We are going to do something different with the blog today.  I am going to introduce my readers to a few channels you can bring into a literature classroom.  These channels popped up in my feed according to YouTube Algorithms.  As a result, I thought “what the heck, let's do some sharing!”  I will take a one blog break from sharing history documentaries and share something that students could use for writing or discussion prompts in a literature classroom.

For a literature class, I would suggest that you show these clips at the start of the class and have students discuss what the creator said.  Or use these videos as a writing prompt in class.  Teachers, the sky is the limit when it comes to using these channels in your classroom.  These clips are at a max of 15-20 minutes long.  Some videos are shorter while others are longer.  You will able to show a clip at the start of class.

In addition to book discussions, these creators have put together lists on a variety of topics.  These topics include “Worse Marriages in Literature,” best books, and “Best Heroines.”  You could use these topics in the classroom and discuss with the students whether or not they agree with the creator’s lists.

Dr. Octavia Cox – All Things Classical Literature - https://www.youtube.com/c/DrOctaviaCox/videos
Dr. Octavia Cox offers analysis, close reading, biography, a literary context for a variety of English authors.  She started up this channel 11 months ago and posts new content weekly.  She kicked off her channel with Jane Austen.  She also discusses poetry and other authors.  However, if you are reading Jane Austen in a literature class then use this channel to help your students out.  So far, Dr. Cox has featured Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, and Sense and Sensibility.  She provides excellent summaries for each of these works.  She also breaks down each of these books into bite-sized topics.  That is the best thing from this channel, and if a student needs clarification on a point then I would point to Dr. Cox.

A Book Olive - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6wKgH6YIKKfNX9-EN0dxIA
Olive uses her channel to do book reviews, offer book suggestions and literary fiction.  She discusses a mix of classic literature and modern books.  There is a wide variety of books available on her channel, so if you wanted to bring in a new author into the classroom, check out this channel.  She has a special series Wishbone and the books the series used.  As far as I can tell, she started the channel in 2017.  She posts new content weekly.  I would recommend sharing her Jane Austen discussions.  The Mansfield Park discussion is VERY good.  She also breaks down the characters of books and provides excellent commentary on these characters.  This is another creator who would be helpful to help clarify a point with students.

Naomi’s Bookshelf - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO0WAnmT0h5hbmvOBy3RF-A/videos
This channel was started in 2019 and covers a variety of literature and more contemporary books.  She participates in Read-athons and leads discussions on books.  If you need a suggestion for your “not read” pile of books, I would recommend giving this channel a lookup.  For an English class, I would gravitate towards her discussions on Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, and Shakespeare.

Ellie Dashwood - https://www.youtube.com/c/EllieDashwood/videos
Ellie started this channel in 2018.  She posted new content for a year and then took a break.  The channel started up again five months ago and she has been posting every since.  New videos are posted every Friday.  So far, it looks like she focuses on Regency and Victorian Era authors. 

AudioBooks - https://www.youtube.com/user/rt20bg/videos
https://www.youtube.com/c/AudiobooksUnleashed
This channel features free audiobooks of classic literature.  If you are reading classic literature in your class this is a resource for you.  You can easily pull one of these channels on YouTube and let it play during a class period.

These channels are current as of July 31, 2021.

Episode 4 concludes with the fall of the Roman Empire.  Mary Beard finds herself walking under the remains of a gatehouse in Germany.  Rome was built to last but did not.  The decline and fall of the Roman Empire have been on historian’s minds.  It is a puzzle.  Was it inflation?  Was it corruption?  Was it barbarian invasions?  Was it the lead in pipes?  It is a complicated question with no single answer.

Mary finds herself in Northumberland.  It is here she starts answering the question “Why did the Roman Empire fall?”  She walks along Hadrian's Wall and talks about the fringes of the Empire.  Northern Britain/Scotland was a challenge for the Romans.  So, rather than deal with the barbarians, they built a wall.  Hadrian's Wall is a statement: a statement of Roman power and the Empire has boundaries.  The wall demonstrates that the wall has an edge; has a boundary.  It was the first time that the Empire was mapped.

