Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Mining the Past {Thanks Adam Sandler}

I spend my workdays mining the past for inspiration.  I constantly read books, look at photos, listen to music, and have conversations about what came before.  And I get paid by the state to try and translate my passion for the past into a liberal arts education for high school kids.   It is an amazing life for me, and I am grateful.
But lately, it is my youngest son who is showing me just how powerful the past can be as a tool of inspiration.
He has become obsessed with early eighties culture...

It started with our family recently seeing the movie Pixels.  This Adam Sandler vehicle is the story of adults who are called in by the President to help fight aliens who have attacked the world using video game characters from the early eighties.  The story goes that, as children in the eighties, these adults were the "world champions" of games like Pac-Man, Centipede, and Donkey Kong.  Hoping that their childhood skills will be the secret to success - they lead the attack.

Watching this movie, especially the scenes that take place in 1983, was an absolute revelation for both of my boys - but especially for Avery.  They had been inspired by movies before, especially by the historical scenes in Mr. Peabody and Sherman), but this time was different.  On the drive home, They simply could not stop asking questions about these old Atari games.  Within a week, both boys bought a jean jacket, and now Avery's favorite song is Surrender by Cheap Trick (which was first released in 1978, and opens the movie).  We have it on vinyl at our house, and he played it 12 times in a row yesterday...12 times.  In reward for having good weeks at school, all he wants to do is go to the Asheville Pinball Museum, because they have a backroom that is filled with eighties video games.  He asks constantly which games I was good at, and how, exactly, my older brother flipped Frogger (which he did, and it was amazing).

For me,  I was alive in 1983, and thus I remember all of these cultural things.  But for him, all of this is brand new.  And it is inspiring him to try these "new" things.  Because of Surrender, he wants to learn to play the drums.  Though he is not much of a fan of writing outside of school - he recently wrote, illustrated, and colored an entire book on the video games of the early 80's, completely on his own volition.  Both of my kids want to ride their bikes around the neighborhood freely, "like the kids did in the eighties.." We have 20 minute conversations about what it was like to go to an arcade at the mall.

And it occurs to me that this is why historical curiosity is incredible.  Some argue that we study history so that, "we are not condemned to repeat the past." And in some cases, that is certainly true.  But most of the time, our studying history is totally about repeating the past - or at least finding inspiration in it.  We WANT to emulate the bravery of Martin Luther King Jr.  We WANT to design buildings like Frank Lloyd Wright.  We WANT to skateboard like Tony Hawk.  So, the first step is to be introduced to this greatness.

And it seems that Pixels (as bad of a movie as it probably is) -  did the job perfectly.

Thanks, Adam Sandler.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Using Whatever's Lying Around

In her new book Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, (which you should immediately read) Sarah Vowell briefly describes how she (an art history major) goes about writing history books.

"Having studied art history, as opposed to political history, I tend to incorporate found objects into my books. Just as Pablo Picasso glued a fragment of furniture onto the canvas of Still Life with Chair Caning, I like to use whatever's lying around to paint pictures of the past - traditional pigment like archival documents but also the added texture of whatever bits and bobs I learn from looking out bus windows or chatting up the people I bump into on the road."

She gives voice to my approach in teaching stories of the past. Though I use traditional sources like books, research, and academic journals - I mostly love to talk about history through the prism of music, artists, popular movies, coffee consumption, punk rock,  jokes, Star Wars characters, and the English Premiere League. I will pull every string, and look under every stone to find a connection between the past and our modern lives (however ridiculous) - and the fact is that my life experience, and particular interests, are typically the low hanging fruit for connectivity is just the lay of the land..

As a teacher, my personal life experience (and interests) should not be denied, but should be used as much as a possible as a direct line of connection between history and student learning. When Simon Bolivar reminds me of my uncle, I share this with the students - explaining the personality traits of both.

And when we are studying the Hanseatic League, and looking at an image of the German city of Lubeck, and a student points out that it resembles the opening to the TV show "The Office," I run with it. 

In discussing Kublai Khan's ancient palace of Xanadu, I cue up Olivia Newton John's 1980 hit of the same name.

While discussing the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate, a student questions the background of ISIS - so we run with it, looking up information and unpacking it together.

The Young Turks of the Ottoman Empire?  I play Rod Stewart's 1981 hit, "Young Turks," though it has no relation...


But it has every relation!  It provides another source of connection between ourselves, and our past, which is often good enough.  Just because Young Turks is a pretty bad eighties song doesn't mean it can not provide a service for our interest  in history.  If nothing else, we at least get to have a discussion about Rod's hair styling choices, and that terrible guitar solo.....  

