The New Way To Teach American History
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Testimonial by Steve Wiley, president of the
Lincoln Leadership Institute At Gettysburg "The best speaker you've never heard of." ABC News FREE PROGRAM INSPIRES STUDENTS WHO DON'T CARE ABOUT AMERICAN HISTORY
On impulse your students would love a class that doesn't require homework, quizzes, classroom discussion and - ready for this? - even the study of history.
The age-old challenge is how to get kids interested in history, right? You know long narrations and textbooks don't work. Several years ago, I complained to my son's history teacher that he didn't like history. She complained to me that most students don't care to learn history, and teaching to the test was a requirement she resented. There was no incentive to teach history. Something I soon learned from this disturbing article in a New York paper. As a frustrated parent, I decided to do something. I wanted to find out how kids prefer to learn. In other words, what motivates a student to learn anything? The answer was a shock I found in a best-selling book that opened my eyes to this generation of teens: they are preoccupied with texting and watching videos. Like 7 hours a day occupied. My months of research led me to writing an Amazon best-seller of short stories and converting them to video based on an American historical event. These stories generate meaningful life lessons for teens, which I tested on my teenage son and on my 2,700 Facebook followers for two years. I can tell you what a teacher in Minneapolis, Raleigh, and LA said about testing it with their students. The reaction has been nothing short of positive. Instead of creating another one of hundreds of History Channel shows, I used a single event from America's past to convince teenagers that their lives have value and meaning. Right now. I portray the actions of one person in a video, and tell the viewer what lesson can be used from that person's action. In other words, my focus is on what lesson a student can use in her own life that will benefit her personally. A lesson your students can use for personal growth that can last a lifetime. Compare this approach to a textbook... To keep a student's attention, I figured the videos had to answer one self-centered question every teen is asking before entering a history class, "What's in it for me if I learn history?” I came up with a way to teach history that doesn't look like history. Instead, it looks like a character development plan. Or a leadership program. Or, a program to raise everyone's self-esteem. One that just so happens to use an event from America's past. To use this novel approach to history, my requirement was the event had to relate to the everyday experience of each of your students. To get started, I created an ebook whose colorful pages read as long as a text message, and gives the student free and total access to more than 50 Instagram-length videos. And the ebook's title appeals to every student's ego: YOU'RE AWESOME! which you can download here for free. This ebook is not a US History crash course, but a "teaser" for our classroom video series. The series consists of 50 videos, each playing 4 to 7 minutes in duration. You can play one video each morning for 10 weeks, and watch your students request to watch them again and again. Or... You can use this program as a working elective that says “goodbye” to remembering boring facts, dreaded dependency on a textbook, or the frustrating lack of access to primary source documents. To match how teens like to learn anything, I created a series of stories on video from an American historical event that had to generate meaningful life lessons your students can use for personal growth. Imagine an American history classroom discussion that's animated about how to communicate more effectively, how your students can increase their chances for college admission, or how any student can save the life of a desperate classmate. Your students become engaged: the light bulbs are turning on, the barometer of excitement is rising, and the interest level is totally unexpected. How is their reaction making you feel? With rich content, this takes "relevance" to a whole new level, and you have a front row seat to witnessing an increase in the positive self-esteem of your students. With 88 stories, over 200 life-lessons, and a model digital workbook, our course elective will help each of your students discover their own leadership ability, the advantages of a strong character, and the easy steps to their daily success. With this flexible program, you'll answer that nagging question about learning history in a stimulating and brand new way. And you already know that the mind loves novelty. History websites will continue to be useful, and teaching history will be a lot more appealing. You will use video to engage your students because their preferred source of information is video. Now you have a captive audience with this course. How would you like to become the only teacher who makes learning American history emotionally connecting and personally rewarding? And make your elective the favorite of every student? Plus, your students will get an advantage in the college application process. Colleges consider leadership as the #1 quality in applicants. And the college application essays of your students, after taking this course, can prove that they don't have to be a club president or team captain to be a leader. They are already. PROOF: A teacher in Minneapolis will gladly speak with you when you want to know her success with the program. So will a teacher in Los Angeles, and another in Chapel Hill. To get free access to this classroom series, you need to submit the following: 1. Provide evidence in your email submission below that you are a school principal or history teacher; and 2. Provide feedback - positive or negative - within 30 days after your access. Your feedback will guarantee your total and free access for an entire school year. Download the free ebook now to get a small sense of what our approach is, and let's start a conversation on how your school can pick up the program with no risk and no obligation. Send me your email address and click on the bar below. |
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