Teaching history is notoriously difficult because most students don’t find it very relevant. A mediocre teacher will throw out the quote turned cliche that if you don’t know history you are doomed to repeat it. At best most good History teachers are just great entertainers telling amazing stories.
In order to really make history relevant you have to demonstrate to students how it can benefit them almost immediately. This is really tricky and takes a lot of creativity but it’s not impossible. Here a couple of examples.
I was teaching about the gladiators of ancient Rome to 5th graders when we began discussing the colosseum. Eventually we got into the common “bread and circuses” analysis until I got an idea.
I asked the students if they knew anyone who really annoyed them. All their hands shot up. So I told them that the best way to get them off your back is to distract them. We then brainstormed some strategies for creating entertaining distractions for a nemesis. When we returned to the “bread and circuses” discussion our little tangent driven home the point in a more personal way. Also, the students really enjoyed plotting against their personal banes.
With a highschool or even college class advanced techniques would be in order. Research projects can be assigned that require students to distill themes like qualities of leadership, habits of success or tactics of negotiation and diplomacy from biographies of important persons.
The same can be done on successful organizations like revolutionary movements, armies or corporations by researching organizational strategies, propaganda (think public relations) and management.
These can then be made relevant by applying them in personal action plans for self-improvement or a class project that involves some sort of activism or group/team work.
Combining raw knowledge with a focused analysis geared to producing a viable short-term action plan is the educational ideal and virtually guarantees success.
Combine this with permitting students to negotiate their subjects and you can look forward to a motivated class as well.
What are some innovative ideas for making history relevant to your students? Share in the comments.
this is so true. the worst history classes i’ve had were all about memorizing dates and names. the good ones were run by teachers who related an event so animatedly that you didn’t want the class to end- it was almost like watching a movie. but the best ones were those in which i had to think, analyze, and try to extend the information beyond the classroom via community-based projects.
What are some innovative ideas for making history relevant to your students?
interviewing adults about an event that they lived through or some current societal issue tied to it, viewing an incident from an entirely different perspective – a log, impersonation, or even having to be put on trial (teaching some level of objectivity by having to defend the less-voiced of two sides. in one class i had to play a nazi ss guard and justify my actions; though, i think teachers have to be careful when trying to make students understand in the name of “feel like you were there”: New York teacher binds black students during history lesson on slavery – that’s a bit much).
another thing that made it more relevant was when it wasn’t taught in a vacuum: when history interacted with all of the core subjects (math, science, english/humanities) and you had to analyze things in context. i’ve also noticed that students perk their heads up when the history of their own people is mentioned in passing. i guess this is normal in a multi-ethnic society as ours being taught European history that we identify very little with? Allahu’alam.
i find this topic (history relevancy) challenging all-around – please share any further info you may have on it, inshaAllah. jazakAllah.
I really like the idea of having a student interview someone who lived through an important historical event. I think I’m actually going to use that in my class. As for role-playing, I think that only works after a lot of work has gone into preparing a student. It’s tough to see things from other people’s eyes without having some life experience and being reflective.
You are right on point with teaching history with a multi-disciplinary approach. History being it’s own stand alone discipline is really artificial. I studied education and couldn’t help but examine it’s history. That helped me tap into a virtually unlimited well of wisdom.
I think one good way to make history relevant is to show students how when history is occurring, the significance of certain events may not be as apparent as it will be in the future. Perhaps comparing the effect of today’s technology saturated world with that of a world without telephones or televisions to People in the early 1900’s. Very often, certain things very quietly and slowly become the norm. I am interested in what grade you are currently teaching and also…do you have a web host for your blog.
Your focus on technology in the teaching of history is actually very relevant. Technology has had immense impacts on everything from warfare to culture to business and industry. Yet this is not an ancient phenomenon but a contemporary one as well. We are all living incredibly rapid changes that students need to be made aware of.
Most importantly, students must be asked to challenge technological advances and weigh their potential merits with their potential harms. Most people are uncritically accepting of all technological advancements as progress.
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