a social studies teacher and that is what I teach. History is so often seen as boring and meaningless to students who can't grasp why they need to learn about events and people from the past. The following web based resources will hopefully make learning history a little more interesting.

First up are two music videos from Soomo Publishing with American history themes. They have high production value and utilize current pop music songs with a historical twist on the lyrics. The first one is about the Declaration of Independence and uses One Republic's Too Late to Apologize. The focus of the second video is women's suffrage and it uses Lady Gaga's Bad Romance to tell this important story. When my 15 year old daughter showed me these videos I was instantly mesmerized. These videos are "must sees" for all history teachers and enthusiasts.

Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration

Bad Romance: Women's Suffrage

Take the time to check out a blog I discovered called Twisted Sifter. It features amazing pictures and photography which are sorted by topics such as nature, art, science, and history. There are more categories than the four I have listed and my personal favorite is the history section. The history posts are very diverse in their subject matter but each is interesting in its own way. For example, this post shows the pictures that inspired Norman Rockwell's art. This blog is worth a look for teachers, photography buffs, and anyone with a curious mind.