When you're taking notes, you probably don't know what you need to remember most. That's where highlighting comes in! If you're getting stuck on what you need to know, that little yellow pen can save your life!
If you have a teacher that gives out note packets, you can use this to your advantage. If they already put the notes into the packet, great! Now all you need to do is go through and highlight the most important things: dates, people, places, etc. If the teacher tells you that something in the notes needs to be remembered, highlight it-they aren't saying that for nothing, after all! When you highlight, you can come back later on, after you've already forgotten what you were supposed to know, and get a little bit of a memory jog. That can help you study greatly; in fact, highlight things you had trouble with, too. This can help you better prepare for it later if it appears on a test.
For those whose teachers give out notes you have to fill in, or rely on you to take the notes yourselves, you can still use highlighting. This time, though, you'll be highlighting in your textbook! (PSA: If you don't own your textbook, DON'T DO THIS!) When a teacher lectures, instead of scrambling to take notes, just highlight the corresponding information in your textbook, even writing down some reminders of other information to help you even better. For those college students, even if you don't own the textbook, you can highlight at your expense; it could be a help to the next year student who has no idea what to do for note taking. At the end of the day, you'll still have to take the notes, but now you have a place where you can find the relevant info easy!
So go out and buy a Bic! It can save your butt in history class in more ways than one!
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
Sunday, November 29, 2015
How to Connect Historical Events
For students, the hardest thing you can do is try to connect seemingly unrelated events together in a historical paper. I know; I've tried, to varying success. It sucks sometimes, because you know the thesis is trying to throw you off, and if you have to resort to what you can remember, you're not gonna have a good time. However, I've found that, like many other things you have to do in history class, there's a method that you can use to help yourself connect those things together. Here are the three main points in connecting history to a paper's question/goal.
3. Think of the Question Compared to the Events
On an AP test surely, there will be a question that requires you to either examine comparisons and contrasts or continuity over time. You'll have to make an entire essay about this question, and if it IS AP, you'll have to do so from memory. Let's say you come up with three historical events based on the time period given in the question. Go back and read the question thoroughly. Now, think of how the events you chose relates to what the question wants you to do. Remember, if its AP, you're under a time constraint; don't spend too much time on it. If you put one of your historical events through this process and you can't see how it would relate to the question, just don't use it. If you can't understand and write about it, the person grading your test won't be able to understand either. This can help you narrow down the many historical happenings that occurred in the question's time period to the confines of the question.
2. Think of the Events Compared to Each Other
Now that you have events together, it's time to divide them into like groups. Focus on a main part of the event: do they share the same people, locations, ideologies? If you answer yes to any of these questions, there's your comparison in the event. Since you're trying to connect the events together, you're trying to also convince the reader why you put this event with this other event to support your argument. If the question involved how the US experienced industrialization in the 1800s, 2 good events to put together would be the opening of the Lowell Mill and use of inter-continental trade between the North and South. These events both happened in the 1800s, they both increased industrialization in the North, and they both (for the sake of this example) follow the exam question. Just keep doing this with events until you've gotten good evidence for both sides of the argument (since they will always expect you to do both sides). If you have a left over event and don't know where to put it, just leave it out. Don't risk losing points because you put in something you don't know about.
1. Connect Them Through Likes
No, not the Facebook/Twitter likes. Likes in this sense is what they have in common; what do they share that links them together? If you can find at least two things that can connect an event together, you'll be in business. Here's a hint; it's usually in the exam question. Yes, the question will give you what you need to look for; in fact, that's why you started this exam in the first place. So why is this point the last? Something that's a given is never the most important; once you've gotten through the hard stuff, that just makes the easy stuff easier.
There you have it! You can connect events through three ways: Comparing them to the question, themselves, and then finally connecting them through a shared trait. It's almost like science in a way! (Maybe that's why social studies teachers have degrees in social sciences).
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
Mixing History
As a teacher, schools will give you strict guidelines on what you need to teach your students. It can be limiting from time to time; you may want to focus on a certain subject but the district wants you to instead teach the students about the Civil War for the millionth time. While this can be frustrating, you can actually use these guidelines to your advantage when teaching your students. All it takes is a little finesse and some work, but you can teach the students about up to 5 subjects in one lesson plan. Speaking as a student, I can't be for sure that this will work very well-I don't have a class to test it on; this can technically be a theory on how such a plan would work. However, I do know that this idea can't work with an AP teacher, whose job it is to teach a single subject like World History in 8 months; the district doesn't decide what they can teach, that's up to College Board.
To help out structuring what to teach about (basically mixing the subjects), we'll use example situations again (I really like those; it's useful in science as well as for this blog).
Let's say that Johnny is a history teacher. When he gets his lesson plans for the year from the district, he's upset to learn that it mostly only covers basic American/US history as well as only somewhat-modern world history. Because Johnny isn't an AP teacher, he doesn't have a choice in what he can teach (he has limits). What he really wanted the kids to learn this year is the growth of humanity in the Renaissance as well as the plight of the American natives throughout the period after 1491 (pretty specific, Johnny). Well, Johnny can do three things to help mix in what he wanted to teach with what he has to teach:
He can reference the events. Johnny has an opportunity here the use the periods in which he is given by the district to reference to the events he had in mind. For the American ones, that's easy. In what could be contained in a page of notes, Johnny could preface the American history unit with some facts about how the natives were horribly mistreated ever since Columbus set foot in the Caribbean. It's a little harder for the European history, but Johnny could try and teach how European architecture in the 1800s was a major change form architecture in the Renaissance period; away from the Greek and more towards Gothic. As you can see, he's now taught what he wanted to teach, but within the confines of the district's rules.
He can also use historical context. As you may have already noticed, historical context is a big thing in history class, but it's not just for the students to use. Teachers use it all the time to help explain how things happened where and why they happened, and Johnny can use this to his advantage. He could place the entirety of the American Conquest/Manifest Destiny era of US History within the context of native treatment (think Trail of Tears and Custer); basically, he would mention a major part of native history with every part of the corresponding American event. With European history, it's once again harder, but he could try explaining how the thought processes of the Renaissance helped influence the philosophical ideologies of the 1700s and 1800s; basically, more free thinkers in later Europe (which would lead to fascism and others) because of how earlier Europe accepted the Renaissance. Again, Johnny has now taught what he wanted to teach with what he was required.
Above all else, he could just teach them all. If a history teacher believes that a time period or event in history MUST be taught to students, then they should do it. The long term goal of historians is to avoid repeating past blunders, and if that means having the kids learn about the Battle of Hastings, then buckle up, kids. Johnny can decide whether he believes the American history and European history eras should all four be taught together, event though only two of them are required. As long as he can keep it confined to a unit's length, then go for it; if not, that's where the other two methods come in. All in all, history is long, and it is confusing; try to keep it as clear as you can without muddling your students' minds.