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Silk Road {Time Lapse}

Studying ancient world trade networks remains one of my favorite topics to introduce and discuss with students.  The constant exchange of cultures, and subsequent syncretism that has occurred to create a whole new world of culture is fascinating to me.

This time lapse video does a great job of encapsulating the journey, and the energy of the world's oldest trade route....



Timelapses from the Silk Road from Chris Northey on Vimeo.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Lets. Do. This. {Back to School Edition}

The. Greatest. Tour. Guide. Ever. at Independence Hall. 
Every year around this time I get the itch. And the itch is for a return to the palpable kinetic energy of a high school classroom. My summer was amazing, as I was able to make more meaningful memories with my family and friends. That, and spending most of these past two months outdoors is just the thing to get my psyche back in balance. But as August dawns, I once again feel the drum beat of teaching nudging me. 


I am optimistic that I am in store for another amazing year. I can not wait to meet new kids, and get to know their families. I am excited about wrestling with new ideas, and hearing new music ( a huge benefit to teaching teenagers).   And I am excited about planning another field trip in May, taking us somewhere in America - just like Chicago and Philadelphia before. These kids are inspirational, and always help me grow. 

As always, I will try to mix things up this year.  Between the content, projects, and essays - I am always looking for something new.  For instance, in an effort to inspire more curiosity from new angles - my first semester AP World History class will (hopefully) be completing a class read with a fantastic book The History of the World in Six Glasses.  This book attempts to tell " the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the 21st century through the lens of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola."  In addition, we may take another opportunity to work with UNC Chapel Hill"s Center for International Understanding program, working with a class of high school students in India - something that inspired us all last year.


But mostly, each year I simply become more fully aware that teaching is my passion.  So, I can not wait to get back in the saddle.  I am even excited about grading essays....almost.

Let's.  Do.  This.  

Friday, August 7, 2015

The Problem That We All Live With (Should Schools Integrate?)


In teaching American history, my classes spend a lot of time attempting to gain a more complete understanding of  a variety of supreme court cases.  A few of these cases concern school integration - and I often feel that my educational experience can help shed light on the topic.

As a kid, I grew up in a city (Winston-Salem, NC) that had mandatory busing to integrate the schools. (This was court ordered as a result of the supreme court case Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System in 1970).  The system looked like this: I attended an elementary school that was in the suburbs, where I lived.  African-American kids from the inner city took a 45 minute bus ride out to our school.   For middle school, it was me ( and other suburban white kids) who had the long bus ride to the inner city.  Then, we all returned to the suburbs for high school.  Overall, this system succeeded in integrating our schools.  Until my final years in high school, I never knew that many places in America had an educational experience without mandatory busing.

Since the mid nineties, most cities (including Winston-Salem) have abandoned mandatory busing in favor of magnet school programs - simply allowing for family choice in schools (In Winston-Salem, this has essentially resegregated the public schools there - where one elementary school is almost 100% African-American and Latino, with 98% free/reduced lunch - and another is 88% white, with 15% free/reduced lunch). In addition, school systems are trying numerous strategies to combat the massive gap in test scores between minorities and white students.

The NPR podcast This American Life recently took on crucial questions about our school integration experiment of the 1980s, including:
  • Was it successful?  
  • Did mandatory integration of public schools help close the achievement gap between minorities and white kids?  
  • Is it still necessary to make sure kids of different races attend school together?
As a product of this integration experiment, I applaud TAL for their willingness to wrestle with such a complicated topic.
Click here to hear the podcast The Problem That We All Live With




Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Kendrick Lamar {comes to your school}

This is rad.  Just a public school teacher...doing whatever it takes (via NPR).
Bravo.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

The City of Brotherly Love {Smells like Teen Spirit}

 Every time I travel with my teenage students, it reignites the fire inside of me to be a teacher.  Don't get me wrong, adults are fantastic, and having my wife along on this particular trip was especially incredible.  But travelling with that teenage spirit of curiosity, wonderment, and insatiable energy is second to none....


Making the decision to take our high school kids to different cities throughout the USA easily ranks as one of the top five greatest decisions of my teaching career.  I have written (and reflected) about these trip before, but suffice to say that this particular trip to Philadelphia only confirmed my feelings.



These kids rarely see boundaries to their world, and most are just impatient to experience it.   So, when we take 74 of them to the fifth largest city in America, it can feel nerve racking.  But it is simultaneously exhilarating - and always helps me see these cities with fresh eyes. So, though their impatience can often lead to recklessness - it also leads to greatness, and definitely leads to adventure.

