History Day Expert

Guest Blogger: Averting Technology Disasters… or at Least Surviving Them!

2012-01-10T10:22:00.000-05:00

Recently I finished the first draftof my National History Day documentary. Atmy school, NHD is due for a grade at the end of winter break. If studentsdecide to take their projects to NHD competition, they have a few months torevise their projects before competition starts. Unfortunately, aftersubmitting my project for school, I ran into some technical problems. My computer, or rather IMovie, crashed and I wassure I had lost my entire project.

After three hours of frantic calls to mytech-savvy friends, I was fortunately able to fix the problem, without any loss. For those of you who have seen or experiencedthe amount of work that it takes to complete even a draft of NHD, I am sure thatyou understand how catastrophic this loss would have been. Hopefully you will learn from mynear-disaster, rather than experiencing one of your own, that it is critical tokeep NHD files reliably saved and organized.

Given that one can never be 100%immune from a computer crash, here are a few tips on organization that will alsosimplify recreating your documentary if the need arises:

1. Make sure that all photos, music and video clipsfor your documentary are saved in organized folders on a computer so that theywill be easy to find if need be.

2. Back up all files on a flash drive or other backup device.

3. Make a note of the specific clips of video andmusic that you are using, to cut down on edit time if you have to redo theproject.

4. Have a working script of your documentary onpaper and in a word file. Insert where specific clips and photos will be. (This makes editing the documentary simplerfrom draft to draft. It is also helpful if the original movie project isdeleted).

Hopefully youwill never run into any problems or need any of the backup files that you make,but it’s good insurance!

Guest Blogger

2012-01-09T08:47:00.003-05:00

The second semester is upon us and I havethat sinking feeling that we didn’t start NHD early enough. We actuallyintroduced the project a month ago but very few kids have really tied into ityet. I especially wanted to get the kids that are working on documentaries toget going because that clearly is the most time-intensive project category.

We did a few brown-bag lunch workshops onproject types before break. Websites and exhibits seem to be the most popularcategories. We are limiting groups to three members even though the officialNHD rules allow up to five. We have rarely seem a functional group of four;five kids working in a cooperative and equitable manner is even more unlikely.Groups of four or five are usually de facto groups of two or three witha few “hangers-on.” We caution our kids to choose wisely when forming groupsand suggest that working with best friends is not always a good idea. Weencourage 9^th and 10^th graders to worktogether so that at least one member has some experience with NHD.

Next Post: Time-management/IntermediaryDue Dates

Guest Blogger Thoughts on Wikipedia

2011-12-15T11:15:00.001-05:00

The quality of the multi-genre projects was all across the board. I was expecting the sophomores to do better than the freshmen but that was not always the case. The fact that we have mixed classes is really helpful. MG was a good exercise to familiarize students with the process of finding historical sources. We need, however, to work on the evaluative part. Kids are confusing simply finding sources with finding quality sources that will actually support or inform their theses. For example, we had a few cite websites that were created by junior high school students. Our humanities team (2 English and 2 social studies teachers) needs to sit down and rework this project for next year while it is still fresh in our minds.

Regarding Wikipedia; let’s admit it - we all love and use it. The difference, however, is that we know its limitations and students don’t. Even Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia said, "It is pretty good, but you have to be careful with it. It's good enough knowledge, depending on what your purpose is."

Here are some suggestions that I use for Wikipedia (please feel free to disagree):

Never cite Wikipedia in an academic context (our kids take college classes at the University of Toledo and Wikipedia is persona non grata there)

Wikipedia is not a bad place to start (the problem is when it is the final and only destination). Reading an entry can give you an overview, context and other search terms related to the topic.

Wiki articles vary in quality. Some are excellent and well-documented; others are rubbish. Look for articles with a lot of references cited.

Mine the links in the reference section. This will take you to the raw materials that the author used to write the article.

Some articles are flagged as “controversial” or “disputed” or “lacking references”; read the discussions and arguments related to these topics, they are fascinating and a learning opportunity in themselves.

Use the external links.

Wikipedia is a great source for images (but trace them back to their origins and use that for the citation).

Bottom Line: Kids are going to use Wikipedia. Let’s teach them to use it wisely with a critical eye.

Next Post: Choosing Project Types and Group/Individual

Finding Images

2011-12-06T13:20:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I visited Robinson G. Jones School in Cleveland to introduce History Day to the students. One question that came up was where to find good images to use for a project. I thought this would be a great question to answer on the blog as there might be many of you out there asking yourself just the same thing. So here we go...

There are lots of great places to find images for History Day. One general tip though is to look for high resolution images. You don't want to include any image that is blurry or too small to see. Sometimes while searching you will find small pictures but you will want to enlarge them to print out for an exhibit or use in a documentary. If the image is low resolution, it will become blurry as it gets bigger. If you are using Google Images, look on the side and choose the Large size, possibly the Medium would work too. If you hover over an image you will see the resolution number (ie: 250 x 318). The bigger the number the higher the resolution.

Speaking of Google Images... yes, you can find images to use here but you need to know a couple things.

1. Do NOT cite Google!
The image does not live in the Google website. Google is a search engine and pulls from lots of different websites. If you find an image you like while doing a Google search, look at the URL where the image came from and go to that website and use it for the citation.

2. Evaluate websites images came from.
I'm sure your teachers tell you to use good, scholarly websites for research and the same is true for finding images. Look for websites ending in .gov, .org, .edu. For an image to be considered a primary source for your bibliography, it should be a digitized version of the original image. So, it should be a part of a digital collection from a museum, archive, library, etc.

Google tip- in the search box you can limit your search to certain websites. For example, if my topic was women's suffrage, in the search box I can type "women's suffrage site: .gov" By adding the site: .gov it will limit the search to only government websites. You can do the same with .edu or .org too. You can also search a specific website so for example, searching "women's suffrage site: loc.gov" is only going to search for materials on the Library of Congress website (loc.gov).

There are some other websites that can be helpful in finding images. Check them out:

Library of Congress: American Memory
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

Library of Congress: Prints and Photograph Collection
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/
Once you do your search- choose the option "Larger Images Available Anywhere". This will limit the search results to just the digital copies that are higher resolution and not just small thumbnails.

Life Magazine: Your world in Pictures
http://www.life.com/

National Archives: Online Public Access
http://www.archives.gov/research/search/
If you go to the advanced search you can limit the search to just photographs if that is what you are looking for.

Smithsonian Institution
http://collections.si.edu/search/
Once you search along the left side you will see options to limit results to just images if you wish.

If you have any topics or questions you want to see answered on the History Day Expert blog, you can either leave a comment or email them to historyday@ohiohistory.org.

Guest Blogger: Choosing a Topic

2011-12-02T11:57:00.001-05:00

Choosing a History Day topic is not an easy task. I for one, was hesitant to dive into theresearch, however with the help of my teacher, Sister A as we call her, I wasable to make a decision on a topic and choose a group to research and presentthat topic with.

Myname is Jean, me and my partner blogger Mimi, are in the same History Day groupalong with three other girls in our grade. After some debate, we landed on onetopic. The Woman's ChristianTemperance Union. We found this topic to fit thetheme 'Revolution, Reaction, Reform throughout history' extremely well.

After deciding on a topic we all dove into our research, each findingnew and exciting facts about the WCTU. I can't reveal any of them to youhowever. I wouldn't want to possibly help any of our competitors!

History Day is something that I look forward to every year. It issomething that encourages me to push myself to do that much more research or towrite on more paragraph on my history paper. History Day is not always academic either, for me it is a chance to bondwith our classmates. For example, there are five girls, including me, in ourHistory Day group. And being in a group together has really allowed us to bondas friends.

Guest Blogger thoughts on Wikipedia

2011-11-22T08:33:00.001-05:00

We are almost done grading theMulti-genre projects. Overall they are quite good. Kids did a good job locatingprimary and secondary sources although there were a few re-occurring issues. First, theywere asked to summarize the sources and then respond to a few suggestedquestions such as: Did the source help answer your research question? Was it areliable source? What new questions were raised? Lots of students did okaysummarizing but fell short on the response part. I think the problem may bethat they are so used to doing “reports” in junior high where they simplyregurgitated information that they missed the evaluative stuff we wereseeking.The MLA citations looked mostly good. Overall I think this was a goodproject to precede NHD. Lots of kids are well on their way.

Now about Wikipedia. I will comeclean and tell you that I love Wikipedia. I am on it constantly as are even thepeople I know who claim to hate it. The difference of course is that unlikemost students, I know it’s limitations. Kids are going to go there first so wemay as well deal with it; the problem is that many won’t go beyond it.

Here are some things I find myselfsaying over and again about Wikipedia.

1. Anyone can put anything on theinternet (although Wikipedia is policed more stringently than in the past).

2. In most cases we do not know whowrote the articles on Wikipedia.

3. Look at the References andExternal Links section at the end of the article.

4. If an article is flagged ascontroversial read the discussions. This can be a fascinating exercise inhistorical interpretation.

5. Use the Wiki article to generatea list of search terms related to your project.

6. There are a lot of great imageson Wikipedia. Most have information related to the original source of the imagewhich should be used in the citation.

7. Never cite Wikipedia in yourbibliography.

This short video reinforces myperspective on Wikipedia.

http://blip.tv/LIONTV/using-wikipedia-wisely-629810

Next Post: Group versus Individual Projects.

Staying on Some Sort of Schedule

2011-11-18T08:31:00.001-05:00

From Guest Blogger, Naomi:

At my school, we are constantly reminded by our teachers tokeep up with our NHD project. This may seem like a simple enough request, butstaying on track is harder than it may seem. There is always an Englishpaper due or test to prepare for. With the constant workload from school andall your other activities, it is easy to push NHD off for more urgentlypressing matters.

I’m not saying that you must never deviate from your NHDschedule. However, if you put off your research until the last minute,it willcause you a lot more stress in the long run. Rushing through research tends toadd time to the project at the end. At my school, we have several deadlineswhen small portions of our NHD projects are due. But I found last year, that toavoid getting no sleep, I had to set interim personal goals in order to stay ontrack. I can tell you from experience that showing up to school aftergetting literally no sleep is not fun in the least.

Whether you are working in a group, or alone, workingon NHD tends to take longer than planned. No matter what category yourNHD project falls under, you can be sure that at some point, some part of yourproject will take much more time than you were counting on. For instance,last year after I had spent a substantial time putting my NHD documentarytogether, my computer crashed and I had to start the film over again fromscratch. Luckily I was able to make a new draft and finished my final projecton time.

The point is we can’t really tell how long certain aspects ofthe project will take, because unexpected things always seem to happen. I couldbore you with more specific examples, but instead, from my experience last yearhere are some tips:

Make sure to keep track of where your sources come from as you do your research. Going through everything at the end to dig out what you need to create the annotated bibliography is an unnecessary hassle.
If you are planning to pull information from any archive, request it as soon as possible. Processing requests takes time. If you wait too long, you may not get the information until it is too late.
If you are conducting interviews for your project, getting in touch with the interviewee sooner is better. Sometimes scheduling an interview can be difficult. The more time you have the better.
Make sure to have all equipment and materials necessary at the start of research. Finding new movie making software, or running out to the store at the last minute for Velcro can be stressful.
Leave time for possible mistakes. You don’t want to end up finishing your project in the car on the way to competition!!(Believe me, this has happened.)

Looking for World History Primary Sources?

2011-11-17T14:20:00.001-05:00

Primary sources are a key part of any History Day project. There are a lot of places to find sources related to American History- both online and at local museums, libraries, or historical societies. But where can you find primary sources for World History Day topics? Try some of the websites below or check out the list provided by National History Day.

Remember the judges are looking for use of available primary sources. They are not going to expect you to translate Chinese or Russian. Students researching an ancient topic naturally will not have as many primary sources. That is OK. Just make sure you put an effort toward finding relevant primary sources for your topic.

•WorldDigital Library

–http://www.wdl.org/en/

•DigitalSouth Asia Library

–http://dsal.uchicago.edu/index.html

•ModernInternet Sourcebook

–http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.asp

•EuroDocs

–http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Main_Page

•YaleAvalon Project

–http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Main_Page

•WorldHistory Matters

–http://worldhistorymatters.org/

•BritishNational Archives

–http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Good luck researching!

Guest Blogger: Incorporating NHD in the classroom

2011-11-02T10:48:00.001-04:00

from Guest blogger, teacher, Randy:

During the first semester our majorproject is called Multi-genre (MG 2.0). In the past (MG) this consisted ofhaving students research a topic based on the 9^th or 10^th Grade OhioContent Standards (which resulted in, by the way, our students being morefamiliar with the standards than some teachers around the district) and thencreating ten original writing entries of different genres, e.g., newsarticle, diary entry, poem, etc. This worked well-enough but we realizedthat our students’ biggest deficit was in researching, not creativewriting.

It is painful sometimes to watch kidslook for information. I get tired of saying things like,

“Anyone can put anything on theinternet”

“Please don’t be surprised if you keepgetting the same search results if you use the same search terms”

“No, you can’t cite Google Images as asource.”

“This is not an acceptable source becauseit is a junior-high project from Missouri.”

Thus, our goal is to help students getbetter at finding and evaluating sources.

This year, at the urging of Emily, mysuperb English-teacher colleague, we changed direction with MG. The newassignment now asks students to choose a topic based on the NHD theme, developa guiding research question, locate ten different historical sources (websites,books, journal articles, etc.) and write summaries and assessments foreach source followed by a reflective process paper. The rationale is that students willbecome better, more discriminating researchers and will have a head start ontheir NHD research. Since MG is an individual project we suggested that ifstudents had plans to work in a group for NHD they could choose related topicsfor MG that would coalesce well later on. For example two girls are planning ondoing Impressionism as a revolution in the art world for NHD; for MG each isdoing a separate project on an impressionist artist. Another group wants to dothe Cuban Revolution; one member did Fidel Castro and the other did The Bay ofPigs. At this writing I have the equivalent of six milk crates of MGbinders to grade and haven’t touched them yet.

Next Post: MG update andWikipedia.

Narrowing Your Topic

2011-10-28T13:38:00.003-04:00

After you have chosen a topic area related to the theme: Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History it is important to make sure your topic is narrow enough to manage for a History Day project. There is no way you will be able to cover the entire history of prohibition in a 10 minute NHD documentary. Ken Burns just created a 6 hour documentary on the topic and I'm sure even he could have done more! So take a look at your topic choice to see if you can narrow it and focus on something more specific.

By narrowing your topic it will make your research more manageable too. If you go to an archives and try to look up everything they have on the Civil War you're going to get overwhelmed! Research itself can be difficult, so make it a bit easier by knowing what to focus on.

You might have to do some basckground research before narrowing your topic: check books out from your library, do some internet research. After you have a general grasp of your topic, you will be able to look at more specific issues, people, events that will lead you to a narrow focus.

NOTE: In your final project you will need to place your topic in context, so you will need to understand the broader picture. But the heart of your project (ie: most exhibit space, most time during documentary, performance, paper, and most sections of website) will be on your narrow topic choice.

There are lots of ways to think about narrowing. If your topic lasted a period of time, maybe you could focus on one period. If your topic had lots of events associated with it, maybe choose 1 or 2 to focus on. Lots of people involved? Choose 1 to research.

Here's an example to help demonstrate how the narrowing process can work:

Topic I am interested in: Think of general area of history you like or even a broader topic you like.

Television

Relation to Theme: Brainstorm a list of way you think your chosen topic fits the theme. Ask yourself questions like "How is this revolutionary?" "Did it lead to any reforms?" "What were reactions to it?"

New method of communication
New form of entertainment
New way to sell goods
Educational tool/spread values
Changed elections/campaigns
News laws to regulate TV

Narrow it even more if needed: Do some search and find specific topics or examples for some of your brainstorming topics. Take this list and see what sources (both primary and secondary) are available for each. You might find that 1 or 2 have lots of sources and then it will be easier for you to make a decision.

New method of communication- TV changed the way Americans learned about War- Vietnam

New way to sell goods- Television commericals changes how Americans shop

Educational tool/spread values- Sesame Street as a revolutionary educational tool

Changed elections/campaigns- TV revolutionized presidential campaigns- 1960 Nixon v. JFK

Choose one and start researching! Go back to the theme and ask yourself questions that can help with your research and guide you toward sources.

Choice: TV Revolutionized Advertising

Revolution- how did TV change advertising? What was advertising like before and how/why did TV
revolutize the process of selling goods?
Reaction: What were the different reactions to commericals? Look at multiple perspectives- how did those selling goods react to TV and commericals? How did TV executive react and deal with advertisers? How did the American public react to commericals on TV (then and now)?
Reform: Have there been any changes or reforms with TV advertising? (truth in advertising laws)

Remember- you don't have to hit all 3 parts to the theme but it's a good idea to consider all 3 to see if there is an element of them in your topic.

