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teaching history
New Hampshire’s “An Act Relative to Teachers’ Loyalty” has little to do with the teaching of American history
Here is Eileen O’Connor of the Concord Monitor: Just one year after New Hampshire legislators first introduced a bill that banned the teaching or discussion of “divisive concepts” like systemic racism, another bill will be debated this legislative session that...
David Blight: “Trust the teachers!”
The Yale historian and Pulitzer Prize-winner spun his recent tweets into a piece at The Atlantic. Here is a taste: The curriculum, however, is another matter. Trained teachers, curriculum directors, and school principals are responsible for organizing the content and...
Historian David Blight champions teachers; criticizes Democratic Party’s “endless debates over the right language”
Here is the Pulitzer Prize-winner and Frederick Douglass biographer: Blight is also concerned about the current state of the Democratic Party:...
The editors of The Christian Century ask: “Why do we need to teach history?”
The Christian Century tackles a Texas bill that forbids the teaching of critical race theory and the 1619 Project. Here is a taste of its editorial: How should the story of our country be told? It says that schools should...
Teaching “opposing” views of the Holocaust in a history class is not that far-fetched of an idea. Let me explain.
A Superintendent of a Texas school has apologized for telling his faculty that they had to teach “opposing” views on the Holocaust. Get up to speed here. Here is Mary Papenfuss at Yahoo News: A north Texas school superintendent has apologized for...
Does Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” make students hate America?
As longtime readers of this blog know, I have my issues with Howard Zinn‘s A People’s History of the United States. I stand by what I have written about this book over the last decade or so. We’ve covered him...
Nataliya Braginsky is the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History National History Teacher of the Year!
Here is the press release: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is delighted to announce that Nataliya Braginsky, a social studies teacher at Metropolitan Business Academy in New Haven, Connecticut, has been named the 2021 National History Teacher of the Year. Braginsky...
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...
What happens when an Illinois middle-school history teacher wears a pro-vaccine mask to a “meet and greet” with parents?
I have been working with and training K-12 teachers for nearly two decades and Matt Lakemacher is one of the best middle school history teachers I know. His passion for the study of the past is contagious and his creativity...
History teachers: The “skills-versus-content” debate rests on a false dichotomy
Over the last few decades, history educators and the scholars who shape the field of history education have stressed the teaching of historical thinking skills as essential to good pedagogy. This emphasis, I would argue, emerged as a response to...
Tennessee governor calls on schools to teach “unapologetic American exceptionalism”
Here is Yue Stella Yu at the Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee wants schools to teach “unapologetic American exceptionalism” — an idea that American values are intrinsically different from those of other countries. Touting Tennessee’s education standards, Lee made the comment...
Josh Hawley, “let’s be clear”: This is a nation of oppressors and liberators.
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley wrote an op-ed in The New York Post last weekend condemning critical race theory and promoting his personal view of what young Americans should learn in history class. Let’s take a look: Hawley writes: Parents know...
Why do we HAVE to study history?
I love this:...
What do Americans really think about critical race theory?
According to an Reuters-Ipsos poll 43% of Americans said they are “familiar” with critical race theory. 30% have never heard of it. Other findings from this poll: 24 % of Americans know about the 1619 Project. 22% know about the...
A North Carolina anti-critical race theory bill that makes some sense
North Carolina House Bill 324 forbids K-12 teachers from teaching: One race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex. An individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive,...
Ed Ayers: The history classroom is a “community of trust”
University of Richmond historian Ed Ayers recently visited a high school history classroom. He reflects on what he saw here. A taste: I recognized in those two sessions what I had learned four decades ago when I started teaching history:...
Florida history teacher: “I do not teach critical race theory”
Jessica Morey teaches African-American history, Advanced Placement U.S. history, A.P. U.S. government, and economics at St. Francis Catholic High School in Gainesville, Florida. She says she does not teach critical race theory. In a recent piece at The Gainesville Sun,...
Scholars respond to legislative efforts to restrict education about racism in American history.
I currently serve as Vice President of the Conference and Faith and History. (I become president in the Fall). I am proud to say that the Conference is one of the scholarly organizations who are condemning laws limiting teaching on...
Historian Steven Mintz reimagines the U.S. survey
There is a lot in this piece at Inside Higher Ed. Here is a small taste: What should we do? The first step is to clarify, in our own minds, what students ought to get out of these survey courses....