Tilting at Windmills, Vol. 1, No. 4

The Element of Time or What Really Runs a Classroom

            As we wrap up the three part series on studying history that is the first lesson in my classroom, we need to address the boogeyman in every classroom. This is the element of time and it dominates every classroom in college. We simply do not have enough time for the content we would like to teach in the available time we have. A three credit course meets for just under three hours a week. We have sixteen weeks minus any classes that are cancelled for holidays, weather, illness, or anything else. Invariably we lose one class each semester for something.

            In teaching the US History to 1865 course I have two class sessions each week for 85 minutes or 170 minutes per week. Multiplied by 16 that is 2720 minutes or 45.33 hours per semester. I have a full course of content just with the course objectives. I love it when people who do not teach try to tell me to add things to the course. What comes out? Everything has to be measured by time and learning factors. If the desired content takes time to present to students in the classroom, then I have to eliminate an equal amount of minutes from that section’s content somewhere. This is why I get a bit irritated with people who think I should teach X when I have a lot to teach already. 

            At a certain point things get left out. As a historian I hate that because I want to cover everything! However, reality forces me to limit the content so that the students are getting what is needed to meet objectives. There is a lot that goes into designing a course. Everything that is content has to be weighed against the objectives. If something does not meet them, then it is placed into categories. I use several categories. Invariably I end up working with two of them and the others get ignored. I simply do not have time to use those categories. This is why I work with themes in the survey courses. It makes it much easier to select the content and to eliminate what does not fit. 

            Something I love is how I am expected to do an examination of the US and State constitutions during this class. Now that has to be shoehorned into the course. I know many people that think I should go through the US Constitution in detail. There is a class for that. If people want to explore the Constitution article by article, then go take that course. That is what it is there for. Going through Article I takes more than a class session. Basically, the element of time dictates that a detailed study of the US and Missouri Constitutions is not possible in the survey course. The students are going to learn why the Constitution was created, how it was created, and what it took to get it ratified, but I am not going to go into great depth with a deeper study of the document because I just do not have the time. 

            I like to use the flipped method of teaching which actually increases the time I have available in each class session. Lecture sucks up time and is really just a repeat of the content. The students need to engage the content and interact with the instructor to cover the parts they need help with. This is a much more time efficient use of the class time, and allows a greater study of the content which just adds to the richness that is history. What I do not like is showing movies in class because that really is a huge time killer. I teach a film class and watching films sucks up far too much time. That is one class where sending the students home with the films would really save a lot of time. 

            As you can see, time is the most important element in constructing a course. I do use video in my classes, but I seek out short ones that are direct and to the point. I like using clips to add some visual effects to the class such as what we will be working with on Monday. We will be going over Jamestown and that lesson involves tobacco. Students read about planting and harvesting tobacco in this lesson, but most have no idea why it required so much labor. We can also do the same with sugarcane, rice, and cotton as all involved slave labor which is part of the lesson’s theme. I like to use a clip from the History of US that shows tobacco planting and harvesting. A few minutes of video goes a long way in driving home the lesson about the need for labor which then fits in with primary sources where colonists wrote about their work or need for more laborers. 

            Again, time is important. So for those of you reading this that are not teachers, consider what goes into the design of a course before you tell instructors to add things to it. We already have a long list of stuff we would love to put in our courses. The problem is we just do not have the time to use it so that our students learn it. If it is just file and forget material, what is the point of bothering with it? The content I use is what I hope my students learn about so that they can understand what happened in the past that shaped our present.

History According to Jim, Vol. 1, No. 4

How We Study History

            I think it would be pretty safe to say that we could spend a lot of time on this subject, but for purposes of teaching a survey course I need to condense it down for students who almost certainly will not be history majors. However, there is a very strong chance that this might be their only history course they ever take while earning their college degree. So with that in mind, we need to teach them something about why the study of history is important and how historians work in researching the past. 

