It has been such an honor and so fun to get to collaborate on this project! I've been a Crash Course fan since I first discovered it years ago teaching US History. At the time, I thought it sounded like something that would be fun to do. I never imagined I'd ACTUALLY BE WORKING ON IT, though! I can't wait to use this in future AP European History and IB European History courses.
I joined twitter last year when I kept running across interesting blog posts from educators. Of course I immediately started following John Green and Crash Course because I LOVE HIM, have read all of his books, used his videos in class, etc.
So when they tweeted that they were looking for a European History Consultant, I jumped at the chance. (Unfortunately, I didn't see the tweet until about 2 days before the application was due, so I applied last minute. Not my M.O!)
I didn't think much of it, assuming they had a million applicants. Magically they called me for an interview, though, and I got the gig! That MA in European History paid off, yay!
So around October, I started my first task, which was to outline a syllabus of what the videos should cover. As I started working on it, I learned that one of the historians I had read and loved in college (Bonnie Smith) would be writing the scripts, and I became even more star struck.
Each time Bonnie finishes a script, I read over it, make suggestions, and then we pass it on to the Crash Course Team. Eventually John Green edits it (makes it sound like him, adds comedy, etc) Then they start filming. It's so cool to see it come to fruition!
So without further ado, here is the first video in the series: A preview of the Course (this preview John Green wrote on his own.)
Stay tuned for many many more episodes of Crash Course European History to come! We're shooting for 50 episodes total, closely aligned with the AP European History Course Description.
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