Two and a half weeks ago, Molly Worthen published a much-discussed op-ed in the New York Times. I am a big fan of Worthen’s scholarship. Her 2013 study Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism is the best of many intellectual histories of modern evangelicalism. This semester, I am reading through academic…
Last month I complained about the anti-intellectualism exhibited when historians dismiss and even disparage research in teaching and learning. This semester I am trying to read through research in several pedagogy journals including, The Review of Higher Education, Review of Educational Research, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Learning and Instruction, and Educational Research Review. My first observation is that faculty can control…
Over the past several months, I have seen at least a half dozen academic friends circulate a piece from the Huffington Post College blog, entitled, “A Message to My Freshman Students.” The piece touches on some important issues regarding the differences between college-level and secondary-level instruction. I appreciate the author’s attempt to meet his students…
For at least the past year, my blogging here has been obsessed with beginnings and endings. This post will continue, and perhaps fittingly, end that trend. This spring, I tried to think deliberately about how to create a memorable moment at the very end of the semester. While attending a church service, I was struck by…
Established in 1986, the Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award recognizes outstanding teaching and advocacy for history teaching at two-year, four-year, and graduate colleges and universities. The award is named for the late Eugene Asher, for many years a leading advocate for history teaching. The Society for History Education shares the sponsorship of the award. The…
Our blog posts almost always use the past tense and include what worked and what did not. But I’m putting this up immediately in the hopes that it may inspire you to seize the moment in your own way. It’s rushed and surely flawed, but time is important here. Hopefully this is of use. …
“Since the beginning of time…” We’ve all read student papers that begin with this absurd opening. But I’m sympathetic. Writing is hard, and writing a good first sentence is particularly challenging. I wrote a post last year about teaching like we write, recognizing the importance of clear introductions and conclusions in all forms of communication,…
Thank you for visiting our new website. Since 2011, Teaching United States History has been the premier forum for critical reflection on pedagogy in the college-level U.S. history classroom. But we are working to make this site even more useful. Links along the top of the homepage will soon house a host of primary sources,…
For my second half survey this semester, I am asking my students to evaluate the significance of shifts in media technology. We began the semester with a discussion of commercial photography. You can read more about that assignment here. Our second assignment focused on the radio in the 1930s. After reading Tom Lewis’s short OAH…
As discussed in an earlier post, my second half survey this spring focuses on changes in media. In three assignments, I am asking the students to evaluate the relative impacts of commercial photography, radio, and television. The survey at Rice divides at 1848, a great luxury for the first half, but a considerable strain…