Good luck with topic selection and research!

Cleveland Teacher Workshop and Local Resources

2011-10-24T10:29:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, NHD-OH held another workshop for History Day teachers, this time in Cleveland. The teachers who attended were great and came up with some fun topics while brainstorming. Some examples were:

Gay rights
Black Power movement
White supremist as a form of reaction
Uncle Tom's Cabin as a reaction to the fugitive slave law
Bloshevik Revolution
Literature- looking at authors who wrote about reforms in society
MTV as it revolutionized the music industry

Local Topics
Another topic discussed was students researching local topics. The workshop was held at the Cleveland Public Library and 2 of their staff members spoke with the teachers about resources and collections available at the library. They told the teachers the library has a large photo collection from the Cleveland Plain Dealer archives (if you are in Cleveland or can take a road trip there I suggest you do! They even showed us photographs from the Boxer Rebellion! The library suggested you call them first to see what they have on your subject: Photos@cpl.org). We also visited the map collection and special collection at the CPL and learned they have MANY sources available for student research.

Even if you are not in Cleveland, there are many resources available at local libraries and historical societies. We encourage you to check these out in your area! Even if you are researching a broader topic in American History, for example, the New Deal, women's suffrage, or World War II, your local library, museum, or historical society might have some wonderful resources about how that event or topic affected your local area. You can use that evidence to support the broader picture of your topic. Don't forget about universities in your area as well. Most university libraries have special collections or archives that contain primary sources. It's always best to give places a call or send an email before you visit, because the staff will be able to tell you what they have on your topic. Plus it will save you time before you go! Be sure to mention you are working on a History Day project. If you want to find out some of the organizations in your area check out the directory for the Ohio Local History Alliance- you can search by county or town. This is not a total list for Ohio but it will help get you started.

Have you used local resources for History Day before? Share your stories with us!

Choosing a Topic

2011-10-19T10:54:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year. Time to pick the History Day topic you'll be spending at least the next 6 months with. So here are some things to think about as you begin the process.

The Theme
This year's theme is Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History. NHD themes are purposefully broad so that students can find topics they are interested in and make connections with. Topics can be from any time period and any place in History. You do not have to hit all 3 of the theme words but think about all aspects and you might find that the reform you are focusing on was a reaction to a revolution! The distinction among revolutions, reactions, and reforms are often blurry.

Topic Choices
Find a topic you are interested in. You will spending a lot of time researching and if you don't like learning about the Civil War but choose it as a topic you really won't like it in a couple months! And my guess is that you might not put your full effort into it if you can't stand your topic. If you don't like "traditional" history (wars, presidents, reform movements) History Day give syou the perfect opportuniy to explore the history of other topics. What reforms have been made in an effort to regulate sports? What musicians or artists are considered revolutionary?

Make sure your topic is historically significant. While I'm sure people could argue jeggings (leggings that look like jeans) are revolutionary in fashion, this does not have historical signifcance. Instead, maybe you can do a project on revolutionary change in women's fashion when they stopped wearing corsets. Here are a couple questions to help you decide is a topic is historically significant:
1. Did the topic, event, person have deep consequences or impact on society?
2. Did your topic affect many people?
3. Did the consequences last a long time?

Primary and Secondary Sources
Brainstorm a list of topics you might be interested in and then do some basic research. You want to find out if you can find sources on the topics. Your History Day project will be much easier if you can find a variety of sources- books written by historians, scholarly websites, and access to primary sources (this is a key component. Look for sources from the time of your event or written by someone who was there- more about primary sources in a future blog). This does not mean you have to do in-depth research. Just a basic search at the library or online will help you decide if you can find sources.

We also suggest you choose a topic that is at least 20 years old. Anything earlier is sometimes more a current event topic. Historians often let time pass before they write about a topic. They research the causes, context, connections of a topic and they want some time to pass so they can get real perspective on the consequences and impact of an event. If you are interested in something that recently happened, there are ways to incorporate it into your project. Take the recent revolution in Egypt. That doesn't fit our 20 years suggestion but maybe you can find other examples of democratic revolutions that took place around the world in earlier times. Or trace the roots of the discontent felt by the Egyptians that led to the revolution in the first place. You can research causes and past events and then through your topic demonstrate the connections to today.

Narrow your topic...
Check back next week for a blog about making your topic manageable.

Another Guest Blogger!

2011-10-17T08:14:00.000-04:00

Here is our final guest blogger for the year. Throughout the year, Randy and Michelle will be giving you a look at History Day from a teacher's perspective, while Naomi, Mimi, and Jean will be posting from the student perspective. So, let's meet Randy!

It’s Randy here at the Toledo EarlyCollege High School (TECHS) with the first blog entry about doing NationalHistory Day at our school. I will start with an overview of our school toestablish a context.

TECHS is a public high school thatis a partnership between the Toledo Public Schools and the University ofToledo. The school opened in the fall of 2005 with some seed money from TheBill and Melinda Gates Foundation that was administered by the good people at theKnowledgeWorks Foundation in Cincinnati. We enjoyed a few years of adequatefunding with a line item in the state budget for the eight early college highschools. When the economy tanked we lost our state funding and have beenlimping along like everyone else since. The school was designed to servepopulations of Ohio students who are under-represented on college campuses. Thetarget groups are low income, minority, first-generation to attend college andEnglish-language learners. Contrary to the perception of some other teachers inthe system we do not have a little “genius academy”. We are specificallydiscouraged from “cherry-picking” the district’s best and brightest. That beingsaid, I will admit that we have a fair number of extremely sharp kids but mostare just average students that we are charged with accelerating to be ready totake serious college coursework by their junior (or sometimes sophomore) year.We only have ten teachers for the four core subjects. Everything else has to betaken at the college level for dual credit. TECHS has had three graduatingclasses with kids earning a high school diploma and a college transcript with30-60 credit hours. We are rated excellent and our State Performance Index beatthe neighboring highly-rated upper-middle-class Ottawa Hills School District(full disclosure - I live there).

Our humanities curriculum islargely-based on NHD. We incorporate the yearly theme into our teaching as muchas we can, even in work not directly related to the project. For example,opportunities to discuss the Revolution, Reaction, Reform in Historywere plentiful when we covered the Enlightenment and the French and IndustrialRevolutions. Kids have a pretty clear understanding of the theme by thetime they start considering topics. Future plans include choosing music andfilm titles related to the theme for our TECHS Summer Multimedia Extravaganzaassignment.

The English and Social Studiesteachers work together closely on this project. Students receive a grade forboth classes. Completing an NHD project is required for every freshmen andsophomore (entering the contest is optional, usually ~70% do so). Our classesare blended with freshmen and sophomores. This is very helpful since there areboth newbies and NHD veterans in the class. If students choose to work in agroup they can partner with anyone in the school (even juniors and seniors). Weare considering limiting groups to three members this year. I will address thatin a future post. Our small school is ideal for doing NHD. We have two Englishand two social studies teachers and about 100 kids in 9th and 10th grade. Bythe time our students are juniors they are mostly taking college classesso it is rare that an upperclassman does NHD. We have, however, had a number ofjuniors and seniors do projects even though it was not a requirement for aclass. To me that is a powerful testament to NHD.

Next Entry: A discussion of our precursor project to NHD - -Multi-genre.

Successful Columbus Teacher Workshop

2011-10-13T11:32:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was the History Day teacher workshop in Columbus. Eighteen teachers participated in discussions about the theme, tips for the classroom, and in historical thinking activities. It was a great day!

The guest speaker at the event was David Staley, who spoke with the teachers about the need to teach historical thinking to students. He compared historical thinking activities and skills to students working in a chemistry lab in science. We would never think of separating learning the concepts of chemistry from actual practice in a lab. The same goes for History. Students should learn the skills that historians use everyday (inference, analysis, identification, research,...) and students need practice with these skills. Historical thinking helps students learn to ask question, seek answers and evaluate evidence. The presentation gave us a lot to think about and then a great activity to use with students. Check out this website for other historical thinking activities: http://hti.osu.edu/byrd.

The teachers also participated in a discussion about the theme and brainstormed a list of possible topics for the theme: Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History. Here's just a sample of what they came up with ! (Check back next week for a separate post on the theme)

Russian Revolution

Red Scare

Great Awakening

Enlightenment

Constitution (convention and amendments)

Apple (technology) revolution

“Just Say No” campaign

Great Depression

Child Labor

Democracy in Athens

Magna Carta

Vaccines in medical field

Women in the Workplace

Juvenile Correction System

Sports- free agency, Jackie Robinson, safety equipment

Ohio’s reaction to slavery/Civil War

Mental Health refoms/ Dorthea Dix

Music- Elvis, Beatles, Motown, Madonna, Jazz, war protestsongs

Agricultural Reforms- machinery, technology, animaltreatments, regulations

Educational Reforms- inclusion, deaf/blind schools, busing,desegregation

Thank you to all of the teachers who participated in the workshop!

New Guest Bloggers!

2011-10-13T10:13:00.001-04:00

We have 2 junior division students who volunteered to become guest bloggers for the year. Welcome Mimi and Jean!

We are two 8th grade students from the Cincinnati area. Our names are Mimi and Jean and we are 13 and 14 years old. This will be our second year of doing National History Day and we are excited to get started! This year, both of us will be working in a five-person group with all five of the 8th grade girls in our class. We are looking forward to beginning the work on our group drama and can't wait to get started on the blog as well!

Welcome Naomi! New Guest Blogger

2011-10-07T10:54:00.000-04:00

Hi! My name is Naomi. I am currently a junior. I enjoy biking, drawing, and reading. Last year was my first year participating in National History day. My project was an individual documentary and I ended up going to nationals, which was a really wonderful experience.

Working on NHD last year was quite challenging for me because I had never done so much research on one topic. I started the process around this time last year and did the majority of the research from October to early December. Through my research I came into touch with scientists and professors from around the country. I even spoke with a Nobel Prize winner. Doing research and working on the project were really interesting, but I also faced many challenges. From districts to Nationals, I had multiple software malfunctions, and spent many late nights wishing I had updated my bibliography as I did research and not at the last minute. Despite all this I would defiantly count NHD as a highlight of last year. It was a challenge, but I think it was defiantly worth it. As a result, I now know how to research thing effectively and I have much better time management skills than I did at the start of sophomore year. In addition each level of competition was a blast. I learned a lot from other student’s projects and met many interesting people who I would not have come into contact with otherwise.

This year I will be participating in NHD for a second time in the same category as last year. As I go through the process of making my project I will periodically blog about the steps I am taking to do research, things that I learn, and other topics that relate to NHD. Thanks for reading!

Introducing Guest Bloggers

2011-09-23T13:29:00.002-04:00

This year I have enlisted the help of some guest bloggers. Helping me and hopefully you out will be teachers and students participating in History Day this year. The teachers will give their insights on incorporating the program into your classroom and other tips or thoughts they have. The students will be chronicling their journey through History Day from thoughts on picking topics to cool stuff they find while researching. The goal is to present the program through multiple perspectives and that you'll learn even more through the different bloggers.

So let me introduce to you our first guest blogger for the year who will be giving her thoughts and tips each month:

My name is Michelle Coleman.

I have been teaching for 26 years, mostly in Columbus CitySchools.

Four years ago, Ohio History Day received a grant to helpColumbus City Schools to implement History Day. I applied and was helped. Mystudents were freshmen. No one in any of my classes had ever done a NHD projectbefore, including myself.

Through OHS, I took a workshop and had lots of help duringthe whole process. I even had one student go to state.

I then had the same students as 10^th graders. Itwas so much easier the second year with the same group of students. Themistakes I made the first year, helped me the second year. What I found in thesecond year was students were focused on NHD. I believe that the GREAT OGTscores that students received were because of History Day projects.

Then I transferred schools. Last year I had all seniors. Idecided to do a NHD project as their final capstone project. It was atremendous success. So here I am going into my fourth year with NHD projects.If you have questions please e-mail me:

Mstasa4082@columbus.k12.oh.us.

Benefits of History Day and A Fun Field Trip

2011-09-21T16:35:00.000-04:00

NHD Benefits for Students
Last year the results of a national evaluation of the NHD program were released. These results confirmed what those of us working with the program and teachers who have participated have known for awhile: NHD provides numerous benefits for students. To read the full report visit the NHD website. Some of the highlights of the report are that

NHD students outperform non-NHD peers on state standardized tests
NHD students are better writers, able to provide solid evidence to support their points
NHD students learn 21st century career and college ready skills
NHD students are critical thinkers who can digest and analyze information

First Field Trip of the Year!

Yesterday we had a group of 6th graders from St. Michael's visit the Ohio Historical Society to learn about the program and how to use the archives library. They were a fantastic group and it was fun to see them getting excited about history! We discussed possible topics for this year's History Day theme: "Revolution, Reaction, Reform". The students took a moment to think about what things or ideas are revolutionary at their school or reforms made in education. They came up with many things: use of computers and smartboards, ending segregation in schools, the subjects they learn, and many others. One that came up every time was that the invention of air conditioning was revolutionary. After this hot Ohio summer I'd have to agree!

In the archives library the students examine a variety of primary sources from pamphlets about ending child labor to records of the Boys Industrial School, an old reformatory in Ohio. The students jumped right into the sources- analyzing the information and thinking about how each related to the History Day theme. The visit to the library introduced the students to research in an archives. As one teacher said, researching for History Day teaches students to become fearless and how to walk into a library or archives and not be intimidated. That is something even some adults can't do!

After working with the first school group of the year, I'm even more excited for the year. I cannot wait to see what students develop and hear all of the wonderful stories that come out of the program!

2012 National History Day in Ohio dates set!

2011-09-13T14:07:00.000-04:00

All of the contest dates have been set! Check out our website to find out when your district event will take place. All district contests will be held on Saturdays in March. Winners in each of the categories advance on to the state event in April.

Ohio History Day will be held on Saturday, April 28, 2012. We will be returning to the Ohio Union at Ohio State University for the event.

History Day 2011- 2012 Kicks Off!

2011-09-08T11:51:00.000-04:00

Who's ready for History Day! We are! The last of the fall mailings were sent out to teachers this week. It was a lot of folding, stuffing, and labeling. But it's done and hopefully the teachers find the infomation useful. Know a teacher who's not on our mailing list? They can visit our website to request a packet.

This year National History Day in Ohio are offering outreach visits to classrooms for a fee. Staff members can come and introduce the program to students, discuss choosing topics, finding sources, and more! We are also offering webinars this year for teachers and students. Visit the outreach section of the website to find more information.

Finally, teachers can sign up for a History Day Teacher Workshop. We have scheduled a few workshops around the state. Workshops include an introduction to the program, theme discussions, historical thinking activities, and other helpful tips for teachers. Scheduled dates include:

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October 12: Columbus

October 19: Chillicothe

October 21: Cleveland

November 3 or 4 (we're still settling on a date): Toledo

Check the website to find more details and registration forms.

In the meantime, start thinking of topics for this year's theme:

Finally Home and Recovered from NHD!

2011-06-24T10:47:00.011-04:00

NHD was a fantastic week!! It was exciting to see so many students gathered in one place to celebrate History! It was a tiring week but nothing that a couple days of sleeping in and taking naps didn't cure. :)
Ohio students did an amazing job at the competition. Each project was outstanding and they should all be very proud of their accomplishments. Some Ohio students did receive awards at the NHD ceremony on Thursday:

1st place: Senior Individual Website by Lukun Zhang titled "Kennedy's Kiddie Korps: Dipplomacy by the Best and the Brightest"2nd place: Senior Paper by Joan Thompson titled "The Emperor Has No Clothes: How Hubris, Ecnomics, Bad timing, and Slavery Sunk King Cotton Diplomacy with England"

2nd place: Senior Individual Website by Anirudh Dasarathy titled "The Kansas-Nebraksa Act: The Debate Over the Expansion of Slavery

1 Ohio student was also given a special award: a scholarship to the University of Maryland. It was awarded to Jonah Weinstein for his Senior Individual Performance "The Paternalistic Problem: Great Britain's New Imperialism Debate"

2 awards are given out to students from each state: one in the junior division and one in the senior. These awards are given to outstanding entries from each state. Ohio's winner were:

Junior Division: Max Freyberger and Danny Felton for their performance "Prohibition: The Alcohol Debate

Senior Division: Claire Lo for her exhibit titled "Cutting the Lion's Tail: The Diplomatic Lessons of the Suez Crisis"

Congrats to all of the students who competed. Time to start working on the 2011-2012 theme: Revolution, Reaction, and Reform!

NHD Day 4

2011-06-15T23:32:00.009-04:00

Another great day at National History Day! It started off on campus with 2 excellent performances. Jonah and Hannah both did an awesome job in runoffs. Watching them perform their projects that they worked so hard on made me so proud and happy that I had the chance to spend the week with such amazing students. Congratulations!