The wall kept the barbarians out and entices the people in.   Everyone on the wall was a citizen, everyone outside the wall was an outsider.  It was turned the empire inside out.  Decisions came from the fringes of the empire rather than the center of power: Rome.  Emperors received their support from the legions and were deposed by supporters of the next emperor.  These emperors only had enough time to put up a statue before being deposed.  The propaganda that surrounded the emperors undermined them.  It showed how sick the system was.

The Romans tried to reinvent the Empire.  They hoped to restore order.  They divided the empire into four mini empires, administered by four emperors, and from four mini capital cities.  It made the empire manageable and the new cities became administrative centers.  With decisions made in the mini capitals, Rome was no longer the center of the Empire.  Trier demonstrates that Rome was no longer the center of the Empire.  The grand church where the Emperors ruled from rivaled what could be built in Rome.

Another thing that undermined the Roman Empire was the changing beliefs of the people.  The Romans believed in many gods.  Each of these gods functioned in many different ways.  As a result, the Roman landscape is littered with temples.  Generals often made promises to their particular in exchange for victory.  These promises resulted in the building of a temple once the victorious general returned home.  When the temple was built, it was a demonstration to the people of the gods’ favor.  It was a demonstration that you needed to keep god’s favor on your side.

The Romans inhabited a world of gods.  Mary shows off a collection of figurines of the various gods.  It showed religion on a personal level.  A Roman could put a god in their pockets and take it with them.  Gods did not have one job to do like Venus was only the god of love.  A Roman could appeal to a variety of gods for their needs.  For example, a Roman could choose to pray to Minerva, Neptune, Hades, or Mercury when they planned on going on a sea voyage.  Each god could be approached for a variety of needs.  It was a flexible system.  Romans could create their religious world.

As the Empire grew, new religions were introduced to Roman life.  Some of these religious would challenge the Roman’s religious beliefs.

To continue to learn more about Rome’s fall, continue to watch the documentary.

I rather liked the discussion that Mary had on the various gods Romans worship.  This discussion would be a good clip to use in an English class when students are learning about mythology.  Roman mythology was not straight forward as you were taught in school.

You can access the YouTube Video here.

Episode 3 finds Mary in a museum examining the skulls of Romans.  She then discusses the stereotypes we have of Romans.  Romans were from Italy and they wore togas.  However, the Roman Mary was examining was from York, England.  She was a woman and was of mixed race.  Who were the Romans?  What did it mean to be a Roman?  Beard examines the one invisible factor that made people Romans: their citizenship.  What difference did it make to become a Roman?  How did you become one?

Beard goes to an industrial site to find a treasure, a small Roman settlement off the beaten tourist track.  Carteia looked like an ordinary settlement.  It was founded in 171 BC.  It was established by descendants of Roman soldiers and Spanish women.  They were stateless.  They appealed to Rome for something.  The Roman politicians gave them Carteia and more importantly, they gave them citizenship.  This established a precedent.  It was a unique part of the Roman Empire.  Now, every free person could become a Roman citizen. 

The idea that outsiders could become citizens was radical.  It was downright shocking at the time.  However, it was the way that Romans brought people into the empire.  They did not make people worship the Roman gods, use the Roman calendar or learn Latin.  Roman citizenship was a gift.  They initially gave citizenship to the elites.  Roman citizenship was a gift.  This spread to the people and it had its advantages.  It protected you legally, it gave you a stake in politics, and you could never be crucified.  It was similar to the American dream and it was something people could aspire to.  Was it a happy accident or a deliberate plan?  There is no evidence either way.

