Lesson Idea: Counterculture Activity

In the last Lesson Idea post, we covered a "Conformity Activity"-basically an experiment to see how long your students could conform to your own rules before breaking them, all so they could better understand how groups like the Nazis or the American govt. could control their populaces in the early 20th century. Today, we'll be expanding on that with "Counterculture", or, "who can be the most different?"

In history, counterculture was often looked to as the thing people did to express themselves and/or to express an idea. In the 1960s and 1970s, this was the Hippie movement; the 1980s was Punk, 1990s was Grunge, and the 2000s and today are the Hipsters. In all cases, the members of these groups wanted to be different than the mainstream culture (the conformers), and showed this by the clothes they wore, the music they listened to, or any amount of things that would label them "different". For students today, it can be hard to fully understand why people gravitated towards counterculture, so it's in your best interests as a teacher to give them a chance to see it firsthand.

The goal of this activity is to teach students about how being different was appealing to people, and how they used this to their advantage to raise awareness on touchy subjects or make statements on worldwide events. It can also show that even by being different, people were still conforming to ideals, just ones they were interested in. I suggest performing this activity right after you do the conformity one, though both can be used separately for their own respective units. Therefore, the endgame of this activity is for one or more students to be the most different from their fellow students as possible. Here are some rules to follow (you don't necessarily have to-they are here for a guideline):

• All students start exactly the same, with the same interests, activities, etc. (useful with Conformity activity).
• One student is chosen as the "catalyst"; they can choose what they like and how they express themselves, albeit within the limits of school rules.
• Students who appeal to this new "movement" can join it if they like, but they'll only be able to stay with this group for the rest of the time.
• Students can come up with new ways to distinguish themselves from the rest of the groups and even within their own group; if needed, they can have the option of leaving their group to go solo.
• After three days or so, the student/s who is/are most different from their classmates wins.

Beyond this, this activity is free reign. Students can wear goofy sunglasses, backwards shirts, weird hairstyles, or anything else they appeal to. They must also choose a topic, however silly it may be, to represent and either support or protest it (ex.: Johnny protests the use of mechanical pencils to return us to a "simpler time" with No. 2s). At the end of the activity, the students should be able to understand the historical significance of counterculture, and how it affected people in a very strange way. While there is much we still don't know about the appeal of it, with this activity, the history of the Rebel Societies can be taught to your students in a fun and interactive way.

-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep

Quick Tips: Thesis-a-Night

Whoever tries practicing something outside of sports? Usually people always do the "one and done" mantra to get by, but at a certain point when do people decide they want to get better at history? For those who realize that history is not a subject you can normally get by on without a night of studying, the problem becomes what exactly they should do to help them practice their thinking skills. Therefore, I bring you "Thesis-a-Night", a guaranteed way to get your dose of history without wanting to kill yourself!

To begin, find a scrap piece of paper. Next, go to Google and search the term "history thesis questions". You should be able to see some choices for past thesis questions on AP Exams or regular tests; write down any you think look interesting or relate to your current unit of study. Next, take one of these questions, and answer it. Not just from memory, though; you're going to actually have to do some research in your textbook to find the correct answer. If you think it's too much work, you don't seem to understand why writing a thesis can be important. Thesis statements are used primarily to present the claim and argument of a person, and in history this can pertain to relationships between historical events or conspiracies. Only if you can convince a reader with your thesis that you're credible and understand the material you've been presented will anyone take your opinion on history seriously. Plus, that extra research can add a little more knowledge to your brain that can come in handy later, and could even help prepare you for an actual test.

Thesis-a-Night usually takes about half an hour to an hour, but it's well worth it. It can help you with your writing, your knowledge of history, and what you should do to make your thesis credible. If you have any problems with writing a thesis, there are some great resources around the web just by using that same Google search, or you could check out another Quick Tips entry, "Writing a Historical Thesis". If you don't want to do any of that, then just read part of your textbook. You might as well try to learn something.

