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By Ms. G, January 26, 2020 7:26 pm

From https://www.researchgate.net/figure/This-map-of-the-North-Atlantic-regions-shows-the-location-of-the-Norse-Eastern-and_fig4_254862418

What do these animals have in common?

reindeer, gannet, orca, Arctic fox, walrus, seal, eider duck, storm petrel, sea otters, gyr falcon

As the Vikings made the journey from their Scandinavian homelands they came into contact with forms of nature that they hunted and made use of, not always killing animals.

As they made their way from 800 t0 1000 CE, jump by jump, across the North Atlantic – Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Vinland (Newfoundland) – they learned from nature, profited from it for trade purposes, and survived because of it.

Walrus tusk ivory from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/greenland-vikings-got-wealthy-walrus-tusks-180969962/

We don’t usually think of the Vikings as doing anything other than raiding. Natural history reminds us that humans cannot survive without nature. PBS’ long-running program Nature does an excellent job of reinforcing this timely truth.

Inside NATURE: Making of Wild Ways of the Vikings (6 mins)

Reindeer cyclone – incredible to watch!

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By Ms. G, September 2, 2019 2:58 pm

Hello new students. I’m Ms. Gluskin, your World History teacher.

Ms. G in Hagersville, Ontario on her recent bike trip.

I like history, horses (I am a wannabe dressage rider), cats (I have two), bike-riding (only in the summer), and reading (mostly non-fiction). I am married to a wonderful guy named Val. I do not have a smartphone. Yes, you read that correctly.

This is Shadow. There are plenty of pictures of my other cat, Richard, on this blog so I won’t put one here.

I usually try to think of something interesting for students to do to introduce themselves to me rather than the standard questionnaire.

This year I’m going to try a new activity. First, I’d like you to pick a website or YouTube video related to history (a time or place you’re interested in). Then, I’d like you to mull over why you think this site or video is (or is not) reliable.

Be prepared to discuss it tomorrow.

That’s it. See you in class tomorrow.

Ms. G

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By Ms. G, January 19, 2019 3:29 pm

Thanks everyone. We had some ups and downs but you were a fun bunch.

Thanks for putting giraffe in the photo!

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By Ms. G, February 18, 2018 6:48 pm

History is not dead. Consider these recent articles about new discoveries.

Maya

Toronto Star via AP

A new mapping technique is being used to find large structures hidden in the jungle where archaeologists didn’t know they existed in Guatemala. Perhaps up to 10 million people lived there.

Egypt

Discovery of a new 3400 years old tomb in Egypt from the 18th dynasty (my personal favourite dynasty).

National Geographic, AP photo by NARIMAN EL-MOFTY

Indigenous Canada

A new map of Turtle Island – pre-contact Canada – is being constructed. What did it look like, map-wise, from an Indigenous perspective, without modern political boundaries and things imposed by the colonizers? This is a very exciting project!

Maybe Paleo was better?

Moving to a settled, farming way of life, the people of Catalhoyuk gave up something – their health. This way of life was difficult but it was unlikely they’d go back to their hunter-gatherer way, ironically, because they had built up their possessions.

Reconstruction of the interior of a home at Catalhoyuk from http://www.catalhoyuk.com/site/architecture

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By Ms. G, June 6, 2017 8:42 pm

Our man Akhenaten – remember – tyrant or visionary? – is in the news a lot lately.

Read this interesting article on archaeological excavations at Amarna, Akhenaten’s capital, suggesting that child labour was used to build the new city.

Here are some other interesting Akhenaten links:

The Lost City of Akhenaten (CNRNews – 3D models of buildings in the city)

Meet King Tut’s Father, Egypt’s First Revolutionary (National Geographic – amazing photos, including the one below of a skull with preserved hair)

When are people going to stop referring to him as Tut’s father? Tut should be Akhenaten’s son!

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By Ms. G, January 31, 2017 10:14 pm

Hello everyone, welcome to my class, whether you’re in CHW3M or CHY4U, a new student, or familiar with my ways. I’m really looking forward to a good semester: Lots of thinking and exploring. Normally, I’d have students write a profile of themselves. I’m dispensing with that in favour of something new. We’ll see how it goes – it’s okay to experiment.