And we all learn so much about ourselves, as well as each other. From walking the Gettysburg battlefield, to riding bikes through downtown Philadelphia, to learning to use selfie sticks - or even carrying the heavy emotional weight of the Holocaust museum - we are all better for it.

I just hope that the kids got as much out of this trip as I did.


Sunday, April 26, 2015

Best Of WNC (NBHS)


Hey guys - If you get a chance, follow the link below and write in North Buncombe High School for "Best School" (It is in the Kids section)


Vote HERE for NBHS!

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Armenian Genocide {1915}

100 years ago this month, the world was deeply engaged in World War I.  Numerous atrocities occurred throughout that conflict - but did the collapsing Ottoman Empire commit genocide on the Armenians in 1915?

The government of Turkey says "No."

Everyone else says "Yes."

Listen HERE to a short NPR story on the controversy...

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Philadelphia: The Pizza Shop That Pays It Forward {a new goal}

73 of us are traveling to Philadelphia in May.  I did not think I could be more excited about spending 4 days on the road with my incredible students, in the "city of brotherly love."

But after watching this video, it is clear that I am now Way. More. Excited.

I think I am looking forward to buying a sticky note more than any other thing now...I have a new goal.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Teaching and Learning {through the camera lens}

Chicago Field Trip Photo, Spring 2014
I took my first photography class in the 1994 school year. I had planned much of my senior year of high school around this particular class, due to my excitement. I decided NOT to take AP European history that year, so that I could dedicate two periods of every school day towards learning the art of photography.


It is a decision that I am grateful for making, because seeing the world  through a camera lens has enriched my life beyond measure. My teacher, Ms. Jones was one of the greatest teachers of my life.  She was creative, personable, and a great photographer.  We spent 3 hours a day learning about composition, darkroom methods, and how to use a manual camera.  We started the class by making our own pinhole cameras, and working to develop our first photographs.  Seeing my own pictures develop, taken with a camera that I made - was a revelation for me.

My favorite moments of that class were the photo field trips.  Just for the opportunity to find photographs in new environments, she took us to the NC Zoo, downtown Winston-Salem, etc. As a traveler, those trips have shaped my inherit lust for new places, and photographs.  These photography trips helped motivate me to create big field trip for my students - where we can have an opportunity to experience new places. And with the advent of digital photography, and the
 accessibility of InstagramVSCOcam, and other such photography apps - all of the students are constantly taking photographs anyway.  Plus, we have simplified, and moved the darkroom skills to the iPhone - and it is amazing.  As a result, most all of us walk around with a camera (and a darkroom) constantly in hand.  It allows for more photographs, and this constant access encourages us to see the world with new eyes - 
Grove Arcade, downtown Asheville

As a teacher, I learned so much from Ms. Jones and that photography class.  Mostly, I learned that great teaching is truly about instilling curiosity, passion, and enough chops to be able to pursue it. She accomplished that with me, and I have seen the world through a camera lens most of the time since.

So I am grateful for everything about photography, as it continues to help me appreciate and find the beauty in my everyday surroundings.  But it also allows for my students to have a tool for inspiration, while trying to better understand their world. 

Thanks for lighting the fire, Ms. Jones!

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Congo -The Brutal History



 Studying the global history era of 1750 - 1900, it is almost impossible to truly wrap our heads around the insanity that is the Conference of Berlin.  Often called the "scramble for Africa," it was a series of meetings in which the men who led the European nations decided the future of the African continent.  In effort to extract wealth and raw materials - they used a map of Africa, and systematically divided up the entire continent for their own domination - with only Liberia and Ethiopia excluded.

No man better illustrates this historic injustice than King Leopold II of Belgium.  (King Leopold's Ghost is an incredible book on the topic).  He took the Congo not for Belgium - but as his own personal property.

It is moments like these that make me proud to be a teacher of history...so that we can learn from our past (no matter how horrifying), and (hopefully) truly improve the human experience.

The BBC's video above does an excellent job with the topic...

Friday, February 6, 2015

NC Public Schools are Not Failing

If one is not careful, you could start to believe that NC public schools are terrible.  Almost daily, someone writes the mantra that "our schools are broken," by using test scores, and other academic data to chastise our public schools.

In reality, here in North Carolina - our public schools are not failing.  Our schools are working harder than ever before to educate our citizenry....and they are succeeding.

