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[CCBC-Net] teaching history
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From: Benita Strnad <bstrnad>
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 09:08:25 -0500
Karlan's experience in the classroom with Spiegelman's Maus is not unique and points to a broader subject than just the Holocaust. It is the teaching of history in general. It has been several years since I read "Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong" (published in 1995) by James Loewen but for anybody teaching history in any way it is a must read. The emphasis in the book is on the teaching of history at the secondary level but much of it is applicable to all grades and levels. In the book Loewen addresses the issue of the disconnect between what is in the book and the reality of what happened and how this causes students to believe that most of what they learn in history class is a lie. Loewen also addresses the reluctance of teachers and administrators to address real issues in the classroom and believes that the sanitation of the classrooms does not allow students and teachers to turn these issues into teaching and learning moments of significance. Loewen believes that because education is backing away from the idea of the school as an agent of social change it is losing the students who sense that they are not being told the whole truth about things.
Earlier this fall (2005) at the University of Alabama the school of education was taken to task by columnist George Will in a Newsweek commentary in which he castigated the school for having a mission statement that calls for the College of Education at UA to teach students to take on a role as social change agents. Will said that the College of Education at UA should be teaching teachers to teach and not to be social change agents. I disagree. Teaching about social issues is a vital part of history and it is impossible to teach history without addressing these issues. If people are to learn from history then difficult issues must be addressed and taught thoroughly. If this kind of learning happens in the classroom it is going to produce some kind of change in the students and that is social change.
For many years I struggled with the problem of students who just didn't get the message. For one reason or another they were unable to internalize the message of what they were reading. (Then there were the others who so easily internalized things that they were emotional wrecks) I finally decided that learning is a two way street. There has to be some response from the student and that response is their responsibility not mine. That does not mean that I wash my hands of them, rather it means that I recognized that the students are at a different level in Kohlberg's Hierarchy (Thanks to the person who reminded all of us about that important pedagogical theory.) and I must work within that developmental stage and trust that some other teacher
(and librarians are teachers) will pick up where I left off and hit them again from a different angle.
As time goes on I am more and more convinced that reading discussion groups are a great way to teach. For many years I thought they were merely a social diversion enjoyed by the intellectually inclined. I no longer believe this to be true. There is something about the forum that allows students to develop a relationship with each other as well as the guide and the literature that they are reading that more often than not leads to internal change. Somehow the discussion forum allows them to make decisions about the material that is more personal and the chances of them internalizing the material is so much better. The downside is that this kind of teaching is labor intensive. Each small group needs a teacher and it isn't as cost effective as a large classroom.
I also think that for most classroom settings the historical context of the literature is so important. Without that context the literature has no meaning. It is impossible to separate the literature from the historical time in which it set and from the time in which it was created. My sister, the 9th grade English teacher of below level readers, says that many days she teaches more science, history, and art than she does English.
It has been refreshing to read the discussion on this list and know that so many of us share the same concerns about teaching and learning.
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 09:08:25 -0500
Karlan's experience in the classroom with Spiegelman's Maus is not unique and points to a broader subject than just the Holocaust. It is the teaching of history in general. It has been several years since I read "Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong" (published in 1995) by James Loewen but for anybody teaching history in any way it is a must read. The emphasis in the book is on the teaching of history at the secondary level but much of it is applicable to all grades and levels. In the book Loewen addresses the issue of the disconnect between what is in the book and the reality of what happened and how this causes students to believe that most of what they learn in history class is a lie. Loewen also addresses the reluctance of teachers and administrators to address real issues in the classroom and believes that the sanitation of the classrooms does not allow students and teachers to turn these issues into teaching and learning moments of significance. Loewen believes that because education is backing away from the idea of the school as an agent of social change it is losing the students who sense that they are not being told the whole truth about things.
Earlier this fall (2005) at the University of Alabama the school of education was taken to task by columnist George Will in a Newsweek commentary in which he castigated the school for having a mission statement that calls for the College of Education at UA to teach students to take on a role as social change agents. Will said that the College of Education at UA should be teaching teachers to teach and not to be social change agents. I disagree. Teaching about social issues is a vital part of history and it is impossible to teach history without addressing these issues. If people are to learn from history then difficult issues must be addressed and taught thoroughly. If this kind of learning happens in the classroom it is going to produce some kind of change in the students and that is social change.
For many years I struggled with the problem of students who just didn't get the message. For one reason or another they were unable to internalize the message of what they were reading. (Then there were the others who so easily internalized things that they were emotional wrecks) I finally decided that learning is a two way street. There has to be some response from the student and that response is their responsibility not mine. That does not mean that I wash my hands of them, rather it means that I recognized that the students are at a different level in Kohlberg's Hierarchy (Thanks to the person who reminded all of us about that important pedagogical theory.) and I must work within that developmental stage and trust that some other teacher
(and librarians are teachers) will pick up where I left off and hit them again from a different angle.
As time goes on I am more and more convinced that reading discussion groups are a great way to teach. For many years I thought they were merely a social diversion enjoyed by the intellectually inclined. I no longer believe this to be true. There is something about the forum that allows students to develop a relationship with each other as well as the guide and the literature that they are reading that more often than not leads to internal change. Somehow the discussion forum allows them to make decisions about the material that is more personal and the chances of them internalizing the material is so much better. The downside is that this kind of teaching is labor intensive. Each small group needs a teacher and it isn't as cost effective as a large classroom.
I also think that for most classroom settings the historical context of the literature is so important. Without that context the literature has no meaning. It is impossible to separate the literature from the historical time in which it set and from the time in which it was created. My sister, the 9th grade English teacher of below level readers, says that many days she teaches more science, history, and art than she does English.
It has been refreshing to read the discussion on this list and know that so many of us share the same concerns about teaching and learning.
-- Benita Strnad Curriculum Materials Librarian McLure Education Library The University of Alabama Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you. Carlos Ruiz Zafon author of Shadow of the WindReceived on Mon 24 Apr 2006 09:08:25 AM CDT