            While going through our first lesson yesterday, a student asked what may be one of the most important questions a student can ask their history teacher. “How do historians learn what is true and what is not true about the past? Where or how do they come up with all this stuff?” She was indicating the textbooks and other content we were using. This was a great learning opportunity for the entire class as they were in a very receptive state of learning. I began by pointing out the content they had been given which I called sources.

 Part of the content they had been given were primary sources. Primary sources can take many forms. For historians they usually take the form of writing in any form. But, art of any form is a primary source. So are artifacts such as clothing, weapons, tools, or any physical objects. Other primary sources are houses, places, or locations. Basically, any physical object (writing takes place on a physical object) can be a primary source if it dates from the time period in question. I told you the other day why historians do what they do. Using primary sources is how they do it. I also mentioned the role of archeology in constructing history and how they use physical items as well as geographic features as primary sources.

Here I stressed the importance of primary sources for historians. I also explained that primary sources can be misleading as the creators of them write from their perspective. They may be biased, may not have all the information, or may be deliberately altering what really happened in order to shape other people’s ideas of what did occur. I used our modern news sources as examples of that, and how they will slant the news to fit what their audiences want to hear in order to drive ratings which drive profits.

Additional sources in their content were secondary sources. Secondary sources are usually books or articles written by historians later about a period or event. Any length of time can pass between the event and writing of it. Usually, we define a secondary source as something written by someone who did not experience the events described as they were not there. Samuel Eliot Morrison’s Naval History of WWII is an example of a man who lived during WWII and wrote about what took place in it, but did not experience the events described personally. A book written today about the American Revolution by a historian would be a secondary source as they obviously were not there. 

I also explained how secondary sources could be skewed just like primary sources. From here I pointed out the Internet. We live in a great information age, but that information could be either accurate information or it could be incorrect information. We had a little joke with the meme, “If it is on the Internet it must be true,” as Abraham Lincoln e-mailed it to Benjamin Franklin. Basically, I told the students to look for where the information came from. What are the sources of the information? Why is it being presented? Are the sources credible? Is the information one sided? Who or what operates or maintains the website? 

The students were thoughtful as we ended the lesson. I then added another piece. John Fea has created a wonderful set of videos that he uses for explain much of what he does. He has a link to them through his website which was featured last week on the Blog of the Week. The link goes to YouTube. I like to show this video and let John explain “How do Historians Think?” The result is a group of students who will hopefully appreciate history and the people who work in it. As instructors we have only a few chances to present this information to our students in a manner that they will retain for a long time. Let’s make the most of it!

 

Blog of the Week, Vol. 1, No. 4

            As we continue our theme of studying history, this week’s Blog of the Week focus examines Teaching US History or (TUSH). This blog began in 2011 by Edward J. Blum and Kevin M. Schultz. Its title pretty much states its purpose, the teaching of US History. The site has expanded over the years and has become a very nice treasure trove of information. Several other instructors have joined the team over time adding many blog entries along the way.

            One of the interesting achievements of the blog’s editors has been a massive project known as The American Yawp which is a free online textbook. Over 300 historians have been involved in this project which is led by Ben Wright and Joseph Locke. You can access it here http://www.americanyawp.com/index.html. I use the textbook myself in my classes as an added resource for the flipped classroom. It is currently in beta, but it sure looks good. It looks even better when the e-textbook your school uses is acting up and can’t be accessed by students. Having a backup plan is priceless.

            The blog itself has many contributors, all of whom have their own perspectives and pedagogical philosophies. The result is a large amount of entries where instructors discuss what works and doesn’t work in their classes. History instructors are always looking for new ideas and the blog serves as a nexus for the exchange of ideas. I’ve used a few in developing my own survey courses. You may access the blog’s website at http://www.teachingushistory.co/. 