New Intro to You

I’d like you to go through my blog and find something you can identify with (search the lists of recent posts and archives on the right, or just keep scrolling down and hitting ‘older’) for a post that you like, a book review of a book that sounds good, a pic of a class, whatever. Just send me a comment on that post and tell me why you like it, or what it makes you think about, or what you’re hoping for in this class. I’ll leave it open ended. Just make sure it’s more than a couple of sentences – let’s put some thought into this, please.

Or, If You Don’t Like That Idea

If that’s not to your taste, write me a short email telling me which historical time period you think you would have liked to live in. My email is risa@cabal.org or risa.gluskin@tdsb.on.ca

My answer is below.

Ms. G: My Time 

Believe it or not, I have given a great deal of thought to this question: if I had to live in another time period, which would it be? The catch is that I’d have to be of the time period, I couldn’t be presentist about it and say that I wouldn’t have liked to live in Tudor England because the technology was so low. I wouldn’t have known about Netflix and email at that time. So I couldn’t have missed it.

Though the technology would be different, another catch is that my personality would be similar to the way it is now. I’m not a very social person, I think a lot, I am rather moderate with the occasional radical thought. These things matter when I’m thinking about time periods. I would have been okay in the first phase of the French Revolution, expectant with change! However, in the Terror I wouldn’t have liked the extremism and would definitely have feared the guillotine.

Though I absolutely love studying ancient Egypt, I’m not sure I would have made it in that civilization; I’m an atheist and wouldn’t have had the personality for joining into the state religion. However, if I were an ordinary farmer I might have been just fine doing my thing and living my relatively good life along the banks of the Nile, especially as a woman.

I don’t think I’d have made a good Roman or Greek either. As a woman in ancient Greece, I probably would have had some complaints about how much I contributed to my society but how little I was valued for it.  The Roman blood lust just wouldn’t have been acceptable to me. I’d have winced at gladiator shows.

A very appealing possibility is living in Florence or Venice during the Renaissance: so much creative license and artistic expression. Still a lot of religion though.

I guess I have to come to some kind of final decision here. Being who I am, I probably would have done best in the 1960s somewhere like Berkeley or San Francisco. It was a time of change and freedom. Young people were standing up for their beliefs, challenging society to become more progressive. Though I wouldn’t have liked the drug scene, and I for sure would have been VERY anti-war (Vietnam), I would have felt like I belonged in the forward motion of history.

“Anti-Vietnam war demonstrators fill Fulton Street in San Francisco on April 15, 1967. The five-mile march through the city will end with a peace rally at Kezar Stadium. In the background is San Francisco City Hall. (AP Photo)” from Library, University of California, Berkeley, Media Resources Centre, 2012,

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/pacificaviet.html (Jan. 31, 2017)

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By Ms. G, November 16, 2016 9:33 pm

Last year as I taught the new CHW3M and CHY4U courses I set for myself some personal challenges:

1. try to implement the curriculum changes as fully as possible.
2. try to bring inquiry into each lesson in some way.

I spent a lot of time with the curriculum document – it’s heavy but it’s all marked up now.

I can’t say that I was fully successful, but I’m proud of the efforts I did make. I took a lot of mental notes on what to change next time.

Here are some pointers I’ve developed to help me keep up the challenge and to communicate to other interested people what I am doing. Note: this PPT changes a lot as I add new things and develop my thinking.

The transition is hard but it’s worthwhile.

Becoming an Inquiry Teacher (Nov. 28 update)

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By Ms. G, January 30, 2014 9:43 pm

Goodbye, everyone. Thanks for a great semester! Grade 11s – see you at Course Fair on Feb. 13.

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By Ms. G, January 20, 2014 2:07 pm

Students of Ms. G:

Please complete the appropriate course evaluation survey online.

For grade 11 (CHW3M)

For grade 12 (CHY4U)

 Thank you so much for your assistance.

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By Ms. G, November 5, 2013 9:37 pm

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2010/mar/14/julius-caesar-coin-british-museum

I was looking for an interesting image to adorn a slide on which I discussed the Trial of the Assassins, an activity I do in my grade 11 world history class. I found this coin that was made by Brutus just after he and his co-conspirators killed Caesar. It was put on display in March, 2010 at the British Museum on the 2054th anniversary of his death.