The Search for Truth in the U.S. History Survey Course

Wesley G. Phelps, Assistant Professor of History and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of North Texas Part 1 of a 3-part series In late August 2005, I walked into a conference room in the Humanities Building for my first graduate seminar at Rice University in Houston titled “Introduction to Doctoral Studies.” Expertly taught…

Guest Post: Kevin Mason, “Choose Your Own Adventure: Creating Assignment Autonomy with Self-Determination Theory in the US History Survey”

Today’s guest post comes from Kevin Mason, Chair of the Department of History at Waldorf University.    College students crave structured autonomy. As students enter the classroom they often find themselves disappointed by a curriculum that exposes them to a broad variety of content, often in areas outside of their intended majors.  Engaging these students serves…

Graphic Memoir Project

This semester in my Literature and Composition Graphic Memoirs class I am having students do a creative final project. For this project, they will either create their own graphic memoir or do a “Call and Response” piece for Looking at Appalachia. Since this is a new assignment, I am making my own graphic memoir alongside…

Teach My Book: Lindsay M. Chervinsky, The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution

Teaching United States History is excited to present Teach My Book, a series of posts where distinguished authors reflect on their work and how instructors might integrate their insights into the classroom. Our thoughts today come from Lindsay Chervinsky, Historian at the White House Historical Association. Dr. Chervinsky is discussing her new book The Cabinet: George…

Designing distance learning opportunities for the overachievers

Based on feedback from my students, and guidance from my university, I have decided to make the rest of my survey course entirely asynchronous. I will hold optional collaborative discussions, but everything that is graded or otherwise required can be completed independently and with limited technological requirements. I am erring on the side of accessibility…

Flexibility, Communication, and Compassion

Over the past few weeks many universities and K-12 schools have shut down face-to-face meetings and turned to online classes and coursework. This move is substantial, and there are a lot of things to consider when thinking about how we, as educators and students, will approach this shift. As such, today, I want to take…

Teaching Online

I, like most of you, will be teaching online for the rest of the semester. As part of my preparation, I read through the TUSH archive to steal ideas from some of our bloggers. Here’s a list of some of my favorite posts about teaching online. Teaching US History Online: Some Reflections by Kevin Gannon…