Meanwhile, a large part of the Ohio delegation boarded a bus at 7am into D.C. There they met with Senator Sherrod Brown. They kids had a great time and expressed excitement at the chance to meet one of our Senators. This was followed by a long day of exploring museums and taking pictures of monuments. On a personal note- I traveled into DC later with the runoff folks and we made a trip to the Sewall-Belmont House- former home to the National Women's Party during their struggle for the Equal Rights Amendment. As a women's history fan, it was incredible to stand where these women worked so hard for equality. If you are ever in DC, I recommend this museum. And if you are ever doing a History Day project on women's rights, they have great resources!

The National Museum of American History hosted a wonderful reception for NHD students, teachers, and families. There were costumed interpreters, performances, and lots of exhibits to look at. Even though everyone was exhausted by this point, it was a treat to see things such as Julia Child's kitchen, President Harding's teal pajamas and Kermit the Frog.

We have a big day tomorrow with the awards ceremony! Keep your fingers crossed for all of the Ohio students!

NHD Day 3

2011-06-15T00:12:00.013-04:00

WHEW! We made it through a marathon day! Lots going on: Senior Judging, Junior Runoffs, Ohio party, Dorm decoration contest. And the kids staying in the dorms are still going strong at 12:15am.

The day started with senior judging. All of the Ohio kids were great!!!! They presented their projects well and handled the interviews excellently (is that a word? My brain is slowly down due to lack of sleep). But all of the them were awesome. We have 2 senior performances competing in runoffs tomorrow. Congrats and good luck to Jonah and Hannah!!

The next big event was the Junior Runoffs. We had 2 excellent projects compete so we're keeping our fingers crossed for them. Max and Danny got big laughs with their performance (good laughs) and many people commented to me that Samantha's project was outstanding.

The night ended with a fun Ohio delegation ice cream party. The students also created a slew of amazing signs for the awards ceremony. 5 dorm rooms then competed in our annual dorm decoration contest. A big congrats to Maggie and Shelby for their beach themed room.

Tomorrow we have senior runoffs and a big trip into D.C.
Check out these pictures from the day!

Senior Group Performance: Kill the Indian and Save the Man

Erik waiting for his senior paper judging

Olentangy Orange students in the senior group documentary category.

Samantha performing in the junior runoffs

NHD Day 2

2011-06-14T00:27:00.009-04:00

Today was a long but very exciting day! All of the junior categories were judged and the Ohio students did an excellent job! The Ohio staff lucked out today because the junior times were pretty spaced out so we were able to catch up with most of the students before or after their judge time. Every time I see a performance, documentary, exhibit, or read a paper or website I am so impressed and inspired! All of the students should be very proud of themselves! Ohio had even more wonderful news as 2 performances were chosen for run-offs! Congratulations to Samantha Achauer in the individual division and Max Freyberger and Danny Felton in the group division. They will perform in the finals tomorrow.

The seniors spent the day exploring the Newseum in Washington D.C., shopping, and visiting Baltimore. Tonight NHD sponsored a student dance. The seniors all pulled out their snazzy outfits and claimed the party didn't start until the arrived.
Check out some photos from today's events.
Peter Abou Haidar and Shan Sundaram- Junior Group Documentary

Amir Farhat waiting for his paper interview

Cara Gilson in the junior individual performance.

NHD 2011 Day 1

2011-06-12T23:42:00.002-04:00

National History Day has officially begun! Today was the kick off event at NHD and all of the Ohio students arrived on campus at the University of Maryland and registered for the big event.

Everyone is really excited for the rest of the week and the students are preparing for judging. We have around 30 Ohio participants staying in the dorm. It's a really fun time despite the heat of the non air conditioned dorm. Currently the students are playing a passionate game of Catch Phrase. I hope we get to bed before 1am!

2011 Ohio History Day

2011-06-09T09:24:00.012-04:00

The past couple of months have been a whirlwind of contests, paperwork, and school visits. We made it through all of the district contests and quickly on their footsteps was the state contest on April 30. All were wonderful events. The students put so much work into their projects and everyone should be very proud of themselves! Check out some pictures from the state contest at Columbus State Community College.

Judge Orientation discussing theme: Debate and Diplomacy in History

Students arriving and registering for the event.

Performance Judging

Exhibit Judging

Students gather for run-off posting

What a great day! Awards were given out at the Palace Theater. 62 students became national finalists and are headed to the Univerity of Maryland on June 12-16 to compete in the National History Day competition. Check back on this blog to read about our adventure at nationals!

To see a full list of winners from Ohio History Day, visit our website http://www.ohiohistoryday.org/.

Writing Conclusions

2011-02-08T10:53:00.001-05:00

Hello historians!

Today we’re going to wrap things up – literally! Well, not literally. There will be plenty more blog posts after this one; but I thought we’d take a look at conclusions. Now conclusions seem easy enough: wrap up your paper or project with a few sentences. However, they can be surprisingly tricky at times. Fear not though, for I am here to clear things up for everyone. Let’s get to it.

The conclusion to your History Day project is a quick summary of all the major points you have gone over in said project. A good way to organize this is the same way you should be organizing your main paragraphs: make a list of all your main talking points and topic sentences. By doing this, it keeps you on track as to what you are going to talk about. Unlike the lists you are making for your paragraphs, however, you should not go too in-depth. One good rule of thumb is to try and avoid introducing new pieces of information; a small tidbit about an event to come in the aftermath of what you are researching is quite all right, but nothing major. For instance, if you are writing a paper on FDR’s New Deal and your conclusion is the first place you talk about the NIRA or the Wagner Act, you need to seriously reconsider the structure of your paper.

After you have summed up the main points of your paper, take a sentence or two to pull the paper together. Avoid hyperbole here; a common mistake is forcing an ending and creating a false sense of “epic-ness” at the end of a paper. For example: “At the end of George Washington’s term as president, he returned to peacefully to his beloved Mount Vernon. He was unmatched, the single greatest leader in the history of the world.” If you laughed at that last sentence, than you now know how your history teacher has probably felt many times in the past. There’s just no need for that final sentence, and it can ultimately hurt the credibility of an overall project. End it with the first of those two sentences and you will be just fine. An ending has to feel right; by forcing it, you will never feel fully satisfied with your paper.

Some quick final thoughts: notice the severe lack of sources this post has compared to others? That was intentional, to keep the spirit of a conclusion alive. You should almost never use sources in your conclusion. You have already talked about and cited them earlier in the paper, and there is no need to reiterate. Also, use your thesis from the introduction of your History Day project as a guide in your conclusion, hand-in-hand with your written list of topic sentences. By sticking to these general rules, you will be able to end your History Day project successfully, and feel comfortable with how you have concluded your research.

THIS WAS THE MOST MASTERFUL CRAFTING OF A BLOG POST IN THE HISTORY OF THE INTERNET, A MASSIVE DATABASE I SINGLEHANDEDLY CRAFTED IN 10 MINUTES!

Just joking,
-Mike, the Intern

Writing a Successful Thesis Statement

2011-01-14T11:43:00.000-05:00

Hello historians!

Today I am going to discuss what is expected to be in your thesis statement for your history day project. The main point of any thesis statement is to state your argument, but that is easier said than done; so, how do you do it? Let me tell you.

Try to include as many of these five main points in your argument as possible without getting too wordy: who, what, where, when, and why.
Here is how you break each down.

First, “who” deals specifically with who is being affected or involved in the situation you are researching. Think of it like the characters in a story.

Next is “what,” which is associated with the event you are researching, or what the “who” is involved in. This is a very broad term that can pertain to almost anything you are studying. Are you looking at a war, treaty, movement in history?

After that, you will want to look at “where.” Specific locations are going to be your main target here, looking exactly where the event you are researching took place. Also, you may want to include information on why this event took place in this particular location.

Similar to “where” is “when.” In this case, you are looking for a specific location in time instead of space. Include a time frame if at all possible, such as, “The American Civil War took place from 1861 to 1865.”

Finally, “why.” This is the most important element! Why is going to look at a couple of different things, but most importantly why did an event happen and why was it important. Basically, you are going to want to look at this through a lens of cause and effect; what caused it and what were the after effects. Remember to pull in the theme: Successes, Failures, Consequences!

If you follow these steps, you are going to be on your way to creating a thesis statement that can easily guide you through the rest of your History Day presentation, paper, or project. The main thing to remember is to make it stand out. Do not outright say, “This is my thesis statement,” but make sure it is something that is easily recognizable as the argument for your project. If you avoid sweeping generalizations (such as “…changed history forever” or “…the most important date of all mankind”) and keep your argument concise and to the point, it will be distinguishable and accessible to your audience.

Take a look at these 3 examples of thesis statements about women’s suffrage. Which one is best?
1. The Nineteenth Amendment was important because it gave women the right to vote.

2. In the late 1800s, the Ohio Woman’s Suffrage Association was formed to gain voting rights for women. They debated with the state legislature until 1919 when the Nineteenth Amendment was passed.

3. The debate over women’s suffrage stretched from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s, as woman struggled to gain a voice in politics. Suffragists challenged the traditional views of women’s roles and ultimately succeeded in securing the 19th amendment, becoming political players, and inspiring future generations of women to fight for equal rights.

If you answered 3, you would be correct! The first is too general and doesn’t really tell us enough about the project and the topic’s importance. Number 2 is a little better; it tells who was in the debate, when it occurred, and where, but doesn’t really tell us the significance in history. The last one covers much of what the judges will look for in the thesis. Specifically it includes interpretation and analysis by claiming suffragists challenged women’s roles and that the amendment helped women become political players and inspired future generations of women. Now your project should provide evidence to support those claims (use all of that research you’ve done!) Also remember, if you mention something in your thesis statement, it needs to be discussed, explained, or proved in your project. Always connect your information back to your thesis.

Lastly, do not put pressure on yourself to create your thesis statement immediately. It is good to have an argument in mind during your research to help guide you, but you will not need to have a fully developed thesis statement until your research is complete. This will provide you with the most concise thesis available, and will ensure success as a historian.

Good luck out there guys! History Day is fast approaching, so get excited!

As always,
Mike, the Intern

Analyzing Sources

2011-01-05T11:29:00.001-05:00

Hello historians!

Welcome back from break! We are going to jump right in today with an in-depth look at how to analyze primary sources. A great resource to get this part of your research done is to look at this worksheet here. Whatever type of source you are using (be it document, photograph, etc.), select that particular link and use the subsequent worksheet to help organize your analysis. It is a very self-explanatory and useful tool, but for the sake of a visual, I will do one as an example.

I am going to use a political cartoon that first appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette, a paper run by Benjamin Franklin, and one that I am sure all of you seen at least once: Join or Die. Let’s break this cartoon down like the worksheet explains it…

First, list what you see in the cartoon. In this cartoon, a snake cut into eight different sections, one for the American Colonies (New England is represented by one piece). The caption reads “Join or Die,” clearly urging all the states to join together in the American Revolution, for if they do not, the cause will surely die.

Secondly, list the symbols of the cartoon. In this illustration, it is the individual parts of the snake’s body, each represented clearly with state initials above each section. Next, put what you’ve seen into words. Obviously, ‘Join, or Die’ is the significant phrase of cartoon, and the dying snake in its cut up form helps describe that idea.

Lastly, in part three summarize all that you have answered in the prior two sections. Answer these four questions:

1. Describe the action taking place in the cartoon.
2. Explain how the words in the cartoon clarify the symbols.
3. Explain the message of the cartoon.
4. What special interest groups would agree/disagree with the cartoon’s message? Why?

I have already gone over the first three questions, but let’s look quickly at number four. You need to look at the historical context of the cartoon, or other primary source, to answer this type of question. As we know this cartoon was published in a revolutionary-era newspaper, we can answer the question. The patriots would be the one to agree and the loyalists would be the ones to disagree. Why? Because the cartoon is a rallying call for the American Revolution, urging the different states to join together against the tyrannical British government.

That is going to be your basic format for analyzing primary sources, and using these worksheets will make your research project for History Day far more organized, ultimately allowing you to create a more complete historical project. Good luck guys!

-Mike, the Intern

Primary Sources Online

2010-12-22T08:29:00.003-05:00

Hello again historians!

It has been quite some time since we last talked. School has been a little hectic, but papers have been written and finals have been taken, so let us jump right into today’s long-overdue blog post. Today we are going to expand upon the primary source post from last month and I will give you a lot more resources to use in finding such pieces of information.

The first thing I would like to do is divert your attention here. This PDF is a very lengthy list (over 120 links!) compiled by the staff her at NHD-OH giving you all a valuable amount of websites to visit in your quest for historical research. Included in the list are links to many common resources, such as libraries, museums, and historical societies, as well some very useful writing resources and examples of other History Day projects from out of state. Another resource compiled in the list is the many specific databases. For the sake of a little detail, let us look into one of these specific databases.

Scrolling through the list, I clicked on the first link that caught my eye. The lucky winner? The American Journeys database, an online, searchable catalog of eyewitness accounts of early American exploration and settlement. This site is sponsored by our sister society to the northwest, the Wisconsin Historical Society; if you look at the bottom, you will also see a link to National History Day! How fun it is to see this great event spread across the country.

Taking a quick look around the site is all any of you will ever need to do to get a lay of the land. The database spans from the first Viking landings almost a millennia ago (sorry Columbus, the bearded guys beat ya to it), all the way to the 19th century as settlers moved west for the gold rush. Now, there are two separate ways too look around the site, depending on what you are looking for: documents or images.

The documents section is really something spectacular, very well organized and expansive, but in no way too much to process. Start by picking a category: either region, specific state or Canadian province, or (the most impressive) by specific expedition. From there, pick your topic in the next drop down box and click ‘find.’ After the site processes your request, you will get a lot summary information that will always be necessary: date of the document, its author, and a quick overview. To see the actual document, click the AJ # (AJ is just a way of classifying each document, like a library’s Dewey Decimal system). Click ‘Read this Document’ and off you go, immersing yourself in the wonderful world of the past.

The images page works in a pretty similar fashion: choose your illustration type, than choose your field and topic. If you would like, American Journeys even gives you the option of selecting two related fields and topics at once to narrow your search, as well as give you more specific images to your needs.

The only other thing that I have to talk about is keeping track of your sources, and it is a point I cannot stress enough. The basis of all historical research is your sources, and when all said and done, if you do not cite your sources, you will have essentially conducted unreliable research. Your project loses all credibility without explicitly expressed citation. So, we need to make sure we as historians track where we got our information. Every time we find the tiniest scrap of information, jot down a quick note of where you got it, be it a website, book, or some other source, to remember for future reference. By the end of your project, you will need to go back and correctly cite your source, either through MLA, or the Kate Turabian citation sytle.

If you use any of the sources in that given list, or find some other ones in the same vein, and cite them properly, you are well on your way to creating an outstanding historical research project for Ohio History Day, and could even be headed to nationals! Good luck with your research, and as always, questions in the comments section!

-Mike, the Intern

Pepsi Refresh Project

2010-12-01T10:48:00.002-05:00

Did you hear? National History Day in Ohio was accepted to compete for a Pepsi Refresh grant! If we were to win this $50,000 it would provide much needed assistance for the program.

Funding from the Pepsi Refresh Project will help to expand the program into more urban and rural schools. The grant will be used to provide financial assitance to low-income students; program materials & field trips to historic sites; teacher training & support materials.

NHD-OH is a wonderful program for students throughout the state and we would like to expand it to more schools around Ohio. Help us with the effort by voting for National History Day on the Pepsi Refresh site: http://www.refresheverything.com/ohiohistoryday

Secondary Sources

2010-11-12T09:28:00.000-05:00

Hello historians!

Mike here once again. It has been a couple days since our last blog post, so let us get right into it. We are going to go off an extension of my last post on primary sources. This time, I will give you some very useful tips on finding primary sources, as long as a quick lesson on distinguishing primary from secondary sources. But first, a quick reminder: during stretches of limited blog posts (and everyday, really), feel free to check in on the National History Day in Ohio Facebook page. There is a daily list of debate or diplomatic events that took place on that particular day in history, as well as other important information that will help you in your journey to History Day.

Just like in any other subject, there are certain rules history pertains too. In English, there is ‘I before e, except after c.’ In math, there are a ton that I do not and will not understand (i.e. history major). Even in gym class, you cannot throw a dodgeball above the shoulders (a rule a classmate once forgot in my high school years). Well in history, one of our major rules is knowing the difference between primary and secondary sources. There are a ton more, but few more basic and fundamental than this, especially when talking about historical research.

As you found out from my last blog post, primary sources are sources that come from the actual event in question. For example, the Diary of Anne Frank; there are few things more honest than a journal kept by a Jewish child in hiding during WWII from the Nazis. There are also photographs, live movies (do realize historical biopics such as “Schindler’s List” do not count; more on that later), paintings, or legal documents. Did you know the Declaration of Independence is not only the basis for our country’s freedom from the British Empire, but also a primary source? How you ask? Simply because that document is genuine and was actually written in 1776. For information on how to find these sometimes elusive documents, see my last post below.

