It comes full circle, at one point—the reading and research one does, the teaching one loves, the books one writes.
Dangerous Neighbors may be my twelfth book, but it is the first book for which I've ever created a teacher's guide. The behind-the-scenes history of the Centennial can be found in these pages. So can the irreducible Mrs. Gillespie and perhaps my favorite Philadelphian of all, George Childs. But mostly this teacher's guide offers a range of classroom exercises—from team projects to personal essays to broad discussions about community, innovation, media, even classified ads. I hope that this guide opens doors for both teachers and students who recognize that the past—its lessons, its influences, its legacies—is alive in the right now.
The guide can be found
here.
Thanks to Egmont USA's Elizabeth Law, Mary Albi, Katie Halata, Nico Medina, Greg Ferguson, and Rob Guzman, who cheered this guide on, and made it better. Thank you to Stacey Swigart for paying close attention. Thank you to the original William for teaching me a dash of In Design. And thanks to Elizabeth Mosier, for saying,
Why don't you....
Glad to help! You are my hero!
xo
How, oh how did you get this guide completed so fast? I wish I could get things done so quickly.
I think that explains why I only have one book published and you have twelve.
Maybe you could tell us some time your secret to being so disciplined.
Also: I loved the team classroom project you wote in the "Vanishing Cities" section of the guide: Imagine your community 135 years from now—the same interval in time between the present day and the Centennial. What will exist? What will vanish?
Very cool.
That Thomas Keels book you mentioned on lost architecture in Philadelphia is fascinating. I cannot believe so many wonderful buildings were allowed to disappear.
So lovely, Beth! Wish I were teaching American Lit so I could really do this proud!
Kathy Barham