History and Social Studies Education

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Magritte’s Windows: Using Narrative, Connectivity, and History to Develop Students’ Worldview

History and the “Past” aren’t synonyms. The past is the totality of time that occurs before the “Now.”As stated in the ubiquitous opening line of L. P. Hartley’s  novel The Go-Between, “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.”  


Also, history is not an external truth to be memorized.  Have you heard student’s lament “Just tell us what to know (dates, events, and people please).” This passive posture is endemic. It is a major challenge to break down students’ perception of history as a course in memorization when that is the model of teaching used by colleagues.

History isn’t a timeline; a singular projection of events, people, groups etc. Chronology can give insight into a student’s understanding of the past, but it is not an elevated, critical thinking task.

History doesn’t repeat itself.  It doesn’t DO anything.  That is because history isn’t an external force, or a prime mover, or reified force. In addition, claims to inevitability as part of the human experience make me cringe.  (Next time you mess up, tell the authority “Well, sorry but it had to happen, my behavior was inevitable… I was just carrying out destiny’s will.  Let me know how that goes.).

So what is history?  History is a constructed understanding of the past. It is part of an individual or collective world view which changes over time due to experiences, perspectives, beliefs, hopes etc.   In turn, how we engage with the past, and recognizing  the meta-cognitive aspects of this venture, impacts our identity.  Indeed, recognizing an identity, memory, and history nexus  is an architecture for self-understanding.indexPaul

For students in high school, teaching history in this fashion, as a personal construction(which will change) based on experiences,  is an empowering methodology. Students learn to be critical about thought, media,and knowledge claims,  and invites embracing the possibilities of grayness and ambiguity.

One simple adjustment for teachers to utilize this teaching style is to alter their pedagogical language from declarative to inquisitive. “Here is what you need to know!” morphs into questions of inquiry.  An even better approach  is when questions are provocative. For example:

  • “If women were not allowed universal suffrage until the early 20th century, was the USA a democracy before then?”
  • “How can we call the US isolationist in the 1920s and 1930s if the US had active military actions in Latin America, Russia, and the Philippines?”
  • “If the Cold War was a conflict between communism and democracy, why would China (a communist nation) have better relations with the USA  than with the USSR in the 1970s?”

Try making your own questions. The key is to have them be open-ended and to utilize a “conceptual framework” for students to analyze.

Historical Thinking Skills (HTS)

Historical Thinking Skills are content specific applications of critical and creative thinking. Educators have an array of HTS models to select from.  Using them establishes a set of transferable skills to other content and life outside of the classroom.  Which set do you use or encourage history teachers to use? What are some other models not listed here?

There are some overlap of skills among these organizations. Regardless, they all talk to a constructivist (higher order thinking) approach to studying, imagining, and interpreting the past. Check them out and use them with you students.magritte

 

Magritte’s Windows: Do You See What I See?


What can Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte offer to history education? His series of “Window” paintings provide reminders about constructivism and studying the past.  Magritte noted “We see it outside ourselves, and at the same time we only have a representation of it in ourselves. In the same way, we sometimes situate in the past that which is happening in the present. Time and space thus lose the vulgar meaning that only daily experience takes into account.”magritte easel

Take a look at some of his window series (both the shattered windows and easel motifs).MagritteRene-Evening_Falls-We@SnF-1

Click here see my short screencast explaining the utility of Magritte’s window to teach history from a narrative constructivist approach. I contend that the shattered paintings also support the post-modern concept that “master narratives” no longer can hold as absolute truth claims.  Sorry national histories, you can’t/don’t get it all right.

 

Connectivism and History Education

History teachers need to know their content.  But they need to realize that,like the textbook, they are no longer the source nor are they the only source for knowledge of the past their students can access.   The past’s “bottle neck” of historical information has been democratized, mostly through the availability of technology.  A multitude of sources of information demands that teachers facilitate student access, evaluation, use, and creation of information. skills his is a singulart understanding with limitless projections, nodes, and interconnections.  This suggests that students be exposed to a variety of perspectives and sources as they construct their inter-conneted world view.

Growing up, this networked way of thinking about the past was explored in the television series Connections  hosted by James Burke. “Connections explores an “Alternative View of Change” (the subtitle of the series) that rejects the conventional linear and teleological view of historical progress. Burke contends that one cannot consider the development of any particular piece of the modern world in isolation. Rather, the entire gestalt of the modern world is the result of a web of interconnected events, each one consisting of a person or group acting for reasons of their own motivations (e.g., profit, curiosity, religious) with no concept of the final, modern result to which the actions of either them or their contemporaries would lead.” (view all episodes here!)

One of my favorite episodes, Revolutions, is here.  Prepared to be addicted…

 

Also, this type of understanding and world vids was  published  by the McNeil’s in the  Human Web (2003). web

“The general direction of history has been toward greater & greater social cooperation – both voluntary and compelled – driven by the realities of social competition. Over time, cooperating groups of every sort tended to grow in size to the point where their internal cohesion, their ability to communicate and conform, weakened and broke down.”
(McNeill & McNeill, p.6)

David Christian’s 2004 Maps of Time followed suit by introducing the concept of “Big History.”

“Metanarratives exist, they are powerful, and they are potent.  We may be able to domesticate them; but we will never eradicate them.  Besides, while grand narratives are powerful, subliminal grand narratives can be even more powerful.  Yet a maps of time‘modern creation myth’ already exists just below the surface of modern knowledge.  It exists in the dangerous form of poorly articulated and poorly understood fragments of modern knowledge that have undermined traditional accounts of reality without being integrated into a new vision of reality…schools to universities to research institutes… teach about origins in disconnected fragments.  We seem incapable of offering a unified account of how things came to be the way they are.” ”

The first week in November H2 (History Channel 2) aired Big History in two episodes, “Salt” (clip below), and “Horse Power Revolution.”

