Search found 145 matches

by Awehrman
Wed Jun 18, 2014 10:25 am
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: All-time all-state teams
Replies: 61
Views: 53301

Re: All-time all-state teams

Since Arkansas has not had much very recent collegiate quizbowl success (that I'm aware of at least), the foursome would probably be Dargan Ware, Jason Loy, Josh Hill, and Lynn Endicott. For Oklahoma I would add NAQT founding member Eric Bell. For Nebraska, there's Chad Kubicek (and I'm really strug...
by Awehrman
Fri Dec 23, 2011 10:42 pm
Forum: New Collegiate Teams
Topic: New Team at Loyola University Chicago
Replies: 6
Views: 4034

Re: New Team at Loyola University Chicago

Probably the best route would be to ask Catlin. He should have a list of names of potential advisors--faculty/staff who want to advise student orgs or people who are good advisors who would be willing to take on more.
by Awehrman
Fri Dec 23, 2011 6:26 pm
Forum: New Collegiate Teams
Topic: New Team at Loyola University Chicago
Replies: 6
Views: 4034

Re: New Team at Loyola University Chicago

Hi Matt, Go see Catlin Wojtkowski in the SAGA office downstairs basement of CFSU, and tell him Ellen Wehrman sent you. My wife Ellen was formerly the student activities coordinator at LUC. She tells me that you will need 5 members (including yourself) and an advisor. This link outlines the process, ...
by Awehrman
Tue Sep 13, 2011 11:05 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: ACE Quizbowl Camp 2012 Dates
Replies: 9
Views: 3477

Re: ACE Quizbowl Camp 2012 Dates

Wow, I'm glad I happened to see this. How did you decide on Marietta, and who are you working with here? I had expressed the idea that Marietta might make a good camp site in the future to a couple of people, but I never had any more formal conversations. Nevertheless as an ACE alum, and current pro...
by Awehrman
Wed Jul 20, 2011 1:54 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: National History Bowl - 2012 College National Championships
Replies: 96
Views: 48505

Re: National History Bowl - 2012 College National Championships

Sorry, I didn't realize that Matt and Mike had history degrees. This bodes well for the tournament (not that I doubted your question writing), but I did mean that eventually history departments would like to see people with PhDs in history and/or advanced graduate students, current or retired facult...
by Awehrman
Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:50 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: National History Bowl - 2012 College National Championships
Replies: 96
Views: 48505

Re: National History Bowl - 2012 College National Championships

I have lots of thoughts on this and they are divided a bit between my past as a quizbowl player and my present as a history professor. As a quizbowl player, especially as an undergraduate, I would have loved something like this, and it seems to be well-intentioned. But as a historian, I'm a little l...
by Awehrman
Tue Mar 23, 2010 10:59 am
Forum: Middle school area archives
Topic: Midwest Academic Questions
Replies: 67
Views: 25972

Re: Midwest Academic Questions

Nathan and Dan, It's great that you are both going to be at NU next year. I will be back in the fall as well and would be willing to pitch in as much as I am able (which may not be much). The NU team did have interest in running the Jr. Wildcat again this year and I'm pretty sure it's still on the r...
by Awehrman
Mon Mar 15, 2010 12:08 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Barrington INTERSTATE Tournament VII (3.13.10)
Replies: 89
Views: 19727

Re: Barrington INTERSTATE Tournament VII (3.13.10)

Also, I heard a number of players talk about the lack of pop culture or trash questions, especially sports. One particular music bonus about a group that many of these kids' parents may have been too young for, was met with blank stares in my room. If teams read my Junior Wildcat tournament they may...
by Awehrman
Mon Mar 15, 2010 11:40 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Barrington INTERSTATE Tournament VII (3.13.10)
Replies: 89
Views: 19727

Re: Barrington INTERSTATE Tournament VII (3.13.10)

