HisTeched: Musings in US History and Education

Today’s Los Angeles Times featured an article dedicated to retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’ Connor push to revive civic education in our nation. Her rationale was based on the fact that many students and also adults are more familiar with TV show hosts than who currently is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. “Disturbing” is the word she used to describe the lack of knowledge that permeates our citizenry. What struck me the most came from this statement “One problem may be a consequence of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which emphasized reading and math instruction with required testing.”

For those of us involved with teaching civics this has been the case since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind in 2001. We have seen schools eradicate this area of curriculum and in some schools in the state of California schools have reduced the social studies curriculum to a semester instead of a year. What is the message being sent students? We’ll let our voting citizens of the future answer that, but I think that Justice O’Connor sums it up fairly well when she stated that there is a lack of knowledge in our public about government and its function. One could easily see this with our current state of political affairs and the low voting turnout during election season. I applaud O’Connor for her effort with the iCivics curriculum that attempts to broaden the civic knowledge of students, specifically 8th graders, by using interactive games that allow students to learn about the three branches of government by taking part in the process of legislation.

This is one in many efforts to combat the denigration of history and civics throughout our schools curriculum. However, a larger concerted effort is needed to convince policymakers that history and civics as equally important as math and reading. Thomas Jefferson believed education was important to the extent that through its means a common person would be able to participate in a democracy. Part of this education included history. The recent eradication of the Teaching American History grants from the federal budget are another indicator that civics and history education is under attack. This highly successful program has been instrumental in shaping how history is being taught in classrooms throughout the nation, and I as a participant in a TAH grant six years ago went through a transformation process in my own teaching. However, with this now gone, there seems to be a vacuum in the history/civics programs at the federal level. As budgets are being formulated in these dire times, I believe that history/civics education must be put on a equal footing as any other curriculum. Cuts in these two subjects because of the the “almighty standardized test” and for the sake of test scores are not a valid excuse for denying students a well-rounded education.

For many of my generation history classes were a series of memorizing wars and dates, but I daresay that most history classes are no longer subject to such monotony. Quite a few of my history/civics colleagues nationwide utilize a variety of learning strategies to spur the interest of today’s students. Utilizing online interactive simulations such as those promoted by Justice O’Connor or primary source study which stimulates critical thinking skills are very much part of the 21st century student. Blogging, writing persuasive essays about the Occupy Movement, creating web pages about historical figures, evaluating historical sources, are a few more activities that engage our students. With continuing cuts on the horizon, it is imperative to maintain this quality teaching and the programs that have fostered this innovation. Our future depends on it.

Over the last few years, I have struggled to find ways and most importantly the time to integrate technology and student work into my 8th grade United States history class. Being familiar with the Common Craft approach to making videos I came upon a Constitution video that was created by students in an 8th grade class in Pennsylvania. I solicited a group of students who were willing to make a similar video and the process began. The students started by drawing out the pictures that would correspond with the Constitutional Convention. Once there was an idea of what pictures would be used a dialogue was developed with the pictures. After many takes which included the adjusting of the placement of the pictures and camera angles the work was done. Thanks to my students a nice video was produced.

The final product can be viewed below.

Sometimes as a teacher planning is as simple as a two minute conversation with a colleague. My students are currently studying the Constitution which can be a extremely dry subject as they are preparing for a district-mandated test. At times coming up with lessons that actively engage students in this area can be a challenge. However, I have found that collaborating with a colleague in this area is vital. My fellow 8th Grade US History teacher, Adrian Montero and myself usually talk 3-4 times weekly in our effort to provide quality instruction. Over the last week we briefly pondered how we could get our students understand the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and at the same time comprehend how James Madison addressed the weaknesses by creating a new government model.

Adrian stated in our conversation that we should have the students construct a simile illustration for the weaknesses of the Articles and then we agreed that there should be a corresponding simile illustration for the Madison’s three branches of government model. The lesson was a success as you can see below from the various illustrations that the students created. As I said some things just require simplicity.

Student’s Work

As our students are increasingly saturated with various types of technology it becomes increasingly incumbent upon educators to show the students how this technology can be utilized in a manner that facilitates learning and the acquisition of skills that will be necessary for them to survive in world beyond the classroom. As one can imagine this is always a struggle even as teachers who are technologically literate are in the rat race to keep up with the latest trends whether it be the iPad or the latest application or interactive website. I know for myself this is a constant battle, but I try to keep it simple.

