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History unveiled
- 1. LOEWEN MAULS HISTORY CURRICULUM
- 2. HISTORY UNVEILED James Loewen opens it up
- 3. ACCORDING TO LOEWEN, THERE ARE MANY THINGS WRONG WITH THE WAY HISTORY IS GENERALLY TAUGHT ...
- 4. HISTORY TEXTS ARE TOO FAT! History textbooks and courses try to cover too much. There is a lot of breath, but not a lot of breadth in what students learn.
- 5. HISTORY IS BORING! History is more than a recitation of facts.
- 6. HISTORY IS NOT RELEVANT Students don’t get the connection between all these facts and themselves.
- 7. HISTORY IS TAUGHT WITH AN AGENDA.
- 8. INSTEAD OF TEACHING HISTORY THE TRADITIONAL WAY, LOEWEN PROPOSES DIFFERENT TEACHING STRATEGIES …
- 10. RE-INTRODUCE THE DRAMA BACK INTO THE STUDY OF HISTORY
- 11. ADD DRAMA • Introduce controversy • Investigate diverging opinions • Include more perspectives • Create emotional connections
- 12. INTRODUCE STUDENT TO THE PRACTICE OF HISTORY
- 13. STUDENTS PRACTICE HISTORY BY: • Examining primary and secondary sources • Arguing based on historical evidence • Interviewing and investigating in their own communities
- 14. LOEWEN TO TEACHERS: • Cover fewer topics and examine them thoroughly. • Teach history backwards. • Delve into historical controversy.
- 15. LOEWEN TO TEACHERS: • Allow students to disagree with you. • Encourage students to practice history. • Teach students how to deal critically with historical sources, including their own textbook.
- 16. MY RESPONSE TO LOEWEN
- 17. HOW LOEWEN HAS INFLUENCED ME AS A TEACHER • Make history relevant • Use Multiple texts • Teach textual criticism • Present multiple contributions • Encourage student historians • Keep learning my
- 18. FIVE HISTORICAL FACTS I LEARNED FROM JAMES LOEWEN 1. The Confederacy violated states rights (p. 168, 233).
- 19. FIVE HISTORICAL FACTS I LEARNED FROM JAMES LOEWEN 2. West Africans might have sailed to the Americas. (p. 63).
- 20. FIVE HISTORICAL FACTS I LEARNED FROM JAMES LOEWEN 3. “Eastern Indians had observed autumnal harvest Celebrations for centuries.” (p. 117)
- 21. FIVE HISTORICAL FACTS I LEARNED FROM JAMES LOEWEN 4. The first permanent non-Native settler in the Western Hemisphere were Africans. (p. 163)
- 22. FIVE HISTORICAL FACTS I LEARNED FROM JAMES LOEWEN 5. Woodrow Wilson was a racist who supported Jim Crow laws. (p. 40-44)
- 23. A SUMMARY OF MY THOUGHTS REGARDING THE BOOK Great idea
- 24. A SUMMARY OF MY THOUGHTS REGARDING THE BOOK Great idea
- 25. A SUMMARY OF MY THOUGHTS REGARDING THE BOOK Great idea Is history subjective?
- 26. MY BELIEFS ABOUT TEACHING AMERICAN HISTORY The purpose of teaching American History is to: • Help students understand the past and the present in relation to each other. • Give students the skills to interpret past and present events critically and independently. • It is the students choice how the decide to employ these skills.
- 27. MY BELIEFS ABOUT TEACHING AMERICAN HISTORY In order to achieve these goals, American History teachers need to keep in mind: • We have to connect students to History through authentic and relevant teaching. • Historical drama and controversy need to be fostered, so that students have the opportunity to explore history themselves. • We must introduce the critical study of primary and secondary documents and teach historical argumentation, in order to foster engaged amateur historians.