Algeria is an area of the old Roman Empire where the most impressive Roman remains are found.  When Algeria was conquered the Romans surprised the local population.  They then built cities to further establish the empire. Timgad was built for retired Roman soldiers.  It was built in a typical Roman town planning style.  Mary is so familiar with the layout, she can find her way easily around town.  She discovers the city library.  Even though Timgad was a city for retired Roman soldiers, the population and the city expanded.  Roman soldiers mixed with the local people.  They were committed to Romans and demonstrated this through monument building and their culture.  However, these citizens never stepped foot inside Rome.

Being Roman meant belonging.  By offering citizenship to the local elites, Romans could get them on their side.  The local elites could enforce Roman law on the lower orders.  They could also bring Roman culture to the people.  These elites embraced their roles in furthering the empire.  Mary then traces the story of an Algerian man and his travels.  He traveled to Judea as part of the army.  He eventually made his way to Britain and was a governor.  He was a provincial who became Roman and eventually ruled other provincials.

Britain was territory unknown.  It was highly attractive to the Romans as an island to explore.  As they explored, stories started to spread about the island.  The people had odd customs.  It was always cold.  It was another world, Mary says to the Romans, going to Britain was the equivalent of going into space…
If you want to learn more about this episode continue to watch.

Mary Beard continues to narrate the story of the Roman Empire.  I was surprised to learn that there were some impressive Roman ruins in Algeria.  This episode is a good summary of how citizenship united the Romans.  It is also a good explanation of Roman citizenship. 

You can access the YouTube Video here.

Mary Beard continues her journey through the Roman Empire in Episode 2 of Empire Without Limit.  She kicks off the episode talking about Roman rubbish.  Ancient Roman trash shows how the Roman Empire worked.  The trash heaps show this as much as the ruins of temples. 

One leftover from the Roman world comes from ice core samples taken from Arctic ice sheets.  The ice core samples from Rome show the impact the empire had an impact on the environment.  There was plenty of burning in the Roman Empire and it ties into Roman expansion.  It was a shock to the scientists, however, to the historians it showed proof that industry was growing in Rome.  It was Roman history melting in Mary’s hands.

Rome transformed the world through conquest.  Romans built roads as they conquered the world.  There is a road in France that links Spain and France to Rome. It was a shocking idea, that a Roman could start in Rome and end up in Spain or Greece by staying on a single road.  These roads eventually spread out like veins in a body and connected the empire.  

Even with the roads, the people in the countryside continued life as they did.  However, where the roads linked up with cities there were plenty of changes.  Beard delightfully describes a cup that describes the Roman routes.  Was it a souvenir cup?  Perhaps so, it was something that a person could bring with them on their travels and keep track of their progress.

Rome also built plenty of cities, they built aqueducts to provide the cities with drinking water.  They built bridges.  The building the Romans did demonstrate their power.  Beard shares a Medieval Roman map with tourists.  It was how the Romans saw their empire.  The map might be small, but it demonstrates that the world was joined up.  “All roads lead to Rome,” is a true phrase.

Mary Beard spends this episode in Spain and explores what flowed out of Spain to fueled the empire.  It was during this time that Spain became an olive farm.  Seven million liters of olive oil flowed from Spain to Rome.  The Empire ran on olive oil.   It was used in cooking, lighting, and soap making.  Beard takes a tour of a Spanish olive farm.  Olive oil was a job creator: there were growers, pickers, pressers, container makers, etc.  It is interesting to see that Rome was an “oil economy.”  While oil flowed into Rome, money flowed into Spain.
The money would fuel the political careers of Spanish Romans.  Did Emperor Hadrian get his wealth from olive oil?  Perhaps he did?  It allowed him to fund buildings back in his hometown.  He was showing off his wealth by doing all this building.

On top of stamping Roman influence through buildings, Ancient Romans stamped their authorities through laws.  Beard shows up tablets that tell the people how to be a Roman city.  These tablets governed that officials needed to provide entertainment for the people, how long defendants could speak during their trial, the seating arrangements in a public space, and how much could be spent on an election.  Some of these rules seem familiar to us.  However, it was micromanagement on a grand scale.  Roman officials were micromanagers.