While it is still fresh in my mind, I wanted to make a few comments about the tournament, list some comments I heard from coaches and players, and say some general things about the questions. With such a large field glitches and delays are to be expected, but some of the problems could have been avo...
by Awehrman
Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:25 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Barrington INTERSTATE Tournament VII (3.13.10)
Replies: 89
Views: 19727

Re: Barrington INTERSTATE Tournament VII (3.13.10)

Jeff,

I am willing to moderate or otherwise help out on Saturday if you need me. Send me an email with the details, and I'll be there.
by Awehrman
Wed Feb 10, 2010 7:37 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Quizbowl History Detectives Project: The CBI Guide
Replies: 12
Views: 8171

Re: Quizbowl History Detectives Project: The CBI Guide

Interesting. I'll try to look these over when I get a bit more time on my hands. Page 39 is indeed Northwestern from 2005. Vishal Saxena (currently a med-student at U Chicago) is on the left, the second from the left is me, the third is Colby Burnett (a high school teacher in Chicago, I believe), an...
by Awehrman
Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:08 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Proposing: Collaborative Middle School Tournament
Replies: 45
Views: 7881

Re: Proposing: Collaborative Middle School Tournament

I think this question distribution seems well thought out and should be doable. I think you might run up against some complaints about the seeming lack of math, but I don't think that is any reason to change it. It won't take long to find which subjects are deeper than others. I would suggest writin...
by Awehrman
Wed Aug 26, 2009 5:06 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: IS set answer selection discussion
Replies: 30
Views: 5307

Re: IS set answer selection discussion

I think the Mohawk quetion is ok for the intended level. Brant was of Huron lineage and was adopted into the Mohawk tribe, which was part of the Iroquois Confederacy or Five (later Six) Nations. The question itself might have been made better by moving "these people" to the beginning, howe...
by Awehrman
Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:05 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Pyramidality and novice leadins
Replies: 22
Views: 4759

Re: Pyramidality and novice leadins

Well, yes, if you're going to write about the field of battle at Antietam, the bridge should likely be included. I was just pointing out that calling it Burnside's Bridge in that context is anachronistic. Perhaps others don't have a problem with that, but I would rather see something like ..."a...
by Awehrman
Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:09 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Pyramidality and novice leadins
Replies: 22
Views: 4759

Re: Pyramidality and novice leadins

Because quizbowl tossups will always shows a bias towards identifiable things with names. (This is less true of bonuses, where you can take a sentence to set up some kind of context without worrying about individual clues being able to stand on their own.) This is definitely true. I was not arguing...
by Awehrman
Fri Jun 26, 2009 2:06 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Pyramidality and novice leadins
Replies: 22
Views: 4759

Re: Pyramidality and novice leadins

I've discussed why I feel that questions on military battles are over-represented in quizbowl questions in the past. I think, in general, that this has been recognized by question writers and that they have attempted to limit the numbers of such questions, but the problem still exists. I also do not...
by Awehrman
Wed Jun 24, 2009 11:37 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Pyramidality and novice leadins
Replies: 22
Views: 4759

Re: Pyramidality and novice leadins

The Penobscot expedition is pretty tough for Revere. A better leadin for Revere might be that he created a detailed map of slain bodies that was used as evidence in the Boston Massacre trial but is better known for his sensationalized engraving of the event. Then one could quickly move through his s...
by Awehrman
Fri Jun 05, 2009 2:29 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Tournament Dates 2009-2010
Replies: 79
Views: 12799

Re: Tournament Dates 2009–2010

I believe that Northwestern will be using an HSAPQ set this year instead of NAQT.
by Awehrman
Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:36 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: What does/should the middle school canon consist of?
Replies: 63
Views: 9034

Re: What does/should the middle school canon consist of?

I think the above distribution is an ok place to start. I wouldn't get hung up on the distribution at first. I would suggest trying to write a few questions in each of the subjects that you have listed above. You'll quickly find which subjects are deep and which are shallow at the middle school leve...
by Awehrman
Sun Mar 29, 2009 8:49 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: What does/should the middle school canon consist of?
Replies: 63
Views: 9034

Re: What does/should the middle school canon consist of?