History may not be appreciated by even a school district, but that can't stop you from teaching it! Just make sure to be careful when deciding what and what not to teach, and you should be fine. Again, this is an untested theory, so if you're trying it out, pleas let me know! I wan this blog to be helpful, not harmful!
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
To help out structuring what to teach about (basically mixing the subjects), we'll use example situations again (I really like those; it's useful in science as well as for this blog).
Let's say that Johnny is a history teacher. When he gets his lesson plans for the year from the district, he's upset to learn that it mostly only covers basic American/US history as well as only somewhat-modern world history. Because Johnny isn't an AP teacher, he doesn't have a choice in what he can teach (he has limits). What he really wanted the kids to learn this year is the growth of humanity in the Renaissance as well as the plight of the American natives throughout the period after 1491 (pretty specific, Johnny). Well, Johnny can do three things to help mix in what he wanted to teach with what he has to teach:
He can reference the events. Johnny has an opportunity here the use the periods in which he is given by the district to reference to the events he had in mind. For the American ones, that's easy. In what could be contained in a page of notes, Johnny could preface the American history unit with some facts about how the natives were horribly mistreated ever since Columbus set foot in the Caribbean. It's a little harder for the European history, but Johnny could try and teach how European architecture in the 1800s was a major change form architecture in the Renaissance period; away from the Greek and more towards Gothic. As you can see, he's now taught what he wanted to teach, but within the confines of the district's rules.
He can also use historical context. As you may have already noticed, historical context is a big thing in history class, but it's not just for the students to use. Teachers use it all the time to help explain how things happened where and why they happened, and Johnny can use this to his advantage. He could place the entirety of the American Conquest/Manifest Destiny era of US History within the context of native treatment (think Trail of Tears and Custer); basically, he would mention a major part of native history with every part of the corresponding American event. With European history, it's once again harder, but he could try explaining how the thought processes of the Renaissance helped influence the philosophical ideologies of the 1700s and 1800s; basically, more free thinkers in later Europe (which would lead to fascism and others) because of how earlier Europe accepted the Renaissance. Again, Johnny has now taught what he wanted to teach with what he was required.
Above all else, he could just teach them all. If a history teacher believes that a time period or event in history MUST be taught to students, then they should do it. The long term goal of historians is to avoid repeating past blunders, and if that means having the kids learn about the Battle of Hastings, then buckle up, kids. Johnny can decide whether he believes the American history and European history eras should all four be taught together, event though only two of them are required. As long as he can keep it confined to a unit's length, then go for it; if not, that's where the other two methods come in. All in all, history is long, and it is confusing; try to keep it as clear as you can without muddling your students' minds.
History may not be appreciated by even a school district, but that can't stop you from teaching it! Just make sure to be careful when deciding what and what not to teach, and you should be fine. Again, this is an untested theory, so if you're trying it out, pleas let me know! I wan this blog to be helpful, not harmful!
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
Sunday, November 22, 2015
Quick Tips: Using Pictures to Your Advantage
In the working world, there's an unwritten motto: "Work Smarter, Not Harder." One the parts of this motto is knowing what to study in a certain class; in this case, history. So if you're a student who has a test coming up and you don't know what to do to study, you've got something in your pocket that can help you out!
...No, not that, you pervert! It's your phone, specifically the camera function/app! A teacher will usually give hints to when a test or quiz is coming up, so if you're smart, you can use your camera to help you out. For example, I have a test tomorrow over an era in AP US History. On Friday, my teacher "subtly" dropped the hint that the entirety of the quiz was in the American History AMSCO book. Because I don't own this book, I took pictures of it; not to cheat, you un-trusting teachers, but to actually study the correct material to prepare me for the test.
Every time phones are involved with history class, teachers seem to think it's cheating. But you can actually have a valid excuse! Don't abuse the leniency of the teacher though; this could easily be taken away if you're caught cheating using pictures of things other than questions to study. Also, not many teachers will allow you to use phones in class, so be careful, because you don't want to lose any points over this. So if you just find what you need help with, photograph relative info to help study, and NOT CHEAT, you should be fine! I guess this is more of a Life Hack than a Quick Tip, but to each their own.
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
...No, not that, you pervert! It's your phone, specifically the camera function/app! A teacher will usually give hints to when a test or quiz is coming up, so if you're smart, you can use your camera to help you out. For example, I have a test tomorrow over an era in AP US History. On Friday, my teacher "subtly" dropped the hint that the entirety of the quiz was in the American History AMSCO book. Because I don't own this book, I took pictures of it; not to cheat, you un-trusting teachers, but to actually study the correct material to prepare me for the test.
Every time phones are involved with history class, teachers seem to think it's cheating. But you can actually have a valid excuse! Don't abuse the leniency of the teacher though; this could easily be taken away if you're caught cheating using pictures of things other than questions to study. Also, not many teachers will allow you to use phones in class, so be careful, because you don't want to lose any points over this. So if you just find what you need help with, photograph relative info to help study, and NOT CHEAT, you should be fine! I guess this is more of a Life Hack than a Quick Tip, but to each their own.
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
How to Condense History
History, like a speaker at a political function, can be long-winded. It's hard sometimes to teach a meaningful lesson without beginning to drone on and on; by the time you're finished only one person is still paying attention and everyone else all left 25 minutes ago. So how can you keep students' attention and in their seats? Call me Reader's Digest, 'cause it's time to condense those lessons! Condensing a long subject is probably your best bet to make sure enough information can be relayed to your audience without boring the crap out of them, and the whole reason we had condensed readers in the first place proves that humans are impatient and lazy and won't listen to something they couldn't read on their hand. For students, I've already covered how to pay attention and take notes in history class to make it easier (and even a little more fun); now it's the teachers' turns to be taught (some nice repetition never hurt anyone, did it?)
To begin, we need a really long subject in history. So, how about the Hundred Years' War? This European war was technically World War I, but humans weren't that smart back then, so the name stuck. It literally lasted over one hundred years (116 years) and was a conflict between England and France that spiraled out of control in the 1300s-1400s. It ended up including many of the European countries surrounding the Big Two, and while it was fought for who had claim to the French thrown, in the end only territories were taken and a lot of people died. This war is a factor in what led to European Christians splitting into different factions, like the Catholics and Lutherans.
