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Practicum
in History Teaching
Fall 2002
| |
History
405: Seminar: Practicum in History Teaching
Class Meetings: Mondays, 6:00 - 9:50
|
Dr.
Frederick D. Drake
Office: Schroeder 363 B
Office Hours: M 4:00-6:00
And by Appointment
Phone: 438-5424
E-Mail: fddrake@ilstu.edu
|
Introduction
In 1934, the American Historical Association disseminated a report
regarding the teaching of history and social studies. The AHA's
Conclusions and Recommendations of the Commission captured the art
of teaching with this statement, which was most likely written by
Charles A. Beard and George S. Counts: "When all is said that
can be said concerning method, the great teacher defies analysis."
The AHA statement continued, "[The great teacher] can neither
be defined, nor his method dissected or described; but whoever comes
into his presence feels the power of a human spirit."
History 405 is less a course for prescriptions in teaching history
than it is an opportunity to think about and formulate your ideas
about the nature of history and the nature of teaching history and
the importance of historical content and the importance of teaching
historical thinking. It is less a course on "training"
you to be a history teacher than it is about "educating"
you for teaching history. It is more about "doing" history
so that you will be teaching the "doing" of history to
your students.
History 405 is intended to help you become a better teacher whether
you are a novice or experienced practitioner. It is a course for
graduate students who have an assistantship and are working with
a history professor (Mentor) at Illinois State University, and it
is a course for current practicing teachers in public as well as
private schools.
Prerequisites
Permission
of the graduate advisor and/or professor.
Purpose
of Course
Whether you are a graduate assistant or a teacher in a middle school
or high school setting, my assumption is that you want to find out
about the best pedagogical practices in the teaching of history,
and to reflect upon your own teaching of history. Several assigned
essays and books inform the best teaching practices surrounding
the teaching of history and ways we might think about our teaching
for the purpose of making us better. At the conclusion of this course
I hope you will have knowledge of content and pedagogy for teaching
history, have had an opportunity to experiment with best practices
in classroom situations, and have a disposition that appreciates
teaching history as a life-long learning experience.
Approach
We will read and discuss essays and monographs related to the state
of history and teaching. I refer to these as deliberative discussions,
which are helpful to you in historical content and historical thinking.
You will write papers reacting to the readings, and I will make
suggestions and comments regarding your knowledge, reasoning, and
ability to communicate. You will also work on a project, a History
Research Team Kit. On occasion, guest speakers drawn from the history
department faculty will inform us of their experiences as graduate
assistants and as professors of history.
Two central aims will keep us focused throughout the semester:
(1) What historical content do you think is most important? (2)
How would you help your students think historically? For these central
aims we will work collaboratively, sometimes as a whole class and
sometimes in smaller groups.
To achieve our aims and to augment the approach I have listed goals,
objectives, and short-range as well as long-range assignments (readings
and a project). Please note: assignments are not limited to those
listed in the syllabus.
Goals
The goals of
this course are to:
The goals of this course are to:
1. Consider purposes for why we teach history.
2. Determine the important historical content we want our students
to know and understand.
3. Create ways to augment historical thinking among our students.
4. Understand how teaching democratic history can inform curriculum
development, instructional practices, and assessment of student
learning.
5. Understand the relationship of history and education for democracy.
6. Understand the state of the historical profession relative
to teaching at the college level and in high schools and middle
schools.
7. Understand ideas and strategies relative to the pedagogy of
teaching history survey courses at the college level and in high
schools and middle schools.
8. Discuss a wide range of experiences involved in teaching a
college survey course in history, such as the preparation of materials,
planning, lecturing, leading discussions, organizing study groups,
testing and evaluating student performance, and counseling students.
9. Aid in making a reasoned decision regarding college teaching
as a desirable and achievable goal, including a realistic appraisal
of the job market.
10. Become familiar with state of Illinois Learning Standards
for K-12 students and explore ways to help students learn.
11. Become familiar with Illinois Standards for Teachers of History
(Social Sciences) and assess one's personal knowledge and skills
relative to the teaching standards.
12. Become familiar with history departmental and university
policies and procedures with an understanding of commonalities
and differences between university and school cultures.
13. Consider ways to assess what students know and can do at
middle and high school levels and at the college level.
14. Understand the importance of being a teacher-scholar and
a reflective practitioner in the teaching and learning of history.
Objectives
In this course
you will:
1. Develop personal philosophies of history and the teaching
of history as a basis for college teaching and high school teaching
with emphasis on promoting historical synthesis and interpretation.
2. Demonstrate awareness of the state of the historical profession,
particularly issues within the profession that affect teaching
and the standards expected of a history teacher.
3. React to readings concerning the state of history as a discipline
and apply to the teaching of history.
4. React to readings on teaching and apply the state of teaching
to the teaching of history.
5. Discuss the teacher-student relationship.
6. Discuss objectives, methodologies, and models in teaching
history and prepare course objectives.
7. Develop strategies for teaching survey courses in United States
history, Western Civilization, and World history.
8. Develop strategies for incorporating diversity and multiculturalism
into history survey courses.
9. Discuss and analyze your book selections for courses you will
teach.
10. Consider the various theoretical frameworks proposed to organize
the social studies curriculum in schools, with particular emphasis
on their effects concerning the teaching of history.
11. Discuss national standards in history and the place of history
in state of Illinois standards in the social sciences standards,
with particular emphasis on history as an integrative discipline.
12. Select a teaching model and practice it in one or more of
your classes.
13. Create assessment strategies that help students demonstrate
their knowledge and understanding of history and are congruent
with your beliefs in teaching history.
14. Practice presenting meaningful lectures and/or leading purposeful
discussions, selecting topics that are related to your beliefs
in teaching history.
15. Suggest topics for a history methods textbook and compile
sources that would contribute to an understanding of that topic.
16. Create a History Research Team Kit with class colleagues
and provide a written and oral report.
17. Create/improve one's teaching portfolio.
18. Respond in writing and in an oral presentation to questions
regarding the nature of history and teaching history for the purposes
of thinking historically and developing historical citizens.
19. Write a reflective practitioner's essay that illustrates
a reflective rather than unreflective manner of teaching.
Course
Books
Dewey, John.
Experience and Education. New York: Collier Books, 1938.
Foner, Eric.
The Story of American Freedom. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998.
The Bradley Commission on History in Schools. Building a United
States History Curriculum. Westlake, Ohio: National Council
for History Education, 2000.
The Bradley Commission on History in Schools. Building a World
History Curriculum. Westlake, Ohio: National Council for History
Education.
Patrick, John J. and Robert S. Leming. Principles and Practices
of Democracy in the Education of Social Studies Teachers: Civic
Learning in Teacher Education. Vol. 1. Bloomington, Indiana:
The ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education,
2001.
Stearns, Peter N. and Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg. Knowing,
Teaching, and Learning History. New York: New York University
Press, 2000.
Stearns, N. Peter. Consumerism in World History. New York:
Routledge, 2001.
Wineburg, Sam. Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001.
First Assignment
For the first
class session we will refer to the NCHE (formerly the Bradley Commission
on History in Schools) brief but important work, Building a United
States History Curriculum and Building a World History Curriculum.
We will also discuss history in the school and university curriculum,
K-16, and some historical aspects of history in the history of education.
In additiona to the reading below, you are to identify and bring
to class three primary sources (one of the three must be an image)
related to an important topic or Vital Theme.
For next week, you are to read the following:
Assignment: Read Chapter 7 of Patrick and Leming's book,
Principles and Practices of Democracy in the Education of Social
Studies Teachers. As you read this chapter, ask yourself at
least two questions: (1) Who are the authors? and (2) What are
the authors' motivations/intentions? (There will be an essay regarding
this Chapter 7 reading, which will be worth 100 Points.)
Long-Range
Assignments:
After the reading in Patrick and Leming's book, we will read the
other required books in the following order:
- Sam Wineburg, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts.
(100 Points)
- Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas, and Sam Wineburg, Knowing,
Teaching, and Learning History (100 points)
- John Dewey, Experience and Education (100 Points)
- Eric Foner, The Story of American Freedom (100 Points)
- Peter N. Stearns, Consumerism in World History (100 points)
With each book there will be an assignment, which will include
a reaction to each book and its contribution to teaching history.
I will also distribute a few articles from history journals upon
occasion. The articles are related to history and to teaching history
in U.S. history and World history (100 Points). These reactions
are to be two to five pages (double-spaced) and reflect your best
professional writing.
Project: History Research Team Kit
You will work with other students in the class on a project, which
will be to create a History Research Team Kit (300 Points). The
History Research Team Kit will consist of First-/Second-/and Third-Order
documents. You will identify and provide a written rationale of
a First-Order Document with an analysis of the document. You will
also identify and provide a rationale for three to five Second-Order
Documents. You will edit these First-/and Second-Order Documents
so they may be used in class. You will also use and/or create analysis
guides to accompany the First-/and Second-Order Documents. These
guides and the point of your discussions with students on First-/and
Second-Order Documents will be to foster historical content and
historical thinking. You will also identify a list of potential
Third-Order Documents, primary sources your students will find in
their own inquiry. You and your colleagues will present your History
Team Research Kit to the class as we progress through the semester.
Perhaps at this point you do not know what First-/Second-/and Third-Order
Documents are. Do not worry. I will be defining these classifications
of First-/Second-/and Third-Order Documents in class. And we will
be discussing the importance of deliberative discussions as a means
and method related to historical content and historical thinking.
Graduate Assistants:
If you are a Graduate Assistant, you are responsible for course
management and class management of the course in which you are assisting
(100 Points) and in which you work with one of the department's
history professors of history (mentor). This professor is your Mentor.
If you are a teacher in one of the schools, you have your own course
management and class management responsibilities in schools (100
Points).
As a graduate assistant, you will take part in the basic duties
of course management for your professor (Mentor). Duties might include
evaluation of examinations and written work, organization of review
and study sessions, lectures, discussions, and counseling of students.
You, your mentor, and I might meet on occasion to review these activities.
I will confer when possible and appropriate with your Mentor who
will evaluate your fulfillment of these responsibilities.
Assessment:
Assessment is based on a three-dimensional, analytic rubric. The
three dimensions are knowledge, reasoning, and communication. (See
attached rubric.) Assessment will be provided throughout this course
on your knowledge and disposition toward understanding issues in
teaching and in history. Your ability to communicate your knowledge
and understanding clearly and effectively, whether in written or
oral presentations, is most important. Evaluation will be based
on the seriousness and thoughtfulness with which you address course
issues and assignments. The assessments will be derived from your
seven reactions to chapters, books, and essays and your written
and oral presentations of your History Research Team Kit, composed
of First-/Second-/and Third-Order documents. In addition, you will
receive an assessment for Course Management (100 Points) and participation
in our own class discussions (100 points).
Final Exam:
The final exam will involve a reflective practice essay (200 points),
written during the final exam week. This essay will allow you to
draw from the readings, experiences you have had with your History
Research Team Kit, experiences in your own classroom as a graduate
assistant or practicing teacher, and from our class discussions.
Grades
|
Patrick and Leming, Chapter 7 Reaction
Wineburg, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts
Stearns, Seixas, and Wineburg, Knowing, Teaching, and
Learning History
Dewey, Experience and Education
Foner, The Story of American Freedom
Stearns, Consumerism in World History
Essays Reaction
History Research Team Kit
Class and Course Management
Discussion
Final Exam: Reflective Practice Essay
Total
|
= 100 Points
= 100 Points
= 100 Points
= 100 Points
= 100 Points
= 100 Points
= 100 Points
= 300 Points
= 100 Points
= 100 Points
= 200 Points
= 1400 Points
|
90-100% = A
80- 89% = B
70- 79% = C
60- 69% = D
Below 60% = F
|
"History,
by apprizing them of the past, will enable them to judge of
the future; it will avail them of the experience of other
times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of
the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know
ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it,
to defeat its views."
Thomas
Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1782
"In
history, as in all serious matters, no achievement is final.
. . . Every new generation must rewrite history in its own
way; every new historian, not content with giving new answers
to old questions, must revise the questions themselves. .
. . Historical thought is a river into which none can step
twice."
R.G. Collingwood, The Idea of History
"History
is 'the stuff of daily struggle.'"
Lillian Schlissel, Women's Diaries
"History
is the memory of things said and done."
Carl Becker, Everyman His Own Historian
"History
is simply social development along the lines of weakest resistance
and that in most cases the line of weakest resistance is found
as unconsciously by society as by water."
Henry Adams in Henry Adams and His Friends
"The
historian . . . consciously or unconsciously performs an act
of faith, as to order and movement, for certainty . . . is
denied to him. . . . [I]n writing he acts and in acting he
makes choices, large or small, timid or bold, with respect
to some conception of the nature of things. . . . His faith
is at bottom a conviction that something true can be known
about the movement of history and his conviction is a subjective
decision, not a purely objective discovery."