My ideal was to get more students interested in playing quizbowl, sticking with it, and demanding better questions in the future. If a coach decides not to bring his or her team to a tournament because it lacks math calculation, those students do not get that exposure to all of the other questions a...
by Awehrman
Sun Mar 29, 2009 8:34 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: What does/should the middle school canon consist of?
Replies: 63
Views: 9034

Re: What does/should the middle school canon consist of?

There are still a couple of mirrors of the Junior Wildcat either scheduled or in the works, but I will have the questions posted by the end of April, probably. I would write much of it differently if I were to do it again, but hopefully it will give others a base to work from. When I took on the tas...
by Awehrman
Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:13 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: inclusion of state/local history
Replies: 78
Views: 13074

Re: inclusion of state/local history

Ok, Charlie. I hope you realize that a compliment to one person doesn't necessarily mean an insult to the rest. I'm not sure how I could have been more gracious in this thread for everyone's thoughts. I know your contributions to quizbowl in Missouri and nationally. I'm not just appreciative of them...
by Awehrman
Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:45 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: inclusion of state/local history
Replies: 78
Views: 13074

Re: inclusion of state/local history

Of all the points made by people in this thread, I'm not sure why you are so interested in that one line, Charlie. But perhaps it was a little confusing. I was thankful to have Mr Price's comment, becuase he has taught in both suburban Chicago and downstate in Cahokia, has worked closely with both h...
by Awehrman
Wed Mar 18, 2009 3:20 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Ratio of American History to European/World History
Replies: 68
Views: 19193

Re: Ratio of American History to European/World History

Definitely, Brian. It's from an Early American history listserve, so it's heavily European and American (but so are quizbowl and most history departments). There's no way that three Early Americanists should make the top ten. I found the act of historians picking their personal top ten to be a lot o...
by Awehrman
Wed Mar 18, 2009 2:55 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: inclusion of state/local history
Replies: 78
Views: 13074

Re: inclusion of state/local history

First to Jeff, over lunch I thought about where I heard the Ute question. I'm pretty sure it was at the first HSNCT in 1999 (I know I'm old and old questions have to suck). I buzzed and answered "Utah" and was at first ruled incorrect (I think) since the answer was "Utes". It mig...
by Awehrman
Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:35 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Ratio of American History to European/World History
Replies: 68
Views: 19193

Re: Ratio of American History to European/World History

Coincidentally there is a thread going on the h-net Early American history listserve (H-OIEAHC) about the "Top Ten" historians. Jeff, Mike, and others might want to check it out for even more historiographical discussion in case you just can't get enough. I thought this list was pretty goo...
by Awehrman
Wed Mar 18, 2009 11:55 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: inclusion of state/local history
Replies: 78
Views: 13074

Re: inclusion of state/local history

I think you are still discounting local knowledge. Let's work backwards. Everyone should know the mascot bit. Just about everyone in Illinois would recognize the names Cahokia and Kaskaskia (I forgot to throw in the Peoria tribe too; a Peoria tribe member killed Pontiac). Those with a knowledge of N...
by Awehrman
Wed Mar 18, 2009 11:36 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: inclusion of state/local history
Replies: 78
Views: 13074

Re: inclusion of state/local history

Sigh. I had a long post ready that got erased. I'll try to recreate the highlights. Okay, again (and if I could write this in OVER 9000 point font, I would) saying of a topic "it's important" and leaving it at that does not constitute a valid claim that something should come up. I believe ...
by Awehrman
Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:32 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: inclusion of state/local history
Replies: 78
Views: 13074

Re: IHSA Sectionals Results and State prognostication

Quoting this because I agree with it, and also because I wanted to place emphasis on the word tossup. There are lots of answers that would make perfectly fine bonus parts but don't work well as tossups, either because of transparency/difficulty cliff issues (like the cotton gin) or because of exces...
by Awehrman
Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:22 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: inclusion of state/local history
Replies: 78
Views: 13074

