| No. | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | How do you present historical events? | History is not negotiable! Facts are facts. I make every effort to present them accordingly. By the same token, history needs interpretation to be applied. I attempt to stimulate, but not control this for you. |
| 2 | How do you deal with controversial topics? | History is laden with controversy. Perhaps the hardest task for any historian is to maintain objectivity. Still, controversy is not to be avoided, but explored. I have attempted to present all sides of issues and encourage students (and teachers) to explore them openly but constructively. We study history not to judge it, but to learn from it. After all, times have changed and those who lived before are not here to defend their actions. |
| 3 | How do you approach social issues and concerns? | Carefully! Again I stress the purpose of our study is to learn from history. We do so best by exploring past events and their causes and effects, then applying what we have learned. Social issues are at the heart of many lessons we learn. I stress moral and ethical values and principles, but encourage teachers and students to interpret and apply them. |
| 4 | Do Our Land Publications incorporate "primary sources"? | I have chosen the pseudo-newspaper style as a means of making history appear more relevant. This provides a natural harmony with primary source references, but space does not permit their inclusion in the papers themselves. |
| 5 | What about "revisionism"? | As commonly referred to, this is a practice of building social, political, and other interpretations into events so as to force a fit of fact to a particular objective. I do not believe this is appropriate and do not practice that strategy. |
| 6 | How accurate is your information? | At the grade levels involved, history is not of such depth that accuracy is hard to maintain. I do not report conjecture as fact. I do attempt to verify all names, dates, and events. Almost all data is supported by two or more independent sources. In the rare instance that differing records or views do exist, I attempt to state both. |
| 7 | How current is the content? | Because only two or three issues in each Our Land Publication contain date-altered information, it is much easier to keep them current. Unlike a book, only those few pages need reprinting. Issues affected include the last one (current events) and those containing demographics (population, for example) and statistics (agricultural production, for example). These are routinely changed in successive printings as warranted by data, events, and their effects. |
| No. | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | How do Our Land Publications support state and local frameworks? | I have concentrated my efforts on compatibility with a cross-section of state social studies frameworks. Because most are structured around textbooks and not my periodical format, full "compliance" is not really possible. Yet my programs are highly supportive of the stated goals of each framework. The critical difference is that I place more emphasis on practical knowledge and comprehension and less on exhaustive detail. The detail, however, is provided in the teacher manuals. |
| 2 | How do Our Land Publications adapt to local and regional needs? | This is an important advantage of the periodical format. It is not necessary to study every article included. With my approach, continuity is not lost when supplemental material is added or skipped. Textbook structure is rigid. Skip a few pages and continuity is lost. Many activities are included in Our Land Publications specifically to apply lessons to community and regional needs. |
| 3 | How do Our Land Publications teach values? | "Values" are elusive! They are hard to define because people see them differently. I have focussed on "traditional values" as those most worth maintaining and consistent with our heritage as a people and a nation. But these values are not force-fed. Rather, they are exposed in and through the study. Many are drawn by the students themselves simply through their responses to people and events they study. |
| 4 | How do I as a teacher assess student performance? | Four levels of assessment are incorporated. |
| 5 | What if we do not include 20th century events in our curriculum? | My periodical format makes lesson selection and scheduling much more convenient and versatile. If some issues are not needed, rather than ignoring them, share them with a language arts teacher or give them to the social studies teacher who does cover this time period. (They make excellent study papers in reading classes where two goals are addressed at one time. This isn't practical with textbooks!) |
| 6 | How do I use Our Land Publications with my textbook? | While no textbook is necessary for most applications, it is easy to adapt them. Let each Our Land issue define the time span and topics to be covered, then assign reading and activities from the textbook that apply. The textbook actually becomes the "supplement," but both are used to maximum advantage. |
| 7 | What if I (or my students) have questions about the lesson? | Each Comprehensive Teacher's Manual is loaded with additional information, much of which will not be necessary to your study. Use this as your first resource for answers, additional questions, and study expansion. If you have questions beyond that scope, e-mail me. |
| 8 | Are these studies suited to independent or homeschool use? | Not only suitable, but ideal. Their structure is a perfect match for any form of independent or small group (cluster) study. See ESL & adult education, GATE & special education, or homeschooling. |
| 9 | Must I use them one at a time? | Ideally, yes. Remember two important features:
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| 10 | Do I have to follow your time line to apply the lessons? | No, but I think you should. Some teachers successfully use individual lessons as supplements to other studies, yet do not use them sequentially. For example, on a field trip to a historic site you may study the issue which includes that period of history. While this is helpful, I prefer the field trip be scheduled to fit the lesson rather than the other way around. |
| No. | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What if I must use the lessons over next year? | Each issue is designed as a consumable, that is, I intend that the student respond in it and take ownership. This is ideal. If economics forbid this, have students respond to written questions on separate papers. Do NOT bind the issues or laminate them for future use. This destroys one of their best features, student friendliness! |
| 2 | May I photocopy the lessons? | Please do not! This violates the copyright, diminishes their quality, and actually costs your school more than the papers themselves? |
| 3 | What support do you provide? | Each program is supported by a thorough "Comprehensive Teacher's Manual" in a looseleaf binder. There are also "Teacher Guides" offered for several programs. See teacher support for further information. |
| 4 | Is there any outside funding available? | Because of the friendly and interesting format of Our Land Publications, parent-teacher associations, fraternal organizations, community groups, and businesses are often willing to fund part or all the cost. Federal banks are required to participate in local service projects and can be approached. But remember the parents! Unlike textbooks which intimidate them as well, these papers are appealing to parents and will often attract their interest and support. |
| 5 | How do they come? | Our Land Publications are offered in three packagings.
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| 6 | Should my students bind the issues? | Ideally students will gather and keep their issues. At year's end they have the satisfaction of having "done the whole thing!" The issues are designed to be punched and placed sequentially in small ring binders, but will also fit nicely in economical pocket folders available at any office supply. |
| 7 | How often do they come? | You receive them all at once. You generally give them to the student(s) one at a time, weekly. You may alter this. For example, the study can be easily extended to two years using one issue every other week. |
| 8 | What is the grade level? | My state programs have been designed to fulfill usual requirements at fourth grade and also fit 7th where a textbook resource may be added. Our Land of Liberty is designed similarly for grades 5-8. |
| 9 | Is there a textbook version? | While not really intended as a textbook, the Library Edition fulfills this objective. |
| No. | Question | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What is your background? | I am an alumnus of Indiana University in my home state and lived in a Chicago suburb until entering the U.S. Air Force late in the Korean War. I married, served as a weather forecaster, and settled in Washington State before moving to California in 1960. While teaching in the adult education program of Fullerton College I began a printing and publishing company and a career that soon merged my life-long interest in history and education with my vocation. |
| 2 | Why did you write these programs? | To anyone who appreciates history it is very disappointing to see how little today's youth and young adults know about the past and their heritage. I attribute much of this to the way in which the subject is commonly presented. Lacking interest or appeal in a media-mad society, students look forward to the study like a case of the flu! But what is more logical than a newspaper formatted presentation? After all, today's newspaper is tomorrow's history and yesterday's newspaper reports today's history! |
| 3 | One educator has called your approach "simplistic," how do you feel about that? | Defiant! I believe it is foolhardy to think we can force-feed a diet of history into the minds of youth through books full of dry and uninspiring intellectual spinach. Rather, we need to recognize the more important points, present them briefly and attractively, connect them so they make sense, and apply them as personal realities, not dead sea scrolls. Simplistic is the notion students learn just because we "teach" it. Why else do so many history teachers depart so consistently from the texts they're supposed to follow? |
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