There's your example. Did you see how I fit the whole 116 years of this war into one paragraph, mentioned dates, locations, and regions, and gave cause, effect, and outcome? Sure, I could've gone into specifics, like how Isabella of France was trying to go around a principle banning female succession after Charles IV died by giving it to her son Edward III, which the French got pissed at, so they intervened in Edward's attack on Scotland (did I mention he was English?) and got him pissed, then the Battle of Crecy decided...
Did I lose you yet? There is simply too much information about the Hundred Years' War to fit into a single lesson. By the time you got to the end of the first quarter of the war (which the English won), it would be empty in your classroom, because class ended 2 hours ago.
I follow 4 steps when condensing history: What Caused It, When Did It Happen, Why Did It Happened, What Resulted From It. If you can get these four parts out of a long event or subject, you could fit an entire era of World History within the first half of a semester. If you think you're going too fast, don't stop condensing; you'll have enough time after the lesson to answer questions and go into specifics when your lesson isn't the length of a seminar. Basically, don't be a bore-condense more!
God, that was awful. Just make sure you condense your lessons!
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep (Reader's Digest)
To begin, we need a really long subject in history. So, how about the Hundred Years' War? This European war was technically World War I, but humans weren't that smart back then, so the name stuck. It literally lasted over one hundred years (116 years) and was a conflict between England and France that spiraled out of control in the 1300s-1400s. It ended up including many of the European countries surrounding the Big Two, and while it was fought for who had claim to the French thrown, in the end only territories were taken and a lot of people died. This war is a factor in what led to European Christians splitting into different factions, like the Catholics and Lutherans.
There's your example. Did you see how I fit the whole 116 years of this war into one paragraph, mentioned dates, locations, and regions, and gave cause, effect, and outcome? Sure, I could've gone into specifics, like how Isabella of France was trying to go around a principle banning female succession after Charles IV died by giving it to her son Edward III, which the French got pissed at, so they intervened in Edward's attack on Scotland (did I mention he was English?) and got him pissed, then the Battle of Crecy decided...
Did I lose you yet? There is simply too much information about the Hundred Years' War to fit into a single lesson. By the time you got to the end of the first quarter of the war (which the English won), it would be empty in your classroom, because class ended 2 hours ago.
I follow 4 steps when condensing history: What Caused It, When Did It Happen, Why Did It Happened, What Resulted From It. If you can get these four parts out of a long event or subject, you could fit an entire era of World History within the first half of a semester. If you think you're going too fast, don't stop condensing; you'll have enough time after the lesson to answer questions and go into specifics when your lesson isn't the length of a seminar. Basically, don't be a bore-condense more!
God, that was awful. Just make sure you condense your lessons!
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep (Reader's Digest)
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Lesson Idea: Historical Jeopardy
Considering I haven't done a lesson idea in quite some time, I've decided to create one that can include all historical subjects: Historical Jeopardy! Everyone loves Jeopardy, right? Even the SNL ones taught kids something (like how NOT to pronounce appetite in French); this translates over incredibly well to the subject of history. Even without the suaveness that is Alex Trebek, any history teacher can use this outline to help teach about a period in history; all you need is a computer and some technical wizardry and you'll be well on your way!
First of all, you need a computer to do this lesson. The program for the Jeopardy game will be done within the Microsoft PowerPoint application; you can try doing this project by hand, but it will take much longer and, honestly, isn't very viable to use nowadays (the Internet Age is upon us). I'm going to try as well as I can to help you with creating the PowerPoint. If you follow the steps, you'll be fine!
First of all, you need a computer to do this lesson. The program for the Jeopardy game will be done within the Microsoft PowerPoint application; you can try doing this project by hand, but it will take much longer and, honestly, isn't very viable to use nowadays (the Internet Age is upon us). I'm going to try as well as I can to help you with creating the PowerPoint. If you follow the steps, you'll be fine!
Instructions
- Create a title for your game of Jeopardy. For an example, we'll use "The Industrial Revolution Jeopardy!" If you want, you can add backgrounds and transitions to your choosing.
- Make a new slide; on this slide, you'll make a 5X5 grid (5 topics involving the Industrial Revolution and 5 amounts of points per option). You can choose whatever topics in this era as you want, but I recommend for the points that you go from 200 to 1000. Put a standalone box off to the side and label it "Final Jeopardy!".
- Here's the tricky part. You'll have to make 26 new slides, one for each box and Final Jeopardy. But how do you connect them back to the original grid? Here are the instructions according to Microsoft:
- In Normal view, select the text or the object that you want to use as a hyperlink.
- On the Insert tab, in the Links group, click Hyperlink.
- Under Link to, click Place in This Document.
- Do one of the following: Link to a custom show in the current presentation:
- Under Select a place in this document, click the custom show that you want to use as the hyperlink destination.
- Select the Show and return check box.
- Link to a slide in the current presentation:
- Under Select a place in this document, click the slide that you want to use as the hyperlink destination.
- Once you've linked all of your slides, it's time to choose the questions. How hard should they be? Well, ones under, say, 200 points should be about this difficult: This person copied the English textile system and brought it to America, with the answer "Who was Francis Lowell?" As you move up in points, you should move up in difficulty of the question, with Final Jeopardy being the hardest of them all.
- Now, you just need to follow the rules of Jeopardy: whoever answers correctly chooses the next category, whoever answers incorrectly loses the number of points the question is worth, and Final Jeopardy determines the winner. Have your students divide into three teams and have fun!
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Quick Tips: How to Pick a History Project
Seeing as I've already covered how to do a history project, now it's time to learn how to pick one. Depending on the class, projects could be the easiest thing in the world, or the hardest. So it's up to you to choose one based on your own understanding of the subject, no matter how boring it may seem. Some are posters, some are PowerPoints, some are essays; no matter the time period, history can be turned into a simple thing or an elegant one. I myself have always leaned towards the presentation aspect of a project, but once again, it all depends on the class. Here's a few guidelines to help you on your decision:
Don't choose a hard project: Easier said (or written) than done; it's hard to determine the challenge of a project before you've even done it. But for those who have a hard time committing a lot of time to a project, don't take the 27 page minimum analysis of the Battle of Gettysburg. Even if the teacher said it would be extra credit, that's usually to give the students who can do projects like this an added "good job" for tackling such a feat. I'm not saying you can't do it yourself; you most certainly can, and don't let some blogger decide your major life choices for you. But in my personal experience, I've found that I enjoy doing small projects about small events, because I end up learning about it and appreciating it more than if I had to drown myself in a sea of text. Again, it all depends on the teacher, so it's up to you to heed my advice or not.