- 28. CHAPTERS READ • Introduction • Ch. 1: Handicapped by History (The Process of Hero Making) • Ch. 2: 1493 (The True Importance of Christopher Columbus) • Ch. 3: The Truth about the First Thanksgiving • Ch. 4: Red Eyes
- 29. CHAPTERS READ • Ch. 5: Gone with the Wind (The Invisibility of Racism in American History Textbooks) • Ch. 6: John Brown and Abraham Lincoln (They Invisibility of Antiracism in American History Textbooks • Ch. 13: What is the Result of Teaching History Like This? • Afterword: The Future Lies Ahead, and What to
Editor's Notes
- Loewen mean "lions" in German, which is the inspiration for this theme.
- History textbooks and courses try to cover too much. There is a lot of breath, but not a lot of breadth in what students learn. This has additional repercussions. For one, the textbooks are getting much too big. This makes them daunting and seemingly impenetrable to students, which means they are less likely to read their texts. A second consequence is even more damaging. The curriculums demand that so much be covered, which does not leave enough time for students to study a topic in depth and learn how to be historians.
- History is commonly taught as a collection of facts - a lot of facts - which do not engage students in the drama of history.
- Students don't know what all those facts, what all that happened in the past has to do with them. They perceived that it is not relevant to them, so they tend not to be interested.
- Perhaps Loewen’s biggest criticism of the way History is taught in the United States is that it is taught with an agenda. He presents this different ways. For example, some historical figures are made into heroes, like Woodrow Wilson, Hellen Keller, Christopher Columbus, and Abraham Lincoln. Heroification, as Loewen calls it, distorts the person and history. What the authors perceive as virtuous is extolled, everything else is not mentioned. By hiding facts this way, authors obscure the humanity of the people and effectively dehumanize them. Students then cannot relate to these people, and therefore will not learn from them. History texts and courses also favor certain presentation of events over others, such as beginning the story of the USA with the Pilgrims, not with Spanish or the Native Americans. The contributions and achievements of some, such as Africans, Native peoples, non-Europeans in general, like pre-Columbian arrivals to the Americas, also tend to be left out, to highlight the achievement of White people. These and other tactics are combined to present what Loewen calls an a steady progress and improvement of the USA under the guidance of Euro-Americans, which not only is disenfranchising, but also incomplete.
- For student to become interested and engaged in History, they have to believe that it applies to them. As teachers, we need to help students see that the past helps them understand where they are now and can help them chart their steps for the future. Additionally, students can be encouraged apply their own experience to understanding what happened in history.
- When textbooks and curricula have an agenda, whatever it is, they present history as finished and interpreted. This not only portrays history as being not irrelevant, but also boring. Another aspect of making history interesting for students is to connect them emotionally to it. One way of doing this is to reintroduce the drama: Put the students in a historical time period and have them imagine making the choices of the time; Not all, perhaps most, historical events can be interpreted in more than one way, given all the information.
- There are number of way of increasing the drama of history Introduce controversy: though much is presented as settled fact, it often is not. Professional historians argue over ‘settled fact’ all the time. Students can do this too, and see that history is alive. Investigate diverging opinions: as Loewen says, we have to pay attention to what history books include, and what they do not. In the drive to cover as much material as possible or demanded, textbooks and courses cannot delve deep into historical events, and so things are left out. Often, what is left out is just as important as what was mentioned. Include more perspectives: often what is left out are the ideas, contributions, and accomplishments of non-Europeans. By including these, a more complete, more interesting picture of the past is drawn. This will also give currently marginalized students a reason to study history – they will see themselves in it. What happened in the past happened to human beings. These stories can be just as engaging as current pop culture fare that young adults consume. Teachers need to make these connections for the students.
- As Loewen says in page 405 of his book, “For students to create knowledge in exciting and empowering ….” When students are taught how to investigate historically, when they are allowed to come to their own understandings of issues that are important to them, they will embrace history.
- Though Loewen addresses the public in general, much of what he has to say applies and is directed to teachers of History. We need to pay attention to his recommendations: “Introduce fewer topics and examine them more thoroughly.” (p. 405) “Delve into historical controversy.” (p. 405) Teachers need to set up their classes so that students have the freedom to disagree with the teacher, as long as they can back it up with evidence. (p. 406) Encourage students to practice history in their own communities. (p. 407) Teach history backwards: present something relevant to the students today, and ask them how it came to be. Teach students how to deal critically with historical sources, including their own textbook.