Secondary sources are something different, however. A watered down version would be to call secondary sources a recreation of the past. An official definition would be more along the lines of “a document or recording that relates or discusses information originally presented elsewhere.” As you can now see, these sources differ from primary sources. Do be aware though that these secondary sources could not even exist without primary sources. Authors of secondary sources call upon information discovered in primary sources to relate this past information. As historians doing historical research, the core of your research is creating a secondary source. You will take information from primary sources and also from others’ secondary sources, to create your own presentations, formulating new ideas and opinions about your particular topic.

So what are some examples of secondary sources? Well, it can be anything the author wants it to be. Some of the most obvious answers are textbooks, manuscripts, Internet websites, and other writings. Secondary sources can also be artistic in nature. There is film, as I mentioned above. If created after-the-fact, we will label the film a secondary source. It is taking the director’s ideas and opinions of the film and putting it on the silver screen. Also, there is artwork, and even interpretive dance. A secondary source is all about relating the information through the mind and eyes of the author. Can you think of any other primary or secondary sources? Leave your answers in the comments!

Finally, one last thing before we depart. Like I said earlier, sources are a major rule to historical research; but they have one rule of their own that trumps all other rules: CHECK YOUR SOURCES! It cannot be stressed enough. The perfect example is Wikipedia. I am not and will not knock Wikipedia; I think it a fantastic research tool that has helped me through too many college papers. However, you must realize that Wikipedia is a local website that anyone, and I mean anyone, can contribute too. Fortunately, there is a list of sources at the bottom of each Wikipedia entry, leading to a website where the author got his or her information. As a disclaimer, please check with your teachers to make sure they approve your use of Wikipedia for historical research as it is ultimately up to them. The same goes for books; all published books more or less require a bibliography of the author’s sources, either in footnotes or at the end in a ‘References’ section. Checking your sources is boring and tedious, there is no way around it, but it is an absolute necessity to make sure you conduct the most honest, factual, and impressive historical research you can. And as a quick disclaimer, please check with your teachers to make sure they approve your use of Wikipedia for historical research as it is ultimately up to them.

This was a long post everyone, so I think we are covered until March (just joking!). Have a great day and look forward to another post next week! As always, leave questions, comments, or concerns in the comment section below!

-Mike, the Intern

Finding Primary Sources Online: American Memory Edition!

2010-11-01T08:37:00.002-04:00

Hello again historians!

Mike the Intern here with a quick website recommendation for your historical research. The most honest and reliable of sources will always be from people when the event actually happened. We call these sources primary sources, and unfortunately sometimes they can be a bit tricky to find…if you don’t know where to look that is. Luckily, I am here to help you out.

We live in a glorious age of the Internet, and its services are going to make searching for primary sources much easier. There are several websites open to the public that our enormous historical databases – large collections of information all in one easily searchable place. Today I am going to give a quick walkthrough of one of the largest databases in the world from the largest library in the world. If you know what I am referring to in that last clue, you’ll know we are headed to the Library of Congress. One of the coolest things LOC does is a service called American Memory. As the Library’s website states, “American Memory provides free and open access to historic maps, photos, documents, audio and video.” The most important thing here is that this is free. Not all historical research opportunities are going to be given to you for free, so when one as broad and helpful as American Memory pops up, take advantage.

As you’ll see from the American Memory homepage, there are two ways to search: either Search All Collections or you can choose to Browse Collections by Topic. I would suggest searching if you know specifically what you are looking for. If you all will recall, I am conducting a research project on the French effect on the American Revolution. Thus, I decided to search on the Battle of Saratoga, the battle that convinced the French to ally themselves with the Americans. After typing in “Battle of Saratoga” into the search bar, I came up with this list. One thing that caught my eye was a letter of correspondence by the Continental Congress’s Committee of Foreign Affairs to commissioners in Paris, France.

That is just searching. I would highly recommend the use of browsing too, especially for those of you who have an idea in mind (such as, Environmental and Conservation Debate). From there, just take a look around, see if you find something that really interests you, and then go from there. Browsing can be a great jumping off point for historical research.

And that, young historians, is a quick tutorial of online historical research for primary sources. Feel free to branch out to other historical research sites, as the Library of Congress is not the only one out there. Search around the Internet for other places of historical research and you will be well on your way to completing your project! As always, any questions about online historical research or anything else, feel free to leave them in the comments.

-Mike, the Intern

Narrowing your Topic

2010-10-26T11:29:00.000-04:00

Hello to all!

Mike here to start a very important series of weekly blogs that I think you will find rather useful: deciding how to pick a topic. Historical research can be tricky, even if sometimes a bit monotonous, sifting through what appears to be endless documents looking for those pieces of information that are most significant to you and your research. However, the easiest way to conduct your research effectively is begin at step one on the right foot. If you can get a clearly defined topic, it will give you more definition in what you are looking to accomplish.

Throughout the year, as you all conduct your research, I will be conducting some of my own. In the spirit of this year’s theme, Debate and Diplomacy, I have decided to research the diplomatic ventures of colonial ambassadors in France.

The first step, and to me the most important, is deciding what interests you. Over the next few weeks and months, you will be spending a lot of time with this topic, so it should always be something that you want to know more about. For me, I looked at what my historical interests are, and I decided the American Revolution topped my list. An interest can be very broad, as it is the starting point, but we will get more specific from here on out.

Next, do some skimming research of a few things that happened during the era. If something catches your eye, look more into it; eventually you will find a particular event that you want to research.

From there, you are going to want to break it down. Find the specifics of your event. In the simplest terms, find the “who, what, where, when, why, and how.” In more complex terms, find out everything you can about the event. This is where your research really comes into play.

The final step before presentation of your historical research is assembling a thesis. A thesis is the definitive point you are trying to make with your research: why something happened and how it affected the outcome of an overall event. Without giving away my actual thesis (that will come later in this series), I will be discussing what events led to the French involvement in the American Revolution and how did they affect the outcome of the war. Once your project is organized, you will be ready for History Day, to show your classmates, peers, and the state of Ohio what you have spent time and hard work researching.

Regional History Days do not start until February, but it is never too early to start thinking about your topic, formulating ideas in your head. Over the coming weeks, I will continue with this series in an attempt to help your historical research projects. If there ever are any questions, please feel free to drop a comment on the blog.

Welcome the new History Day Intern!

2010-10-20T08:47:00.002-04:00

We've added an extra hand to the NHD-OH crew here. Mike is our new intern and so you'll be seeing blog posts from him throughout the year. I'll let him introduce himself, so please welcome Mike Polk!

Hey everybody!

My name is Mike Polk and I am the new intern at the Ohio Historical Society for National History Day 2010! Right now I am here just for a quick introduction, but as we move forward, I’ll be a crucial part of the History Day Blog.

I am a junior at The Ohio State University double majoring in History and Film Studies, with a minor in Geography. My focus is in Early American History, specifically Revolutionary America, and I hope to one day achieve a PhD and become a college professor. That being said, I am a self-professed history junkie for anything American, from Native American to World War II, and no, I am not related to President James K. Polk, though a nerdy history major can dream…

My passion for history started as far back as middle school, but really grabbed me whole in tenth grade. At that point, I decided I wanted to be a high school history teacher, mainly due to some incredible teachers (listen to yours, they know what they are talking about!), but also because I was interested in others’ stories. Since then, career plans have been tweaked a bit here and there, but my love for the subject has never faltered.

I am excited for what the future holds for me as a history major, but right now I am even more excited for the prospect of History Day! Over the next few months, I will be posting here with fun little historical facts and, more importantly, some valuable research tips for all of you in your quest as historians. As time passes, more will be announced, so be sure to check back for all the happenings with History Day 2010! I look forward to this experience, and as should you. As my overly cheesy high school history teacher continuously declared, we don’t study history, we live it!

- Mike Polk, the Intern

Welcome Back! It's History Day time!

2010-09-17T09:51:00.002-04:00

Welcome back to a new school year and another great year for History Day!
Hopefully everyone has unpacked school supplies, found their lockers, met their teachers, and is ready to jump into History Day!

The year started off with a bang for us here at NHD-OH headquarters. We have begun outreach visits around the state and St. Michael's already made a trip to the Ohio Historical Society. Teachers- if you want us to come visit your classroom just send us an Outreach Request form. The students will learn about the program, see examples of past projects, and discuss the annual theme: Debate and Diplomacy in History. To find out more about the theme for the year check out the theme sheet produced by National History Day or take a look at a list of American History topics NHD-OH created. (A World History list is on the way.)

We are also busy planning teacher workshops for the fall. Below are the scheduled dates and you can find registration information on the website.
Wednesday, October 13 @ the Ohio Historical
Society
Friday, October 22 @ Toledo Public Schools
Saturday, November 6 @ Hamilton County ESC

Western Reserve Historical Society also has 2 workshops scheduled on Saturday, October 16 and Saturday, October 23. Contact information is provided on our website.

We are trying something new this year as well: webinars! our first is scheduled for October 19. Stay tuned for more details.

If you have any comments, questions, or concerns contact us at historyday@ohiohistory.org or 614-297-2528.

We're looking forward to a great year of history!

National History Day- Thursday, Day 4

2010-06-17T21:49:00.007-04:00

Thursday

After a long week of competition, it's finally awards time! The day began early. Those of us staying in the dorm woke up at 7am (or earlier!) to load the bus, eat breakfast, check out, and then be ready to leave at 8am. Whew! We made it though.

The National History Day events started with the parade of states. Each state delegation marched around the Cole Field House cheering and carrying signs of support for their state. It was crazy, loud, and fun! Ohio had some very creative signs displayed for the parade- the students did a great job at the sign making party last night.

Finally, it was time for the awards! Ohio came away with 2 medals from NHD.
Silver medalist, Junior Individual Exhibit: Harsha Ramesh, Mason Middle School, "Innovation of the Smallpox Vaccine: Impacting Society and Changing Medicine"
Silver medalist, Senior Individual Exhibit: Claire Lo, Shaker Heights High School, "Devil's Rope: Pioneering the West". Claire was also awarded the full scholarship from Chaminade University in Hawaii. An outstanding accomplishment!

Awards were also given out to Outstanding Entries in the Junior and Senior category for each state. Ohio winners were:

Junior: Calla Gilson, Individual Performance, "A Bitter Aftertaste: Nazi Manipulation through Propaganda and Public Enlightenment". Pike Delta York MS

Senior: Emily Hirsch and Alex Wagner, "From Icon to Ire: Barbie and the Feminist Movement". Shaker Heights HS

(more Awards Ceremony pictures can be found on Facebook)

Congratulations to the winners! It may sound cliche but all of the students are winners. All students put time and effort into their projects (just one example: While playing Catchphrase with a group last night, someone gave a clue of "What you do over Christmas break?" At least 4 students answered with "Work on NHD!") Advancing to nationals is an incredible accomplishment. The students were competing against the best in every state and while not everyone wins medals, we hope all Ohio students came away from NHD with memorable experience. Congrats to all!!

Monday we start working on 2010-2011 History Day. One of our main summer projects is a Topic Idea list for next year's theme: Debate and Diplomacy in History. So check in with http://www.ohiohistoryday.org/ for that list, upcoming teacher workshops, and more!

Thank you to everyone for making this year a success for National History Day in Ohio!!!

National History Day- Wednesday, Day 3

2010-06-16T22:47:00.015-04:00

Wednesday

Lots going on today! Check out the pictures on Facebook. While many student, teachers, and parents boarded a bus for D.C., many of our senior students stayed to compete in runoffs. We had 2 individual performances, 2 individual documentaries and 1 group documentary make it to second round. We're keeping our fingers crossed for them!

Meanwhile...
Others spent the day exploring Washington D.C. Some went to the National Museum of American History and saw cool things like:Kermit the Frog! (Did you know Jim Henson attended the University of Maryland? I plan on taking my picture with the statute sometime before I leave) Others checked out the Capitol Visitor's Center or the Holocaust Museum. Even though it was cloudy, we were lucky the rain held off for the most part.

The students who traveled to the city also had the opportunity to meet with an Ohio senator, Senator Voinovich. We really appreciated that he took time out of his busy schedule to meet and talk with the students. The students asked many great questionsn ranging from his turn as mayor of Cleveland to how the Senator felt about the war in Afghanistan.

Tomorrow we wake up bright and early to load the bus and then head to the awards ceremony. Watch the awards ceremony live on the web! Go to http://www.nhd.org/ and click on the Awards Ceremony Webcast. Cheer on Ohio from your home computer!

National History Day- Tuesday Day 2

2010-06-16T00:20:00.007-04:00

TUESDAY

Another great day for National History Day in Ohio. The seniors competed in their categories today and boy were we impressed!!! All of the Ohio students worked very hard and did and excellent job with their projects. Check out pictures on Facebook.

5 of the projects from Ohio advanced on to the second round:

Group Documentary: Issac Hoffman, Jacob Miller, & Leo Katz, "From Devastation to Exploration: The Impact of the V2 Rocket"

Individual Documentary: Caira Lee, "Bebop: The Evolution of Culture Through Music"

Individual Documentary: Elise Eiden, "The Transistor: A True Innovation"

Individual Performance: Hannah McCandless, "Incognito: The Revolutionary Reporting of Nellie Bly"

Individual Performance: Jonah Weinstein, "The Kingfish's Cry: Huey Long's Share Our Wealth Program"

We were so excited when they announced the runoffs and OH names kept popping up! Meanwhile... tonight the junior runoffs were held. Our 3 projects did wonderfully and everyone has their fingers crossed!

It's 12:43 and I think a fierce game of Apples to Apples might be still going on in the lounge. But this coordinator is exhausted! Tomorrow's the big trip into D.C. and the senior runoffs. Stay tuned...

National History Day- Monday, Day 1

2010-06-14T22:22:00.007-04:00

Well, we made it! The bus from Ohio arrived on Sunday around 7pm. The first thing the students needed to do was register. Once everyone checked in, we headed over to the dorms. It's pretty hot here in College Park, MD so we all were quite excited to discover that we were going to be rooming in the 1 air conditioned dorm! After an Ohio group meeting, it was lights out to get a good night's sleep before the first day of competition.

MONDAY
Day 1 of competition and it was the juniors' turn. All junior projects competed in the first round of judging. Megan and I ran around mad trying to see as many Ohio students as possible. Everyone did a fantastic job! Check out pictures of Day 1 on our Facebook page.

Runoffs for documentaries were announced and Ohio has 3 projects moving on to the second round:
Group Performance: Zaeem Mustafa & Clare Pruitt, "On the Brink of Collapse: George C. Marshall's Innovative Plan to Rebuild Europe"

Individual Performance: Max Freyberger, "Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species"

Individual Documentary: Benjamin Wu,"The Printing Press: A New Chapter in the Book of Human Communication"

Congrats to all of the juniors who competed today, we're very proud of you!!

The senior division participants had the day off. Many of them took a trip into D.C. to visit the Nati o nal Museum of Amer ican History and the Newseum. They cooled off at the end of the day with ice cream from The Dairy. Yum!

It was a long but good day for NHD-OH!

Nationals Bound!

2010-05-25T09:17:00.003-04:00

Thank you to everyone who helped make Ohio History Day a wonderful event! The new location created a few challenges but the new Ohio Union was beautiful and a excellent place for History Day. I hope everyone had a positive experience and had the opportunity to see some amazing projects!

Now on to Nationals! 48 students will represent Ohio at the national competition in College Park at the University of Maryland. The contest will be June 13-17. (Check the blog during this week for exciting updates!) The students have been working hard to revise their projects based on judge comments and suggestions. We have also been traveling around to the schools, providing our feedback to the students. It's been a busy couple of weeks here for the Ohio office and for the national finalists! I know everyone is getting pretty excited for the big trip! Also, a big thank you to the Western Reserve Historical Society who hosted a reception for the finalists last week.

The National History Day in Ohio office has also started preparing for next year. (No rest for us!) Check back for more information about next year's theme: Debate and Diplomacy: Successes, Failures, Consequences.

Prepping for Ohio History Day

2010-04-01T11:00:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to all the students that competed at all levels of History Day in Ohio! There were so many great projects, fun ideas and amazing scholarship.

If you are moving on to Ohio History Day, here are some tips to help get you by:

REGISTER- Each project needs to send in a registration form with a ten dollar per student fee. Check your packet to see if you qualify for any special awards. The nomination forms need to be sent in with a copy of your process paper and annotated bibliography. All material must be postmarked April 5th!