-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep

Using Music to Define Eras

Music: it's been around as long as consciousness, and shows no sign of losing popularity. Since the beginning of history, people have been making music, and in the process have shaped the way that we view the world. A Classical piece often invokes the idea of sadness or dark times; the smoothness of Jazz recalls a simpler time when people had fun and got in trouble. It's these types of connections that make categorizing history into its musical eras that make history that much more fun; I mean, who else doesn't think of the early 2000s when they hear Smashmouth's "All-Star"? Or the Woodstock-like euphoria of the Sixties when Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" comes on? The point is that humans are a very specific animal; once we attach something to another thing in our mind, there's no way to get it to un-attach. In this way, music can make history fun, as it not only allows the listener to hear the undertones of the music, but it also involves listening to popular music. I would give my life to have a history class like that. While it's completely up to you to decide how music defines history, you must consider the following things: what makes it special, what is it saying, and who did it appeal to? For starters, I'll give my own 2 cents on the historical music thing, but we'll start a little closer in the 1900s in the US:

1900s-1910s: Typically folk music or orchestral pieces in this era. They spoke to the cultures of the world, like the Irish tune "Danny Boy", as well as to the hierarchy of society with sophisticated pieces involving whole chamber orchestras. It can help represent how the early 20th century was full of people trying to fit in, either by embracing their culture or becoming something greater.

1920s: While folk songs like "Old Man River" and orchestral pieces survive into this era, the "Roaring Twenties" are more defined by the creation of Jazz. People like Louis Armstrong used brass and wind instruments to create either a lively, upbeat feeling or a sad, downtrodden one (blues). As the decade neared a close, jazz defined the era as one of a never-ending party, that unfortunately came to a screeching halt.

1930s: Jazz and orchestral pieces survive into the Depression era, while the latter is more pertained to the blues. Songs like "Minnie the Moocher" vocalize the feeling of being cheated in a society that's gone down the drain in a matter of years. The folk songs of previous eras are beginning to evolve into country music. The era can be defined by this music as one of reflection and hope, as war begins to loom near the end of it.

1940s: As war has begun, music began to change with it. Songs became more upbeat and lively, as demonstrated by "Boogie Bugle Boy", and as people began fighting for freedom, songs expressed their inner excitement to matter in the world at large. After the war, the songs slowed back down, and country began to make a more dominant appearance as orchestral pieces went on their way out.

1950s: Welcome to the 'Rock 'n' Roll' Era, so named for the music that defined it. As people like Elvis and Little Richard gyrated their hips and pounded out beats, parents were appalled while kids fell in love. On the other end of the spectrum, people like Johnny Cash belted out their regrets and desires to twangy country/rock music, as the US fought a war of societies abroad. This decade's music helps show the rage against conformity and the beginnings of the Free Life Movement.

1960s: Rock 'n' Roll has been mastered, and the British Invasion brings the Beatles and the Stones to revolutionize the industry and the country. The counter-culture movement gains traction with "free-wave" music; music without boundaries, as hippies and their musical counterparts begin proposing world peace and love. The decade ends in a cloud of drugs and paraphernalia that has begun hard rock and the beginnings of pop rock, and the Sixties with their music will always be groovy.

1970s: As the previous decade wears off, musicians become either very mad or very happy. People like Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin sing their issues with society out into radios everywhere, and the counterculture lives on in Liberation movements. On the other end, musicians like Elton John help show the lighter side of life with pop music like "Crocodile Rock", and as the uneasy Seventies come to a close, their music defines them as very schizophrenic and confused. The very beginnings of rap music are heard.

1980s: The introduction of hair bands and synthetic rock really define this era. The futuristic sounds of hard/pop rock lead to stars like Madonna and Michael Jackson gaining popularity as the US sets its sights for the future. Bands like U2 help set the stage for alternative rock, which continues the 70s style of rock without any 80s influences. As the populace is told "Don't Stop Believin'", many do with how society functions. This era is much like the Sixties, with cocaine instead of weed. Heavy metal also becomes prominent, and rap is gaining speed.