- Though Loewen addresses the public in general, much of what he has to say applies and is directed to teachers of History. We need to pay attention to his recommendations: “Introduce fewer topics and examine them more thoroughly.” (p. 405) “Delve into historical controversy.” (p. 405) Teachers need to set up their classes so that students have the freedom to disagree with the teacher, as long as they can back it up with evidence. (p. 406) Encourage students to practice history in their own communities. (p. 407) Teach history backwards: present something relevant to the students today, and ask them how it came to be. Teach students how to deal critically with historical sources, including their own textbook.
- Since much of my training at Bemidji State focused on the constructivist model of teaching, nothing in Loewen’s book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, was absolutely surprising. He has, however, opened my eyes to why this constructivist model is important for teaching History and has provided many powerful and constructive strategies for teaching history. It is hard to say which influenced me the most; I consider all of the following very important: Make history relevant to the students – if the students don’t see a connection between my class and their lives, I have lost them. Do not rely too much on the textbook: while it can be a good resource, it has a lot of limitations. It is important to introduce students to more texts: primary sources such as documents, newspapers, letters, posters, photos, etc.; secondary sources, such as other historical works, but also those bringing in differing opinions, as well as non-traditional texts such as novels, movies, etc. He has made the importance of teaching students to analyze texts critically very important: this means not only asking what the texts includes, what it doesn’t and why, but also asking questions like who wrote, when, to whom, and for what purpose? Is the text credible? Is it backed up by other sources or evidence? Perhaps one thing that I had not thought too much about before was analyzing the choice of language used. These choices influence the readers perception, even on a subconscious level, unless they are attended to consciously. It is important that I expose my students not only to multiple sources, but ones with differing opinions and ones that include the contributions of all actors. The final piece of Loewen’s that I think I can apply is to encourage the practice of history by my students: beyond looking at primary sources critically, this means letting them investigate their own histories; it also means encouraging research and evidence-based deliberation, discussion, and debate. Finally, Loewen has encouraged me to keep learning history. I had though myself rather well informed, but through the reading of this book, I learned a great many things that I had previously been ignorant before. Part of my task as a teacher is to keep learning myself.
- The picture does not represent the time period, but it does show the mingling of African and Native Americans.
- My first reaction to James Loewen’s work is, “This is great!” For all the reasons already detailed in this presentation, I believe that Loewen has made a great contribution to the not only the teaching American History, but to public discourse in general. Both students and citizens in general need to engage intelligently with the information we are being fed: we need to check its veracity, investigate alternative sources and interpretations, and make our own minds up. We as teachers have a great responsibility in training students to do this.
- Even though Loewen has a great idea, I wonder how realistic it is to teach according to his strategies. Standardized testing of Math, English, and Science rule the education landscape, which leaves Social Studies on the outside. This means that competency in this area is not emphasized or prized, and yet curriculums insist on covering more information. Without the cover of prestige, how then can we limit our coverage of topics in order to go in depth? Is this really going to fly? Nevertheless, because his ideas are good, I will try to implement them as I begin teaching. I think that realistically I will need to plan carefully and not plan more that I can chew at the beginning. But as I gain experience, I look forward to pushing the envelope and train astute amateur social scientists.
- All history is subjective? Loewen writes that “[p]eople have the right to their own opinions, but not to their own facts” (p. 406). He also rails against the tendency of History textbooks to present history with an agenda – that the authors present their interpretation as correct. Right now, I am trying to reconcile or see how Loewen’s ideas fit with Howard Zinn’s assertion that all history is subjective. Sometimes evidence, what some consider facts, come under scrutiny and are interpreted subjectively. What are the facts that we can hang our hats on? How can we avoid a subjective presentation of facts, of history? Is it just by giving the students the right to disagree? Can we, as teachers, realistically keep our opinions out of it? Professor Bridges, for example, famously has said that we will not know what she thinks about what she is teaching. We do, however, know without a doubt what her conception of truth is. Well, I think the tension is healthy; as long as I am thinking, I am not stagnating. As you and Loewen say, it is important to keep learning.