Make it Yours: So many teachers today use examples of projects that they want to grade their students on. However, this can lead to the misunderstanding that that example is exactly what the teacher wants, and nothing else. In reality, that's not true. How boring would it get to basically grade the same thing over and over again? This is what leads to bad grades on seemingly good assignments; the teacher is tired of seeing the same thing and lashes out at the next student who does it. So if you make the project yours (it has a flair that you have as well), it's almost like a breath of fresh air to the teacher, and that could mean an A+.
That's it, really.Just choose a project at your understanding of history and make it your project, not someone else's with your name on it. Of course, all of the project examples I write about in Lesson Idea posts aren't ones I've actually done myself, so...if you need some inspiration...
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
Don't choose a hard project: Easier said (or written) than done; it's hard to determine the challenge of a project before you've even done it. But for those who have a hard time committing a lot of time to a project, don't take the 27 page minimum analysis of the Battle of Gettysburg. Even if the teacher said it would be extra credit, that's usually to give the students who can do projects like this an added "good job" for tackling such a feat. I'm not saying you can't do it yourself; you most certainly can, and don't let some blogger decide your major life choices for you. But in my personal experience, I've found that I enjoy doing small projects about small events, because I end up learning about it and appreciating it more than if I had to drown myself in a sea of text. Again, it all depends on the teacher, so it's up to you to heed my advice or not.
Make it Yours: So many teachers today use examples of projects that they want to grade their students on. However, this can lead to the misunderstanding that that example is exactly what the teacher wants, and nothing else. In reality, that's not true. How boring would it get to basically grade the same thing over and over again? This is what leads to bad grades on seemingly good assignments; the teacher is tired of seeing the same thing and lashes out at the next student who does it. So if you make the project yours (it has a flair that you have as well), it's almost like a breath of fresh air to the teacher, and that could mean an A+.
That's it, really.Just choose a project at your understanding of history and make it your project, not someone else's with your name on it. Of course, all of the project examples I write about in Lesson Idea posts aren't ones I've actually done myself, so...if you need some inspiration...
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
World History X: Censorship and History
Bloodshed. Rape. Torture. Usually, these are themes you'd see in the R-rated Liam Neeson/Sylvester Stallone type movies that, for some reason, get an Oscar nod every February. But surprisingly (or unsurprisingly), these are the recurring themes of Ancient to Modern History, most of which teachers have to convey to their students within a year. Besides the implications of going in unabridged (like my teacher in 9th grade did with the Rwandan Genocide of 1994), these are not things many adults consider "school appropriate". So it's up to the powers that be to devise a way to sneak in as much as possible while censoring most of the bad stuff. Easy, right? Nothing can go wrong...
Yeah, no. That's a horrible idea.
Before I start ranting again, I should explain myself. "Why would you want the children to see gore? Are you saying they should be exposed to...gasp...VIOLENCE?!" My answer to those question is, no, I don't want children to see the gory parts of history; that would be stupid. Their minds need to develop further to accurately understand what history is; it's the story about how we killed and clawed our way to where we are now, with several scars left as visual reminders. What I don't like is when high school and college aged students are coddled like babies and forced to be spoon-fed the "clean" version of history. At a certain point, humans can become capable of handling and dealing with what they can and cannot control; emotions is one of the former. History needs to be taught without any barriers on it, unless you would dance with the notion of having it repeated within the same century. If a person doesn't want to see graphic images and movies showing this violence, they must make their own choice to remove themselves from the situation. It shouldn't become a scary thing the school has to intervene in to make sure everything is family-friendly.
In fact, this censoring of history will lead(and always has led) to adverse affect. Ever heard of the Rape of Nanjing? Neither do most Japanese students, even though it was a war crime committed by their country on China during WWII (that's like saying that slavery never happened in the US). There are still active Holocaust deniers around the world, even though their is proof through pictures and living people that it most certainly happened. Many in the US don't seem to see the difference between a terrorist and a Middle Easterner. This all can stem back to schools not allowing a full understanding of history when they needed to most; had the full affects of these tragedies been dealt with in World History 50 or so years ago, the middle group may not have happened at all. As I formulated on in the post "The Huckleberry Finn Problem", political correctness can also come into play, and it is a form of censorship that is an actual censor on the past. If the world continues in this "safe space" mindset, their will never be a full understanding of our collective past.
You can say all you want that the world has come far in making it safer for kids. What I'm trying to say is that censorship has made the world too safe, in the sense that now young adults must also be protected from their ancestors' decisions, however violent they may have been. Until our world can emotionally mature in this area of teaching, and allow a more open version of World History to its next generation, I predict we will not be safe from more violence for a long time.
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
Yeah, no. That's a horrible idea.
Before I start ranting again, I should explain myself. "Why would you want the children to see gore? Are you saying they should be exposed to...gasp...VIOLENCE?!" My answer to those question is, no, I don't want children to see the gory parts of history; that would be stupid. Their minds need to develop further to accurately understand what history is; it's the story about how we killed and clawed our way to where we are now, with several scars left as visual reminders. What I don't like is when high school and college aged students are coddled like babies and forced to be spoon-fed the "clean" version of history. At a certain point, humans can become capable of handling and dealing with what they can and cannot control; emotions is one of the former. History needs to be taught without any barriers on it, unless you would dance with the notion of having it repeated within the same century. If a person doesn't want to see graphic images and movies showing this violence, they must make their own choice to remove themselves from the situation. It shouldn't become a scary thing the school has to intervene in to make sure everything is family-friendly.
In fact, this censoring of history will lead(and always has led) to adverse affect. Ever heard of the Rape of Nanjing? Neither do most Japanese students, even though it was a war crime committed by their country on China during WWII (that's like saying that slavery never happened in the US). There are still active Holocaust deniers around the world, even though their is proof through pictures and living people that it most certainly happened. Many in the US don't seem to see the difference between a terrorist and a Middle Easterner. This all can stem back to schools not allowing a full understanding of history when they needed to most; had the full affects of these tragedies been dealt with in World History 50 or so years ago, the middle group may not have happened at all. As I formulated on in the post "The Huckleberry Finn Problem", political correctness can also come into play, and it is a form of censorship that is an actual censor on the past. If the world continues in this "safe space" mindset, their will never be a full understanding of our collective past.
You can say all you want that the world has come far in making it safer for kids. What I'm trying to say is that censorship has made the world too safe, in the sense that now young adults must also be protected from their ancestors' decisions, however violent they may have been. Until our world can emotionally mature in this area of teaching, and allow a more open version of World History to its next generation, I predict we will not be safe from more violence for a long time.