1990s: Grunge rock takes hold in this era, as alternative rock boots out synthetic and heavy metal becomes even more controlling. Rap makes a big rise as more and more people lose touch with their idyllic societies, and the world becomes very cynical (as evidenced by the whole of Nirvana and NWA). Pop is less popular, but sticks around as hard rock becomes split between alt and metal. This decade is largely depressing.

2000s: The new millennium, the new fear: pop takes back control of the airwaves, as do many other genres, as satellite radio makes them available to all. As terror takes hold, alt rock begins to slow down, but rap continues riding out the decade thanks to Jay-Z and Kanye West. Rap even becomes incorporated into pop music as parts of choruses, and into the Recession many are becoming less cynical and more optimistic. The decade can be defined as scared but recovering.

2010s: The decade isn't finished yet, but alt rock and pop/rap are the top of the charts. Singers like Taylor Swift and One Direction begin to change the industry and turn it almost into a machine.

Again, this is all opinion. You can define the eras as you see it, but use the impact of the music in your reasoning. Just because it sounded good doesn't mean it defined anything!

-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep

Lesson Idea: Conformity Activity

What better way to teach your students about history than how people were forced to be the same? Mostly known within the US, the idea of conformity arose during eras of history where people became scared of the unknown-scared of the differences between themselves and others. What resulted was a system where those straying too far from the path were punished, usually very badly. But unlike what most people think, this ideal was not limited to the US; the USSR had its fair share of conformity issues while pledging to be a "Utopian" society. So, it's crucial for your students' understanding to be able to teach this subject of recent history and have it make sense. More often than not, a teacher will try to tell of conformity when they have lived on its receiving end, and the bias is VERY real. To make this as unbiased as possible, you need to leave your opinions at the door and listen to an idea from someone who never lived through it. I know that sounds absurd, but trust me-it's what's best for the students.

To begin, you'll need a basic outline. Let's say this activity takes place in the community of "Anyville", where everyone conforms to a certain set of rules in the face of ostracizing. These rules are as follows:

• Absolutely no talking when the teacher is talking.
• Students must raise their hands to answer a question and keep them so until called upon.
• No complaints against the teacher's decisions.
• Any crude noises (sneezing, coughing, etc.) will be met with a warning. Three warnings=punishment.
• Students must always agree with the teacher, no matter what opinions they possess.

The lesson should take place over the course of a week. During this time, I suggest that the teacher teach any sort of outrageous dogma-it could even relate to the unit at hand. For example, you could teach of McCarthyism as if the man was a saint or Communism as a Godsend-either way, try to be as unpopular in your opinions as possible. The point of this lesson is to see how long it will take for students to break conformity, and how their fellow classmates will react.

In this case, you can have three outcomes. The Bad Outcome is when, after a student breaks conformity, the rest of the class gang up on them and chastise them for their "crime". This means the students have accepted conformity and you have a lot of explaining to do to their other teachers/parents. The Neutral Outcome is when their are a fair amount of students who break conformity, but are not ganged up on or chastised; rather, the class realizes it was a mistake and moves on. While not ideal, it means the students have understood conformity in the scholarly way. The Good Outcome is when all students break conformity; not only does this provide a perfect segway into the Sixties (for those in the US), it means that your students still have free will, and recognize the dictator-like rules you've put in place.

As history learned from conformity, nothing good really came of it. Unless we want another Joe McCarthy or Joe Stalin on our hands, this activity can be a good way to show your students the impact of it on even a small group of people. If you want any more inspiration, show them the German film Die Welle (The Wave), which delves further into conformity with modern fascism.

-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep

Quick Tips: Study, HARD.

I can't stress this enough. You need to study for history class. Period. No buts about it, you NEED to study. Why, you ask? When you've done tips in the past saying it's alright to skim or take pictures or memorize?

