I wrote about the Umbrella Man in my section on historical causation in Why Study History?: Reflecting on the Importance of the Past. Watch: Good news: I just submitted the manuscript for the revised edition of Why Study History. Stay...
causation
The “Umbrella Man” is back
Tonight is the first night of content in my “Introduction to History” course. I love using this video to teach historical thinking, especially causality, complexity, and contingency: I discuss how I use this video on page 10-11 in Why Study...
Out of the Zoo: The 5 C’s of Christianity
Annie Thorn is a sophomore history major from Kalamazoo, Michigan and our intern here at The Way of Improvement Leads Home. As part of her internship she is writing a weekly column titled “Out of the Zoo.” It focuses on life as...
24 Hours With Kansas History Educators
This weekend (Sunday and Monday) I made my first visit to Wichita, Kansas. The Kansas Council of History Education (KCHE) invited me to deliver the keynote address at their annual meeting. It was held this year on the campus of...
*Why Study History*-Inspired Bulletin Boards
I love it! High school and middle school history teachers are reading Why Study History: Reflecting on the Importance of the Past and finding bulletin board material. Matt, a seventh-grade history teaching in Illinois, posts this (with additional inspiration from Stanford...
Teaching Middle-School Kids About Historical Significance and Causation
Causation: One of the 5cs of historical thinking Jonathan Gold, a middle school teacher at Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, appears to be doing some very good things in his history classroom. Over at the “Teaching Tolerance” blog...
Why Do Historians Ask “Why?”
I am very grateful for the way that Chris Gehrz and his students at Bethel University have been so engaged with my Why Study History?: Reflecting on the Importance of the Past. Over at The Pietist Schoolman, Chris reflects on...
The Umbrella Man
I first saw this clip a few years ago and I have been using it to teach historical causation ever since. In fact, this story is featured in the first chapter of my Why Study History?: Reflecting on the Importance...