[5 Jul 2008 | No Comment | 74 views]

Welcome to my web page

Hi there and welcome to The Forgotten Borough.

This site is primarily for my students. I’m a high school teacher with three different courses which I give a short description of below. I hope to use this site to post all sorts of material online for my students. From homework assignment sheets (that they are always losing!) to podcasts that will provide some extra review material for their exams. In addition to all that, I come across all sorts of stuff from books I read, television I watch, web pages and news sources I see that I want to be able to share. This site provides the perfect platform for doing all that.

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US History »

US History & Gov’t…All about us
[6 Jul 2008 | No Comment | 32 views]

If all goes as planned, two of my five classes will be the required US History & Government courses for juniors.   The class name pretty much says it all, it is the story of all of us.

This being New York State, the class ends with a Regents exam.  In short, if you want a diploma, you need to pass this exam.  (A note, for students who entered high school in New York in 2006 you must have a 65 or above on at least three Regents exams.)  I try as much as possible not to teach for the test.  There are many events in American history that will never be seen on the Regents exam, but often they are far too important and often interesting to leave out of class.

My own little area of interest is the history of technology and how it has changed life in the US and the world over the centuries.  You can expect to hear me make a lot of references to such things. 

Later this summer, I’ll post the homework assignments online as well as a term project of some sort.  Also, I’ll try to keep people informed about television programs that will add to what we learn in class.

 

AP Human Geography, The Printed Page »

Why Geography Matters
[4 Jul 2008 | 4 Comments | 60 views]

For the AP Human Geography class, the summer assignment is centered around Harm de Blij’s (pronounced de Bley) book, Why Geography Matters: Three Challenges Facing America- Climate Change, The Rise of China, and Global Terrorism.  LIke my students should be doing, I’m in the midst of reading this book as well.

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Government & Politics »

PIG Post
[4 Jul 2008 | No Comment | 32 views]

PIG- as in Participation in Government