REVISE- Look at your evaluation forms from your district History Day event and make changes to your project. You're moving from one level of competition to the next, it is time to take your project to the next level. Here are some things to think about:

Do you have a clear thesis statement that links your topic to the theme and shows how that topic is important in history?
Have you found a good variety of primary sources?
Does your project follow all the rules? If you have not read the rulebook, do so before Ohio History Day. http://www.ohiohistory.org/historyday/pdf/rulebook.pdf

PREPARE- Make sure to thoroughly read the packet that you received after the awards ceremony at your district event. Make sure you know where you're going and where you're parking on Ohio State's campus. Check online April 19th for the judging schedule at www.ohiohistoryday.org

Make sure that day you have: 4 copies of your process paper and annotated bibliography, every part of your project, lines memorized for performances, an emergency kit for exhibits, power cords if your need electric, all props for performances, multiple copies of your documentary. Don't assume that your room will have any chairs, tables, electric that you need. Come prepared, it is your best defense.

Best of luck and you prep for the big day! Papers and Web Site people- your entries are due early! Papers need to be postmarked April 5th. Web Sites need to send in process papers and bibliographies, postmarked April 5th and your web site will be locked down April 9th!

Heading to Districts...

2010-02-16T11:02:00.002-05:00

District events are just around the corner!

Recently, we have been traveling to schools to help with School History Days in preparation for the many district events creeping up! We have seen some great projects and can tell students have worked very hard.

Here are some tips:
Annotated Bibliographies
Make sure you are citing all materials/research you used for your project. If you visited an archive or local historical society and found useful materials there, we should see it in the bibliography.

Also make sure you are using and citing primary sources. Primary sources are materials from the time period you are looking at or materials created by someone who witnessed that event. For example, newspaper articles, journals, diaries, advertisements, letters, etc. Google can be a great way to find a lot of information but make sure you are looking to find primary sources from reliable sources like the Library of Congress, National Archives, or other online digitized collections. Check out the list of reliable internet sources found on the Ohio History Day website: http://www.ohiohistory.org/historyday/pdf/internetsources.pdf

Thesis Statements
Thesis statements should be strong and easy to find on your board or understand by reading or viewing the material in your project. They should be one or two sentence statements that sum up the significance of your topic. What impact or change did your innovation have on history? Everything on your exhibit board, website, documentary, paper, or performance should help support that thesis.

Historical Quality
Make sure the content is accurate and is the most important part of your project. Remember, Historical Quality counts for 60% of your score. Historical quality focuses on accuracy of facts, analysis and interpretation of the material, an understanding of historical context, a wide array research represented in the annotated bibliography, a balanced presentation of your materials (un biased) and the use of available primary sources.

Good luck with your projects and we will see you soon at the district events!
(Make sure to turn in your registration forms, which can be found online: http://www.ohiohistory.org/historyday/hd03a.html)

Finding Primary Sources

2010-01-07T17:20:00.005-05:00

This week I visited Roosevelt MS in Springfield and then Wilder and Bennett Intermediate Schools in Piqua. One of the questions I was asked was "What makes a great exhibit?" There is a lot that goes into making a great exhibit or History Day project, such as image selection, wording, creativity, etc. But what really makes a GREAT project is GREAT research. Do your best to find a variety of primary and secondary sources that are going to support your main idea and build up your thesis. Finding primary sources can be difficult. Take a look at some of the following websites- they might help you out!

Photographs
OhioPix http://www.ohiohistory.org/etcetera/exhibits/ohiopix/index.cfm
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html

Maps
County Atlases – Ohio Historical Society, Your County Courthouse and Local Public Library
Ohio Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1867-1970, OhioLINK Digital Media Center
Ohio Public Library Information Network www.oplin.org
Library of Congress Map Collections
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html

Music
Digital History: Historical Music
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/audio/music.cfm
Smithsonian Global Sound
http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org
Library of Congress
Home Sweet Home: Life in 19th Century Ohio
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/ihas/html/ohio/ohio.html

Cartoons
American Political Prints 1776-1876 from the Library of Congress
http://www.harpweek.com/
Herblock editorial cartoons from the Library of Congress collection
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/
OSU's Cartoon Research Library
http://cartoons.osu.edu/

More
American Memory- http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html INFOhio- Username: INFOhio Password: Explore: http://www.infohio.org/
Internet Archive: www.archive.org
Cornell Making of America: http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa
Ohio Memory: http://www.ohiomemory.org/

For a list of more places to find information and primary sources check out the Ohio History Day website under Student- Research Journey. http://www.ohiohistoryday.org/hd05a.html

Registration Forms online for District Events!

2009-12-17T14:29:00.002-05:00

Just a quick reminder. All the Ohio History Day District Registration Forms can be found online at:

http://www.ohiohistory.org/historyday/hd03a.html

Exhibit Design

2009-12-11T14:43:00.005-05:00

This week I visited two schools: Christian Community School and Margaretta Elementary School. Both schools were wonderful and I'm excited to see their projects.

The Margaretta Polar Bears (love that mascot!) came up with some great topic ideas during their brainstorming session. Just remember: pick a topic that is at least 20 years old and keep it narrow in focus. Think of what you are interested in and what sorts of innovations are related.

The students at Christian Community School are a step ahead and starting to think abotu putting their projects together. So here are a few helpful hints when thinking about exhibit design:
Spacing- think about negative space (blank areas on the board). Is it even? Is there enough?

Image selection- choose visually interesting images and make sure they help advance the story you are telling.

Labels- keep them short, sweet, and simple. Write them to be read aloud.

Interaction- think of ways to keep your audience actively engaged in your exhibit: puzzles, flip ups, etc.

Quotes- think about the length and interest of the quotes you choose. Thik about which ones best illustrate your thesis.

Creativity- HAVE FUN! Think of different ways you can use the board to support your main idea.

Good luck to all students working on History Day projects!

American History until 1875

2009-12-11T14:33:00.003-05:00

The other week I visited Xenia Middle School to introduce the topic of History Day. Thanks Mr. Shirley and Mrs. Phillips for inviting me! The students will be choosing topics that fit into the scope of their American History class for the year (which goes up around the year 1875). Here's a few things I came up with to help them out:

Hopewell- mound builders
Native American tools/ farming methods/trade
Reformation
Renaissance
Sailing technology
Explorers- Columbus, Cortes, Ponce de Leon, Coronado
Founding of specific colonies (VA, MA, RI, PA) or cities like NYC
Great Awakening
Mercantilism
Enlightenment
Northwest Ordinance
First & Second Continental Congress
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
Declaration of Independence
US Constitution
VA Statute of Religious Freedom
Bill of Rights
Louisiana Purchase
Marbury v. Madison
Lewis & Clark
Erie canal
Indian Removal Act
Samuel Slater’s – 1st successful mechanized textile factory
Lowell, MA- development of booming manufacturing town
National Road
McCulloch v. Maryland
Public education
Dorothea Dix- mental hospitals
Development of trade unions
Development of capitalism
Manifest destiny
John C. Fremont- “Pathfinder” – Oregon Trail
Underground RR
Anaconda plan (Civil War)
Lee/ Grant as innovative generals
Medicine during civil war
Photography during civil war (Mathew Brady)
13, 14, 15 amendments

Plenty to choose from!! Good luck!

Documentary Category

2009-12-03T10:48:00.006-05:00

Yesterday I visited Eastmoor Middle School in Columbus, Ohio. 50+ students presented a presentation based on their desire to participate in National History Day. At this school, the teachers are pushing the documentary category because of the availability of resources. In response, I thought I'd blog about some documentary tips:

- Research, research, research:
No matter what your category, research is paramount. Finding great primary and secondary sources and using them to create a thesis is still key to NHD.

- Music
I highly advocate using music of the time period that your documentary addresses. This is a way to create some contextual understanding through a different medium.

- Use your 10 minutes wisely
Ten minutes may seem like a lot of time, but it really isn't. Professional documentary makers will have hours of time to tell their story. Think about the outline of your documentary: Have an introduction, have chapters or sections, wrap up with a conclusion that really brings home your thesis and related to the annual theme.

- Interviews
Interviewing either the "expert" or someone who was a witness to the event adds diversity and interest to your documentary. Don't over use any interview. The interview acts as a source to illustrate a point and help reinforce your thesis.

- Storyboarding
After you've done your research, using a storyboard to lay out your documentary can be extremely helpful. A storyboard is a tool that shows what will be on screen, while also showing what the voiceover will be saying.

If you'd like to check out some student documentaries, you can find them on YouTube or by searching Google Videos.

Why Participate in NHD

2009-11-24T11:02:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I visited Springfield's Hayward Middle School where the students are given the option to participate in NHD. Students will ask me sometimes, "Do I have to do this?" This is usually a discussion that happens between student and teachers, but I wanted to highlight some reasons to participate in NHD.

Direct your own learning: With History Day you get to create your own contribution to the field of history with your research and project. Sometimes students uncover sources or stories that no one else has illuminated. Plus, you get to explore a topic of your own interest and become immersed in something that you may not otherwise get the opportunity to learn about.

Compete!: For some students, competing may be really attractive. It is a way to challenge yourself and in some cases, win cash prizes or scholarship. We give away a half scholarship to Case Western Reserve University at Ohio History Day every year.

Prep for College: History Day gives you the opportunity to talk about out-of-school academic experiences, high-level research, and even create a piece for your portfolio. Students who participate in NHD report to us that they have a much easier time transitioning to college-level expectations of research and work.

Admittedly, a History Day project can be a lot of work, but I think many students who have gone through the process will say it is well worth it!

Web Site Category

2009-11-02T08:24:00.001-05:00

This year NHD is requiring that all web site entries are created through their online portal at www.nhd.org. Here in the NHD-Ohio office our intern, Lola, created a sample web site and provided some insight on creating a web site entry with the new software:

http://76493248.nhd.weebly.com/

Designing a website through the NHD Website Portal using Weebly Editor is so easy and fun that anyone can do it. The designing process simply consists of the designer choosing whatever design or element they like, dragging it to the desired location, and dropping it at that location.
Creating pages on the website is also a cinch. The designer simply selects the title “New Page,” adds a “Page Name”, and begins to build the page with any element they choose. The elements contain a combination of words and pictures.
I think the best part of the NHD Website Portal using Weebly Editor is the multimedia section. The multimedia section offers a variety of choices such as the photo gallery, the audio player, and YouTube video. All of these choices make the website come alive and it becomes more interesting and interactive.
My overall designing experience of a NHD Website using Weebly Editor is definitely a good one and I would recommend it for students and teachers who want to include it as part of the History Day format. The process offers you a chance of choosing, managing, and learning something new with no intimidation at all.

Analyzing Photographs at Robinson G. Jones School

2009-10-30T09:27:00.009-04:00

Thursday was our final school visit, for this week at least. We met with the 7th and 8th graders at Robinson G. Jones School in Cleveland. The students were great listeners as they learned all about History Day. They also participated in an activity analyzing photographs and thinking about possible topics and the impacts inventions have had on society. Below is an example of one of the photographs the students examined, along with the questions they answered. How would you answer them?

What is the invention?
What are the positive impacts of this invention on society?
Are there any negative consequences?
Have there been innovations or improvements to this invention over time?

(at this point I have to give a nod to Mrs. Reidel's afternoon class and the monkeys on the stoplights!)

What is important to learn from this activity is that when choosing a topic for History Day and when putting together your project, you have to remember the "Impact and Change" part of the theme this year. Make sure you demonstrate why the innovation was significant or important to society.

History Day tour of Northern Ohio!

2009-10-28T10:48:00.003-04:00

History Day staff has been on a tour of schools in Northern Ohio this week, starting in Norwalk. There we met with students at Norwalk Catholic and introduced them to History Day and the types of projects they could do. We also discussed primary sources and the types of materials they could use for their projects. The students came up with a great list of primary sources they might leave behind in 100 years: report cards, birth certificates, newspapers, diaries, pictures, letters, and many more. All of these would be great primary sources to look for when researching projects as well.

Next, we headed to Jeromesville Ohio to visit the 8th grade students at Hillsdale MS. Most of the students have picked topics and are ready to start researching- the fun stuff! We discussed using various ways/ terms to search for your topic online. For example, one student chose the Beatles as a topic. Instead of simply searching the "Beatles" you could search: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, the history of Rock and Roll, Apple Records, their songs, and don't forget the time period to understand the context! So remember to think of different ways, people, or terms to search for your topic.

Our third stop was to East Technical HS in Cleveland where we met with a group of ninth graders who will be participating in History Day this year. We talked to them about interpreting primary sources and the information you can learn from them. The students helped us interpret this political cartoon:

Some of the things they noticed in the picture were: the small kids pushing at the door, the words "School Segregation" and "inch by inch," and the light behind the large door. The students concluded the cartoonist was making the point that the kids couldn't push through segregation on their own and that desegregation was not going to happen fast if they did not receive help.

Thank you to all of the teachers for letting us present to your classes and to the students for listening and learning about History Day. It's been a fun week so far. One more school to visit tomorrow, then we'l be heading back to Columbus!

Lessons from the Educator's Conference

2009-10-23T10:40:00.003-04:00

The Ohio Historical Society sponsored a National History Day in Ohio Educator Conference this past Wednesday. We had a great turnout and discussed many good ideas relating to the theme of Innovation in History. Some ideas the teachers brainstormed were:
American jazz
Declaration of Independence
Constitution
Public education
Library system
Financial aide
Banks
Social Security
Works Progress Administration
Health insurance
Brown v. Board of Education
Barbie doll
Plato’s Republic
World religions
Communism
Youth groups (Boy & Girl Scouts, 4-H)
Terrorism

We also had the opportunity to learn about visual literacy from Dr. David Staley, director of the Harvey Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching. He taught us that we need to let images in projects tell the story and to use the words to illustrate the images. Dr. Staley explained how students can use a collection of images to build their thesis and by arranging them effectively the images can yield new insights and interpretations. Below are just a few of the things Dr. Staley taught us during his lecture.

· Size: It matters! The larger the image the more we will focus on it. Use size to send a message about which images are important.
· Position: People tend to view images top to bottom or left to right. Arrange images in a way that guides the viewer in the direction of the story.
· Proximity: Images should be grouped to show connections.
· Words: Use words to establish context for the images. Think about font- use it to support your thesis, not just because it’s your favorite.

Thank you Dr. Staley for showing us the difference between artistic design and cognitive design!

Using NHD Web Site Builder

2009-10-16T10:43:00.001-04:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Using NHD Web Site Builder

View more presentations from Megan Wood.

Theme Topics and Where to Find Sources

2009-10-09T13:48:00.001-04:00

It’s been a busy week for National History Day in Ohio!

We started the week with an Educator’s Workshop introducing the project and discussing this year’s theme: Innovation in History. The teachers brainstormed and came up with some excellent topics ideas. Here are some of them:
Assembly line
Theory of evolution
Changes in education
Medical devices & techniques
Computers
Architecture (dome in Florence)
Laws- (19th amendment, Voting Rights Act)
Civil Rights movement
Ghandi
Religions
Sports
Entertainment
Music
Canals
World organizations (UN, NATO, etc)
Environment
Economic systems
Prosthetics
NASA
Polio vaccine
Building codes (result of earthquakes)
Airplanes
Petro chemicals
Mental health treatments
Battle strategies

All great ideas! But remember to narrow down your topic and to show the IMPACT and CHANGE of the innovation.

Next, we visited Hubbard High School to meet with students working on History Day projects. The big discussion involved where to find your research and sources. We all love to use wikipedia to quickly find information. However, History Day projects are research projects and the judges will be looking for scholarly sources. So look for encyclopedias, books written by historians, or scholarly articles on your topic. Finding primary sources can also be difficult but here are some great websites to check out:
Library of Congress: www.loc.gov
National Archives: www.archives.gov
History Matters: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/
Cleveland Public Library: www.cpl.org
Ohio Memory: www.ohiomemory.org
Authentic History Center: http://www.authentichistory.com/
For more check out the list of reliable internet sources identified by NHD_OH.
http://www.ohiohistory.org/historyday/pdf/internetsources.pdf

Does anyone have other suggestions on topic ideas or where to find primary sources?

Innovation in Newspapers

2009-09-24T13:48:00.001-04:00

Yesterday students from St. Michael’s visited the Ohio Historical Society to learn more about History Day and how to conduct research. It sure was a busy day! Throughout the day they explored different aspects of this year’s theme: Innovation in History: Impact and Change.

The students learned about innovation while examining newspapers in the Archives Library. For this activity they studied newspapers from five different time periods to experience change over time. When it was time to discuss what they had learned the students all gave excellent answers and noticed many changes. Some of them were:

Materials: Early newspapers were made from cloth while the newer ones were made from
wood pulp. The students noted how well the rag papers from 1820 have held up!

Font & Organization: Older papers were printed with small type, all jumbled together. As time passed, the font grew larger and sections were added to make the paper more organized.