To continue to learn more about Rome and the empire continue to watch the documentary.

Beard continues her delightful narration as well as her travels around the former Roman Empire in Episode 2.  She draws you into the store of the Roman Empire and keeps you engaged through the episode.

You can access the YouTube Video here.

A princess gave birth to twin boys.  Their uncle, the king, wanting to protect his throne ordered his servants to get rid of the boys.  They were set in a basket and put next to the river.  Since it was flood season the basket was carried away.  Rather than drowning the boys, the basket was carried off and ended up back on the river bank.  A wolf found the basket and suckled the boys until they were taken in by a shepherd and his wife.  They were raised by the couple and the twins would eventually establish the Roman Empire.  Their names were Romulus and Remus.

It was an empire that stretched from the Sahara, the moors of Britain, the Nile River, and the Rhine River.  It shaped the European map.

Mary Beard takes us through the history of the Roman Empire through her series Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limits.  She begins this series with that story and leads us through the story of the Roman Empire.  She ends this series with Rome’s collapse.  In this first episode, she covers the myths that surrounded the establishment of the empire. 

She goes into the tombs of the early Romans and notes the graffiti that covers the walls.  The graffiti and the tombs demonstrate what real Romans thought of themselves.  The Tomb of Scipio talks about how he was wise, he was a handsome man, and he conquered South Italy.  This epitaph is the first narrative from a Roman.  It showed that they were keen on conquest and glory.

The wolf who rescued the twins was a fierce predator.  Would this demonstrate that the Romans themselves were the fierce predators of the Roman world?  Perhaps?  This is also demonstrated by the fact that Romulus killed Remus over the location of the city.  Brother killing brother also became part of the founding narrative.  After this, Romulus established his city and turned it into a refuge for criminals and runaway slaves.  It was a city that welcomed outsiders.  Was this the basis of the desire to spread Roman citizenship around the world?

It was a city of men, and they needed women to build a future.  Romulus invited a group of women to come to a religious festival.  During the party, the Sabine women were kidnapped and taken as wives.  The Sabines were not happy with this and fought the Romans.  This was one of the first wars the Romans fought.  They won against the Sabines and built monuments to the victory.  The Ancient Romans were reminded of their mythical origins through these monuments.

Rome was eventually ruled by six kings after Romulus.  However, the people got tired of the tyranny and changed their government from a monarchy to a democracy.  This did not stop them from conquering their world.  Originally, war was considered glorified raiding.  Raiding meant that you just took slaves and cattle from the people.  Rome took this a step further and incorporated its former enemies.  The former enemies were to provide soldiers for the Roman Empire.  Building relationships with their former enemies was the way that Rome was different.

Rome eventually would come into conflict with Carthage.  An allied city had appealed to Rome for help against a Carthaginian city.  Rome intervened with the city and came into conflict with the seafaring Carthaginians.  They seized a Carthaginian ship and copied it to be able to battle on the sea.  This was the start of the conflict between Carthage and Rome.

To learn more about the Roman Empire, continue to watch Empire Without Limits.

Mary Beard enthusiastically tells the story of Rome.  She takes you to the places in the Roman Empire to fully flesh out Rome’s story.

You can access the YouTube video here.

Now Suzannah Lipscomb explores the hidden killers of the post World War II home.  Britain was traumatized after World War II that they wanted to make sure their homes were a safe place.  Home owners created colorful home in order to capture the hopeful spirit of the age.  However in trying to create a safe haven they introduced new dangers into the home.

The first hidden killer in the home was found in the child's bedroom and it was the chemistry set.  For the first time, children could have their own bedrooms and they had their special toys they could keep in the bedroom. There were few instructions that came with the set and there were a variety of chemicals that came with it.  Mixing chemicals together caused a variety of explosions and hurt children.  Test tubes were flimsy.  There was no mention of how to dispose of chemicals.  The only advice that was given in case clothing caught on fire.  The American chemistry set came with uranium and a Geiger counter and allowed children to experiment with radiation.  However it wasn't a big seller.  This hidden killer was done away with when manufacturers stopped including explosive chemicals in their sets.