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
Historical Inaccuracies: Facts vs. Factoids
If you live in America, you can understand how powerful Hollywood is in making films about historical events (see the post "Hollywood History" for more). You can also understand how influential other mediums, like TV, books, and the Internet are adored by almost all Americans, and how easy it is to edit and re-edit anything and everything containing information. But how does this affect our understanding of human history? Not very well, as it turns out. How many students answer that Isaac Newton was struck by an apple when he discovered gravity? How many are convinced of George Washington's honesty in admitting the truth of the cherry tree? How many swear that John Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe did a little bit of the horizontal tango (this one may not be as inaccurate)? My point is, our education of history has been, for the past 2 centuries, almost completely wrong-due in part to American nationalism and developing a national culture (we gotta make the US look good!). As a teacher, it is your duty to separate the right from the wrong; as a student, it's your duty to understand why one explanation is wrong and the other is correct (at the moment). Let's look at a little scenario to help demonstrate how historical inaccuracies can be systematically eliminated from human thought, leading to better appreciation of the subject (man, I'm really getting analytical, aren't I?).
A student named Joey (Johnny's cousin) is in history class. The teacher is discussing the life of George Washington. The teacher asks anyone if they know any interesting facts about Washington that wasn't said in class. Seizing this opportunity to shine, Joey blurts: "George Washington had wooden teeth."
Unbeknownst to young Joey, this is not a fact, but a factoid: a piece of information that seems like a fact, but is not true, or has some level of truth that is overshadowed by fiction. If the teacher knows any better, they'll recognize this almost cliche "bio" of Washington. But instead of making the student look bad, the teacher should just explain that what they say is correct without saying Joey is completely wrong (because he really isn't; I'm getting to a point here).
The teacher responds, "That's almost correct. Washington did have fake teeth, but they were made out of animal and human bone, not wood. He would've gotten tongue splinters."
Do you see how this is different from just saying "No" and moving on without explanation? Now Joey (and the rest of the class, for that matter) have an understanding of a person they didn't have less than an hour before. The rumor of the wooden teeth was actually a propaganda done by the British to undermine the leadership of the Founding Fathers; it seems to have worked, seeing that many adults I've talked with seem to believe it over 240 years later. If you aren't at least a little detailed in your correction, you'll continue to breed misinformation.
From the student's point of view, a teacher correcting what they always thought was right, in front of a class of their peers, may be hard to take in-it's a sort of Napoleon complex type thing. This could result in a student either silently continuing to believe what was proven wrong or vocally doing so, usually with negative results. By being stubborn, you could either lose a point on a test or your classmates' respect. Simply put, man up and accept that the person who got a degree in this area of study may know more than you. This close minded thinking is exactly what resulted in Columbus attacking and enslaving the Natives of America-he thought they were hiding gold from him, even though they truthfully explained they didn't have any. Be more open to change in opinion and thought, and history class will become a lot more fun and easier for you.
Unfortunately, not all inaccuracies will ever be forgotten. There are any more serious examples than the wooden teeth; entire textbooks had to be altered in the 1970s after it was discovered that they all supported the notion of Washington and the cherry tree as being fact. But with a good teacher and student working together to solve and understand how history is supposed to be taught, these inaccuracies can be further diminished until they are completely eliminated. I mean, who really thinks Lincoln wore a stovepipe hat and that the US tried to kill Fidel Castro with exploding cigars?
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
P.S. Out of all the historical events mentioned in this post, most of them are factoids. Can you find out which one (or ones) are real?
A student named Joey (Johnny's cousin) is in history class. The teacher is discussing the life of George Washington. The teacher asks anyone if they know any interesting facts about Washington that wasn't said in class. Seizing this opportunity to shine, Joey blurts: "George Washington had wooden teeth."
Unbeknownst to young Joey, this is not a fact, but a factoid: a piece of information that seems like a fact, but is not true, or has some level of truth that is overshadowed by fiction. If the teacher knows any better, they'll recognize this almost cliche "bio" of Washington. But instead of making the student look bad, the teacher should just explain that what they say is correct without saying Joey is completely wrong (because he really isn't; I'm getting to a point here).
The teacher responds, "That's almost correct. Washington did have fake teeth, but they were made out of animal and human bone, not wood. He would've gotten tongue splinters."
Do you see how this is different from just saying "No" and moving on without explanation? Now Joey (and the rest of the class, for that matter) have an understanding of a person they didn't have less than an hour before. The rumor of the wooden teeth was actually a propaganda done by the British to undermine the leadership of the Founding Fathers; it seems to have worked, seeing that many adults I've talked with seem to believe it over 240 years later. If you aren't at least a little detailed in your correction, you'll continue to breed misinformation.
From the student's point of view, a teacher correcting what they always thought was right, in front of a class of their peers, may be hard to take in-it's a sort of Napoleon complex type thing. This could result in a student either silently continuing to believe what was proven wrong or vocally doing so, usually with negative results. By being stubborn, you could either lose a point on a test or your classmates' respect. Simply put, man up and accept that the person who got a degree in this area of study may know more than you. This close minded thinking is exactly what resulted in Columbus attacking and enslaving the Natives of America-he thought they were hiding gold from him, even though they truthfully explained they didn't have any. Be more open to change in opinion and thought, and history class will become a lot more fun and easier for you.
Unfortunately, not all inaccuracies will ever be forgotten. There are any more serious examples than the wooden teeth; entire textbooks had to be altered in the 1970s after it was discovered that they all supported the notion of Washington and the cherry tree as being fact. But with a good teacher and student working together to solve and understand how history is supposed to be taught, these inaccuracies can be further diminished until they are completely eliminated. I mean, who really thinks Lincoln wore a stovepipe hat and that the US tried to kill Fidel Castro with exploding cigars?
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
P.S. Out of all the historical events mentioned in this post, most of them are factoids. Can you find out which one (or ones) are real?
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Quick Tips: Writing a Historical Thesis
Let me go on record here by saying that I hated writing historical theses in AP World History. But, if there's anything I learned from my teacher, it's not hard to write a thesis if you have enough information and a clue from the essay prompt. So let's begin with a Quick Tip on how to write one of these stupid things!
First, find the essay prompt. Found it? Good. Let's say it looks like this:
Analyze the continuities and changes over time between the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty.
Fairly strait forward, right? The prompt is trying to get you to explain how things in China stayed the same during the Ming and Qing eras, and how things changed from the Ming to Qing eras. I call this the clue to the thesis: it's steering you in a certain direction for answering the prompt, but it doesn't want to give too much away. So, now all you have to do is some research on the Ming and Qing Dynasties, looking for the clue words (same and change). Once you've gotten the relevant information, by using the word "analyze", you can come up with this:
From (place year here) to (place year here), the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty both (place similarity here), while the Qing (place difference here) and the Ming (place difference here).