Reporting: The students pointed out that news stories were often published months after the event in the older papers but on the internet news stories were updated throughout the day.

Technology: Hand set paper newspapers, newspapers on microfilm, online newspapers, so many ways to read the news! I think we had some future researchers in our midst; we had to tear the students away from the microfilm machines.

Advertisements: Early advertisements were mostly selling necessities while later advertisements sold luxury items with many more interesting pictures and slogans. The older medical remedies were fun to read though!

All of these small changes over time have improved the way we obtain and understand the news. When we think of inventions or innovations we tend to remember the BIG things: the airplane, telephone, light bulb. But remember innovation can be as simple as finding a better way to do things, i.e.: reorganizing the newspapers to make it easier to read or adding colorful pictures to an advertisement.

So if you are still deciding on a History Day topic think of things that make your life easier and how they came to be. Are they new ideas? Did they improve on an existing invention or idea? Were there a series of small innovations that came together to create something better?

Good luck and keep researching!

Historians Work

2009-09-17T08:59:00.002-04:00

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week the 7th grade at Bexley Middle visited us at the Ohio Historical Center. We provided a program that allowed the students to explore the theme: "Innovation in History" and also how historians and curators go about making stories out of artifacts and primary sources.

I think the larger message to share with our History Day audience: an artifact or a primary source by itself can not tell the entire stories. Historians and History Day students need to make sense of their sources.

But how?

Context: Make sure your audience understands how the source fits into the bigger story and time period in history.

Secondary Sources: Secondary sources will help you connect the dots to get to that bigger story.

Conclusion: Make sure any sources you use connect to your thesis or conclusion.

Narrative: Any project you do should have some sort of story or narrative that is proving your conclusion. If you just throw a bunch of information up on the exhibit board without an eye to any narrative, it will be a jumble.

We are full speed ahead with our fall and are looking forward to more outreach visits, field trips, and teacher workshops.

Let The Games Begin

2009-08-26T13:07:00.003-04:00

We hope everyone had a great summer. We've kept busy here between advocating for budget and dealing with new changes, but I'm happy to say that National History Day in Ohio is here to stay! We've had some changes here that I wanted to inform you about and some announcements about the program this year. We're ready for a fun-filled year of "Innovation in History: Impact and Change." You can find the theme information at http://www.ohiohistory.org/historyday/hd04e.html including a list of Ohio related topics for suggestion.

Staffing

Erin Reynolds has moved on to obtain her master's in library science. We wish her well with the future. My former supervisor has moved on to the Kentucky Historical Society, with this change I have taken on additional responsibilities as the manager of Education Programs and Partnerships where National History Day will fall under my supervision. In order to keep this program vibrant and growing, Mary Bezbatchenko will be the official State Coordinator for National History Day in Ohio. Mary and I (Megan Wood) will co-coordinate the program this year as she learns the ropes and be a valuable addition to the History Day team. Mary is originally from Ohio and after attending the University of Dayton taught high school social studies for several years. Mary went on to receive a Master's in History from Virginia Commonwealth University and has been working at the Ohio Historical Society for the last two years on our teacher professional development programs through the Teaching American History program. Mary's email address is mbezbatchenko@ohiohistory.org and she'll be getting to know everyone as the year goes on. I won't be disappearing or going away, but Mary will be taking a more and more active role in the program, which will be to every one's benefit.

I Tunes U

We created a short series of podcasts about History Day. This is something we'll continue to do in the future. You can find them under I Tunes U (in the I Tunes store) under the Ohio channel.

Contest Rulebook Update- Web Site Category

This year National History Day is going to require that all web sites be created through their online web editor. The web editor is not ready yet, but I will be providing training on this tool when it is ready. It will still allow students to write code, bring in objects and images from the outside, and create interactive elements, but it will also allow all students the opportunity to create a web site and submit online. More details to follow.

We've got two workshops coming up in October. Information can be found online at http://www.ohiohistory.org/historyday/hd04c.html.

New Rulebook Unveiled!

2009-08-21T14:11:00.003-04:00

National History Day has released a new rulebook that includes new guidelines for creating web sites. All web sites will need to be created using the online NHD web editor. Code and other elements can be made on different types of software (Dreamweaver, Photoshop, I Movie, etc) and imported into the NHD web editor.

Go to: http://www.ohiohistory.org/historyday/pdf/rulebook.pdf for the new rulebook.

Homeschool Crumbs: National History Day

2009-08-17T15:43:00.000-04:00

Homeschool Crumbs: National History Day

In Memory

2009-08-11T09:41:00.002-04:00

The Ohio Historical Society sadly lost our Executive Director and CEO, William Laidlaw, on Friday. This is a sad time for the Society and I would like to take this opportunity to remember Bill as an advocate and friend of the National History Day in Ohio program. During his time at OHS he often judged at the regional and state level. Bill also participated at the Ohio History Day Awards Ceremony, helping to award and celebrate the accomplishments of all History Day students in Ohio. He understood the impact that History Day can have on a student and shared in the joy that the students took from their projects. He will be missed by his colleagues, family and friends, and also by the National History Day community.

Finding Research Institutions in Ohio

2009-08-06T10:23:00.002-04:00

In order to help students find resources all around the state, NHD-OH has created a Google map that pinpoints historical organizations around the state.

We would love to add more to this list. Let us know where else Ohio students can do research.

View Ohio HIstory Day Resource Map in a larger map

Ohio Topics related to Innovation in History

2009-07-29T16:42:00.003-04:00

It is done! NHD-OH has put out a list of topics in Ohio history related to our annual theme. You can find them on our web site, or on our slideshare site: http://tinyurl.com/njuacn.

You may ask, why Ohio? For one: Ohio is awesome. Don't believe me? What other state found the NFL and has two of the original MLB teams? What other state is home to pioneering astronauts? What other state is home to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame? What other state nearly determines elections? What other state can claim the Etch-a-Sketch?

In my journeys I also encourage student to find local topics because you can often find local primary sources and hence make your life easier. I think finding history in your hometown is almost more interesting and revealing.

Our list is not complete, just a starting point for inspiration. If you have more ideas to add to the list, let me know!

Results of the budget for OHS and History Day

2009-07-22T08:23:00.000-04:00

Dear Teachers, Students, Parents, and Friends of History Day:

Thank you for your support of the Ohio Historical Society and its outreach and field services functions throughout the state budget process. Although OHS sustained significant cuts over the next biennium, the effects of which are detailed in the press release below or at http://www.ohiohistory.org/about/pr/072109a.html, we will continue to carry-on our role as the statewide organization for history through our collections, sites, and educational functions.

The good news is that OHS outreach functions – teacher training, National History Day in Ohio, the Ohio Historical Markers, the Civil War 150, and the Local History Office – will continue.

Outreach and Field Services (Line 509) was cut 30% from the Governor’s original budget proposal (from $709,000 to $495,000), which is better than the Senate’s version of the budget that zeroed out 509. The department lost one unfilled position, the Assistant Coordinator for History Day. Erin Reynolds departed on June 30th to pursue graduate training and her position will not be re-filled but interns and other staff will assist in the coordination of National History Day in Ohio (NHD-OH). Additionally, the department will tighten discretionary spending over the next two years, but the core programs and services will carry on. In fact, NHD-OH will be working with Columbus City Schools, Cleveland Metropolitan Schools and the Library of Congress’s Teaching with Primary Sources program to create new and more exciting program. With grants from Cargill De-Icing, Huntington Bank and the Library of Congress, NHD-OH will continue to grow and provide services to its teachers.

Once again, thank you for your support. As we continue to move forward we will post update on the Ohio Historical Society website (www.ohiohistory.org), Save Ohio History (www.saveohiohistory.org), and the History Day blog (historydayexpert.blogspot.com/). If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Media contacts: Kim Schuette: 614.297.2314 or kschuette@ohiohistory.org

For Immediate Release

Ohio Historical Society Reinvents Itself For Future Growth
Ohio Historical Center To Change Focus

(Columbus, Ohio) - The Ohio Historical Society is accelerating a plan to reinvent itself as a state history organization, according to executive director and CEO Bill Laidlaw. State support was slashed from $13.5 million two years ago to $7.9 million for the 2010 fiscal year-a 42-percent cut -following years of underinvestment by the state.

As a result, the Society will make significant changes to the state history museum, the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus, as well as continue its efforts to find local groups to manage 10 of its historic sites and museums around the state. In addition, the organization will implement a number of operational changes as it continues to focus efforts on preservation of and access to collections and sites, and expanding its services statewide.

Earlier this year, a number of cost-saving measures were taken, such as a weeklong furlough, a reduction in force and seeking local groups to manage larger OHS sites in response to a 10-percent reduction for fiscal year 2009. However, further actions are needed, including eliminating more jobs across the organization, reorganizing or eliminating programs and additional furloughs.

"While we foresaw tough times ahead, we were stunned to receive this magnitude of a cut in state funding," Laidlaw said. "Once again, we were forced to make difficult decisions, but with challenges come opportunities. Our Board of Trustees has approved a bold plan that will position the organization for future growth by providing the strongest return on investment for limited state dollars as well as the greatest public value for Ohioans."

Ohio Historical Center to Emphasize Collections Learning
In direct response to what the public has said they want the Ohio Historical Society to offer, the Society will be transforming the state history museum at the Ohio Historical Center to focus on collections learning. In studies that have taken place over the past three years, the public has said they want more direct access to the collections, more opportunities for hands-on experiences and ways to explore stories of interest to them using current technology and the resources of both the museum and library.

Plans call for public labs and workspaces in which activities that are usually carried out behind the scenes will be front and center. In addition, collections that are normally stored off-site will be brought to the facility for easy viewing. A distance learning studio, spaces for new exhibitions and technology enhancements are also among the innovations under development. Staff also will be cross-trained allowing fewer employees needed for support, therefore saving on operational costs.

The collections learning center will be created in phases, beginning with the removal of current exhibits, many of which are more than 20 years old. Development and implementation of the $2-million first phase will use existing capital funds and is scheduled to begin starting January 2010.

"With almost 2 million objects in our museum and library collections, the collections-learning-center concept will help make Ohio's story personally relevant and engaging to today's audiences," said Laidlaw. "We will be creating more exhibitions and programs for traveling to OHS sites, libraries, historical societies, community centers and other museums across the state. In this way, we are redefining the concept of 'state museum.' We will be a museum with a presence all over the state—not just in Columbus."

Historic Sites and Museums Remain Open
According to Laidlaw, with the 2010 budget decided, there will be sufficient funds for current and future management groups to operate sites. Additionally, the 10 historic sites and museums operated by OHS employees will remain open through their established 2009 seasons while management agreements are finalized. (See below list of management status of OHS sites.)

In the Ohio Historical Society network of 58 historic sites and museums-the largest of any state historical organization in the nation-37 sites are currently operated by local management groups and the remainder are directly administered by the Ohio Historical Society. Managed sites continue to be a vital part of the OHS network of historic sites and museums.

"We are more and more dependant on communities to volunteer and raise funds to help us maintain and grow access to our sites," said Laidlaw.

Society To Restructure, Reduce Staffing
As a result of the changing priorities and to make the best use of reduced state funding, the Society will take these measures:

Accommodate the development of the Collection Learning Center, by limiting hours for both the Ohio Historical Center’s museum and the OHS Archives/Library starting Jan. 1, 2010 through March 1, 2011.
The museum only will be open to the public on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. However, school and other groups will continue to be accommodated on weekdays during this time.
The OHS Archives-Library only will be open Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. *
Enhance its Web presence with an Ohio history online portal to increase access to information and OHS services as well as to generate revenue.
Cease publication of TIMELINE, the quarterly history magazine published by the Ohio Historical Society, at the end of it 25th-anniversary year unless private funding can be secured for future publication.
Special events will not be scheduled at the Ohio Historical Center and Ohio Village from Jan. 1 through June 30, 2010.
Mandate 10 furlough days for all employees before the end of the fiscal year.
As a part of the restructuring, 31 full and part-time positions have been eliminated. Of this total, 19 vacant positions will not be filled. In addition, 16 employees were notified of a decrease in their hours. Separately, 53 positions will be eliminated by the end of the year as OHS sites transition to the management of local groups.

Over the last decade, the Ohio Historical Society has had to retrench its operations as state funding declined from a staffing level of more than 400 full-time-equivalent staff members in the 2001 fiscal year to 184 after reductions.

Employees notified today of job losses will receive a severance package and full pay of eligible leave balances. They also are welcome to apply for the Society’s position vacancies. All employment categories were affected among the total number of positions eliminated.

Established in 1885, the Ohio Historical Society, a nonprofit organization, serves as the state’s partner in preserving and interpreting Ohio’s history, archaeology, natural history and architecture. It provides services in nearly every community in the state. Individuals wanting to help the Society can:

Visit an OHS historic site and museum. To learn more, visit www.ohiohistory.org/places.
Become a member of OHS. Go online at www.ohiohistory.org/support to join.
Make a contribution. Go online at www.ohiohistory.org/support to donate.
Business hours for the Ohio Historical Society and the Ohio Preservation Office, both located at the Ohio Historical Center, will remain the same: Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. –5 p.m.

Exhibit Sampler NHD-OH V.2

2009-07-21T12:04:00.001-04:00

Using some new photos, NHD-OH has created a new exhibit sampler that points out some key points about exhibit creation.

Exhibit Sampler NHD-OH V.2

View more presentations from Megan Wood.

Thinking about Innovation in History

2009-07-17T09:05:00.002-04:00

While it is only July, here at the NHD-OH offices we're working on topic ideas for the 2009-2010 National History Day theme: "Innovation in History: Impact and Change."

You can see the National list of suggested topics online. In Ohio, we wanted to broaden this list beyond inventions and technology. A lot of innovation in history is about invention, but it can also be in ideas, social movements, or in our government. Innovation can happen in fashion, it can happen in the way we market and sell products, in the way we do business.

When choosing a topic for the coming year, it is most important to put that innovation in historical context. How did the innovation make an impact and a change. It is completely possible for someone to invent something and it may never have an effect on the world; so discussing why the innovation was needed and what change it brought about is VITAL.

While our list isn't ready for release, stayed tuned to find our suggested Ohio topics related to Innovation in History!

What do you wish you knew about History Day before you started your first project?

2009-07-10T13:27:00.003-04:00

A note from our lovely intern for the summer:

Hello History Day Lovers,

Here at National History Day in Ohio we are putting out a call for students and teachers to send in videos of themselves telling a story entitled, “What I wish I knew . . .” about your History Day experiences. Your stories can be plain, funny, or serious; we are just looking to see what you have to say and give you an opportunity to help one another through this process.

Please keep in consideration:

Videos should be less than three minutes long (unless the story is so fantastic we forget that much time has passed or better yet create a couple videos).

These videos will be seen by a variety of ages from elementary school kids to teachers.

Your content may be edited by the National History Day in Ohio staff.

Begin your video with, “What I wish I knew about History Day . . .”

Email all submissions to InternHistoryDay@ohiohistory.org

Thanks,

Catie Luna
National History Day in Ohio Intern

A Great Conference for all Interested in Ohio History!

2009-07-08T11:25:00.003-04:00

BCHE 2009 Annual Conference, July 23-24 2009, Registration
The Buckeye Council for History Education invites you to attend our 2009 annual conference at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio on July 23-24, 2009. Our conference theme is Programs, Progress, and People: Innovation in History. It reflects next year's National History Day theme and a timely interest in the WPA and the New Deal as innovative programs.

Teacher Open House
All educators and their families are welcome to attend the Teacher Open House on July 23, 2009 from 10 AM to 5 PM at the Ohio Historical Center. Come learn about resources available to history educators in central Ohio. Admission is free.

Evening Reception and Dinner
Conference attendees are also invited to attend our opening reception and dinner, Thursday, July 23, 2009. Nick Taylor, author of American Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA, will speak on " The WPA and Ohio: Some High (And Not So High) Lights."
Please register if you plan to attend.

Conference Sessions and Luncheon
The conference will be held at the Ohio Historical Center and will run from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM on Friday, July 24, 2009. Sessions will be led by academic and public historians, top educators from the state of Ohio and professional archivists and curators. Lunch will be provided. See the detailed schedule at www.gatewaytohistory.org/bche

Our keynote speaker at this year's conference luncheon will be Timothy Messer-Kruse, Historian, Professor and Chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies, Bowling Green State University, and author of Banksters, Bosses, and Smart Money: A Social History of the Great Toledo Bank Crash of 1931.

Conference registration is free with a Buckeye Council for History Education membership. If you are not yet a member of the Buckeye Council for History Education, please click here to purchase a membership. When you have purchased a membership, please return to this page to register for the conference.

