History Bloggers I follow

At the start of 2015, I was inspired to start blogging, mainly because I couldn't find a good blog that was focused on the teaching of AP World (though there are many excellent blogs by APWH teachers for their students!)  I was hoping to post more often, but as usual, the hectic life of a teacher makes it difficult to post often.  That's just an excuse, and I've been re-invigorated by the #AprilBlogADay movement that is happening on Twitter. Although I can't keep up with blogging every day, I would count pushing out a couple blog posts as a success.  Here is encouragement from the moderator of #AprilBlogADay:

@mrshistorylee @cvarsalona Consuming is the first step! Then creating #satchat
— Chris Crouch (@the_explicator) April 18, 2015

So, in the interest of "consuming", I wanted to provide some great blogs to follow.  As internet resources and social media has exploded over the last decades, it's sometimes difficult to sift through all the resources out there that would help APWH teachers in particular.  I've tried to start a Twitter chat #WHAPchat with limited success, and the APWH History Teacher's Facebook Group is an amazing resource for anyone teaching the course, still I was hoping for some deeper interaction over the pedagogy and teaching of world history.

Here is a compilation of links and blogs that have helped me grow as an APWH teacher.  It's not exhaustive in the least, so please let me know if you have a great blog for me to add to my collection.


Blogs/Wikis I follow: **UPDATED**

Paperless History by Bram Hubbell @bramhubbell
http://paperlesshistory.com
A recognized leader in the circles of World History, Bram is a self-professed history geek.  I've gotten to know Bram through the AP World reading and he will be my go-to person when it comes to issues of teaching world history.   He just launched the Paperless History blog this year, and already I can tell that it will be a favorite of mine.

AP World History Teacher by Jonathan Henderson
http://apworldhistoryteacher.com/about-this-blog/
Long-time AP World History teacher who started a blog in the May of 2015 to help support and supplement the work that he does with AP World summer institute participants.  Jonathan is someone who has been on my radar for awhile, since he managed the two websites that were very useful to AP World History teachers: www.historyhaven.com and www.apworldipedia.com
 I'm glad to see another blog devoted to AP World history teaching!

On Top of the World History Podcast by Dave Eaton @dave_the_prof and Matt Drwenski @drwenski
http://www.ontopoftheworldhistory.com/
World History professor Dave Eaton and former secondary school teacher Matt Drwenski pair up to discuss various issues in teaching world history through their podcast, and accompanying materials.  They have a great energy on their podcast, dealing with relevant issues,  and provide and evaluate resources for the teaching of world history.

World History Educator's Blog by George Coe @ggcoe and Ken Halla @kenhalla http://worldhistoryeducatorsblog.blogspot.com/
I "discovered" this blog last year and signed up to get their email notifications last year.  I was excited to "meet" George through Twitter this winter and love all the great resources that he posts to his blog as he curates things off the web and off Twitter. 

Resources for History Teachers
http://resourcesforhistoryteachers.wikispaces.com/AP+World+History
This wiki was started by Prof. Bob Maloy from UMass/Amherst who had started this wiki many years ago, utilizing the work of his students to give them resources to start their career as history teachers.  A few years ago, he had also started one focused for APWH.  I have contributed (minimally) and it's a nice resources to have at hand for any history/SS educator.

Jay Harmon's APWH website:
He is the pioneer in putting together something for History teachers even before there was blogging, or internet even.  He was also the first moderator of the beloved AP World Listserve before our beloved Monty Armstrong -- of course, it's Jay Harmon.  Although this doesn't count as a blog, per se, it is updated and has links that cut through most of the junk that is out there:  http://harmonhistory.com/apwh.html

History ReWriter by Scott M. Petri @scottmpetri
http://historyrewriter.com/
I also "met" Scott online through Twitter, and his blog is dedicated to helping history teachers become writing teachers. He recognized that most history educators are not given the specific training to be writing teachers (that's usually given to ELA teachers).  Besides this site, he also ran a MOOC that focused on training history teachers to teach writing.

Time Traveling Teacher by Ben Brazeau @Braz74
http://timetravelingteach.weebly.com/
Ben is the moderator for #sstlap (Social Studies Teach Like A Pirate) chat that happens on Thursday evenings at 9 pm EST.  He is an innovative teacher that has a real passion for integrating technology and pedagogy. 

A History Teacher's Tool Belt @MSHistoryTeache
https://davidqua17.wordpress.com/about/
Although this is by a MS teacher, the organization of the blog and the discussions of pedagogy makes this a great blog to visit!

Musings on History and Education by Michael Milton @42ThinkDeep
http://michaelkmilton.com/

The Bridge Project:  
https://historybridgeproject.wordpress.com/
Bringing high school and college history teachers together to talk shop -- what a great idea!  I get to do that every year when I go to the APWH reading.

Histocrats Bookshelf for history enthusiasts and educators @histocrats
http://thehistocratsbookshelf.blogspot.com/
Some great resources posted. 

Sokoscart by Dave Sokoloff @davesokoloff
https://sokoscart.wordpress.com/
A fellow APWH teacher that reflects on different approaches to content and pegagogy in his APWH classroom. 

Something Pinteresting for AP World

Two years ago, my school librarian introduced me to PINTEREST, and I have been pretty hooked ever since.  There's something about the visual and social aspect of this digital bookmarking site that captured me in a way that Delicious and Diigo never did.  I hadn't really considered using it for curating teaching material, but then started to realize that I had quite a bit in my Board entitled "AP World," but it was overflowing in a way that made it difficult to utilize.  Finally, I decided to split the boards up into the 6 APWH Periods, and then had boards dedicated to Primary Sources (for DBQ building), CCOT and C&C.  I had built a small following, mostly of other history teachers, and even had someone come up to me at the AP Reading last year and tell me that they loved my boards. Wow, I did not know I could be a minor Pinterest celeb! 

This summer, while I spent almost the whole of it in Asia, we had very limited access to social media networks such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter due to The Great Firewall so most of my downtime on my phone was devoted to browsing and adding links to my Pinterest boards.   I also created a board entitled "Study Tips" that would be directed at my students, many who would enter my class with mediocre study habits, so this is the place I would point them when they meet with me about how to do better on exams.  You can follow them all, or just follow select ones.

Visit Angela's profile on Pinterest.
There are many other terrific Pinners out there devoted to AP World curation, all of whom I follow regularly to glean more links.  This is not at all exhaustive, and is in no particular order:
Sonya Sullivan: http://www.pinterest.com/sonyaann1974/
Annette Parker: http://www.pinterest.com/kachinacloud/
Pamela Hammond: http://www.pinterest.com/pamelahammond/
Beverly Bushell:  http://www.pinterest.com/mamabooshell/
Jennifer Mitchell:  http://www.pinterest.com/peabodyjen/
Maureen Landwehr: http://www.pinterest.com/maureenlandwehr/
Dawn Rohm: http://www.pinterest.com/dido227/ap-world/
Kevin Zahner:  https://www.pinterest.com/ZahnerHistory/