'What I learned in History 110'
I spent the semester teaching this class, and now I would like to tell you what I learned. This is not a complete list, just the main things I thought of this morning.
- Just because someone doesn't speak up in class that doesn't mean they aren't intelligent or that they aren't engaged mentally in the class discussion.
- Just because someone doesn't know the answer to one question that doesn't mean they won't know the answer to a subsequent question.
- Teaching is a two-way street. You cannot teach unless you are willing to learn, and vice-versa. This applies to 'teachers' and 'students.' So, I could be a teacher one moment in this class and a student the next.
- History is not about learning or memorizing facts from the past. It is about learning the connections between the present and the past.
- History does not have to be 'boring' if students are willing to open their minds and the teacher is willing to be flexible in his methods and adjust them as he goes along in response to his perceptions of class behavior.
- Students know a lot about how to shape a curriculum and a class. So even though the curriculum is already decided upon at the beginning of the semester, it can still be improved by asking the students to take part in the discussion about it.
- Young people are idealistic but they are also realistic about the world around them. A respectful history teacher will recognize this attribute, not assume that his students are 'innocent' or 'ignorant,' face the uncomfortable facts of national and world 'current events' squarely and honestly, and be willing to discuss them...
- ...because yesterday's current events are today's history, and today's current events shape tomorrow's history.
- Students are not afraid to speak their minds if they believe that the teacher respects what they have to say.
- It is sometimes difficult for restless students to listen to the opinion of someone else in the class, but if you remind them that that person has listened to them, they will understand the need to be reciprocal.
- Sometimes you might learn something in a class and not realize at the moment how 'relevant' it is to your life, but then later in life it might pop back into your mind and have some deeper, legitimate significance.
- Our History 110 class took up 2 ½ hours out of a 168 hour week. That's 1.4% of your time. But real education happens all day, every day, if you keep your mind open.
- Finally: Historical facts are important, but learning how to learn is more important.
-- N. B., 12/12/07