Hmm. It was actually pretty hard work to keep going all day and night at Disneyland the last couple of days. We managed, but we were definitely wiped out when we came home. As you might expect, the kids had a blast.

On our first official family vacation in a year and the first in which we stayed in a hotel (instead of with family), we spent two long days at Disneyland and California Adventure. I am impressed with how sophisticated Anaheim and Disneyland have become. That is certainly a city that has grown up around a single attraction.

While I was moderately disappointed with California Adventure, I was impressed with the multimedia presentations. The Bugs Life movie was 3D, had smells shot at you (by a stink bug), it sprayed you with acid (water) and filled the room with fog, and had seats that stung (gently poked) you. Very cool. There was also an interactive presentation with Crush, the turtle from Finding Nemo. He was on a big screen, talked to the kids and parents, answered questions, and taught my kids to say dude. These were certainly a couple of my highlights.

I did ride the California Screamin' coaster only a few hours before it crashed. That would have been a bummer. Didn't even know it had even happened until we got home.

When I started teaching world history seven years ago my course was anything but a world history class. Western Civilization dominated the curriculum. The only time I talked about Africa or Asia was in the context of European imperialism. This was partly due to the teachers I was drawing from, part from my own education, and part from the California world history standards. To be honest I never really thought much about it. After all, when I was in high school I only learned about Western Civ and we only got to the early 1800's. Now I was bringing my students through World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. I was giving them understanding of the modern world - something I had to learn in college.

I did attempt to give the other perspective at times. For a few years I had the students read Things Fall Apart - a great book about Nigeria on the eve of colonialism. Many of the students enjoyed it, I loved it. Eventually I cut it from the regular world history when I started teaching humanities.

It finally clicked while I was putting together my curriculum for a small publishing company. When I was finished I had to align it to the state standards of Texas, Florida, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Some of the other states actually had a world world history class. In order to make my course more marketable, the publisher asked me to expand the curriculum materials to include a more worldview. For the next two years I read fiction and non-fiction about Africa, Asia, and Latin America. As a result, I found a new passion for history. One that looked at the bigger picture of the world, one that examined how different cultures have interacted and how those interactions have changed the world around them.

While still not exactly where I want it, my world history curriculum is now more reflective of a real world history - despite the standards. I republished the original curriculum as Western Civilization and the changed curriculum was published as Modern World History.

With the start of the upcoming school year, I will be teaching AP World History. This is a break from the traditional sophomore AP history class, European History. When I began considering taking on an AP class I realized that I no longer was interested in AP United States History and I was never interested in AP Euro. Econ and government are not even on my radar. Then a friend started talking up AP World. When I looked into it, I realized it was perfect, it fit my new view of history. Luckily my school and department chair were very supportive of the change.

One veteran AP Euro teacher condemned my selection by arguing that AP World was the most politically correct course that focuses too much time on topics like African tribalism while glossing over key European events like the Renaissance and Reformation. I responded that this class is important because of the current state of the world. We have young men and women fighting in two places that have ties to ancient civilization, the spread of Islam, and modern tensions. China is rising and will be our next major rival. Shouldn't our students, especially our most advanced students, learn about these places? Do they really need more Europe? Plus, it's not like I won't teach the Renaissance and Reformation, I just won't spend a month on them and I will tie them into the events that were occurring in the rest of the world.

As this course takes shape I will no doubt have more to reflect on...

Just finished the Kite Runner. An amazing book. A must read for any world history teacher, and anybody else who wants to gain some insight into the troubled Afghanistan. In the face of the debacle that is Iraq, it seems we have collectively and nationally forgotten about the first country we invaded after September 11, though this one was truly justified. This book brings you through the heartache that the people of Afghanistan have experienced from the Russian invasion to the Taliban. Plus it tells a story that is compelling. It attacks Islamic fundamentalism (the Taliban) while showing moderate Islam as a religion of faith. This book should do more for understanding Afghanistan then any CNN or Fox news report.

While I don't read as much as I would like (kids, graduate school, teaching...), this book is right up there as one of my recent favorites with Life of Pi and Year of Wonders.

Funny how we love our brandnames. My kids can spot a Starbucks at a hundred yards, know that good computers have an apple on them, and the little white iPod is very cool. I just hope the values I pass on keep them away from walmart, windows, and country music. No offense anyone.

It's been a while since I showed off my kids.

When I decided to become a teacher, I had a vision. United States history, ideally AP United States history. I was after all, a United States history major in college, of the 20+ history courses that I took, only 3 or 4 were non-American (and those were European). So when I was first hired into the social studies department I was very disappoint to have to teach geography while the other two teachers hired at the same time DID get to teach US history. Bummer.

The next year I was able to replace the geography with world history. At least I didn't have to teach freshmen any longer and I could actually teacher history. Finally three years later, a single US history section opened up. It was an amazing year. I pulled out all my old college notes, found some great projects, and created a solid course. Plus, I had what was probably my best group of students ever. These 35 or so juniors were significantly more mature then my other four sections of world history, would discuss the material everyday, and it became the favorite part of my day. The next year I got two sections of US history and I had another good year.

Then, an English teacher and myself dreamed up a humanities program. We would block the kids together, team-teach it, and run a truly interdisciplinary program. However, while this was one of my dream goals, we had to do with sophomores, so I reluctantly gave up the juniors and settled back into a day full of sophomores and world history. Now the first year of the humanities program was amazing. It was probably the best teaching year I ever had, in part due to a great group of kids and the way in which the English teacher and I work together.

Two years later, after a less successful second round, the English teacher left to further her education. Instead of re-working the curriculum with someone different (this woman and I had gone to the same high school and had a similar philosophy on teaching the course), I dropped it, under the pre-tense that if she returns we will start it back up (don't think that is going to happen).

I pushed hard for US history again and was able to get it - two sections to balance out my four sections of world history (I taught 6/5's which is considered overtime). Then over the course of the school year I realized that I had changed. Over the past few years I have really tried to expand my most Euro-centric world history class (California standards) into the rest of world. Most of the books I've read over the past three or four years, both fiction and non-fiction, have about non-European cultures. While I enjoyed the students in my US history classes a bit more because they were older, I found that it was the world history content that was grabbing me. My interest in US history has waned, in fact, I found myself almost bored with the details of the revolutionary war, events leading to the Civil War, and the Depression. These were eras that ten years ago I found fascinating.

All of this is strange to me. I dreamed of teaching US history, in part because I rejected European history. I never loved European history. I enjoyed some of the eras, but always felt it was, well, too Eurocentric. Then, despite 19 years of formal education, I discovered there was a world outside of America and Europe that had a rich history even when Europeans weren't there.

Part 2 coming soon.

For the first time ever, I am actually attending a summer workshop. Since finishing my student teaching now ten years ago, I have taught or helped teach a summer technology workshop for teachers every year but one. Now, I'm still doing the tech workshop in a couple weeks, but this week, I get to be the student.

After two days of an AP World History institute with three more to go, I can honestly say I'm overwhelmed. Teaching college prep is no where close to an AP level class. And while I was a honors student in high school, taking the highest classes offered, my high school only offered a single AP class in English (15 years ago). I predict that I will be working a lot this school year (throw in 6 units of graduate work, comps, and the family).

More later.