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…
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…
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…
Last week Tara wrote a great post about balancing different historical narratives when assigning readings. This got me thinking about how to do the same in lecture. A lecture is supposed to provide a framework for students to make sense of readings and assignments, but there is danger in conflating the role of a lecture…
Let me just start by saying I don’t think I am a bad lecturer. Still, reading a recent post by Petra Clafin on the dangers of misguided Q & A during lessons gave me flashbacks. Clafin focuses on math classes in secondary education, but the pattern pops up while teaching history on the college level…