I know that that thesis isn't very good, but I know if I put one on here that it would be stolen for unfair use (cheating). If your thesis looks like this, then good. You're well on your way to writing that long and boring AP essay! Just remember to use the prompt's clue/clue words, and you're in business!
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
First, find the essay prompt. Found it? Good. Let's say it looks like this:
Analyze the continuities and changes over time between the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty.
Fairly strait forward, right? The prompt is trying to get you to explain how things in China stayed the same during the Ming and Qing eras, and how things changed from the Ming to Qing eras. I call this the clue to the thesis: it's steering you in a certain direction for answering the prompt, but it doesn't want to give too much away. So, now all you have to do is some research on the Ming and Qing Dynasties, looking for the clue words (same and change). Once you've gotten the relevant information, by using the word "analyze", you can come up with this:
From (place year here) to (place year here), the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty both (place similarity here), while the Qing (place difference here) and the Ming (place difference here).
I know that that thesis isn't very good, but I know if I put one on here that it would be stolen for unfair use (cheating). If your thesis looks like this, then good. You're well on your way to writing that long and boring AP essay! Just remember to use the prompt's clue/clue words, and you're in business!
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
Hollywood History: How Movies Made History Fun
As many people who study history or even have basic understanding of history know, is that those "based on historical events" movies aren't really that accurate. There weren't any ex-slave bounty hunters as Quentin Tarantino explains, nor was Pocahontas in any way attracted to John Smith as much as Disney would like you to believe (considering that she was not yet 12 when they first met, that makes it WAY creepier). But looking past all the historical inaccuracies and questionable/racy content added to make the story entertaining, can we really be upset at Hollywood for making these movies? Sure, they may not make sense if you're in a history class, but I think that's the big point: it inspires kids to learn more about human history while at the same time sparking debates among historians and history buffs about what should've/shouldn't have been. The best part is, you can make these debates and senses of fascination happen in your very classroom, if you're careful.
So let's look past all the inaccurate crap. I know that that gun wasn't made yet, no that doesn't mean Jack is a time traveler on the Titanic (long story), yes there was room on the door (another long story). Let's instead ask the question, "What did movies like Titanic, Django Unchained, and others teach us?" While the first one was based on an actual historical disaster (the Titanic Disaster of 1912), the second one is set in the 1860s in America, but is almost all fictional. However, if you look past the plot and into the surrounding events/people/settings, you'll actually find that these historical dramas teach us a lot about history while telling a different story. I credit Titanic with me getting interested in history in the first place, having watched it at the age of 6 (with the drawing/car scenes fast forwarded through). I was obsessed with the story of the ship, and even today I have a fascination about all things White Star Line. This led to me learning about other disasters, from Pompeii to Mt. St. Helens, and to the rest of our dangerous history. If a young child can be triggered by what many considered a "romanticized massacre" to become more interested in history, than it has done more than any normal teacher can do. Imagine, as well, if it were a middle or high schooler. Major life decisions could be decided based on such characters as Scarlett O'Hara or Jack Dawson-many things have been caused by less. Not only the characters, but the the wonderful time periods in which they take place can actually be physically visualized largely in part to the wonderful costume/set designers of the Hollywood Hills, and historical events, either footnotes or the main part of the story, can be learned and re-learned by millions and millions of people. That's why those historical movies do so well: there are those who watch them for shallow reasons, but many simply want to learn more about an era in history that school didn't teach them.
That's where a tech-savvy teacher comes in. YOU have access to these movies. If you think that they taught you more about an era in history than your college classes combined, show it to your students! Encourage them to watch them on their own to better their understanding of history-after all, we don't want to repeat it, and knowing is half the battle (G-I JOOOOOOOOOE). Actually seeing a representation of the Boxer Rebellion, Titanic sinking, or the Vietnam War may be all that it takes to have something finally make sense in a struggling student's head about history. Language Arts teachers figure out that showing movies of Shakespeare's plays made them easier to understand-why wouldn't the same apply to history? So go out there, buy as many historical movies as you can (yes, even the one with Al Pacino in the Revolutionary War), and make an impromptu screening of history!
P.S. Holy crap, I just realized Leo DiCaprio is in almost all the movies I mentioned on here, and even more historical movies (like Gatsby, upcoming The Renegade, and Romeo and Juliet). Dude must really want your kids to remember history with his face in it. Well, whatever will make you sleep at night without an Oscar, Leo.
Edit(2/29/2016): Now that he's won an Oscar for The Renegade, I guess he'll sleep fine.
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
So let's look past all the inaccurate crap. I know that that gun wasn't made yet, no that doesn't mean Jack is a time traveler on the Titanic (long story), yes there was room on the door (another long story). Let's instead ask the question, "What did movies like Titanic, Django Unchained, and others teach us?" While the first one was based on an actual historical disaster (the Titanic Disaster of 1912), the second one is set in the 1860s in America, but is almost all fictional. However, if you look past the plot and into the surrounding events/people/settings, you'll actually find that these historical dramas teach us a lot about history while telling a different story. I credit Titanic with me getting interested in history in the first place, having watched it at the age of 6 (with the drawing/car scenes fast forwarded through). I was obsessed with the story of the ship, and even today I have a fascination about all things White Star Line. This led to me learning about other disasters, from Pompeii to Mt. St. Helens, and to the rest of our dangerous history. If a young child can be triggered by what many considered a "romanticized massacre" to become more interested in history, than it has done more than any normal teacher can do. Imagine, as well, if it were a middle or high schooler. Major life decisions could be decided based on such characters as Scarlett O'Hara or Jack Dawson-many things have been caused by less. Not only the characters, but the the wonderful time periods in which they take place can actually be physically visualized largely in part to the wonderful costume/set designers of the Hollywood Hills, and historical events, either footnotes or the main part of the story, can be learned and re-learned by millions and millions of people. That's why those historical movies do so well: there are those who watch them for shallow reasons, but many simply want to learn more about an era in history that school didn't teach them.
That's where a tech-savvy teacher comes in. YOU have access to these movies. If you think that they taught you more about an era in history than your college classes combined, show it to your students! Encourage them to watch them on their own to better their understanding of history-after all, we don't want to repeat it, and knowing is half the battle (G-I JOOOOOOOOOE). Actually seeing a representation of the Boxer Rebellion, Titanic sinking, or the Vietnam War may be all that it takes to have something finally make sense in a struggling student's head about history. Language Arts teachers figure out that showing movies of Shakespeare's plays made them easier to understand-why wouldn't the same apply to history? So go out there, buy as many historical movies as you can (yes, even the one with Al Pacino in the Revolutionary War), and make an impromptu screening of history!
