Will's Texana Youtube Channel

I've developed a Youtube channel, Will's Texana Youtube Channel.  It's free, It's easy.  An account is called a channel. Yes, I know and groan about the junk and ephemera that's there, but this last summer I wondered, just what IS there?  So I looked.  It took a while to get the hang of it all, but using a very undisciplined method which was also very unconsistent, I cobbled together 1,000 videos from other folks' channels and centralized them into 100 topical playlists.    There are some drawbacks (e.g., Youtube doesn't allow for alphabetizing the 100 playlists, so you'll find them in a jumble of 100.)  I working on a means where by they can be alphabetizing on somebody's separate page, and this alternative would also enable the addition of other folks' playlists on other channels. I'm issuing a report on Will's Texana Youtube Channel as a special issue of my Will's Texana Monthly.  If you'd like a free copy just let me know.  That report also includes a list of the 50 or so Youtube channels to which I subscribe, some rather professionally done - historical, contemporary, nature, gardening, media, etc - and some casually produced by individuals but worthy of notice and maybe your own subscription.   The WT Channel was first intended just as a device to record what I found.  Now it serves as a repository (if temporary) to nudge librarians, archivists, historians, teachers, and other interested folks to further explore Youtube and other video repositories for their long-term value.  Already one WT channel viewer, Joan Hood, has since begun her own channel, Joan's Texas Women Channel, to collect videos exclusively on that topic which I wouldn't be able to do as well at http://www.youtube.com/user/JoanHood1 .   Actually, I encourage you to start your own channel, if not so much to produce your own videos, but to collect along special lines.   And tell me where to go and what to do when I get there!  It's a broad prairie with only slow rolling hills.  I could use some talk and thought.   See the whole shebang at http://www.youtube.com/willstexana

TEKSWatch site for TEKS

CHTL, the University of Texas at El Paso's Department of History's Center for History Teaching and Learning at http://academics.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=58084 has added a new component to their website, a TEKSWatch.   at http://academics.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=61097   The CHTL focuses broadly on history, but at this time there is considerable to draw the attention of those interested in Texas, for example the below are sample entries from their website:   "U.S.History to 1877 (8th grade) Mexican War Gutted See all of the proposed U.S. history changes [pages 22-32] Texas History (7th grade) Catholic Missions no longer Catholic Civil War Aims Stated Constitution of Texas now Republican See all of the proposed Texas history changes [pages 12-21] 3rd grade Juan de Oñate added as community builder   Lesson Plans   Secondary Level U.S. History Why Things Change: Great Man or Many People? - In the proposed TEKS, treatment of the civil rights movement moves from a "great man" to "organized Americans" Why did Texas Secede from the Union in 1861? - The proposed TEKS enumerate reasons for Texas secession. In this lesson, students use primary sources to explain the reasons Texans gave in 1861 and then contrast those findings with the proposed emphasis of the twenty-first century curriculum. Government Why did Texas Secede from the Union in 1861? - The proposed TEKS enumerate reasons for Texas secession. In this lesson, students use primary sources to explain the reasons Texans gave in 1861 and then contrast those findings with the proposed emphasis of the twenty-first century curriculum. Middle School Texas History Why did Texas Secede from the Union in 1861? - The proposed TEKS enumerate reasons for Texas secession. In this lesson, students use primary sources to explain the reasons Texans gave in 1861 and then contrast those findings with the proposed emphasis of the twenty-first century curriculum."