We all have cIasses from high school and college that we remember with fondness, and others we remember with terror. Probably even more common is a subject that we associate with boring assignments on long forgotten material. When we encounter someone who has dedicated their life to an academic subject, it’s hard not to immediately think…
The beginning of a semester is usually when we have a chance to reflect on the big goals of a course. The end of the semester is taken up with grading and other last minute details. Often, we are too burned out by course deadlines to be thinking about how our course fits into a…
I use the term historical literacy more and more to describe the goals of a history class. The rhetoric of “critical thinking skills” always seemed a little flimsy to me, in part because learning any subject has the potential to increase critical thinking. The adjective “historical” at least implies that there is a set of specific…
Planning any class requires separating the essential from what can be surgically cut away. I always start second-guessing myself as soon as a few weeks into the semester. Sometimes this syllabus maker’s remorse comes from a student’s question, something that makes me think I should have devoted more time on a given topic. Other times…
What methods from high school history courses are useful in the college classroom? I’ve been trying to understand how history education in college connects to that of the secondary and primary level. One of the clearest areas of overlap is the Advanced Placement (AP) history curriculum offered in many high schools. These classes culminate with…
I always include a bonus question on my exams. This bonus question usually involves a map. For example, I might ask students to circle the Chesapeake or New England on a blank map of the East Coast. Last spring, I was struck by how many students left the extra credit section blank. These students didn’t…
This is the first year in a while that I haven’t been in front of a classroom or leading a discussion section (how fast does one become rusty at teaching?). Still, I find myself thinking a lot about history education. More and more, largely because of the work I am doing, I find myself considering…
The clock is the real ruler of the history survey. One can begin a semester with a million different goals that involve deconstructing narratives, incorporating historiography, or flipping the classroom. By late April and early May, some of those dreams are stripped from us, especially when we look at the calendar and realize we only…
I, like so many of us, wonder what is supposed to come from a survey class. Almost none of our students will become historians, and the vast majority won’t become history majors. For most, the one semester they take a survey or similarly entry-level class will be their one exposure to the discipline. Among the many…
Classes start this week, probably a week or two later than most. Like Nora, I am thinking about teaching resolutions for the semester. Along with the first half of the US survey, I will be teaching a Western Civilization course covering the Ancient World through the Renaissance. A lot of us teach fields outside United…