Questions/Concerns? Contact us at bche@ohiohistory.org

2009-07-01T16:32:00.000-04:00

Show Your Support for Ohio History at House Hearings

The House Finance & Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Vernon Sykes (D-Akron) has set public hearings on the "impact of potential Senate budget decisions" in Statehouse Room 313 at the following times:

- Thursday, July 2 @ 3 pm
- Monday, July 6 @ 10 am

- Tuesday, July 7 @ 2 pm

We need your voice! Don’t let Ohio History die! Please join us and other history supporters at the Statehouse and let the General Assembly know that HISTORY MATTERS!

You don’t have to speak at the hearings, but we need you to demonstrate your support by filling the hearing room and halls.

The best days to attend are Monday and Tuesday.

If you are able to attend the event please let us know by emailing govrelations@ohiohistory.org. Rep. Sykes' office will alert OHS when new information is available, or if changes occur to the schedule, etc. We will alert those that plan to attend via email as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please contact OHS’ government relations office at govrelations@ohiohistory.org.

Speaking Points:

Ohio’s history is a clean and constantly renewable natural resource that, with proper stewardship, will not be depleted. Authentic local history cannot be outsourced.

The Ohio Historical Society reflects our state’s abundance of history that tells a quintessential American story as comprehensive as the American experience itself. The Ohio Historical Society offers not one, but multiple, points of access to Ohio’s history. It is the state’s museum curator, state archivist, historic preservationist, history interpreter, educator and its collective memory.

The historic sites of the Ohio Historical Society reflect the geographic and topical diversity typical of Ohio. The Society helps maintain and provide access to prehistoric monuments, battle forts, sites dedicated to early transportation, places that highlight nature, technology and even space exploration. As the state’s primary portal to Ohio history, the Ohio Historical Society works to reveal the distinctive character of the first truly American state and its people.

Connecting with history clearly allows people to connect with feelings of civic pride and responsibility, according to Exploring the Public Value of Ohio’s History, a February 2009 report by the University of Toledo’s Urban Affairs Center. There is a clear tie between those who say that history is important and civic participation – they are 23 percent more likely to do things like vote, join community organizations and find other avenues for civic engagement – than those who say they do not think history is important.

Ohio is home to 42,350 irreplaceable archaeological sites and more than 92,000 historic properties that have been recorded.

The historic cities, neighborhoods, buildings and farms in Ohio help tell a national story with an abundance of special places with a diverse blend of cultural influences. This is reflected in Ohio having the third-highest number of National Register of Historic Places listings in the country (nearly 3,700).

Ohio means family and friends. Our state has been among the most-populated for more than 150 years. It is also near the top among states with the most native-born residents still residing in Ohio. History well remembers the accomplishments of many notable Ohioans such as Ulysses S. Grant, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Wilbur and Orville Wright, Annie Oakley, Roy Rogers, Clark Gable, Bob Evans and Neil Armstrong.

2009-06-26T10:11:00.001-04:00

Ohio History Matters

2009-06-25T10:57:00.000-04:00

Funeral Procession for Ohio History at Comfest

Host: Concerned friends of the Ohio Historical Society
Type: Causes - Rally
Network: Global
Date: Sunday, June 28, 2009
Time: 3:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: Procession will be through Comfest
Street: Goodale Park
City/Town: Columbus, OH

Ohio History and culture is under attack through draconian budget cuts suggested by the Governor. Do you want to live in a state devoid of arts and culture? Heck no!

Join us as we hold a New Orleans-style Jazz Funeral for Ohio History.

We will meet at the Giant Eagle on the corner of Neil Avenue and Buttles Avenue, and will begin the procession at 3PM. We will travel east on Buttles Avenue and enter Goodale Park at the corner of Dennison and Buttles. Feel free to join up with us along the way!

Accept event through facebook at: http://tinyurl.com/l5glfo

2009-06-24T11:16:00.000-04:00

Do you want Ohio to be a cultural wasteland?

The latest budget news from the state of Ohio would have irreparable damage to Ohio's arts and culture. It includes drastic cuts to the Ohio Historical Society (45%), Ohio's Libraries (50%), and other arts organizations (like the arts council). While there were and are tough decisions to make, these important entities only make up a very tiny percent of the budget. With $1.5 million more than the Governor's level, the Ohio Historical Society would be able to still function with most program functions. At the Governor's level, it is hard to even imagine what will happen.

Support Ohio's history: www.saveohiohistory.org
Support Ohio's libraries: http://saveohiolibraries.com/

2009-06-23T15:06:00.000-04:00

An Urgent Message from the Ohio Historical Society's Director

The Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.
Chernobyl.
Iran-Contra.

These were all in the news in 1986. The cost of a U.S. postal stamp was .22 cents, half of what it is today. It was also the last time the state of Ohio invested less than $8 million in the Ohio Historical Society. Nevertheless, Governor Strickland's new FY 2010-11 budget framework, unveiled late Friday, would reduce the state budget for the Society from $13.5 million in 2008 to as little as $7.5 million annually each of the next two years, a reduction of 45 percent.

This would be a disinvestment of truly historic proportions in Ohio's history. We simply cannot allow one of Ohio's greatest strengths - its history - take a giant leap in the wrong direction. Click here to see how you can help. The Governor and state lawmakers have very difficult decisions to make between now and June 30. The economy and state budget are the worst in a generation and the Ohio Historical Society fully expects that some level of state budget cuts are unavoidable. The state's general revenue figures have dipped to 2002 levels, yet the state is prepared to shrink funding for its history to1986 levels? Is this acceptable to you, Ohio?

We've been told that education is being protected in this budget. But the Governor's proposal would slash the budget of the Ohio Historical Society - charged with helping to educate Ohio's school children about history, train social studies teachers, maintaining dozens of the state's authentic historical sites and many other educational efforts - to unprecedented lows.

It is important to realize that there is still time to change this outcome. We've asked for your help these past several weeks and we thank the roughly 1,000 of you who responded. But we are down to the last week before the next two-year state budget is enacted. We ask that you call your state legislator and tell them to restore funding for historic sites, local history and education.

Click here to make your voice heard. Then follow up with an e-mail reiterating your budget message. Encourage your friends, neighbors, relatives and family to do the same. Go online at www.saveohiohistory.org or click here to send a message to your legislator today.

Ohio's history, and its future, will thank you.

Sincerely,

Bill Laidlaw

Executive Director and CEO
Ohio Historical Society

2009-06-22T16:50:00.000-04:00

National History Day Wrap Up

Last week, 55 Ohio students with 32 projects competed at National History Day at the University of Maryland in College Park. This week was a culmination of a year's worth of research, discovery, and analysis for these students. This year's theme was "The Individual in History: Actions and Legacies" and the Ohio projects ranged from papers on Christopher Wren's architecture in London to a documentary on Mayor Tom Johnson's progressive reforms in Cleveland. I am very proud of all the Ohio students. They represented our state well, both in their actions and their scholarship.

Out of the 32 projects, 6 projects placed in the top 15 in the country.

12th Place: Junior Paper by Rachel Clarke from Clarke Home school titled: "Thomas Edison: Dimming the Lights of a Nation." Rachel also received the Outstanding State Entry prize in the Junior Division for Ohio.
11th Place: Senior Group Documentary by Gabe Gordon and Kayla Pincus titled: "Introducing American to Americans: Roy Stryker and the FSA Photographs." Gabe and Kayla are from Shaker Heights High School.
9th Place: Senior Group Exhibit by Ilana Polster and Michelle Scarfstein titled: "Kim Phuc: The Pain that Seared American." Ilana and Michelle are from Shaker Heights High School.
8th Place: Senior Paper by Emily Nosse-Leirer titled: "Tomorrow Will Be a Great Struggle." Emily is from Shaker Heights High School.
6th Place: Senior Individual Exhibit by Heidi Reis titled: "Her Cry for Nature: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement." Heidi also received the Outstanding State Entry prize in the Senior Division for Ohio and is from Shaker Heights High School.
3rd Place- Bronze Medal Winners: Senior Web Site by Anirudh Jayanti and Ayush Sood titled: "Simon Wiesenthal: One Man's Search for Justice." This is the second year Anirudh and Ayush attending NHD with a web site.

Also an Ohio student won a special prize:
Outstanding Entry on the History of the Federal Government: Danielle Swales for her Senior Individual Documentary "Harry Hopkins: Social Revolutionary of the Great Depression as Seen Through the WPA." Danielle is from Shaker Heights High School

We had one very special prize. Harper Sutherland from Shaker Heights won a $20,000 scholarship to the University of Minnesota. This is Harper's second year at NHD and this year she was part of a Senior Group Performance that she created with her partner Robin Meiksins titled: "Larger Than Any of Us Alone: A Story of Norwegian Resistance." This was especially exciting for the Ohio group to see one of our own win one of the biggest prizes of the ceremony.

2009-06-17T16:42:00.000-04:00

Days 3 and 4 at NHD

Yesterday all the Senior students had their projects evaluated. One group from Shaker Heights High School, Gabe Gordon and Kayla Pincus, moved on to second round for their project about Roy Stryker and the FSA photographs.

Today, a large group of Ohioans traveled into D.C. to meet with Senators Brown and Voinovich, visit the Capitol, Union Station, the Library of Congress, and also the National Postal Museum.

Tonight we dine on pizza, make signs, and enjoy one last night in the dorm. Tommorrow is the big awards ceremony where we find out all the results!

Another NHD almost over...

2009-06-16T08:48:00.000-04:00

Day 2 at National History Day

Yesterday the Junior projects had their judging times. Everyone did an excellent job! I got to see several of the performances, a documentary, and check out the exhibits. While we didn't have any documentary or performances move on to 2nd Round, the Ohio group made a really great showing.

2009-06-14T15:07:00.000-04:00

National History Day- Day 1

I am currently waiting the arrival of the Ohio bus here at the University of Maryland. I was in the ballroom when the doors opened at 9am to let in the flux of students waiting to start registration. Everyone is really excited and thrilled to be a part of this event. I sold t-shirts and met people from as close as Michigan and Indiana and as far away as Department of Defense schools from Germany. There's also a delegation from Guam!

2009-06-13T08:35:00.000-04:00

Ohio at National History Day

Today the History Day expert hits the road for the 2009 Kenneth Behring National History Day contest at the University of Maryland. Over 50 Ohio students will compete with students from across the nation, Guam, and America Samoa.

Stayed tuned for updates about what happens, who we meet, and see how History Matters to students in this amazing program.

2009-06-12T08:19:00.000-04:00

History Matters

www.saveohiohistory.org

2009-06-11T13:39:00.000-04:00

Activities in Cleveland

2009-06-10T08:34:00.000-04:00

Save Ohio History Campaign

We're off to Cleveland today for a Flash Mob in Public Square at 12:15 by the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.

Here's what we were up to yesterday:

2009-06-09T08:24:00.000-04:00

Today in Cincinnati, Perrysburg. Tomorrow Cleveland

As part of the the Ohio Historical Society's Save Ohio History campaign, there are several events going on this week.

Flash Mobs:
Cincinnati and Perrysburg today at noon.
Cleveland tomorrow at noon by the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.
go to www.saveohiohistory.org for more details.

Rally For History:
Noon at the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus at 17th Ave right off I-71.
The rally will be an event to come together and show that history matters to us!

Marking Mourning:
To represent what a state without history would look like, OHS is inviting people to drape Ohio Historic Markers in black from Tuesday evening through Thursday morning. Take a digital picture and send it to saveohiohistory@gmail.com

Other things:
Take pictures and video of things or reasons that history matters to you. Upload them to Youtube and email the link to saveohiohistory@gmail.com or email pictures.

As always: write, call and visit your state Senators and Representatives at: http://capwiz.com/ohiohistory/home/

2009-06-05T19:12:00.000-04:00

Save Ohio History

Check out our public awareness campaign at saveohiohistory.org

There's video, opportunties to flash mob and rally.

There is also an opportunity to join our "Mourn the Markers" program.

2009-06-05T08:46:00.000-04:00

Rally for History on Thursday, June 11th, 12pm @ OHS in Columbus

Please mark your calendars for Thursday, June 11 from noon – 1 p.m. to Rally for History! at the Ohio Historical Center, located at I-71 and 17th Avenue in Columbus.

The Ohio Senate voted yesterday to approve the next two-year state budget, which includes significant budget cuts that would reduce the state’s investment in the Ohio Historical Society to the lowest level since 1994. Now the budget goes to a conference committee made up of a small number of House and Senate members as well as Strickland Administration officials.

There is still time to make an impact and help restore funding for historic sites and the Society’s Outreach programs that affect students, teachers, local history organizations and Ohio communities. It’s time to Rally For History! Please join us on Thursday, June 11. FREE parking and admission to the Ohio Historical Center for participating in the rally

2009-06-04T09:29:00.001-04:00

Senate Passed Budget Without Restoring History Day Funding

This is actually a good news/bad news scenario.

The bad news: line 509 in the OHS budget (which funds History Day and other important outreach activities) was not restored before the budget vote.

The good news: Our state Senators and Reps are hearing our message! We've had some encouraging communications that we can get the funding back (at least partially) in conference. After a budget is passed by the House and Senate, it goes to a conference committee to settle differences. This includes players from the House, Senate and Governor's office.

What's next?

We will continue to communicate next steps in the coming days. In the meantime, if you haven't done so, write your State Representative, Senator and Governor Strickland. Our Legislative Action page makes it very easy:

Go to: http://capwiz.com/ohiohistory/home/

- Click Act Now

- Type in your address

- Change the message or leave it as is

- Sign your name

- SEND

Stayed tuned for more updates!

2009-06-02T14:05:00.000-04:00

Vote to support Ohio History

Help us in our PR campaign to help restore 509 line to the Ohio Historical Society budget line.

Go to http://tinyurl.com/njmlrs and vote YES!

2009-06-02T08:27:00.000-04:00

URGENT: HISTORY DAY IN DANGER, CONTACT YOUR SENATORS

My thanks to anyone who has already called or emailed their state Senators to tell them to restore funding to the Ohio Historical Societies 509 line to the Governor's recommended levels. All state Senators in Ohio need to understand the program that will potentially disappear including:

Local History Programs
Ohio History Day
Historic Markers Program
Civil War 150 Anniversary
Support for teacher training programs

These are important programs, but they all also use the state dollars to leverage other private and federal dollars to serve Ohioans.

If you have already called, please email; if you have already emailed, please call. Also, tell the people in your family or co-workers to also make the calls and emails.

Here's how you can help:

Email:
Use this link to the OHS Legislative Update website that will provide you with all the information you need to communicate with your Senator (as well as the Governor and your state representative): http://capwiz.com/ohiohistory/home/ (after landing on this page, click on the Take Action button and scroll down)

Call:
Use this link to find your State Senator's phone number: http://capwiz.com/ohiohistory/directory/statedir.tt?state=OH&lvl=state
Calling is easy. An aide will answer the phone. Tell him/her that you are a constituent and would like to leave a message about the Finance Committee's decision to eliminate line 509. Let the aide know why the activities 509 funds (History Day!) for the Ohio Historical Society are important to you and it is unacceptable that this cut has taken place.

Visit:
If you have time, consider visiting your state senator’s local district office as this would have the biggest impact.

Together, we can right this injustice.

2009-06-01T11:38:00.000-04:00

URGENT: SENATE MAY END FUNDING FOR OHS LOCAL HISTORY AND EDUCATION

Senate action removes funding for local history, other educational activities
On Friday, May 29 the Ohio Senate made big budget cuts that once again targeted the Ohio Historical Society. More than $700,000 was eliminated from the Society's budget that serves teachers, students, local history organizations and Ohio communities. The Senate changes reduced the Society's Outreach and Partnerships line item (Line 509 in the Society's state budget) from $703,638 to $0.

• Teacher training and educational programs that leverage federal funding - Zeroed out!
• National History Day in Ohio (national program that originated in Ohio) - Zeroed out!
• The Local History Office that serves 400 local history organizations - Zeroed out!
• Coordination of the Civil War Sesquicentennial (2011-2015) initiative - Zeroed out!
• Local historical markers program - Zeroed out!
Here is a link to the OHS Legislative Update website that will provide you with all the information you need to communicate with your Senator (as well as the Governor and your state representative): http://capwiz.com/ohiohistory/home/ (After landing on this page, click on the Take Action button or scroll down for information on how to contact your legislator.)

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR TODAY!

At a minimum, please email and phone your State Senator immediately. If you have time, consider visiting your state senator’s local district office as this would have the biggest impact. The offices count the number of email and phone communications they receive on an issue. If we act together, we can make sure that funding for these important activities is restored. Please forward this email on to friends, colleagues or anyone else that would be willing to help us to protect community-based history programs in Ohio.

We at OHS will be working hard to communicate directly with the members of the Senate Finance Committee and others to change this action, but they also need to hear loud and clear from their constituents. If you’d like more information on this, please feel free to contact Todd Kleismit, our Government Relations Director at (614) 297-2355; tkleismit@ohiohistory.org.