The second hidden killer was plastic.  Plastics became cheaper to manufacture in the 1950's.  Sofas were made from Polyurethane.  However, these sofas would catch on fire due to the smoking habit people had during the post war.  One couple escaped their home through a window and down sheets.  Their settee had caught on fire.  Polyurethane also gave off toxic fumes when on fire which could kill you sooner than the flames could.  Plastic clothing was also a killer, especially if they caught on fire.  If someone was standing in front of the fire, the clothing could catch on fire and burn a person.

The third killer was something that we take for granted: television set.  TV's were in their experimental stages during this time and could easily catch on fire.  As the technology became better, then this hazard went away.

The fourth hidden killer was DIY, Do It Your Self people.  The 1950's became the Do-It-Your-Self generation.   Handymen were busy with rebuilding Britain after the war, so the homeowner decided to do repairs and fixing themselves.  TV encouraged that families could get together and knock down a wall and fix up the home.  There was an enormous range of DIY projects that the family could do together.  However, there were perils to doing things yourself, such as electrical work.  Many people did not know what they were doing, unlike the professionals.  The public were soon advised that when in doubt they should hire professionals.

To continue to learn more about the hidden killers of the post war home continue to watching the episode.  Hint, the next hidden killer was found in the kitchen and how the abundance of food gave people ideas on what to do with it.  The final hidden killer was found in the bathroom.

This is a fun documentary that should be used in the classroom, especially for a brain break.  However, if you have a sub in the classroom there will be questions provided.

You can highlight, copy, and paste the questions into a Word, GoogleDoc or Google Classroom document for use in school or home school.  Format it the way you want to.  All questions after formatting should fit onto one page.

You can access the video here.

Hidden Killers of the Post War Home Questions
1.  About how many people made up the British Middle class?
2.  What was the first hidden killer?
3.  What was the child supposed to do if his friend caught on fire? 
4.  What was included in American chemistry set?
5.  What allowed products to be produced cheaper? 
6.  How did sofa's catch on fire? .
7.  Was plastic flammable? What made plastic flammable?
8.  What could catch on fire and cause burns? 
9.  Which sex did this affect more, boys or girls? 
10.  What was designed to look like furniture? 

Hidden Killers of the Post War Home Answers
1.  About how many people made up the British Middle class? - 15-20 Million
2.  What was the first hidden killer?  - Chemistry set
3.  What was the child supposed to do if his friend caught on fire?  Throw him to the floor and smother the fire
4.  What was included in American chemistry set?  - uranium and a mini Geiger counter
5.  What allowed products to be produced cheaper?  - Plastics
6.  How did sofa's catch on fire?  Due to smoking
7.  Was plastic flammable?  What made plastic flammable?  On it's own not, the additives that were put in plastic that made it flammable
8.  What could catch on fire and cause burns?  Clothing
9.  Which sex did this affect more, boys or girls?  - Girls
10.  What was designed to look like furniture?  Television

This is the story of the myths that deal with Love and marriage.  Marriage was an arrangement in the early time of history.  They were often made to keep the peace between two different kingdoms.  This is a series called Myths and Monsters and can be found on Netflix as well.  This would be a good show to show in an English class while they are studying mythologies.  You could easily break up the stories and then show them in class.

The first story presented and woven into the story of love is the story of Agamemnon’s daughter Iphigenia.  She was on her way to marry Achilles.  However, Achilles refused the marriage.  What Iphigenia did not know that the marriage was all a ploy.  Agamemnon had displeased the goddess Artemis.  Agamemnon wanted to invade Troy, but Artemis would not send the wind to get the fleet to Troy.  Artemis demanded a sacrifice.  Instead of marriage, Iphigenia was sacrificed.