The past school year our school purchased a license for Google mail, sites, and docs. Teaching the students to check their e-mail was a constant struggle even as some teachers sent required assignments in the mail. I taught all my classes how to use Google Docs collaboratively and submit assignments via sharing. At times it was extremely frustrating as students would not check their mail or even share their work. This year with most of our site teachers using the Google platform with their students in some manner, things have improved.

I have ventured to have students create group presentations on the cause and effect of the American Revolution and also create podcast scripts in a group setting. So far it has worked. The students have also submitted their writing prompts by sharing their work with me which allows me to comment, sometimes concurrently as they are composing at home (very powerful teacher-student interaction). It has been a learning curve as 220 students submit their work in two days and I have to figure out how to organize the prompts by class and check the work. The upcoming week the students will create podcast on three events of the American Revolution using a Loyalist and Patriot perspective and moderated by an independent moderator.

Obviously, there are many schools that are using Skype to work collaboratively with other schools or involved with other cutting edge technology. This is appealing to me and I as always would welcome the opportunity work with others on certain topics. I also would like to venture into working with the institutions through video conferencing and expose my students to the historical expertise and work of those who maintain museums and other venues. This all takes time which there seems to be not much of lately. Progress not perfection is the motto I adhere to. As always I welcome the opportunity to work with other schools, just contact me or leave a comment.

One of the keys of academic literacy is to be able to identify the genre of text being used in readings. Typically in history textbooks at the secondary level much of the text is dedicated to the cause and effect concept. Teaching students how to see key words that identify this genre is essential in their understanding of the text. Although I teach history, my instruction is also focused on literacy. Once my students are able notice the genres found in their texts, their understanding increases as well as their ability to write. Recently my classes focused on the cause and effects of the American independence movement. I began by reviewing cause and effect words commonly found in history text such as, led to, consequently, because, cause, as a result, or resulted in. The students then had to identify the words in the text. Next they had to point out which part of the sentence was the cause and which part of the sentence was the effect. The lesson in its progression can be found in the video at my Mendez Website.

So, it is the beginning of another year and as a teacher I have made it my mission to make my classroom a historical lab. In the era of increased standardized testing and the diluting of history curriculum, I will continue the fight forward. My goal is to facilitate a classroom in which students are not hesitant to ask inquisitive questions, students will go beyond the superficial answer and not be satisfied with the basic one sentence or even one word response. Although I understand that most students do not like history as a class, I hope to build their appreciation for field.

On another note I was busy as usual reading about how my history colleagues around the nation are striving to better their own teaching skills. One book in particular “Why wWon’t You Just Tell Us the Answer?” by Bruce Lesh details the process of historical thinking of students. Lesh, a US history teacher explains his method of introducing students to the concept of thinking like a historian by utiliziling the concepts of text, subtext, context, chronological thinking, causality, among others, in order to further the students skills. In each chapter he provides anecdotes with the lesson strategy for that particular concept. As a teacher who is constantly struggling to make my classroom more like a laboratory of thinking, I found this book appealing and useful in my own planning for the upcoming year.

Finally, the Association for Supervision, Curriculum and Development recently published their piece entitled “Why Social Studies Matters.” The various articles shed light on the importance of our discipline, especially in light of the tenth anniversary of 9/11. It is imperative that our students realize the importance of civic engagement and our nation’s interactions with other countries globally. We stand to learn from our successes and failures through the study of history, not through sound bytes, the lack of civic discourse, and other problems that plague our society today. The gateway to this occurs in our history classrooms and hopefully in daily life. This is one of the answers to the question, why does social studies matter.

Once again this year I was selected to attend a one week seminar sponsored by the National Endowment of Humanities, this time in Lowell, Massachusetts. Arriving Sunday in Boston I made my way to Lowell for a week of scholarship and activities related to the industrial complex in America. Sunday night we were introduced to each other and went into a sewing activity which involved using a foot loom to sew cloth. One could see how difficult it must have been to use such a device. I certainly struggled to keep the machine going.

For the rest of the week, we were busy with lectures on the rise of the factories in Lowell, the use of canals to power the factories, the way of life for a factory worker, literature and art of the period and host of other activities which brought the period to life. I applaud the NEH, the National Parks Service and the staff from University of Massachusetts, Lowell for an exemplary program which gave me a chance to truly relive the life of people during these times.

