Category: Teaching History
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August events teach cause and effect
Three August events help teach cause and effect Perhaps one of the reasons I find Conan O’Brian so much more entertaining than Jay Leno is the latter’s man-on-the-street routine, Jay Walking, from Leno’s time as the Tonight Show host. Viewers had the chance to laugh at and feel superior to the not-so-random person who, predictably,…
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No, history doesn’t repeat itself
No, history doesn’t repeat itself I’m as guilty as the next person of having blithely stated something no history teacher should ever accept, let alone utter. History does not repeat itself. Period. So what’s the purpose, the value of studying history if not to avoid making the same mistakes in the future? The answer has…
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More teaching American history well
More teaching American history well Watching an educational film on the human body reminded me once more what makes for good instruction. While the practices displayed in the film apply to more than teaching American history, they underscore the them in a recent article in The Atlantic, High School History Doesn’t Have to be Boring.…
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Forgetting King, Kennedy and Indianapolis
Forgetting King, Kennedy, and Indianapolis It was Friday and the students were in a noticeably high mood even for a Friday. I was teaching in an English, (as in grammar), classroom at an urban Indianapolis area school with a diverse, largely African-American profile. In addition to being the end of a school week, the date…