The documentary tells the story of Thor trying to get back his hammer from his brother Loki.  Loki demanded to marry Freya in exchange for the hammer’s return.  Freya refused and so Thor was advised to disguise himself as a bride to get the hammer back.  Thor did so and when the hammer was placed in his lap during the wedding feast he had his chance.  He revealed his true form and chased the wedding guests out.  He had his hammer back.  Norse women were not silent and meek and despite what Thor’s story shows.  Although they could not be chieftains, they could wield power in Norse society.

The next story is an Irish and Cornish legend.  It is the story of Tristan and Isolde.  Tristan was to escort Isolde to her wedding to his uncle.  Unfortunately, they drank a love potion and they fell in love.  Isolde would go on to marry the Irish King.  The affair continued behind the King’s back.  The king would discover the affair and wanted to kill the couple.  Tristan and Isolde fled into the wild but were consumed with guilt.  Tristan and Isolde would eventually break up, securing peace between Ireland and Cornwall.  Another story along those lines involved Lancelot and Guinevere.

The Greeks were victorious over the Trojans.  The Trojan survivors fled from the city and one of those survivors was Aeneas.  Aeneas lost his wife and family in Troy and made his way to the west.  He ended up in Troy where he met the beautiful Queen Dido.  Queen Dido founded the city of Carthage.  When Aeneas ended up on the Carthaginian shores, she sheltered him.  Eventually, Dido and Aeneas fell in love.  Unfortunately, Aeneas had another destiny: he was to found Rome.  He left Dido to fulfill his destiny.  Dido arranged for a pyre to be built in the middle of the palace courtyard and she threw herself into the pyre.  This would foresee centuries of conflict between Carthage and Rome.

Jason and the Golden Fleece is another story based on life.  Medea helped Jason in his search for the Golden Fleece.  She fell in love with him and then after Jason found the Golden Fleece went with him on his adventures.  They married and had several sons.  Eventually, they settled in Corinth, where Jason would abandon her and the family to marry the daughter of Corinth.  She would murder her sons with Jason.

To find out more continue to watch the documentary.  In the meantime, keep this documentary in your files to share with a class.  You can always use clips from this documentary in a lecture too.  As I said in the beginning, it would be a good documentary to show in an English classroom.

You can access the video on YouTube here.

Suzannah Lipscomb explores the hidden killers of the Edwardian home.  Queen Victoria died and it was the dawn of a new century.  The modern age was ushered during this time.  New ideas started to flourish during this period.

Suzannah looks at the first hidden killer: Electricity.  It was a new invention and at the time was not regulated like it is now.  In Victorian times, gas light was used but it was dirty.  Electricity was cleaner.  Gas and electric companies were in competition with each other.  Electricity was expensive and marketed to those who could afford it.  If you had the money and you wanted to be seen as sophisticated you needed to have electricity.  However, the wires were just bare and one touch you could get electrocuted.  The first wires were insulated with paper or lead which caught fire.  Despite this, there were many electric appliances invented.  There was an electric exhibition that showed off many electric items: lamps, hair brush, curling tongs, iron, and table clothes.

The next hidden killer in the Edwardian home was Asbestos.  It was strong, cheap, and was versatile.   The Edwardian's used it everywhere.  They used it in pipes and water tanks.  Floor tiles, ceiling tiles, toilet seats were also made from Asbestos.  However, it was a health hazard.   It was dusty and caused cancer.  It caused scaring in the lungs as well as difficulty breathing.  It was the most hidden of hidden killers and it took a long time to act.  The women were the most affected by Asbestos.

The next hidden killer in the Edwardian home was found in the kitchen.  It was the refrigerator.  However, the early fridges were all experimental and the chemicals they used in the refrigerator were unregulated and the inventors used guess work to figure out how to make things colder.  They used dangerous chemicals in the early fridges which could kill people if they leaked or were a fire hazard.  The Edwardian rich used refrigerators.  They were expensive. 

