North Dakota governor Doug Burgum just signed a bill that bans the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 schools. Here are a few of the pertinent sections: Each school district and public school shall ensure instruction of its curriculum...
K-12 teaching
“Very fine people on both sides” comes to a Texas school district
Here is NBC News: SOUTHLAKE, Texas — A top administrator with the Carroll Independent School District in Southlake advised teachers last week that if they have a book about the Holocaust in their classroom, they should also offer students access to a...
A Missouri legislative committee held a hearing on teaching race and racism. No Black parents, teachers, or scholars testified
Seriously? Here is Summer Ballentine at the Associated Press: A Missouri legislative committee on Monday held a hearing on how educators teach K-12 students about race and racism without hearing from any Black Missourians. No Black parents, teachers or scholars...
Souderton, Pennsylvania debates “critical race theory”
A recent school district meeting on critical race theory in Souderton, Pennsylvania reveals just how crazy this entire debate has become. Based on Kenny Cooper’s reporting of the event at the website of WHYY (Philadelphia’s public broadcasting television and radio...
John McWhorter on critical race theory and what is happening in schools under the name of “critical race theory”
The Columbia University professor lets it rip, as he is prone to do, at his Substack newsletter. A lot of things worth considering here. McWhorter has always made a lot of sense to me on this issue. Here is a...
Florida senator Rick Scott introduces a resolution condemning critical race theory
More of the same. Indiana’s Mike Braun and Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn are also on board. Here is the text of the resolution. Expressing the sense of the Senate that Critical Race Theory serves as a prejudicial ideological tool, rather than...
Out of the Zoo: Saying Goodbye
Annie Thorn is senior 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 a...
Historian Megan Jones on teaching environmental history at The Pingry School
Over at NiCHE (Network in Canadian History & Environment), Megan Jones, the chair of the history department at The Pingry School in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, writes about her experience teaching environmental history. Megan is a 2003 graduate of Messiah...
Out of the Zoo: What will I teach on days like these?
Annie Thorn is senior 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 a...
Sam Wineburg: Why history can’t be about telling our children lies
Sam Wineburg is one of our favorite writers, authors and thinkers here at The Way of Improvement Leads Home. Listen to our conversations with him in episode 4 and episode 52 of The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast. Anyone...
Trump announces members of his “President’s Advisory 1776 Commission.” There are no American historians.
As COVID-19 cases reach record heights and our country faces unprecedented cyber-attacks, Donald Trump is making appointment to his 1776 Commission. Trump established the commission by executive order on November 2, 2020 and Joe Biden is likely to eliminate it...
Ed Ayers on what COVID-19 has revealed about the state of digital history
According to the University of Richmond historian Ed Ayers, “the sudden transition to online schooling has shone a light on the state of digital history.” He adds: “What we’ve seen hasn’t been very encouraging. Can we do better?” Here is...
Sam Wineburg on how anti-Blackness gets whitewashed in U.S. history textbooks
Yesterday Stanford’s Sam Wineburg, author of Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts and Why Study History (When It’s Already on Your Phone), dropped an amazing Twitter thread on race in American history textbooks. Here it is: Listen to our interviews...
The Trump White House does American history
On Thursday, Constitution Day, Donald Trump announced something called the “1776 Commission.” Here is a taste of his speech: Today, I am also pleased to announce that I will soon sign an Executive Order establishing a national commission to promote...
How textbooks taught white supremacy
Historian Donald Yacovone of Harvard’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research is writing a book titled “Teaching White Supremacy: The Textbook Battle Over Race in American History.” Here is a taste of Liz Mineo’s interview with Yacovone at...
The American Historical Association’s “Remote Teaching Wiki Project”
If you are teaching history online this semester, the AHA has gathered a lot of excellent resources here....
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton opposes “cancel culture.” Unless, of course, it is the 1619 Project
I just learned today that Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton is trying to pass legislation to prohibit schools from using federal funds to teach the New York Times‘s 1619 Project. (If you are unfamiliar with the 1619 Project, read our coverage here....
How One Middle-School History Teacher is Staying Connected With His Students
Matt Lakemacher is a longtime reader of The Way of Improvement Leads Home and a “graduate” of the Gilder-Lehrman Institute Princeton Seminar. He teaches history at Woodland Middle School in Gurnee, IL. Some of you may recall his dispatches from...
Out of the Zoo: National History Day
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...
A Virginia History Teacher Brings the Fire!
Phil Strunk was asked to give an “Ignite Talk” at recent meeting of the Virginia Society for Technology in Education. I’d say he nailed it. By the way, did I mention he is a former of student mine at Messiah...