Re: IHSA Sectionals Results and State prognostication

Sorry, Mike, I did not at all mean to slight your comments. They were well thought out, and I appreciate them. I just got caught up responding to others, and in some cases I attempted to respond en masse rather than to each individually. First here's a tossup on the cotton gin that I wrote for the J...
by Awehrman
Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:52 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: inclusion of state/local history
Replies: 78
Views: 13074

Re: IHSA Sectionals Results and State prognostication

Wow, I'm sort of intrigued and appalled at the way this conversation turned out. I meant my original comment as a light jab at some earlier comments against local history topics and against a trope that seemed to say that Illinois history is not significant or important. I expected some mild resista...
by Awehrman
Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:58 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: inclusion of state/local history
Replies: 78
Views: 13074

Re: IHSA Sectionals Results and State prognostication

So, we've moved beyond abolishing one clue questions, horrible hoses, spelling, or what-have-you to say that if no one gets a question two-thirds of the way through it that author has made a horrible grave mistake deserving of scornful bold-face type? I don't think any of the answers above (or back ...
by Awehrman
Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:30 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: inclusion of state/local history
Replies: 78
Views: 13074

Re: IHSA Sectionals Results and State prognostication

I still don't understand why people are so against this topic. No, NKC did not require local history. Missouri does require Missouri history for social studies teachers, however (unless they've changed the requirements in the last couple years). The state's curriculum requires it in 5th grade. Socia...
by Awehrman
Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:12 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: inclusion of state/local history
Replies: 78
Views: 13074

Re: IHSA Sectionals Results and State prognostication

Interesting. It's a shame that Indiana and Illinois don't require state history. It's not all that surprising, though, with teacher shortages, many states have stopped requiring history teachers to take even a minimal amount of history so long as they make up the hours elsewhere. This may be part of...
by Awehrman
Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:57 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: inclusion of state/local history
Replies: 78
Views: 13074

Re: IHSA Sectionals Results and State prognostication

Most high school students haven't read War and Peace either, so I don't think that argument holds water. Students have not read many of the sources from which questions are written. I mentioned the book because I thought people in Illinois might like to read it. I didn't expect them to write questio...
by Awehrman
Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:37 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: inclusion of state/local history
Replies: 78
Views: 13074

Re: IHSA Sectionals Results and State prognostication

This is probably where you get cries of elitism. Why would such a question have to be terrible? You come from "the Prairie State"! It seems like the history of your state embarrasses some of you. Barbed wire, invented and processed in Illinois (De Kalb), played a crucial role in the enclos...
by Awehrman
Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:20 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: inclusion of state/local history
Replies: 78
Views: 13074

inclusion of state/local history

(This was split from the discussion of IHSA Sectionals Results and State in the Illinois forum--srf) As I have stated before, I see no problem with the inclusion of state and local history. Illinois has plenty of history. Are students in Illinois not required to take Illinois history at some point? ...
by Awehrman
Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:22 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Ratio of American History to European/World History
Replies: 68
Views: 19193

Re: Ratio of American History to European/World History

It may well be that there are fewer historians now. My brother Mike is/was quizbowl's only medievalist, but he has not been terribly active the last couple years and will be graduating. Seth Kendall graduated a couple years ago. I'm struggling to think of others. A couple of other thoughts: I'm no c...
by Awehrman
Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:22 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Ratio of American History to European/World History
Replies: 68
Views: 19193

Re: Ratio of American History to European/World History

You're right, Ryan. I probably shouldn't have phrased it that way. I have noticed an increase in awareness of social and cultural history, I just don't think it's as visible yet as it should be. I understand the difficulties. Most people don't have a firm enough grasp on recent historiography to zer...
by Awehrman
Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:15 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Ratio of American History to European/World History
Replies: 68
Views: 19193

