Exploring Different Approaches to Historical Interpretation

Show notes: 

• What is History? How andWhy Should I Teach It by Susan Wise Bauer 
• Why Learn History When it’s Already on Your Phone? By Sam Wineburg 
  • Sam Wineburg for CBS 
  • Research on middle schoolers ability to interpret information on the internet
  • A helpful introduction to teaching historical thinking skills
• Resources for Teaching History: 
  • The Big History Project (skills taught: contextualization, sourcing, causation, comparison, continuity & change over time, close reading) 
  • Digital Inquiry Group (formerly Stanford History Education Group or SHEG). This organization offers free lesson plans and assessment ideas that emphasize historical thinking skills, perfect for logic stage students. The “Lunchroom I” and “Lunchroom II” lesson plans are a fun introduction to historical thinking skills. 
  • A great introduction to history for rhetoric stage students: Telling the Truth About History 
• Reading Lists for Hard History 
  • American Indians in Children’s Literature Web Page by Debbie Reese 
  • Heritage Mom Recommendations for Black History
  • Annotated Reading list for Grammar Stage: Picture Books About Slavery and Freedom via Heritage Mom
  • Annotated Reading list for Logic Stage: Age-Appropriate Books about the Holocaust via School Library Journal (you know your student, some of these may be too heavy for younger logic stage students). 
  • Another reading list with both grammar stage and logic stage titles on enslavement: Children’s Books about Slavery and Enslavement via Pragmatic Mom

• (00:00) - Intro
• (00:25) - History as a battleground
• (05:21) - A Drag Queen example
• (08:31) - History as a story and historical "accuraacy"
• (16:49) - 4 historical approaches
• (16:57) - Biographical history
• (19:06) - Progressive history
• (29:35) - Positivist history
• (33:55) - Social history
• (37:33) - How do we teach this?
• (40:10) - History in the grammar stage
• (47:52) - History in the logic stage
• (55:21) - History in the rhetoric stage
• (58:37) - Wrapping up
• (59:22) - Outro