Because at the end of the day, you will be tested on what you KNOW about history, not about what you've tried memorizing for the past two hours. Time and again I've experienced that fresh knowledge escaping my short-term memory the minute I need it, but the stuff I've committed to actual study time has stayed by my side. So yes, you can go and take pictures of a study guide that you won't finish, or skim a reading that you really can't afford to skim, but what ARE you really learning? The tips I write about are mainly for students who're already good at history. They're the kids who get As all the time, who read what's required, and who put in a lot of effort. These tips exist for them to help make the subject even easier to comprehend, and for those who need help with writing or reading a chance to show that they aren't stupid. These tips, however, are not a replacement for study. Some nights, when the history homework has gotten really hard and you feel like you're not learning anything, you need to stop, calm down, and STUDY. Just read, write, take notes, anything, as long as you feel like you're actively learning about history. The dates and names and periods aren't hard if you commit at least an hour or two to trying to understand. If you've tried and failed, try again until you get it right. We've become so much of an instant gratification society that students will give up the minute they don't "get" a subject immediately. Don't let that be history. Any study will show you that it's not impossible.

Sorry for the rant, but my friend had just texted me about how he couldn't pay attention to a book for over two minutes. I wrote this for him or anyone who needs help with how to study.

-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep

Lesson Idea: Monarchical Succession (a la Risk)

In history, there have always been people who want to be in control, so much so that they'd be willing to kill for it. Usually, these people will either become kings, queens, or anything in between, and they can range from the most peaceful leaders to ruthless dictators. Because of its vast significance in shaping almost all of the regions of the world, it's important for students to be able to comprehend their importance. Not only have the leaders of the world decided the outcome of the future, but they may also have set precedents still being followed today (the Magna Carta and William III come to mind) or outwardly banned (Hitler and eugenics come to mind). So, what better way to teach these almost polar opposite ideals than an upgraded game of Risk? (Yes, the Ukraine is not a game to you*)

To set up Monarchical Succession, we'll follow the basic rules of Risk. The regions are still the same (North America, Eurasia, etc.) with the exclusion of Antarctica. However, due to the length of regular Risk, this game will be limited in length to preserve the purpose of the lesson and the teacher's sanity. There will also be governing bodies as players instead of singular play. They go as follows:

• Democracy: Begins in Greece, with an elected leader.
• Monarchy: Begins in the UK or France, with the oldest student as leader.
• Stateless: Begins in Africa, with everyone as co-leader.
• Dynasty: Begins in China or Japan, with the oldest student as leader.
• Dictatorship: Begins in Italy, with whoever the teacher chooses as leader.

The goals of Monarchical Succession is to show how governments worked in history, and how many times it was extremely hard for the "commoners" to like or appreciate one person in charge. The name is derived from the British line of succession, and how it was almost completely chaos until just recently in historical accounts. The end goal is to take over the world, but the real winner is whoever was able to have the least amount of succession "squabble"(basically, who can go in a straight line). The rules are as follows:

1. Democracies must hold an election for leader every four turns, between two students. One student can only be leader for a consecutive 8 turns before giving someone else a chance. Once everyone has been leader, they can choose past contenders. If the democratic system is disrupted, the government becomes a dictatorship.
2. Monarchies are a little tricky: the leader must choose their successor, who will take over whenever the current leader sees fit. If the heir-apparent is disliked by everyone else, they can try overthrowing them or the leader; however, in order to remain a monarchy, the new leader must choose a new heir. Failure to do so turns the government into a dictatorship.
3. Stateless societies have to work together in order to function, but if one student shows constant leadership, they can be given the option to become a government. They also cannot invade other countries until such an option is chosen.
4. Dynasties are also tricky; like monarchies, the leader chooses their heir, who takes over when appropriate. However, a "shogunate" can be formed within the group to represent the real leader if the "emperor" is disliked; any attempt to overthrow the other turns it into a dictatorship.
5. Dictatorships are pretty self-explanatory; the leader can do whatever they want and can "banish" group members for disagreeing. If deposed, can be replaced with any other government or a new dictatorship.

