Chapter 12

 

As an educator in training, my study of my text informs me about the role of teaching history. As I read this particular section of my text, I discovered that I agree with much of the assertions and ideas. History is my personal favorite piece of Social Studies primarily because of its hands-on aspect. I have often asserted in the past that learning about different times is like travelling to a foreign land. The past is simply impossible for us to wrap our minds around because we only know our way of living. It’s nearly impossible to empathize with someone who lived during the American Revolution. According to my text, history teaches us perspective and how our society came to be (). When I began my Social Studies Methods course, I defined Social Studies as the story of our origins. I defined it that way because I believed that it was all about history. Therefore, I gave my definition of history. After reading the chapter, I felt that my definition of history was validated.

History may be exciting but it comes with its challenges. For example, many educators struggle to cover their material as stipulated in the curriculum. This leads to anxiety which blocks learning. The other nemesis that haunts social studies teachers is how to talk about sensitive concepts to a culturally diverse class. If we discontinue teaching the Big Lie that is the first Thanksgiving then how do we tell the truth? The next problem highlighted in my text is the holes, exaggerations, biases and inaccuracies in history. That is the leading reason why as a future educator, I plan to teach my students to cross examine different perspectives in their search for truth.

An effective way for educators to address some of the previously highlighted problems is by using a strategy called EPIC. EPIC stands for Experience, Perception, Information and Connections. In the past I have asserted that students will not remember concepts that are not significant to them. The EPIC strategy creates connections by drawing from the student’s life experiences that parallels the concept under study. This is accomplished during the opening Experience stage. Next (Perception), students are tasked with reflecting about those experiences by recalling thoughts and feelings and comparing different points of view. Once the student’s interest has been sparked, the instructor moves on to introduce concrete information to the students (Information). Finally, the teacher highlights the connections shared in the Experience stage between the student’s thoughts and the topic (). According to my text, this is an effective way to make the past more relatable for students. Although it may be effective in switching on the student’s minds, I do not believe it will establish a deep connection with the past.

As a professional historian, I have discovered the best connections with our history is through artifacts and the sights themselves. The strongest example of this is a living history museum because it possesses both. In the 5^th Grade, I had the good fortune to visit one of the best living history communities in the country; Colonial Williamsburg. There, museums and artifacts surround visitors. Beyond that, visitors can watch demonstrations of matchlock and flintlock muskets along with the Guttenberg Printing Press and so much more. I remember purchasing reproductions of all the important documents, visiting the Yorktown Battlefield and trying on a British uniform! I visited a windmill, gunsmith and actors playing the key figures from Virginia such as Patrick Henry. Not only did I watch but I left with one of the first authentic items in my military collection. That is when I discovered that objects from the past are our direct portals to the past. Only authentic artifacts tell us the plain, raw, untainted truth. It is my hope that one day I can mount these artifacts and replicas to the walls of my classroom.

My text lists a variety of items for teachers to use to draw students to learning. I found games to be the most interesting. After pondering the idea of teaching with games, fun and interesting lessons suddenly sprung out of my mind. I thought of a way to create a lesson plan around the game of Dungeons and Dragons. Since the game is a campaign that follows a story controlled by a “Dungeon Master”, almost any historical period can be adapted to the game. The students can name their own characters and decide what they do in the story as they learn about different time periods. The text shines a spotlight on how relatives can be part of a history lesson by sharing stories and pictures with their children about their youth. They can be helpful in constructing a family tree. I believe that a family tree project is perfect for teaching young students how to conduct research professionally for a purpose that is significant to them (family).

History is such an exciting topic but it is important to note that the attitude of the teacher will spread to the students. No matter how exciting history is, if the instructor is dull, down and dry then the content will be too. For the most part, my viewpoints as an educator in training are in check with those in the text. Plugging the holes in historical pedagogy is up to the creativity of the teacher.