Today we had to read two articles about Bill Bigelow. One was written by him and one was an interview with him. I just wanted to remark on how well of a history teacher I thought he was. So many kids consider history so boring because the teacher can be so boring! You shouldn't just lecture and have your students write papers! Get them involved! I had an awesome history teacher my junior year. We were assigned a video project of a past U.S. history event. He made us a list of what to choose from, of course I chose "Pearl Harbor" because I loved the movie! lol. But I realized what Pearl Harbor was about besides the hot actors that performed in the movie version of it. We had to research the topic and perform it! So we were experiencing those who lived to see the Pearl Harbor attack in a way. To me, that is so much more important than jotting down a few notes about them. They are more important than that. I look at my past history class notes and I say, wow! So what? I memorized that for the test and out the window it went! The teachers I loved were those who made us live the history. Some historians say that history repeats itself. If we have just boring notes and boring teachers, how are we going to fix those history problems from happening again? Get the students involved...afterall, they are the future!

Very good point! I remember talking about this topic is my group yesterday. Another thing that I liked about Bigelow is how he takes a current event and connects in to world history. Here is what he said:

[quote] The last time I taught global studies was the year of the Seattle WTO protests. Being so close, in Portland, exposed students to the teach-ins and publicity prior to the meetings and demonstrations. It lent a sense of urgency to what we were doing in the classroom—dealing with issues of global sweatshops, the effect of “free tradeâ€

I agree that subjects can be made fun and interesting like history. I never liked history until I had a wonderful teacher my junior year. For one assignment, we were split into groups and asked to research a certain decade. My group had the 1910's. This project required that we research the technology of the time, main world events happening, the clothing of the people, popular games, slang terms, etc.. Not only did we do the research, but we had to apply it to a 15 minute skit. We were required to wear the clothing of the time period, incorporate slang terms they might've used, technology they would have had, etc... This was such a great way to truly experience what it was like to live during that time. We not only did research, but we became the people of the 1910's and brought it back to life in our skit.

I agree with everything said. Classes are so much more interesting if they are interactive. I hope that when I am a teacher I can get my students involved and want to learn. I had several teachers that used methods similar to what has been stated previously and they were all considered wonderful teachers.

I think that if I could have had a teacher like Bill I would have been able to enjoy history so much more. We need more teachers who are willing to put extra effort into their lessons, especially for those subjects that are not inclined to have interactive or innovative lessons. I would have loved to have been pushed to the kind of higher level thinking skills that he was asking for!

I think that teachers should have more ambitions to be like Bill. I love to see teachers who are passionate about their subject matter. I think that a class is much more interesting if the students are involved in what they are learning. All of my favorite teachers have been those who cared about the students and the subject matter enough to encourage us to get involved. I have had teachers who I didn't like the subject matter but the teacher was so excited about the material that we were learning that I tried to get a good grade because it was important to the teacher, so it became important to me. I think it is our job as teachers to get our students involved and be passionate about our subject matter.

Passion for the subject matter is so important. I can get so much more information from teachers/professors that are passionate about what they are teaching. I love when teachers do interactive activities and relate it to ideas and concepts from today. I know I hated history until I had a really passionate professor my freshman year, and now I really enjoy it. Just because she was really excited about what she taught us and it was contagious. I hope I can make the teaching I do contagious for my students.

Another great opportunity for engagng the interests of students in history is the systematic debunking of certain myths and narratives that have become standard in our history text books.

How cool would it be for students to join the teacher in finding inacuracies, cultural biases, and government propaganda in the very textbooks that the teacher is forced to teach from? This brings history alive, and enlightens the students to the organic process of historical study. The narrative is not etched in stone; history is socially and culturally created and understood, whcih always leaves the door open for reinterpretation. Kids love to buck the system!

What if we show that the American Revolution did not have the support of the masses of average Americans? Or that Helen Keller's story did not end with the "Miricle Worker," and that she went on to become a leading populist/socialist advocate and a sworn enemy of President Woodrow Wilson? Or that Abraham Lincoln was every bit as racist as every other white gentleman from his time? Or that the Spainish-American war was founded on deliberate government deception and media manipulation? Or that the United States had pledged its support of Ho Chi Minh during WWII only to reverse this pledge after the war's end?

History can be as interesting as the teacher wants to make it. All that is required is a little research and skepticism!