Besides these rules, the rules of Risk remain the same. The added learning/fun comes in trying to see the students stray as little as possible from their established rules, much like governments in real life did. However, they'll all discover that they have their own little Cromwells and Maos within their ranks, and by the end of the game (or as close as you can come to the end), there should have been at least one coup in each group. The group that stayed the closest to their governing succession wins, no matter how much land they conquered.

The real point of this game is to show how leadership in history was messy: at one point in time, you could never trust that the guy in charge would stay that way for long. Even today, when Presidents and Queens can seem immortal, you never know when a change of hand can occur. Food for thought.

-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep

*This scene from the show "Seinfeld" shows Kramer's own little game of Risk, and how it went so wrong.

AP: Writing a Significance Statement

Along with definitions, significance statements are of the utmost importance in AP History classes. While not as relevant in APUSH, in World they can be one of the things you're graded on for understanding the concepts of history. What stumps many students is what they should write about in their significance; basically, they have to choose what is more important over another, relegating the answer to an opinion piece. So, you have to ask yourself: why is this thing I'm writing about significant? What has it done historically to be mentioned in my textbook and been required for me to know? Due to the nature of significance statements, they can often confuse students, causing an under-par answer or complete avoidance ("It's too hard!"). The thing is, you WANT to be able to describe significance; if you can do that, you're already on your way to understanding history in context. In fact, writing about significance can end up being one of the easiest things you can do with practice!

To begin, a significance is much like a definition. It is roughly 3-5 sentences long, and you must be able to include context (who, what, where, why, etc.). The big difference is, while definitions are very straightforward, significance asks you to look at the cause and affect of an event: what did this event do to change the world and how was it existing so world-changing? Most of the time, the historical event either changed something that made the world better, or made the world worse. However, students can still understand an event, yet misinterpret their significance due to their own conclusions. Here's an example of a significance statement over Agriculture:

"The significance of agriculture is that it helped humans transition from hunting and gathering societies to civilizations. Many cultures were also able to survive droughts and famines thanks to agriculture’s solution to food surpluses (storing excess food for later). The influence of agriculture caused many changes to jobs and tools, with such jobs as scribe and potter being created and more useful equipment made to help farm crops, like the hoe and the plow. And even though it started slow, it emerged across the globe and helped kick start civilizations."

This significance may not look bad at first glance, but if you examine the sentences more closely, you can see why this statement is incorrect (yes, even opinions can be factually proven wrong). While 3 sentences, it could be reduced down into 1 based on its similar info, which is already a bad sign. There is also a very bold statement ("helped kick start civilizations") that cannot be used with such limited information; what evidence does this statement provide to show that agriculture did such a thing? The little amount of information provided in this statement makes its argument weak, and while the student (me, unfortunately) may have understood the history of agriculture, was not able to translate it effectively into significance.

Now, for the good statement, on Serfdom:

"Serfs were significant because they helped establish the concept of manors, which were large estates of land where the serfs could work and be monitored.  Before manors, lords had no way of knowing or stopping a dispute between some of his serfs quickly enough, and his authority was hard to keep over long distances.  With manors, though, lords and deputies (assistants of the lord) were able to police and provide justice to any quarrel in the estate, keeping the serfs in line, and all of the lord’s serfs were located in the same area, allowing the lord’s decrees to be heard by all of his serfs and making it easier for serfs to travel to the lord with rent or harvest."

The difference in this statement is bluntly noticeable. Not only does the statement follow requirements for length, it immediately proposes how the existence of serfs benefited another area (the manor system). By also having a before and after, the reader should be able to see how the very presence of serfs changed Europe, and by extension why they are significant. As a plus, there aren't any bold statements.

With these examples, you can hopefully see that significance statements aren't hard; you just need the right information and the right context in order to make sense. In fact, it only takes about 3-5 statements before you can start getting into the groove of things, and whenever you're tested on the historical significance of serfdom, you can have me to thank!

-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep