We suggest that you look first at this model syllabus for a Reel American History course before looking at the syllabi and assignments linked below.

We invite teachers to share your course work relating to film and history or the construction of history in general as informative guides and models for others working with the Reel American History archive or related projects.

We also suggest these resources for general ideas about class projects involving new technologies:

Engines of Inquiry: A Practical Guide for Using Technology to Teach American Culture.  Edited by Mark Sample, et. al.  Washington: Crossroads Project, Georgetown University, 1998.

Intentional Media: The Crossroads Conversations on Learning and Technology in the American Culture and History Classroom.  Edited by Randy Bass, Teresa Derricksen, Bret Eynon, and Mark Sample. Works and Days 16.1-2 (1998).  1- 478.

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DoHistory
http://www.dohistory.org/home.html
Vicki Rea, Dept of English, Lehigh University

The "DoHistory" website enables the user to "do history" by using a case study involving the diary of Martha Ballard, a post-Revolutionary War midwife, and a modern historical account by Laura Ulrich, A Midwife's Tale, which is also available on video.  Including the scanned original document, DoHistory also transcribes the diary into a printable version and allows you to switch back and forth between the versions.  It describes the "decoding" process, important in this case because Martha spelled phonetically and kept her midwife accounts in the margins.  The web site is also of interest as an example of a historical "mystery," since Martha was the key witness in a rape trial, asked to testify against her husband's employer.  Using frames and links, the user can work through the mystery by viewing the accounts of Martha as well as the accounts of the "other side" -- allowing the reader to choose which account he or she believes to be true.  DoHistory is ready for classroom use; it includes a page just for teachers with lesson plan ideas.  The home page includes a link to "this day in the diary" of  Martha Ballard.  For younger students, this link would be fun to check either daily or weekly as an ongoing project.  For older students who are able to work independently, this web site includes information on how to conduct your own local research project using original documents.
 

Making History via Hayden White’s Metahistory
http://www.Lehigh.EDU/~ineng/syll/syll-metahistory.html
Vicki Rea, Dept of English, Lehigh University

In the introduction to his Metahistory, Hayden White claims that any history is a form of narrative prose discourse.  Summarizing his formalist explanation of history, this assignment lists, defines, and charts the different ways in which historians turn chronicle into discourse, using modes such as emplotment and argument.  The summary of White's introduction can be reviewed in one class.  The assignment following can either be completed in class or given for the next class period.  Any primary historical document and film representation can be used in place of the ones used on the assignment page.
 

My History Is America's History/MyHistory.org
http://www.myhistory.org/teaching/index.html
Nathaniel Eastman, Dept of English, Lehigh University

A library of teaching and classroom-ready resources (Preschool through High School), designed to enhance students’ understandings of American history through studies of family and "personal" history.  The searchable archive of historically significant personal and family narratives may prove useful to students and teachers alike.   Click here for more details.
 

Research Project for Columbus Day
http://www.lehigh.edu/~ineng/syll/tompkins.htm
Stephen Tompkins, Dept of English, Lehigh University

The following guidelines are designed to enable students to construct a research database that can be used by others to help inform their papers. This rubric was used in a freshman Composition writing course, but it certainly would work for literature and history courses as well.  The goal is to have the students work as a group in gathering information on the four major topics related to the holiday.  They were asked to conduct a class presentation, where they were required to share their results with their classmates; in addition, they were asked to upload their findings to an electronic discussion board.
The rationale behind this project is that it allows students to gain first-hand experience with the vital component of academic research, to foster communication and teamwork skills, particularly since they were required to visit local schools and contact government officials, and to foster community-based learning and teaching.
 

Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music (1970)
http://www.lehigh.edu/~ineng/syll/syll-woodstock.html
Edward J. Gallagher, Dept of English, Lehigh University

This writing assignment was given in the fourth and last unit in an online first-year writing course at Lehigh University Spring 2000.  The subject of the course was "History on Trial" -- an inquiry into the controversies over the representation of history surrounding the Vietnam Wall memorial, Judy Chicago's art exhibit on the holocaust, the original Enola Gay exhibit planned by the Smithsonian, and the August 1969 Woodstock music festival.  The Woodstock assignment was developed over four classes, of which the first two are linked here.  In short, each student was asked to analyze in an essay of about 1000-1250 words how one of the following was represented in the film: drugs, sex, music, or a sense of community.  And each essay was to be linked to an appropriate scene in the Woodstock scene log.