#teachinghistory — Public Fediverse posts

Celebrating History Teaching: A Journey of Impact and Recognition

https://shawnmariegraybealsellers.com/2026/08/27/celebrating-history-teaching-a-journey-of-impact-and-recognition/

Notes on what we're doing #InClassToday

US History I:
We wrap up our "road to revolution" sections and segue into the American Revolution itself. I teach the war portion by having the students compare a handful of sources related to the experience of the war and/or hopes and concerns related to the war.

Students chose either the Oneida Declaration of Neutrality, an excerpt from the John and Abigail Adams letters ("remember the ladies..."), or an excerpt from Boston King's experience. They were told to be ready to "teach" their source.

1/n

#Teaching #TeachingHistory

About to teach the recent executive order on history/Smithsonian in my Intro to Public History class.

Because how can I not?

Edit: I shared key components of the session's agenda below, as replies in this thread.

#PublicHistory #Teaching #TeachingHistory

Dear academic and teaching community, how do you teach students how to read theory? Do you have any resources or things you do? I am sometimes at a loss to explain the relevance of theory, concepts, theoretical arguments, the way theory and empirical analysis is interwoven...my sense is that they just skip those sections. And I am utterly disappointed @academicchatter @teaching @histodons @highered @socialscience #socialscience #teachinghistory #highered #highereducation

My last few weeks of my US History survey to 1877 get pretty lecture heavy. It's the end of the semester, folks are overloaded with work (myself included), and we're often crunched to make it through the content we need to get through...

That said, I might try and use this article as a basis for finding a new way to tackle the Sectional Crisis and the Civil War. Students love a counterfactual/hypothetical. This article centers on the hypothetical of the Mexican-American War not happening, by Clay winning the election of 1844 (not all that far-fetched!).

It also has some nice notes on the uses of counterfactuals in general.

Gary J. Kornblith, “Rethinking the Coming of the Civil War: A Counterfactual Exercise,” Journal of American History 90, no. 1 (June 1, 2003): 76.

https://www.oah.org/site/assets/files/8710/02_jah_2003_kornblith.pdf

#TeachingHistory #USHistory #Histodons

#Quotes #History #Boneheads #TeachingHistory #BiographicalHistory #MartinGardner

Biographical history, as taught in our public schools, is still largely a history of boneheads: ridiculous kings and queens, paranoid political leaders, compulsive voyagers, ignorant generals, the flotsam and jetsam of historical currents. The men who radically altered history, the great creative scientists and mathematicians, are seldom mentioned if at all. -Martin Gardner, mathematician and writer (21 Oct 1914-2010)

This week, my historical research and writing class visits the university #Archives. They get to go on a tour "behind the scenes", then spend some time with an eclectic assortment of archival materials.

I'm not convinced I'm an especially good instructor for this course overall, but this is one of the few things I know I get right. So many students that may otherwise be pretty quiet throughout the rest of the semester come alive during this visit. Teaching this class is a real grind and a bit thankless, but this is one of the highlights, easily.

#Histodons #Teaching #TeachingHistory

Shout out to one of my grad school mentors who, while serving as his GA for the first part of the history survey, leaned into a schtick that presented George Whitfield as the first colonial celebrity.

I shamelessly steal that bit for my session on the Great Awakening and students always eat it up. Just update the celebrity simile: every year or two (right now, I liken him to Taylor Swift, of course).

#TeachingHistory

Some observations on undergrads (History majors) and #AI: a thread

Yesterday, in my Historical Research and Writing class, we spent the day focused on topic development and some basics for using the library catalog and databases (in part to help with initial exploration of a topic). In between those two portions, as a segue, I asked what they thought about using something like ChatGPT for topic development --- which one of them had raised in an earlier class.

What followed was a really interesting conversation that gave me some insight into what students do and don't know about LLMs and related apps. Here are some observations.

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#TeachingHistory #Histodons #HigherEd #Teaching

A short thread on data in the humanities classroom:

I'm teaching a #DigitalHistory
course on counterculture(s) this semester. It's in this really weird hybrid setting, one in-person class, the rest async --- but overall it's going well.

This is an upper-level undergrad course that can also be taken for grad credit. We just reviewed our first assignment and I found something really interesting!

#TeachingHistory #DigitalHumanities #Histodons

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Is anyone else playing with using the "History and Tradition" framework of the #SupremeCourt in their #USHistory classrooms?

From Heller/Bruen/Rahimi, to even less obvious decisions this round, I am thinking it is a useful way to connect the first part of the US survey to the present. Not sure how central an organizing principle to make it -- tempted to use it as an opening gambit into why history matters/how the past obviously and less obviously connects to the present.

#Histodons #TeachingHistory

Sharing this article via a #GiftArticle as I think there's *a lot* to chew on/get angry about/incorporate into the history classroom (!) here:

How ‘History and Tradition’ Rulings Are Changing American Law

A new legal standard is gaining traction among conservative judges — one that might turn back the clock on drag shows, gun restrictions and more.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/29/magazine/history-tradition-law-conservative-judges.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ok0.rACh.DoweDXfAPOaP&smid=url-share

#NYTimes #GiftLink #AmericanLaw #USHistory #TeachingHistory

Using this virtual exhibit in the classroom: "When Women Lost the Vote" explores women's franchise and disenfranchisement in NJ in the early republic. Students seemed to respond well to the site overall, so sharing for those that might be interested.