2009-05-28T08:45:00.000-04:00

In preparation for NHD

Right now our office is gearing up to travel with the Ohio group to NHD. What does that involve? Well mostly visiting students in their schools, answering emails, having a reception, and answering lots of questions. I'll blog about our trip to the University of Maryland and you can cheer Ohio on during the awards ceremony by watching the web cast. You can see it at: http://www.history.com/classroom/nhd/ plus a few cool videos about NHD produced by the History Channel.

We are also starting to look towards and plan for 2010 History Day activities including teacher workshops, student outreach, materials, and contest dates. Stay tuned, there's a lot of new info coming up about Innovation in History: Impact and Change!

2009-05-01T08:36:00.000-04:00

Ohio History Day Wrap Up

Thanks to all the parents, teachers, volunteers, students, family, and friends that participated in the 2008-2009 NHD in Ohio season. Ohio History Day was last Saturday and it was a great showing of scholarship and student work. While no History Day is ever perfect, the day went well and the weather was beautiful. The results can be seen online on the Ohio History Day website. I also want to send my congratulations to all the 4th and 5th graders that participated in our second annual Youth Division.

After five years of running state History Day events, I think I've finally got the hang of it.

Here's how the day looks behind the scenes:

6:00am- Arrive and get buildings unlocked and finish set ups.
7:00am- Volunteers arrive, get everyone in place, unload t-shirts, try to grab some coffee
7:30am- Registation opens, exhibits come in, tables are moved around (thanks to those who helped!), computers are turned on, judges start to arrive
8:00am- Judge Orientation- about an hour of talking about how great all of the students are and what to expect.
9:00am-10:30am- Judging starts, run around and answer questions, fix scheduling problems, switch rooms (thanks for your patience in 302), get stuck in elevator for a little while (it happened!), and remind everyone to be parked in a spot to avoid towing, chat with some History Day friends
10:30am- First set of judges start to arrive back at headquarters
11:00am- Start compiling results for second round
12:00pm- Start pestering judges for results, round up second round judges, orient second round judges, get documentary and performance run offs written down, answer judge questions, enter run off info into database, print off run off schedules, exhibit hall opens to public
12:30-12:45- Posting of run offs
1:00pm-2:00pm Send out run off judges, close off exhibit hall, enter other results, work on final special awards, sorting evalation forms, eating a sandwich
1:000pm-2:00pm- Make sure run offs get started, send out exhibit run off judges
2:00pm-3:00pm- Run off judges come back, answer questions, collect results, enter results, enter special award information, start cleaning up
3:00pm-3:30pm- Double and triple check all winners, alternates, and honorable mentions, compile awards ceremony binder
3:30pm-Jump in car and drive to Palace Theater
3:45pm- Run backstage and get ready
4:00pm- Awards ceremony showtime
5:15pm- National qualifiers meeting
5:30pm- Return to OHS
6:00pm- Home, pjs, food, bed!

Thanks again to everyone, and feel free to share your History Day stories.

2009-04-24T14:03:00.000-04:00

It is almost here!

Tomorrow is Ohio History Day. So what's going on here? Well in about 20 minutes, me, other staff, interns and all our worldly Ohio History Day possessions will caravan the 2.5 miles to Columbus State Community College and begin setting up. Then we'll rush back to the Ohio Historical Center for the pizza reception. Good fun for all!

Tomorrow is a whirlwind of a day for us between getting everyone checked in, dealing with the problems (all will be solved, our motto is EVERYTHING WILL BE OK!), getting the judges trained and out to the rooms, collecting results, posting run offs, and final preparations for the awards ceremony, there's not a lot of down time. During your down time, we encourage you to:

Visit the Ohio Historical Center
Visit COSI
Take a tour of the Ohio Statehouse
Visit the visitor's center for the Ohio Supreme Court

Best of luck to all the participants and I'll see you on the other side!

2009-04-17T14:05:00.000-04:00

The Judging Schedule is online!

Click here to view!

Some things to note: WD stands for the Center for Workforce Development. DH stands for Delaware Hall. If there is no letters, it is in the Center for Workforce Development.

Papers and Exhibits are in Delaware Hall. (plus the Youth Division)
All other projects are in the Center for Workforce Development.

2009-04-14T11:19:00.000-04:00

What to Expect at Ohio History Day

In 11 days, almost 600 students will converge on the campus of Columbus State Community College for Ohio History Day, competing for a few spots to represent Ohio at National History Day. What will it be like?

On April 17th, we will post the schedule on the National History Day in Ohio web site. Your judging time will indicate when you will either be interviewed (papers, exhibits and web sites), perform (performances), or show your documentary. PLEASE NOTE: Exhibits need to be set up between 7:30 and 9:00 am, otherwise you'll only have the 15 minutes before your judging time to set up. If you are doing a Junior Individual Performance or a Documentary, you may get a call back and have a second round of judging between 1:00 pm and 2:30 pm.

The Day of the Big Event!

7:30 am- 9:00 am-
Exhibit Set-Up and Check In
All exhibits should report to Delaware Hall. All other projects should report to the Center of Workforce Development. Check in allows you to double check your judging time, ask any questions, and pick up information you'll need for the day.

9:00 am- noon-
Judging

All projects will have judging time sometime between 9 and noon. Exhibits will all be in the Delaware Hall Gymnasium. Performances will be on the 4th floor of the Center for Workforce Development. Documentaries will be on the 3rd & 4th floors of the Center for Workforce Development. Web Sites will be on the 4th and 3rd floors of the CWD and Papers will be in Delaware Hall.

12:30- Run Off Announcements

In the 1st Floor Lobby of the Center for Workforce Development, we will post the Junior Individual Performances and all documentaries that will need to show their projects for a second time. Judging will take place between 1-2:30pm. All documentaries will be on the 3rd floor of the CWD and Junior Individual Performances will be on the 4th floor.

12:00 pm- 1:00 pm

Exhibits Open to the Public
All exhibits must stay up until after 2:30. There will be a second round of judging, but since there are no interviews during second round, we will not make any announcements.

1:00 pm- 2:30 pm
Junior Individual Performance Run Offs
All Documentary Run Offs
Exhibit Hall Closed for Run Offs

2:30 pm- 3:30 pm
Exhibit hall open for tear down

4:00 pm
Awards Ceremony
Palace Theater
Due to the size of our event, there are only a few venues in Columbus that will hold our awards ceremony. The awards ceremony will be held off campus. For information about the Palace Theater click href="http://www.capa.com/columbus/venues/palace_about.php">here.

Lunch Time- Delaware Hall has a cafeteria that will be open and expecting our group from 7:30 am until 2:30 pm.

Interviews- The judges will ask questions for all categories. The interview does not weigh heavily in the overall evaluation, but helps to clarify questions that the judges may have about your project.

Evaluation Forms- The evaluation forms will be sent back to teachers in the days after the event. I wish we could hand them back sooner, but this is an office of two people and we hope to have them sorted and out the door in Monday (the 27th)'s mail.

It's a big, exciting, crazy, fun day. Let me know if you have questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

2009-04-07T16:17:00.000-04:00

Only 18 More Days Left!

Well we're back from a week of OHS furlough and time for Ohio History Day is very close!

All of the regional events are over. If you'd like to see results from an event, click here and find your county on the map.

The registration deadline for Ohio History Day is April 11th, so make sure to get your forms in the mail to us. Web Site entries need to send one copy of their web site on CD or flash drive and four copies of the process paper and annotated bibliography. Paper entries need to send four copies of their papers.

Some tips for preparing for Ohio History Day:

- Read your judge comments from your District History Day event
- Make revisions to your project. Historians are constantly revising their work, and your project should evolve as your receive feedback.
- Read over the State Qualifiers Packet, it will answer questions about timing, locations, parking and eating at Ohio History Day.
- If you have a documentary, make sure it is formatted in a universal format. If you've created the documentary in something like Windows Movie Maker, you need to export or save the file as something universal. Double-check your documentary on several different computers or DVD players. Staff at Ohio History Day will do everything possible to make sure your documentary plays, but doing the double checking ahead of time can save a lot of headaches.
- Exhibits should bring an emergency kit in case a label or something falls off your exhibit while being transported.

Send me your questions and we'll be happy to help.

Happy History Day-ing!

2009-03-27T10:27:00.000-04:00

Rounding out the Regional Season

There are three more regional events before we're on the home stretch to Ohio History Day:

March 28th- District 2 History Day at the Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont and District 10 History Day at Marietta College.

April 4th- District 4 History Day at Youngstown State University.

Reminder to all state qualifiers, registration forms, paper entries, web sites entries and special awards nominations are all due to our office April 11th. It is essential to get that info to us so we can finish planning and get the schedule back to all of you as quickly as possible.

As an FYI:

The Ohio Historical Society will furlough its employees for the week of March 28-April 3, 2009. As a result, its offices and select sites will be closed. The NHD-OH staff will be back to work April 4th. Visit www.ohiohistory.org for more information.

2009-03-25T11:47:00.000-04:00

Support National History Day, Call your Representative

CALL TO ACTION
CALL CONGRESS TODAY IN SUPPORT OF NHD FUNDING
FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010
.
National History Day (NHD) is asking for your help to gain support from members of Congress for a $5 million National History Day appropriation that will help our state programs grow and improve.

Thanks to your efforts, NHD was included in the omnibus bill for FY 2009 with an appropriation of $500,000! It’s important to note that to be included in a congressional budget for the first time is a major accomplishment. National History Day clearly has the attention of members of Congress, so let’s try and build on our success for the 2010 budget. Keep in mind that we have programs across the country that could use the extra help of an increased congressional appropriation.

Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) is circulating what is called a “Dear Colleague” letter. The letter is similar to a petition that members of Congress sign in support of funding a program (click here to view the Dear Colleague Letter).The Dear Colleague asks all members of the House to sign their name to the letter supporting NHD. This letter is addressed to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee asking them to support funding NHD in the FY 2010 budget. It is very important to get support from as many members of Congress as soon as possible. This is a very common practice which is implemented during the appropriations process. It is important that we get as many signatures as we can – as soon as we can (in the next two weeks). The appropriations committee will literally count every signature and the more signatures we have the better chance we will have of getting $5 million in support.

What to do?Never called your Member of Congress before? Don't worry, it's easy! When you call your Representative, your call will be answered by a receptionist. Tell him or her that you want to leave a message for the Representative. The receptionist will take down your message.

We need your help. Congress must hear from you today!
NHD NEEDS YOUR HELP TODAY! We have two weeks and it is critical that you pick up the phone today to contact your members of Congress and ask them to sign the NHD Dear Colleague Letter. Our goal is get as many members of Congress to sign this letter in two weeks which will demonstrate wide-spread support for funding for the NHD program.
When calling a Representative’s office, tell them:
Your name and the city and state you live in.
You say you’re calling today to urge the Representative to sign the Dear Colleague letter, in support of funding for National History Day in the FY 2010 budget. The letter is being circulated by Rep. Van Hollen.
Tell them why this money would be helpful to the NHD program in your state and district. How would it make an impact to increase the number of participants and improve overall programmatic efforts in the state.
Tell your member of Congress they can contact Sarah Schenning in Rep. Van Hollen's office at 225-5341 with questions or to sign the letter.

How to Contact a Member of Congress

To find your Member’s contact information, including phone and fax numbers, visit www.house.gov, www.senate.gov, or call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your Representative.
If you have any questions contact Noah Shaw at National History Day at 301.314.8379

2009-03-18T14:22:00.000-04:00

More Tails from the Regions

It has been a busy few weeks for History Day. On Saturday we hosted the largest District 6 event in Columbus ever with over 480 registrants! Congratulations to all the students. Click here to see the results.

Some more tips about preparing for your events:

- Find out about run offs or second round judging. Do you need to stick around after your judging time? Should you leave your exhibit up all day?
- Dress professionally. Make sure you put your best foot forward.
- Read all directions, signs and paperwork handed out; you don't want to miss anything.

I also visited Marietta Middle School last night where all the eighth graders presented their projects. I had the chance to view and evaluate over 30 projects. Some other tips that come to mind:

- Make sure your main point, or what you think the main impact you individual had on history, is clearly on your exhibit.
- Don't assume that the audience knows anything about your topic. Have you clearly explained the context, or the events surrounding your individual.
- Don't get too fancy with your process paper and annotated bibliography. Just staple them together; it's easier to read than fancy book report holders.

For students moving on to Ohio History Day, now is the time to look at your evaluation forms and start revising your project. The work of a historian is never done. When writing a paper or putting together projects, historians revise over and over and over again.

This weekend takes the History Day Expert to Cincinnati for District 8 History Day. Other events going on will be District 3 History Day at the campus of Case Western Reserve University and District 1 on the campus of the University of Toledo.

Best of luck to everyone preparing for the weekend!

2009-03-10T11:14:00.000-04:00

Regional (District) History Day Events

Last weekend was the beginning of our District History Day events in Ohio. Students competed at Colonel White High School in Dayton and the University of Rio Grande for District 9. Congratulations to the students that qualified for Ohio History Day and thanks to all the staff for their hard work.

Some things to remember when competing...

Bring your process paper and annotated bibliography stapled together with a cover page. No fancy report covers needed!

Make sure you're ready to talk about the IMPACT your individual had on history.

Show up on time!!!

Dress professionally....put your best foot forward.

Relax and enjoy the process, you've worked hard, you deserve it.

Coming up this week: District 5 History Day at the Wm. McKinley Presidential Museum and Library, District 7 History Day at Piqua High School, and District 6 History Day at the Ohio Historical Center. Check back for a link to the winners.

2009-03-02T11:44:00.001-05:00

Observations from School History Day Events

In the last two weeks I've visited five school events around the state. There are some comments I'd like to make to the whole group and common questions.

1. Make sure you have a thesis statement that tells your audience WHY your individual is important in history. Once you have a thesis statement, make sure all parts of your project support that thesis. I've seen a lot of biographical information that doesn't really help the audience understand the person's impact on history.

2. Do you place your topic in historical context? Make sure you recognize what may have happened before or after you individual acted that is relevant to your topic. EXAMPLE: Your topic is the Wright Brothers. Your project should address what attempts at flight were going on before the Wright Brothers first flight, and what the ultimate impact of their discovery was (use of airplanes commercially, use of airplanes for travel, use of airplanes in the military...)

3. The process paper is just about process, not a research paper. The process paper is only about four things: How you choose your topic, how you did your research, why you choose your category, and how your topic relates to the theme.

4. Double-check spelling in grammar!

5. Anything listed in the primary source section should be created at the time of the event or by someone who witnessed the event. If you took a picture out of a book, you need cite the book as secondary and explain what you used in the annotation.

Send any questions my way and good luck with final revisions!

2009-02-17T10:03:00.000-05:00

Tips on Putting Projects Together

So this is the time of the year where the rubber really hits the road. Many of you are beginning to have school History Day events. With that, I'd like to provide some tips to creating and revising your projects.

Tip #1: Think Like an Outsider

When you're creating your project remember that you audience may know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about your topic. Approach your project with no assumptions about your audience's prior knowledge. Step back and look at your project: have you given enough background information and context so this makes sense to someone totally outside your project? Does it make sense to your parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents? Is there a story line or narrative that can be followed? Is your thesis or conclusion clear?

In the process of creation, there is a lot of revision. With every research project I've ever done there was a first draft and then many revisions later, a highly improved final draft. Was it ever perfect? NO, but it was definitely better that what I started off with. So let a second set (or third or eighth) of eyes look at your project. You are now so close to this topic that you need some objective advice.

If you do receive feedback from teachers or judges at your school event, use that advice to make your project better before going to your regional (we call them District) History Day. A school event is not just an exercise in due dates and early frustration, but a valuable way to obtain some advice.

Tip #2: Support Your Thesis

Your project, in the end, is really about one thing: your thesis statement or conclusion. Make sure you're not overcrowding your project with information that does not help bring your audience to your conclusion. Conversely, make sure you include enough information. Don't show me a picture of your individual and say by analyzing that picture alone, you can tell that (fill in the blank) was an important individual in history. I would ask you:
How can you tell that? What other evidence do you have to support that conclusion?
Important how?
Just saying someone is important doesn't really mean anything. You need to tell your audience HOW that person made an impact on the world one way or another.

I can't overstress this enough, this year's theme is not about biography, it's about importance or significance in history.

Tip #3: Don't Forget the Process Paper and Annotated Bibliography

While these pieces of paperwork may be extra work, they're worth it. While evaluating projects, the process paper shows the thought and work that was put into a project. The annotated bibliography shows the research. Put some thought into how you talk about the process of creating your project and into your annotations. When I see a skimpy process paper or annotations, it seems like the student(s) was only interested in making a project, but not actually researching or thinking about the history.

Stay tuned for more advice and please don't hesitate to ask questions!