            In the main toolbar you will also find additional information such as assignments and assessments, and recommended textbooks. A section on contributors is also interesting in that you can see what they’ve published on teaching history in other publications. The blog is one of the few that concentrate on actual teaching instead of history elements. That makes it very valuable to instructors in a subject area that many students avoid due to the tendency of many instructors to lecture them to death by PowerPoint. If we are going to change the way people see history, we have to change the way they learn about it. Teaching US History is one of those ways.

The Mad Historian's Athenaeum, Vol. 1, No. 4

Fea, John. Why Study History? Reflecting on the Importance of the Past. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013. ix + 182 ppg.

            Why it is important to study history may be the most difficult question a history teacher faces every semester. To the teacher it is obvious, yet trying to prove why is not so easy, especially when you have to convince a roomful of students that history has a purpose beyond taking up their time. John Fea, history department chair at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania answers the question with this well thought out exploration of the reasons why history is so important and worthy of study by all people. John is no stranger to discussing this subject. He has operated his blog, The Way of Improvement Leads Home at philipvickersfithian.com for several years and has been talking about the importance of history every day for his audience. In fact, his blog seems to have helped him articulate about the subject so much that he was able to take what he had learned from it and put it in a book.

            The result is a very compact, extremely thoughtful, and amazingly deep look at why history is important to everyone. No one reading this should be surprised to understand we live in the middle of a large culture war where the events of the past are used in many ways, mostly incorrectly, in order for people or groups to present their opinions and beliefs to the public. John does not shy away from this fact. He uses it to its utmost effect in demonstrating just why the public should know their history. He gives several examples of people who try to pass themselves off as historians who then deliberately distort history in presenting their own beliefs. Fea doesn’t shy from naming the worst offenders either which makes the statements he delivers ring home. David Barton and Glenn Beck are presented exactly as they are, individuals who are mangling history to give legitimacy to their ideologies and beliefs. 

            Fea is a devout Christian teaching at a Christian college. He does not shy away from making that announcement either. The fact that Fea is calling out other Christians for their distortions of the past establishes Fea as a man who believes the means have to justify the end. As a historian, Fea recognizes the importance of truth in any message, truth which is extremely important in any religion if anyone expects faith to be anything but shallow. He explores this in the book and explains why historical accuracy is critical for evangelical faiths. Fea isn’t calling on a liberal interpretation of history either. He constantly points out the importance of truth and accuracy for all historians as well as anyone who seeks to use history in explaining their beliefs and opinions.

            This book is written for students taking their first history courses, but it has a great deal of meaning for anyone and any historian. It is usable at all levels of academia as well which should be refreshing for graduate students who are in historiography courses grappling with the question of why history is important. Each chapter explores a facet of historical study and does so in a clear and rational manner. Chapter Six, History for a Civil Society, is a very moving chapter. John lays out the importance history has for everyone in American society. He follows that with Chapter Seven, The Power to Transform. These chapters form a one-two punch that literally crushes those that would distort the past to their own ends. 

 

            In the process, John answers why history is so important. He uses examples of actual students who struggled with the questions history presented to them and how they let the facts speak for themselves. The truth revealed by the facts allowed the students to make decisions based upon the facts which in turn deepened their appreciation of the past and allowed them to see things through a different lens. Instead of manipulating the past to reach a desired outcome that fit in with their beliefs, these students learned that the people of the past did things for their reasons, expectations, and beliefs which are in many ways incompatible with ours today. The results made the students look at themselves as well. The realization that they were as flawed as the people of the past were was a maturing process. 

            All in all, as an instructor who teaches the beginning American History survey courses, I found this book to be an outstanding resource. Fea’s sources are cited throughout the book. He cites historians and educators and their works which have had an impact on him. This is a valuable resource for instructors seeking to explain why the study of history is so important to their students. Considering the fact that we live in a culture war where history is used to mislead people for many reasons, accurate historical knowledge helps arm people against those that would mislead the public for their own gain. I would be quite happy to make this required reading in my courses.