Trying to do a better job at teaching women's early political involvement alongside/around "republican motherhood" and similar narratives. Fits right into parallel discussions of the franchise and disenfranchisement among black communities in the period, questions of status for previously enslaved persons in states that are passing emancipating laws in the north, etc.

https://www.amrevmuseum.org/virtualexhibits/when-women-lost-the-vote-a-revolutionary-story

#VotingHistory #Exhibits #TeachingHistory

I frequently start my HIS surveys with a questionnaire that includes something like: "Is learning about History important? Why or why not?"

The number of students who reference "doomed to repeat it" is always striking! One student this semester just wrote: "You know, the doomed to repeat it thing."

I spend the rest of the semester trying to challenge the idea of a clear relationship there - between knowing/remembering history and change - in order to encourage recognition that knowing is not in itself sufficient... but alas, I get some of the same stuff in their closing essays...

#Histodons #TeachingHistory

This semester has been my first stab at teaching our major-specific Historical #Research and #Writing class. Regardless of the quality of the final papers, I think the best decision I made, with the encouragement of colleagues, was to really center reflection on the research process as part of the class.

Their papers may or may not be top-notch, but a lot of them are showing that they now think of research as a long-term iterative process with a lot of moving parts.

And they're recognizing that their papers might not be exactly right, but they are better equipped to talk about where their process went awry and what they might change in the future...

... which I think might be the best outcome I could ask for.

#TeachingHistory

Thanksgiving break --- so of course I'm catching up on #Grading, big time.

Apparently several students questioned my obsession with canals/internal improvements in our units on the Market Revolution and early American economy.

Joke's on them, I tone it down for the survey!

#TeachingHistory

After using the 1836 Texas constitution to teach about race, slavery, and Manifest Destiny - first time I tried, and it was successful, I think! - I have one more reason to strongly consider organizing my US HIS survey around a nebulous set of documents that includes covenants, constitutions, proclamations, declarations, appeals, petitions, etc.

Legal/governmental docs, obviously, but also as much (or more) the unofficial, extra-legal...

I have struggled to find my thread to tie the US survey together -- everything I've tried feels too complex or not complex enough. This feels capacious enough to be flexible, thematically, but also provide a common core of themes that I already center in my teaching...

#TeachingHistory #Histodons

My first semester teaching historical research and writing has been a learning experience, for sure, and it's been really hard to gauge student progress along the way.

Today starts a week of one-on-one meetings where they should finally be fairly far along with their research and have started at least some writing toward their final project. I'm a little nervous: have I given them everything they need? (Were they listening?) Did I aim them too high, or not high enough?

I feel like this week is the big reveal on some reality show, lol, even though I've been following their progress fairly closely to this point.

#TeachingHistory

I have been *really* trying to make the lecture a small piece of an average class, rather than the dominant center -- or to get rid of it altogether when feasible -- but when students don't do the reading and you've planned a whole session around the assumption that they will come to class prepared...

When they don't complete the pre-work you do to accompany the reading...

When you even give some time at the start for reading/free-writing and still only get participation from the same two or three people...

It gets discouraging. 😞

I try not to complain or generalize about students but they're testing me this week...

#Teaching #KidsTheseDays #TeachingHistory #AcademicMastodon

Today in my US survey, we cover two versions of the Seven Years/French-Indian/Anglo-Indian Wars: English/Euro perspectives and indigenous perspectives.

I have been working hard to incorporate something like a #VastAmerica theme into my teaching on early America, and this session helps to bring that home. I have found my students, who are mostly white non-history majors from the rural-ish Midwest, very interested in ways of exploring early American history that center indigenous perspectives, choices, and experiences.

But the bonus of teaching this session this way is I get to revisit Michael McDonnell's *Masters of Empire: Great Lakes Indians and the Making of America* and other similar works as I prep, works that are just inspiring to read and think through.

#TeachingHistory #Histodons

LGBTQ Primary Sources for the classroom: https://chssp.ucdavis.edu/lgbtq-primary-sources #HistGender #HistSex #TeachingHistory #Histodons

(via https://www.threads.net/@professorrouse/post/CvuwgnkL23b/)

I'm excited to be teaching our Historical Research and Writing course, for History undergrads, this Fall and Spring, but was having trouble finding a research handbook that wasn't terribly dry or terribly obsolete (or both!).

Was thrilled to find The Information Literate Historian (3rd edition) by Jenny Presnell through a colleague --- light years better than some of the research handbooks I was introduced to in undergrad/graduate work. Very detailed but very readable coverage of just about every aspect of the research process -- and very up to date!

Even includes some substantial sections on #DigitalHistory, statistics, and presenting your work. Not too expensive, either. Worth a peek if you're needing something for a methods or writing-focused class!

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-information-literate-historian-9780190851491?cc=us&lang=en&#

#TeachingHistory #AcademicMastodon #histodons

@mona Worrying indeed

#education #teachinghistory #historyofteaching #histodons

@jbf1755 tbh I think few profs can pull off being that listen-able speaking from a podium without using blackboard / whiteboard / slides / videos / visuals at all. Just pure storytelling. Most of us (self included) feel like I have to pace, tap dance, use multimedia, incorporate discussion or turn-and-talk, just to maintain "engagement."
#pedagogy #teachinghistory #highered

Needing a couple videos of a college-level history course, for my Teaching History students to deconstruct and analyze. There are surprisingly few posted online. I'll probably use one from @jbf1755's excellent Yale Open Courses American Revolution -- as a masterclass in lecturing. (Joanne, how many students were in that lecture hall, more or less?)

#histodons #highered #teachinghistory #historianatwork