For my weekly content specific reading, I chose to read the first two chapters of Social Studies for Secondary Schools. I chose to start here because I liked how each chapter answers a broad question. For instance, chapter one is Who Am I? and chapter two is Why Study History? Likewise, following chapters ask big questions that I think are particularly important and will give me a great place to start.
As I mentioned, the first chapter focuses around the question of who am I? Singer considers this from the lens of a teacher, of a student, as a human being, and how who we are affects who we are as teachers and what he had to do in order to adjust his teaching to become better over the years. Early in the chapter, he expressed that some lessons went really well and then others would flop for no reason that he could recognize. He said, "sometimes it seemed like I had the entire class in the palm of my hand and I could do no wrong. On other days, the students acted like I was not even present" (5). This really spoke to me because I think it is a common fear for a new educator. He went on to explain that taking the advice of others, patience, and perseverance would help.
The second chapter focuses on the question why study history? One of my favorite pieces of this chapter came through the explanation as to why we should teach social studies. "Providing a context that broadens people's understand of our world and gets us to question our assumptions about it is a primary reason to study and teach history and the social sciences" (14). I also appreciated that he emphasized that history plays a major role in how we understand our current world as everything that has happened in the past has shaped our societies and cultures to be the way they are. Further topics he looks at in this chapter include different approaches to teaching history, the importance of multiculturalism in our teaching rather than only teaching about the west, a significant list of further reading to learn more history, and highlighting the differences between fact and theory.
Three things I want to remember:
The concept of transculturation. Singer defines it as a "focus on the dislocation of people's lives" when "entirely new culture are created as old patterns of behavior are destroyed and new ones are formulated" (20). I have never heard of transculturation before and want to look into it more deeply.
Organizing curriculum around themes and concepts rather than chronology. I have never experienced a history course that did not follow chronology, so this is a bit of a tough concept for me to consider. But, I think I would prefer it. My question is how do we explore a concept or theme while still separating historical events, covering everything we need to cover, and have it all make sense?
A classroom activity that he suggests is a current events assignment that connects to history. He has his students evaluate different articles and "decide whether they include important historical facts and whether there are historical explanations that connect any of the articles" (17). I really appreciate this idea because I think it connects what is taking place today to what happened in the past. It makes history feel a little more real and can bring it to life a bit for students.
Two controversial ideas or disagreements:
Traditional American History programs versus multicultural teachings. Singer noted at length that there is a divide in many states on what pieces of history should be emphasized in the classroom. Some states encourage traditional history that may ignore some of the darker pieces of our history. If we ignore those pieces and promote that agenda, what message is being sent to students? We can't ignore racism, prejudice, oppression, imperialism, social inequality, etc. that took place in the past and is continuing to take place today (15).
The debate around whether or not teachers should express their opinion or point of view in their classroom. Singer does not make it clear where he stands on this issue, but I personally feel like teachers should be able to express their point of view as long as it is done tastefully and if it is discussed at length with students to hear their perspective. It should not be put out there before students begin the discussion because then students may be afraid to speak up if they disagree with your opinion. I am just interested to see if my own opinion on this changes as I read and learn more.
One question:
Historical explanation identifies patterns and classifies information and events into categories to explain those events (30). But what happens if our categorization is an oversimplification or an incorrect generalization and we define it incorrectly? We can reclassify, but how do we correct those generalizations with our students if we place an event in an inaccurate context?
So much great stuff in this post, Hayley, I don't even know where to start with my thoughts. You ask, "how do we explore a concept or theme while still separating historical events, covering everything we need to cover, and have it all make sense?" This is a great question and an important one. I want you to continue to investigate this through your reading. We will also do some in-class reading on it. "We can't ignore racism, prejudice, oppression, imperialism, social inequality, etc. that took place in the past and is continuing to take place today (15). " Absolutely. That's where critical literacy is helpful. You may want to explore critical literacy practices this semester to help you gain strategies for doing this. "But what happens if our categorization is an oversimplification or an incorrect generalization and we define it incorrectly? We can reclassify, but how do we correct those generalizations with our students if we place an event in an inaccurate context?" I love that you are connecting this reading to the reading on misconceptions. If you are talking about "we" as in teachers then you can see why it's so important for teachers to have deep content knowledge. The deeper their knowledge, the less superficial their categorization with be. If you are thinking of the "we" as students, then the onus is on teachers to constantly check in with students about their understanding so that we can address any oversimplifications.
ReplyDeleteKeep this level of deep thinking up as you read.