Re: Ratio of American History to European/World History

Or at least make the subdistribution 1/1 Am, 2/2 Euro (1 Brit, 1 Ancient), 1/1 World, and 1/1 Choice (not of the same category). Since it seems that my evidence that history departments in the US are overwhelmingly focused on American history doesn't seem like it will sway anyone, the above distrib...
by Awehrman
Thu Mar 12, 2009 1:31 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Ratio of American History to European/World History
Replies: 68
Views: 19193

Re: NAQT distributions posted

Sure, that's a vaild point. I'm not arguing that there isn't a huge amount of stuff to ask about in European or other fields of history. I was responding to the argument suggesting that since European recorded history stretches back much farther in time that ipso facto there is much more to ask abou...
by Awehrman
Thu Mar 12, 2009 1:05 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Ratio of American History to European/World History
Replies: 68
Views: 19193

Re: NAQT distributions posted

I tend to agree with Jeff on this one that the number of American history questions in ACF is too few. As a grad student in Colonial America, you might expect me to feel this way, but if a goal of ACF and/or quizbowl in general is to write questions that people who major in a subject will answer bef...
by Awehrman
Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:09 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: IHSA regional assignments
Replies: 73
Views: 15132

Re: IHSA regional assignments

I think Mr. Riley is overstating the differences between the haves and have nots, at least in a quizbowl sense. There are many more schools that fall in between. I think it's too much for us, in this kind of a forum, to worry about getting the truly destitute schools to play quizbowl. Looking at sch...
by Awehrman
Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:56 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT vice president for communication
Replies: 55
Views: 9675

Re: NAQT vice president for communication

Responding to Chris, I don't want NAQT to follow CBI's business model. I think they should recognize the things that CBI did well (out-reach, marketing, corporate sponsorship), but do away with the way they treated students. My goal is to see NAQT (as I think they're the only ones capable of doing i...
by Awehrman
Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:42 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT vice president for communication
Replies: 55
Views: 9675

Re: NAQT vice president for communication

Absolutely, Matt. But I think there are ways to maximize the benefit of student activities departments to help teams and players. I think it's important to realize that student activities people didn't particularly like CBI either. It was a tremendous burden on them. They had to provide all the staf...
by Awehrman
Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:42 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT vice president for communication
Replies: 55
Views: 9675

Re: NAQT vice president for communication

Looks like I got out of this thread at the right time, and here I go getting back into it. Jason has a bit of point about using Jennings, but I think it would have worked better a few years ago. I'm not sure how recognizable he is 5 years after his long Jeopardy! run. On a brochure or flyer, he woul...
by Awehrman
Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:21 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Cross-disciplinary giveaways and IS-76
Replies: 9
Views: 2660

Re: Cross-disciplinary giveaways and IS-76

You'd probably have an easier time making the case that the film Gone With the Wind is academic as "misc fine arts" than that the book is academic as literature. Oh, come on! I don't think the Southern Literary Journal would even exist without Gone With the Wind! Love it or hate it, it's ...
by Awehrman
Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:11 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT distributions posted
Replies: 59
Views: 21282

Re: NAQT distributions posted

Frankly, this category is difficult to fill and we often accept into it questions that would be better off in one of the other US history categories. As an NAQT editor, I would be happy to see a reduction in US social history. Oh, I sure hope not! Those answer choices don't show the variety of poss...
by Awehrman
Tue Mar 10, 2009 6:38 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT vice president for communication
Replies: 55
Views: 9675

Re: NAQT vice president for communication

Thanks for the replies, Jeff. I don't want to come off too forcefully, and I know you only started in this communicative role. I like what R. says about the goals of NAQT, I feel much the same way. If NAQT wants to discuss how to better appeal and market to colleges, we are willing to advise and help.
by Awehrman
Tue Mar 10, 2009 4:04 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NAQT vice president for communication
Replies: 55
Views: 9675

Re: NAQT vice president for communication

I think people might be interested in both of those things, but I was referring to expansion of the existing products to new schools and/or to campus activities personnel.