tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872819010848426693.post6233145135648595796..comments2024-03-28T02:46:03.227-04:00Comments on The Historical Society: Is Your Teaching Stuck in an Industrial Paradigm?Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16755286304057000048noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872819010848426693.post-80325205135669219122011-03-02T18:38:29.678-05:002011-03-02T18:38:29.678-05:00Didn't mean to freak you out, Jonathan! And I ...Didn't mean to freak you out, Jonathan! And I love the Monty Python stuff. <br /><br />My sense was that the Robinson clip was directly primarily at K-12 and to the grand idea that we should send everyone to classical educations. Of course, he's coming from a different system, and doesn't have to grapple with the philosophical implications of differentiated education for America's democracy-- something our educational system has not successfully grappled with yet.<br /><br />I do think I'll work on collaborative assessments, as I wrote about before, seeing, for example, if students can pull together the answer to a historical question using legitimate sources from the internet. But haven't gotten further than that.<br /><br />And I do use a text if students ask for it, emphasizing that it is useful primarily for setting up a timeline, and that it is only one way to approach the material. I constantly emphasize that I am teaching my own interpretation of history, and urge them to argue with it; telling them constantly that my primary goal is to get them to think for themselves. While my course themes are always open to argument, students rarely feel like we're on even enough ground to disagree with me. So I try to emphasize that they need to evaluate things for themselves by taking strong and in-your-face stands not about history-- when I am very carefully fact based all the time and pick evenly on every political group-- but about rock music (I'm a big fan of the classic rock guitarists). I slip music references into lectures, then, in asides, tell them I'm always right about music and I won't hear any argument about the relative merits of Eric Clapton and Taylor Swift. Clapton is god and that's the end of the story. Since this is a discussion they can all get into, it's not more than a couple of weeks or so before they're arguing with me. First about music... then about history.<br /><br />I don't know though. I think maybe the best answer is that our students are smarter than we give them credit for. Not all of them, of course, but many of them. When I can find a way to give them room, they often surprise me with their creativity. (Their writing skills, though? That's a different matter.)<br /><br />I hope you'll keep us posted on whatever you find that works. (And on more Monty Python.)hcrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07334093881332383848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872819010848426693.post-85400650230503007652011-02-21T15:05:29.574-05:002011-02-21T15:05:29.574-05:00I hesitate some to let go of the text. (Maybe it&...I hesitate some to let go of the text. (Maybe it's because of that omniscient voice therein.) But perhaps it would be liberating?Randallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16755286304057000048noreply@blogger.com