WBUR: Irish Archeologists Search For Their Countrymen In Lowell

Here is another archetypical story for Making Class Relevant.  Here is the introduction:


Blame it on Indiana Jones and King Tut.

When we think archeology, we think relics of the distant past, guys in pith helmets traveling to far-off lands, and unearthing objects from a millennia of dirt and sand. In reality, archeology is often more recent and closer to home. It goes wherever the mystery is.

Exactly!  Students uncovering history!  The students profiled in this story were in our classrooms only a few years ago and now they are active historians.  This story is a great resource for those studying immigration, archeology, and the relevance of history.

Here is the link to the story and original audio:


http://www.wbur.org/2010/08/20/lowell-dig

NPR: Unearthed Ship In NYC Offers Clues Of Colonial Life

I will probably use this story as part of one of my first lessons this year.  This story exemplifies the premise of this blog  - it puts history into the news, reveals the work that historians and their students are doing, and therefore brings life 300 years ago directly into the classroom.

With stories like this, history simply stops being static, fixed, and seemingly irrelevant.
  

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129175643&sc=fb&cc=fp