Teaching Hard History
Teaching hard history is fundamental to understanding
our nation's past, present and future. When I think about hard history, I think
of subjects
that include oppression, violence, and trauma. I mentioned earlier is
this course that the unit on the holocaust in middle school still sticks with
me to this day. Although horribly sad and disturbing, it was like a car wreck I
couldn’t stop watching. I wanted to hear more, see more. It was fascinating to
me. Of course, we talked about slavery in school and gender equality as well which
can make you uncomfortable, the holocaust just hit me differently.
What
I have learned as a human, student and teacher role is that you can talk about
just about anything if you are being respectful, listening to others’ opinions,
even if you disagree and being open minded that your mindset may change if you
hear different perspectives or views. I have learned to be the listener, rather
than the talker. I am told I can talk to anyone and be diplomatic in heated
situations because I remain calm and willing to listen. I think part of that
has come from my psychology background and some from personal experience being the
middle child with an older sister who has no filter and is loud about everything.
Often,
I find that people just want to be heard. Teaching hard history is bound to
bring big emotions. Hard history talking about violence and trauma is hard for some
people. Cultures, religion, and traditions that are not our own will be
discussed. Setting ground rules in the classroom
before these hard discussions start is very important. Making sure the students
know that disrespect will not be tolerated and that the conversations or
debates in class will be a safe place to speak freely will make it easier for
students to ask questions, dig deeper and open their minds to others’ views.
As a teacher using current
materials and books is also something that the district and staff need to be
careful with. Nothing should be left out I would say but accurate information
should be a top priority when it comes to teaching history. Along with history from
the past, I’m sure history teachers have heated debates about politics, current
or not. The guidelines and boundaries need to stay consistent.
I found an article that a girl
wrote about her mother teaching hard history. In school her mother would say “history doesn’t happen in a vacuum”
and you need to understand the whole story to fully grasp the history”. ( Liz Cokeing (2021)
I loved this quote and wanted to share. Her story
about her mother was really great to read. The article I will link talks about
her mother teaching about genocide and the holocaust which interested me even more.
Resources to
check out:
Liz Cokeing
(2021). ACIS The Importance of Teaching Hard History to Your Students.
https://acis.com/blog/the-importance-of-teaching-hard-history/
A free, high quality and interactive
workshops that provide a mixture of vetted and balanced historical content,
primary sources, access to top scholars and artists, effective pedagogical
strategies, and measures of success to employee for addressing “hard history”
and potentially controversial current events in the classroom safely and
effectively.
https://humanities.unc.edu/ck12/teachinghardhistory/
A Quick
Reference Guide to Teaching Hard History A K-12 FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING AMERICAN
SLAVERY. (2022).
Hi Jessika,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. I remember learning about the Holocaust, and in fact, I had visited Auschwitz prior to talking about it in school (I was 13), so that made the experience of learning about the Holocaust even more impactful.
Hard History is important to talk about, and I think in your post you alluded to the fact that Hard History is happening even as we speak... Yes, it's tough to teach current topics and material because there is so much we don't know about the current issues. It's safer to teach about the past because we have had time to process it and can verify information. Discussing issues today, such as what is happening in Gaza right now, is really risky as we don't have all of the information, and people's opinions on this issue are strong. I agree that they can all be discussed, as long as clear boundaries are set, those boundaries are enforced, and they stay consistent. And like you said, schools need to make sure the materials they are using are accurate, and perhaps offer a wide perspective on the issue.
Thanks,
Hattie
Hi Jessika!
ReplyDeleteYou brought up a really good and interesting point: hard history can be like watching a car wreck. Students will hear terrible things, and their interest is immediately sparked because it is nothing like they have ever heard before. Without any prior knowledge of genocide, slavery, and other hard topics, the idea seems unimaginable. Students are bound to not only be confused, but also extremely curious. This is such an important reason why we cannot just snub their comments or questions aside, avoiding hard topics. The more you push the hard stuff aside, the more they'll ask.
You also posted workshops for educators, which I think is extremely smart. We often look for teaching resources in the classroom, but not often do we look for ways to better ourselves personally and professionally, so we can become better educators. Thank you for sharing.