The problem that most public schools face is that they are...well..public.  By its very definition, public means "of, or concerning the people, as a whole." Public schools educate the people, as a whole...all of them. That's right - we educate everyone.  And thus, our schools most often reflect the communities in which we serve (for better or for worse). Just this week, in an effort to prove that all schools are not performing equally - the state of North Carolina released its "Report Card grades" for every public school. The results were predictable...Schools with a high level of poverty (best identified by free/reduced lunch numbers) received the bulk of the Ds and Fs. Schools with more affluent populations of students received the As and Bs...Why?

If our communities are full of poverty, gang violence, and drug abuse - then our schools will reflect that reality.  If our communities are full of educated professionals, high incomes, and country club memberships - then our schools will reflect that as well.  Students do not check their home lives at the door of public schools.  Poverty matters...a lot.

But if our schools are merely a mirror held up to our local society, what is the point? What is the role of the public school in our community?  The role of the public school is not to simply reflect the realities of the community, but to constantly attempt to shape the community through education.

A public school is not unlike a local hospital (stick with me here...).  The hospital must serve its community by healing the sick, and providing proactive services to the public - so that others remain well.  Some hospitals spend most of their time and energy dealing with emergencies - others with plastic surgeries, and still others deal mostly with heart disease.  Each hospital must serve their community, based on what their community most needs.  And if the hospital can better serve by encouraging changes (possibly in lifestyles, drug use, etc) in their patients, then the hospital must be able (and willing) to do that as well.   Thus. every hospital will inevitably act both as a reflection of its community, and a positive force for change in that community.  But either way - the hospital must meet its community where it is, not introduce a "one size fits all" model that would often fail to meet their specific needs.

Similarly, the public school must serve the people by improving their ability to learn, create, and grow - and by protecting the general public from ignorance, and lack of innovation.  In order to do this most effectively, each public school must meet the needs of their community first.  If students do not feel safe, the public school must make safety a priority before any real education will occur.  If students already feel safe and secure - we expect the school to shift its priorities to other aspects of education.
Which means that each school looks different - because each school serves a different community.  If food security is an issue, the school must step in to feed the student.  If a community has a larger population of students with special needs, then the public school will have to adjust its teaching positions and resources to better serve these children.  And if most students in the community have ambitions of attending a four year university, the school will adjust to provide more Advanced Placement classes.

And in every one of the above circumstances, the public school must educate and transform its students.  The public school is a major force for change in the community- creating more literate children, giving access to new technologies, and instilling curiosity and balance.  And the public school must accomplish this one student at a time - one community at a time.  And that takes time to accomplish.

But it is worth it.  And it is happening.  If you walk into almost any public school you will witness this amazing scene, as you watch the school both reflect and change the communities in which it serves.
We are currently comparing our public schools by using standardized test scores (80% of the report card grade), which is helpful and often necessary.  But if a student is unaware how he will get his next meal, he will almost always perform poorly on a test.  Poverty matters.

Are we comparing academic performance, or are we simply comparing our socio-economic communities? Do we compare hospitals by how many of their patients die of heart disease? Or by how many of their patients are smokers?  Do we compare rural fire departments to urban departments, based on how many lives they rescue in any given month?

No, because we recognize that each of these individual institutions has different needs to serve, in different communities.   We simply ask, "are they serving their communities well",

Our public schools are serving our communities well, but that service never looks the same.


Thursday, January 29, 2015

Countries according to Population {NPR}

This is a really interesting article (from the brilliant minds at NPR)  on what countries would look like, if we scaled each of them according to population....

Click on this link right here.



Thursday, January 8, 2015

Philadelphia (Here We Come...)

We are taking another amazing field trip in May, but this time it is to...Philadelphia.

Of my most passionate interests, the top five absolutely includes: History, the Outdoors, and Travel.  I have written before about how much I love to combine these interests into synergistic, amazing, and meaningful experiences - and the Philadelphia trip is on point to deliver just that.
I mean, check out this itinerary:


  • We tour the Gettysburg battlefield, eat Philly cheesesteaks, take a river tour, and see the Liberty Bell. 
  • We will catch a Phillies game, ride bikes and subways, and see great public art at Love park.
  • We will go into Independence Hall, run the (like Rocky Balboa) the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and stroll down the oldest alley in America.
  • We will stop for a day in Washington DC, explore the National Mall, visit the US Holocaust Museum, and get our (authentic) grub on in China Town.  

And I will get to do this with other great teachers, my wife, and 75 ecstatic teenagers - who are capable of anything.  And I have no idea what is going to happen in between the sights of Philadelphia - but I know that it will be a grand adventure.  And we will learn.  And we will grow.  And we will never forget it.

Featured Post

What is Punk Rock Pedagogy?

The most valuable preparation that I ever received for teaching history in a public high school was from punk rock bands.  Growing up in Win...