Historical Events and Trends: Shaping American Education

Click here to visit The Time Page, a Web site that captures the major trends and issues throughout American History. Choose one of these eras, read through the major events and tenor of the times, and connect that historical time to educational events. How were schools, their curriculum, philosophies, and goals responsive to the times? In what ways did the times shape schools, and in what ways did schools influence the events of that period?

American Schools of the Past: A Day in the Life

The chapter opens with a trip in a "time machine," as we are transported back to Christopher Lamb's colonial classroom. Create your own time machine and transport us back to another school of the past. Using the following Web site as a starting point, research a school -- from an early academy or Latin Grammar School to the pioneering comprehensive high schools. Now describe a typical day in the life of a student or teacher.

The History of Education Site

History of American Education Web Project

Early Textbooks

To learn more about the early textbooks, check out the following Web sites.

Blackwell History of Education Research Museum

McGuffey Reader Sample

For each type listed in the "Early Textbooks" box, write a second paragraph discussing some other important characteristics not already covered by the authors. Can you connect any of these textbooks to current trends in the development of classroom materials?

The Education Hall of Fame

This chapter concludes with an Education Hall of Fame honoring individuals who made significant contributions to education on a large scale. But talented educators can make important contributions within a smaller world, the world of the classroom. Emporia State University is the home of the Teacher's Hall of Fame. Click here to visit their site and learn about some remarkable classroom teachers.

Choose three teachers in Emporia State's Hall of Fame and discuss how their accomplishments reflect the influence of one or more figures from your textbook's Hall of Fame.

American Schools: What's in a Name?

As you know, schools are often named after individuals -- e.g., the Kennedy School, Martin Luther King Junior High. Schools have been named after the famous, or the near famous, or perhaps, the forgotten. Researching the contributions of unfamiliar figures can be an engaging historical adventure. Using the following online directories if necessary, find the Web site of a school that is named after someone with whom you are not familiar.

Global SchoolNet HotList of K-12 School Sites

Yahoo! K-12 School Directory by U.S. state

School Web Site Registry

Does your chosen school's Web site tell you about the person it is named after? If not, search the web and find out more about that person, his or her contribution, and perhaps why the school bears that name. Who is this person and why do you think the school was named after them? What effect might different names have on the school environment?

Not surprisingly, American schools are predominantly named after of white males. If you want to go one step beyond, find a school named after a woman or a person of color. What was this person's contribution? What message do you think school leaders are trying to send by naming their school after this person?