The period of the 1820-1850′s was a difficult for our new nation. One thing was clear, the quick rise of industry in the area definitely had an impact on the way of life of people in the area. This soon spread to the whole area of New England, but with consequences such as corporate greed, poor working conditions, environmental damage, displaced farmers, the socio-economic consequences of using slave picked cotton from the South to produce clothing which was also used by the poor in the South. Many people of the time had objected to the use of technology as they saw it has creating problems socially and economically. There are so many parallels to our current use of technology and that faced by the people of the 1830′s-1850′s. As Henry David Thoreau put it, there was a need to simplify peoples lives instead of being caught up in the materialism of the day.

There is much to be learned from our past. Will we repeat the same trends politically, socially, and economically that the people of the 1800′s did or will we find ways to better our lives in such a manner that all will benefit? Will we welcome immigrants, or will we ostracize them much as the Irish were ostracized in Lowell and other nearby towns? Will we examine the working conditions of labor force and root out abuse and unsafe practices or will we ignore them at the expense of the powerless and voiceless? All these must be considered for true progress to be made.

Less than a week ago the National Assessment of Education Progress released its report that was featured in the New York Times and other major new outlets which headlined “Test Shows Knowledge of American History Limited.” One can take this at face value meaning that our students are not up to par regarding the history of our nation. However, upon closer look a history teacher review the questions which were posed to 4th, 8th and 12 graders and conclude that some of these questions do not even fit in the scope of the particular grade level curriculum. There is also a question of historical accuracy. Finally, one must also look at the very fact that in many schools and districts nationwide the history curriculum has been reduced to a semester, or even better yet not even taught because policy makers have decided that it is irrelevant because test scores of math and language arts need to be improved.

Let’s take a look at some of the questions asked of 8th graders. What was the main goal of US foreign policy between 1945 and 1990 was fighting communism? Only 26 percent of 8th graders answered that correctly. In California and other states the content of the question is not even covered in 8th grade, as matter of fact this content is covered in 11th grade. Another question asked the association between
Lend-Lease program and World War II. Once again California 8th graders don’t cover this material until their junior year. If one were to look at the standards at least in California, they would realize that the 8th grade curriculum ranges from the Pre-Revolutionary war period to the years before World War I. Any good teacher in the state would tell you they are lucky to cover the time up to Reconstruction. The purpose of the test must be questioned as well as the results that never fail to be national headlines belaboring the fact that are students are deficient in history.

In Sam Wineburg’s most recent post on the History News Network entitled “Can Educators Even Answer These Lame Questions?” he raises the fact that one of the questions was not even historically accurate. The item in question was related to the song sung by slaves, but the lyrics used were from a 1947 song by Lee Hays. If the questions utilized in the test cannot be proved to be reliable, how then can the test itself be an accurate measure of historical knowledge.

In the most recent edition of Historically Speaking, the bulletin produced by the Historical Society, Linda Salvucci accurately points out that as a result of the passage of No Child Left Behind, history instruction continues to decline. As previously mentioned some schools have abandoned history instruction in order to feed the beast, the “almighty standardized test,” so that the subjects of language arts and math can be taught. History can be taught the stories found in language arts literature books or the Open Court series. Where does the blame fall? From the onset of the implementation of NCLB it was cleared that history curriculum was going to take a hit.

One can also conclude that perhaps history instruction itself can be blamed. A further examination of how history classes are taught is certainly warranted. If history is still being taught as a series of dates, famous people, and wars, as many of my generation were instructed, there lies fault. However, if students are being taught how to question interpretations, identify cause and effect, and make connections from chronological events, then these students are learning and applying their knowledge to the discipline. A test such as the one taken by the students in 2010 cannot measure this type of learning. Perhaps it is time to take a look at the test and reassess its true objective.

The results of the test cannot be blamed on the political agenda of the left as one politician awkwardly stated recently. Throwing blame at one group or at teachers is ignoring what the real problem is. The test itself is flawed and only serves as a superficial indicator of what actually takes place in history classrooms nationwide. Ask your local history teacher how they instruct and then, and only then can you find what the test doesn’t measure.

Below your will find the link to the end of the year survey.  Please spend some time with the responses and answer as honestly as possible.

http://bit.ly/kZkq54

As we wind down the year and approach the CST in history, it is important to review the year from colonization to Reconstruction.  Below you will find the first semester review.

http://www.mystudiyo.com/act112563/go/8th_grade_1st_semester

Click below to access the second semester review.

http://www.mystudiyo.com/act86599/go/8th_grade_review