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Showing posts from December, 2010

Life Lessons from Paul Revere

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My freshman honors students complete a long-term research project during the second semester that approaches history from two directions. First, they are providing a bit of biography of a key figure from the American Revolution. Second, they have to demonstrate an understanding of the themes of the revolution as a whole by explaining how that one person affected the direction of events. The result of the project is a 10 minute documentary complete with images, music, and student narration. After reading David Hackett Fischer's Paul Revere's Ride , I confirmed that Paul Revere should definitely remain on the list of historical figures that students may choose for the project. The trick for the students who chose him last year was to sort out the mythology from the scholarly historical evidence. David Hackett Fischer’s book is definitely a source I will lend to the student(s) who select Revere this spring. He articulates the truth about Revere with eloquence and evidence, somethi