The final hidden killer in the Edwardian home was found in the bedroom.  Actresses inspired the trend since it was now becoming a respectable occupation for women.  They advertised make up, soaps, and other beauty treatments.  Edwardian women had to have pure, white skin in order to separate the women who worked outdoors.  Many of these treatments contained arsenic which would eventually kill them.  To continue to learn more about the hidden killers continue to watch the documentary.

For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom.  You can easily format these questions to your specifications.  All questions should fit onto one page after formatting.

You can find the link for the YouTube video here.

Hidden Killers of the Edwardian Home Questions:
1.  Who was the king that came after Queen Victoria? 
2.  How many British patents were issued?
3.  What was a new exciting Edwardian product? 
4.  Which two men invented the light bulb? 
5.  Who had electricity in their home?
6.  What was heated on the stove before electricity? 
7.  What type of fires rivaled coal?
8.  What provided clean energy? 
9.  Who were the most affected by asbestos? 
10.  What killed people more than car crashes? 

Hidden Killers of the Edwardian Home Answers:
1.  Who was the king that came after Queen Victoria?  -  Edward VII
2.  How many British patents were issued?  - 140,000
3.  What was a new exciting Edwardian product?  - Electricity
4.  Which two men invented the light bulb?  - Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison
5.  Who had electricity in their home?  - Lord and Lady Churchill
6.  What was heated on the stove before electricity?  - Iron
7.  What type of fires rivaled coal?  - Gas and Electric
8.  What provided clean energy?  - Asbestos
9.  Who were the most affected by asbestos?  - Women
10.  What killed people more than car crashes?  - Asbestos

Suzannah Lipscomb explores the hidden killers of the Victorian Home.  The home was a domestic haven during this period.

The Middle class was bombing and they were creating homes that were cozy safe havens.  Gadgets started to become more available.  Consumerism started to boom and it was the first time that "standard of living" started to appear.  You measured how good your life was based on how many objects you possessed.  Good taste was a moral quality.  However what they welcomed into their homes was potentially deadly.

The first killer of the Victorian home was found in the drawing room.  This killer was found on the walls of the house.  Green was a popular color.  It was found in wallpaper, toys, and carpets.  However, reports of deaths and illnesses rose.  The ingredient in wallpaper that caused the illnesses or death was arsenic.  The Victorians were unaware of what was poisoning them and would have thought that there was a cholera outbreak.  The affects of arsenic poisoning were similar to cholera.  Newspapers slowly started to report the link between the wall paper and the mysterious illnesses that plagued the Victorians.  Germany eventually banned the sale of arsenic wallpapers.  Queen Victoria eventually banned Green wallpaper from her palaces and then the English government finally stood up and paid attention.

The next hidden killer in the Victorian home: the bedroom.  The Victorian woman needed to look just right.  Lipscomb looks to the corset as the next hidden killer of the Victorian home.  A small amount of Victorian Women tight laced their corsets and it shifted their internal organs and caused pneumonia.  Suzannah participates in an experiment with tight lacing.  She takes the stairs and walks on a treadmill and feels lightheaded after the experiment.  The sports medicine doctor finds that her breathing was changed.   To see an alternate opinion on corsets check out this video. 

The next hidden killer was found in the kitchen.  New gadgets were created in order to help out with keeping the home.  Gas was brought into the home to help with light and heat.  People dying from gas were widespread.  It was colorless and odorless.  Gas companies sabotaged each other at the expense of the people.  It was all experimental when gas was incorporated into the home to tragic consequences.

To find out about more killers continue to watch the documentary.  You also may want to use this series in a science class as well and ask the students how Suzannah applied the scientific method to the hidden killers of the home.

For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom.  You can easily format these questions to your specifications.  All questions should fit onto one page after formatting.

You can find the link for the YouTube video here.
 
Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home – Questions

1. Which class grew during the Victorian Period?
2. What inspired the Victorians to spend? 
3. What phrase appeared for the first time in history? 
4. Who said “to teach taste is to form character?” 
5. What room did Suzannah start in? 
6. What indicated good taste and good standards? 
7. What was found in wallpaper that was a hidden killer?
8. How did people make the connection between illness and wallpaper?
9. How much arsenic was in a Victorian Room? 
10. Who owned an arsenic mind? 

Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home – Answers

1. Which class grew during the Victorian Period?  - Middle Class
2. What inspired the Victorians to spend?  - Great Exhibition of 1851
3. What phrase appeared for the first time in history?  - Standard of Living
4. Who said “to teach taste is to form character?”  - John Ruskin
5. What room did Suzannah start in?  - Drawing Room
6. What indicated good taste and good standards?  - Wallpaper
7. What was found in wallpaper that was a hidden killer?  - Arsenic
8. How did people make the connection between illness and wallpaper?  - They went to the seaside
9. How much arsenic was in a Victorian Room?  - 2.5 milligrams of arsenic
10. Who owned an arsenic mind?  - William Morris

For July Fifth, I am going to share a classic Time Team episode: Maryland, USA.  The team explores St. Mary’s City, Maryland.  It is one of the earliest colonial sites in America.  A park grew up around the area with reconstructed buildings.  Time Team will work with the American archeologists to continue to excavate the site.

They plan to look at the cemetery, which could be the biggest colonial cemetery that they know of.  Then they look at St. Peter’s a brick manor house.  It was the biggest home in the colony.  Finally, they will look for the original fort.  There are two possible spots where the fort could be.  The geophysics team had gotten a start on the site.  It was the first time that geophysics was used on the St. Mary’s site.

1694 the St. Peter’s home was destroyed by gun powder, so they are using a magnetometer to determine where the house was.  The funny piece about this is that all electronics needed American adapters.  They found a clear building in the results.  The St. Peter’s site had been dug before to determine where the house was, unfortunately, the person did not leave any records as to the location of the building.  The archeologists begin digging.  They find the walls of the house based on geophysics.

In the 1630s the chapel was built and the Time Team looks to see how big the cemetery was.  The site manager shows the Time Team a burial that happened.

The team moves to the fort and may have found the site of the original fort.  The site manager is cautious about it because the site was used as part of the 300th Anniversary of Maryland.  Tony Robinson mentions that it is typical Time Team: staring off with two sites, wanting to narrow it down to three but then ending up with three sites.

Tony comments that American Archeologists are different from British Archeologists in that the Americans work slower than their British counterparts.  The site manager points out that American history is not as deep in the ground as British history and so they do take their time to find out what they can about a site.  Tony asks Phil if he is coming to an understanding in regards to the work speed.  Phil is saying he is adapting.  Tony comments that the American way does not miss a thing and that they found a musket ball as a result of the approach.

Stewart that he found the correct site for the original fort.  The site manager is not sure about that assertion.  He found more air photos of the site that show faint walls and towers.  From the available evidence, the St. Mary’s fort had four sides.  Stewart has been finding additional effort for the location of the fort.  The landscape is helping firm his assertions as to the true location of the fort.  Did Stewart find the true location of the fort?  Continue to watch to find out.

You can access the YouTube video here. 

I am glad to finally be able to share a blog about Time Team.  It is a fantastic show with a variety of topics teachers can choose from.

Time Team Maryland Questions

1. What three sites did the Time Team look at?
   
2. What year was St. Peter’s house destroyed? 
3. How big were the exploratory trenches that were dug? 
4. What industry was big in St. Mary’s? 
5. List Three Things You’ve Learned From This Episode:

           A)
           B)
           C)

Time Team Maryland Answers

1. What three sites did the Time Team look at? – Cemetery, St. Peter’s house, Fort
2. What year was the St. Peter’s house destroyed?  - 1694
3. How big was the exploratory trenches that were dug?  5 by 5
4. What industry was big in St. Mary’s?  - Tobacco
5. List Three Things You’ve Learned From This Episode:
   

              A)
              B)
              C)