P.S. Holy crap, I just realized Leo DiCaprio is in almost all the movies I mentioned on here, and even more historical movies (like Gatsby, upcoming The Renegade, and Romeo and Juliet). Dude must really want your kids to remember history with his face in it. Well, whatever will make you sleep at night without an Oscar, Leo.
Edit(2/29/2016): Now that he's won an Oscar for The Renegade, I guess he'll sleep fine.
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
Thursday, November 5, 2015
How to Do a History Project
Recently, I've been doing more teacher-related blog posts than I've meant to. So here's one that should help the students subject to those complicated history projects; more specifically, the ones I've been giving as Lesson Ideas to the teachers. Depending on the level of difficulty, some students may find it hard to come up with a paper or visual that focuses on one area of history, and it can be even harder to have to come up with an artistic flair to match them. But with three easy steps, students can become more confident in making their projects shine.
3. Answer All of the Questions
Usually, a project outline will give you some questions to get you started, ranging from easy (Name? Date of Event? etc.) to hard (what were the motivations of so-and-so?"). It is only after these questions are listed that an average teacher will put directions for what the project is supposed to be. If the teacher doesn't give you a series of events to follow when doing the assignment, it can be hard for some students to stay focused on one area of the project. So what I suggest is just taking a deep breath and answering all the questions that don't involve the physical project. Don't start making the PowerPoint before you've even chosen a topic! Keep yourself away from directions not pertaining to any of the questions, and you'll find that you can focus extra hard and get good information that benefits you greater than if you just dove right in blind. Also, don't forget to record down any outside sources you get your information from! You'll need to cite them later!
2. Look At Examples to Get Inspiration
Chances are, if a teacher has done a project or paper several years in a row, they'll have found a student's project that's perfect to show the following classes how it should be done (or they themselves would've made a sample project close to what they're looking for). If you don't use this to your advantage, you deserve the grade you get on project by just winging it. The whole point of the example is a guideline to what the teacher considers correct. If you think it would be cheating to follow too closely the outline, don't; if you change enough information and wordings to make it mostly yours, the teacher will not care and grade it without bias. The only time using an outline is bad is if you choose the same topic and only use the example as where your information came from; you can cite it as a source, but can you really say you did a new assignment or just turned in a newer version of the old one?
1. Make It as Artistic as You Can
A lot of people don't have artistic skills necessary to make their projects all colorful and flashy (some don't even have the skill to draw a stick figure). But if the teacher at least knows you made an effort to try and make the project a little poppy, they'll give you points for it. All people should understand that not everyone is a van Gogh, and it's hard to do projects that rely heavily on art. Usually, the ones that do end up being group assignments, meaning that there's a good chance you'll get an artistic kid in your group. Now all the hard work is their problem! (Don't actually do that)
All projects have a degree of difficulty. But that doesn't mean the difficulty limits how well you do on the project! If you just follow these steps, you'll have an A-grade assignment in no time!
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Quick Tips: Using Wikipedia and Citing Sources
Okay, so I'm about to get the hate of almost every single high school teacher in the world for writing this, but here it goes:
Wikipedia is not a bad source to get historical information.
If you have the sudden urge to bash me in the comments for saying this, just hear me out; I actually have a point in saying this. Wikipedia, as an encyclopedia you can access on the Web, was created for the sheer purpose of being a teaching tool. In recent years, it's gotten fire from the media and the general population for being easy to manipulate and edit, a process they put in to make it as user-friendly as possible. Because of this, several teachers have decided that any cited source that has Wikipedia in the URL will be a dock of points for a grade; in their mind, it's almost like cheating. However, i have a way to have students use Wikipedia without getting those points taken away.
You know that Resources tab at the bottom of most articles on Wikipedia (of course you do, it means the end)? Well, those books and websites listed are basically where the combined info from the article came from; like Frankenstein, it was stitched together from other parts to make one massive article. Let's say you're down to your wit's end for a big project, and have no other sources but Wikipedia to turn to. Well, use Wikipedia, and then, copy down all the sources in Resources (if you can, only the ones that are relevant to your main project). Instead of copying the Wikipedia link, just put those into your cited sources; if you need to make it MLA, do so, but most of the sources should already be in the correct form. Lastly, turn in the project-you're done. Because you didn't put the Wikipedia source in the Sources, you can't get docked points, and your teacher would be clueless to which one was from Wikipedia unless they checked themselves (a process they wouldn't do, because it would make grading take too long).
History class is the worst offender for this, so I've always used my non-Wiki sources plus the Resources section; it makes me feel a little guilty, yes, but in the end, I won't lose points over something so trivial. The best part of this Quick History Tip is that I learned it from my Chemistry teacher Ms. Vargas-she used it in several of her college assignments to make citing sources easier.
Well, if I haven't already been burned at the stake by an army of angry teachers who think I'm the Antichrist, I'll see you all in a few days! I hope I've saved some time (and points) for using Wikipedia and citing correct sources!
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
Wikipedia is not a bad source to get historical information.
If you have the sudden urge to bash me in the comments for saying this, just hear me out; I actually have a point in saying this. Wikipedia, as an encyclopedia you can access on the Web, was created for the sheer purpose of being a teaching tool. In recent years, it's gotten fire from the media and the general population for being easy to manipulate and edit, a process they put in to make it as user-friendly as possible. Because of this, several teachers have decided that any cited source that has Wikipedia in the URL will be a dock of points for a grade; in their mind, it's almost like cheating. However, i have a way to have students use Wikipedia without getting those points taken away.
You know that Resources tab at the bottom of most articles on Wikipedia (of course you do, it means the end)? Well, those books and websites listed are basically where the combined info from the article came from; like Frankenstein, it was stitched together from other parts to make one massive article. Let's say you're down to your wit's end for a big project, and have no other sources but Wikipedia to turn to. Well, use Wikipedia, and then, copy down all the sources in Resources (if you can, only the ones that are relevant to your main project). Instead of copying the Wikipedia link, just put those into your cited sources; if you need to make it MLA, do so, but most of the sources should already be in the correct form. Lastly, turn in the project-you're done. Because you didn't put the Wikipedia source in the Sources, you can't get docked points, and your teacher would be clueless to which one was from Wikipedia unless they checked themselves (a process they wouldn't do, because it would make grading take too long).