Charles Beard, "Written History"
"The
inquiry of the historian, to be sure, is always, in intent,
instrumental to the present . . . satisfaction of having a
verified probable answer to his historical question; and the
knowledge of the answer, if attained, will presumably continue
to afford some sort of satisfaction. But the answer need not,
in any other sense, be assumed to be contributory to the solution
of a problem which is not about the past.
Arthur O. Lovejoy,
"Present Standpoints
and Past History"
"History
is the 'madonna of silences/to whom we turn/When we have lost
control.'"
W. H. Auden, Collected Poems
Reflective
thinking is "Active, persistent, and careful consideration
of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of
the grounds that support it, and the further conclusions to
which it tends."
John Dewey, How We Think, p. 6
There
is a "gap between those gifted with a wealth of complex
stories and those suffering from an impoverishment of narrative
resources."
Jerome Bruner, Acts of Meaning, p. 96.
"We
need to know what we mean by democracy, and we need to ground
that knowledge as widely and richly as possible. We need not
merely to get acquainted with our culture, but to make judgments
about it in terms of the democratic ideal."
Alan
F. Griffin, A Philosophical Approach to the Subject-Matter
Preparation of Teachers of History," p. 17.
"Style
. . .is the last acquirement of the educated mind; it is also
the most useful. It pervades the whole being . . .the artisan
with a sense for style prefers good work. Style is the ultimate
morality of mind."
Alfred North Whitehead,
"The Aims of Education," p. 12.
"A
teacher affects eternity; he can never tell, where his influence
stops."
Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams
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Course
Schedule: History 405
|
Date
|
Topics
|
Assignment
Due
|
| |
| August 19 |
- Introductions
- Why History and Historical Thinking
- Vital Themes & Narratives
- Habits of Mind
- Reflective Practitioner and Durable Knowledge
- Deliberative Discussions & History
- Five Types of Primary Sources
- Your Goal: First-/Second-/and Third-Order Documents and
Narrative
|
|
| August 26 |
- Why History?
- History in the Curriculum |
Patrick & Leming, Ch. 7
(Review 1 Due)
(Bring in three primary sources;
one of the three
must be an image.)
|
| September 2 |
No Class - Labor Day |
|
| September 9 |
- Historical Thinking: Generic
or Domain Specific?
- How can we enhance historical thinking
among our students?
|
Wineburg, All Chapters
(Review 2 Due) |
| September 16 |
How can we help students know and
learn History? What does the public think history is and how
can we make public and professional perceptions more
amenable in the classroom?
|
Stearns, Seixas,
and Wineburg, Part I,
1-140 |
| September 23 |
How can we help students know and
learn History? (continued) |
Stearns, Seixas,
and Wineburg,
Part II-IV,
Ch. 8, 9, 13, 14,
16, 17, 18, 21, 22
(Review 3 Due) |
| September 30 |
Professor from Department of History
Presentation: Assessing Essays, Dr. Beier
(I will be in Tallin, Estonia for U.S. Department of Education.)
History Research Teams meet based on your own schedule.
|
|
| October 7 |
No Class (I will be in Riga, Latvia
and Vilnius, Lithuania for U.S. Department of Education.)
History Research Teams meet based on your own schedule. |
|
| October 14 |
- Mimetic and Transformative Traditions
- Who is John Dewey and what were his motivations for writing
Experience
and Education?
|
Dewey, All Chapters
(Review 4 Due)
|
| October 21 |
- Teaching the U.S. History Survey |
Foner, All Chapters
|
| October 28 |
- Teaching the U.S. History Survey
(Continued) |
Foner, All Chapters
Himmelfarb & Scott
Essays
(Review 5 Due)
|
| November 4 |
- Teaching the World History Survey |
Stearns,
All Chapters
|
| November 11 |
- Teaching the World History Survey
(Continued) |
Stearns,
All Chapters
Bender Essay
(Review 6 Due)
|
| November 18 |
- U.S. and World History Surveys:
Bring It All Together
- Analysis Guides and Historical Thinking |
Himmelfarb, Scott, &
Bender Essays
(Review 7 Due)
|
| November 25 |
- History Research Team Kits
- Reflective Practice Traditions
|
|
| December 2 |
- History Research Team Kits Reports |
(Reports Due:
Presentations in
Class and Written Rationale and Analysis Due)
|
| December 9 |
Final Exam
Reflective Practice Essay |
|
|
