This summer, I was honored to be asked by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to host and present for a series of professional development sessions under the title American Environmental History. I must admit, that title was not my favorite, nor was the topic. After reading a little more about the history portion of it, it wasn't as bad as I imagined.
The scholar in these sessions was the Portland State University's Dr. Catherine McNeur, likely one of the foremost in knowledge on the topic. Some may imagine that the environmental lobby and activist branch would be a big portion of this presentation, but it was not. Instead, we talked about such topics as horse poop in the streets of New York, feral pigs, cicada invasion, and more.
My pedagogical presentations followed an hour of interviewing Catherine. Much as last year's, I was able to focus on the methods of teaching history through the eyes of a reading comprehension instructor. For this, we used Meriwether Lewis's and William Clark's journals, a lesson called Visions of New York, and documents from the Love Canal debacle in the 1970s. I also spoke about the Joplin tornado of 2011 and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, both of which had environmental impacts.
My pedagogical presentations followed an hour of interviewing Catherine. Much as last year's, I was able to focus on the methods of teaching history through the eyes of a reading comprehension instructor. For this, we used Meriwether Lewis's and William Clark's journals, a lesson called Visions of New York, and documents from the Love Canal debacle in the 1970s. I also spoke about the Joplin tornado of 2011 and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, both of which had environmental impacts.