History class is the worst offender for this, so I've always used my non-Wiki sources plus the Resources section; it makes me feel a little guilty, yes, but in the end, I won't lose points over something so trivial. The best part of this Quick History Tip is that I learned it from my Chemistry teacher Ms. Vargas-she used it in several of her college assignments to make citing sources easier.
Well, if I haven't already been burned at the stake by an army of angry teachers who think I'm the Antichrist, I'll see you all in a few days! I hope I've saved some time (and points) for using Wikipedia and citing correct sources!
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
Discussing Modern History (A Rant About Textbooks)
What do we consider modern history? Is it something that happened a decade ago, two decades, or even just a day ago? Whatever the case, if it can be considered in the future an event significant enough to be in a history textbook, it is modern history-no matter how large or small the event was. But the real question is this: how do we discuss recent history? How do you go in front of a group of students and teach them about something they already experienced (some more than others)? By 2019, there will be seniors in high school who may not have even been born when 9/11 happened-is that modern history to them? So many questions and so little answers; discussion seems almost impossible without the latter. However, there is an easier way to re-teach modern events to students, without having to devise the perfect way of going about it: just talk to them about it.
Many of my teachers would skirt around modern political or social issues when they would come up in a classroom, as well as modern history and which side of the story you tell (was the Iraq War necessary to stop terrorism or used by the US to extort oil?). Yet some of my teachers would just pause, take a breath, and TALK to us about it. Really, just talk. You'd be surprised how much someone pays attention to a peer, or someone who speaks to them like a peer. I learned the most from history teachers who wouldn't sugarcoat anything-no "Hollywood" type endings, no correct point of view; they'd just let all of the information flow. For instance, 9/11 came up in Global Geography one day a few years ago, back when all those documentaries were coming out about it every month(side note: so glad that this year I didn't hear the Twin Towers mentioned ONCE on the date-that shows that we're starting to move on as a country from the disaster). Our teacher, Ms. Osborn, made the rest of the class a discussion time, where we just all shared our stories about our experiences with the day; it wasn't much, considering we were all 2 or 3 when it happened. But Osborn's story was both funny and sad; she recalled how she didn't panic, but went to go fill up her car (it was getting low) and saw, in her words, "cars that were lined up across the entire road". She explained that many people naturally panicked about the attacks, but thought that it was the end of our trade with the Middle East, which they assumed meant "no more gas". She further explained how, as she sat in line, the price per gallon literally changed before her eyes every few minutes-several gas companies were taking advantage of the disaster and profiting off of the panic. Did you know that? I didn't, and I wouldn't had Osborn not told me.
Do you see how just talking helped me and others learn more about modern history? I have a first-hand account (Osborn) of the event, and a new understanding of what all happened during that event. Had this been in a textbook (the entire day is a paragraph in the last chapter of Bentley's World History textbook), I wouldn't've learned anything like this-only a few dates and an opinion of some old dead guy (no offence Bentley, wherever you are). This is what I hate about textbooks. The degree of separation from the events in modern history is so noticeable, it would hit you in the face were it real; the writers always treat it as some thing that happened long ago rather than recently and that we should just move on from it.
But we can't just move on! The whole point of history-teaching it, learning it, studying, prodding, dissecting it-is to keep reminding ourselves of what NOT to do in the future! That's why we have those Holocaust Survivor seminars: we don't want another Holocaust. That's why we have the 9/11 documentaries, hated as they may be- we don't want another 9/11. In the community, these things are widely known and accepted; in the classroom, the textbooks are almost forcing the teachers to keep the present day out of the picture. This is why I respect teachers who go out of their way to make sure the students know about what is happening in the now: it will get them prepared for what is going to happen in the tomorrow.
I'm sorry if this turned into a rant about the condition of history textbooks; this subject is important to me because I want the future generations to be safe about what they do and how it affects everything else. If you're looking for the teaching point, here it is: Talk with your students about modern history, don't teach it. Rant over.
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
Many of my teachers would skirt around modern political or social issues when they would come up in a classroom, as well as modern history and which side of the story you tell (was the Iraq War necessary to stop terrorism or used by the US to extort oil?). Yet some of my teachers would just pause, take a breath, and TALK to us about it. Really, just talk. You'd be surprised how much someone pays attention to a peer, or someone who speaks to them like a peer. I learned the most from history teachers who wouldn't sugarcoat anything-no "Hollywood" type endings, no correct point of view; they'd just let all of the information flow. For instance, 9/11 came up in Global Geography one day a few years ago, back when all those documentaries were coming out about it every month(side note: so glad that this year I didn't hear the Twin Towers mentioned ONCE on the date-that shows that we're starting to move on as a country from the disaster). Our teacher, Ms. Osborn, made the rest of the class a discussion time, where we just all shared our stories about our experiences with the day; it wasn't much, considering we were all 2 or 3 when it happened. But Osborn's story was both funny and sad; she recalled how she didn't panic, but went to go fill up her car (it was getting low) and saw, in her words, "cars that were lined up across the entire road". She explained that many people naturally panicked about the attacks, but thought that it was the end of our trade with the Middle East, which they assumed meant "no more gas". She further explained how, as she sat in line, the price per gallon literally changed before her eyes every few minutes-several gas companies were taking advantage of the disaster and profiting off of the panic. Did you know that? I didn't, and I wouldn't had Osborn not told me.
Do you see how just talking helped me and others learn more about modern history? I have a first-hand account (Osborn) of the event, and a new understanding of what all happened during that event. Had this been in a textbook (the entire day is a paragraph in the last chapter of Bentley's World History textbook), I wouldn't've learned anything like this-only a few dates and an opinion of some old dead guy (no offence Bentley, wherever you are). This is what I hate about textbooks. The degree of separation from the events in modern history is so noticeable, it would hit you in the face were it real; the writers always treat it as some thing that happened long ago rather than recently and that we should just move on from it.
But we can't just move on! The whole point of history-teaching it, learning it, studying, prodding, dissecting it-is to keep reminding ourselves of what NOT to do in the future! That's why we have those Holocaust Survivor seminars: we don't want another Holocaust. That's why we have the 9/11 documentaries, hated as they may be- we don't want another 9/11. In the community, these things are widely known and accepted; in the classroom, the textbooks are almost forcing the teachers to keep the present day out of the picture. This is why I respect teachers who go out of their way to make sure the students know about what is happening in the now: it will get them prepared for what is going to happen in the tomorrow.
I'm sorry if this turned into a rant about the condition of history textbooks; this subject is important to me because I want the future generations to be safe about what they do and how it affects everything else. If you're looking for the teaching point, here it is: Talk with your students about modern history, don't teach it. Rant over.
-Pharaoh Noh-Tyep
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)