“In a big-history sense, New York City would not be the city that it is without salt,” says Mark Bitterman, author of “Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral, With Recipes.”


The NYTimes predicted, “The program will probably find a home in many high school classrooms.”Odds are even higher as the curriculum  has the financial backing of Bill Gates,”“Big History is my favorite course of all time. It blurs the boundaries between science, geography and history and literally tells the story of the universe.” And now it is available online .  That is pretty amazing.

Exploring networks and teaching students to view history as a constructed and connected understanding of the past is the way the history should be taught in schools.  By emphasizing “narrative” as the interpretation of the past (with evidence to make your claim valid – see quote above)  students develop important, relevant skills using history content.  What a great way to study the past!

In short, instead of being graded on what you can look up, students are expected to present and support their understanding.

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The 411 on 9-11: The Master(mind) Narrative

The posting of this blog, one may think, is poorly timed.  Weeks too late as last month schools marked two global events which use in their moniker “9-11.” Still, both events, assuming classes are taught chronologically, will be relevant later in the school year, and therefore educators can learn from this post. Read on…

The other other 9-11?

The other other 9-11?

In September some students in the USA were taught about the USA’s supported military coup which overthrew Chilean President Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973. “Because of CIA covert intervention in Chile, and the repressive character of General Pinochet’s rule, the coup became the most notorious military takeover in the annals of Latin American history.” The death of Allende yielded to the dictatorship of Augosoto Pinochet until 1990. US foreign policy in Latin America included supporting the policies of anti-democratic regimes.  According to the Washington Post, Pinochet’s brutal resume includes  the death of “at least 3,197 people and tortured about 29,000.”

Likewise, last month most schools in the US were taught that, twenty-eight years later, two passenger airliners were flown  by members of al-Qaeda, mostly from Saudi Arabia, into the iconic World Trade Center “Twin Towers” in New York City and one into the Pentagon near Washington D.C.  Nearly 3,000 people perished in the attacks, about 12% of the casualties were from outside of the USA. One outcome of the attacks was a proclaimed “War on Terror”  leading the US along a road which is  “in theory, an endless war –- a war that approaches something closer to a way of life.” It is important to remember the origin of the attackers.   Al Qaeda’s formation is traced back to the  late 1980’s, “As Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden and other Arab fighters from the US-backed Mujahideen movement form “al-Qaeda”, which in Arabic means “the base”.” 

The number of educational resources that have been created about the 9-11 attacks in 2001 is prolific. My previous blog post here focused on educational resources’ attention to the “why” and “what” of the 9-11 of 2001. This year, I want to examine the narrative that has been created in educational and media sources around the concept of the 9-11 “Mastermind”.  I argue that the educational resources are deficient in this area because of the fact that they incorrectly identify Osama Bin Laden as the “Mastermind”  of 9-11.  The “Mastermind” label, branded on Bin Laden, is presented as a  fact, an unchallengeable truth that is replicated and perpetuated in schools vis-a-vis “authoritative” curriculum materials.  Strangely enough, this Bin Laden-Mastermind connection exists despite ample evidence from multiple sources (presented below) that the Mastermind of the 9-11 attacks was Khalid Sheik Muhammad (KSM). The absurdity of KSM’s absence in 9-11 educational curriculum materials is magnified by the fact KSM is currently on trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for being the Mastermind of 9-11!


 9-11 Resources

So, what is being celebrated by publishers and media as authoritative best practices for and content resources for  9-11?  A sample of materials is below. Are they in your department office or library? If so, I hope examine the narrative promoted by them and the evidence they emphasize.

  • New York Regent’s Exam Review Guide has no mention of Khalid Sheik Muhammad! Their entry for Osama Bin Laden supports the Bin Laden “Master Mind” claim: “Osama bin Laden: Saudi Arabian multimillionaire and leader of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda. He is responsible for numerous terrorist attacks on the United States including the destruction of the World Trade Center.

 

  •  Social Studies Services:  Their binder consists of a range of materials, lessons, and sources to be used in class and is “suitable for assemblies.” The resource is an impressive collection and aspires to laudable goals: “Relying on open-ended inquiry, activities also prompt students to interpret photographs, video footage, and oral histories; and to document their findings by means such as Google Earth and a timeline.” Samples can be seen here.   The most promising resource is the “Student Handout: Activity2 Timelines pp 28-33.  Osama Bin Laden is mentioned over a dozen times and Timothy McVeigh once. But they fall short of mentioning KSM even once.
  • Hippocampus:  This is an amazing site.  “HippoCampus.org is a free, core academic web site that delivers rich multimedia content–videos, animations, and simulations–on general education subjects to middle-school and high-school teachers and college professors, and their students, free of charge.”  Their History selections, despite not having a World History offering, boasts regular and AP level content.  9-11 is housed in the “Bush and Obama” unit under two sections:”Reaction to 9/11″ and “Domestic Response to 9/11”.  KSM is absent.  Bin Laden gets a photo opportunity.

Hippocampus 2

  • The History Channel:  The have extensive resources – videos, interactives, timelines, photos- on 9-11. The Osama Bin Laden  entry identifies him as the mastermind, “On this day in 2011, Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, is killed by U.S. forces during a raid on his compound hideout in Pakistan.  Search History.com’s website for Khalid Sheik Muhammad and you get  ZERO results.  Search “Ice Road Truckers” or “Swamp People” and you get over 28,000 results…for each of them! Oh History channel, how you are misnamed!
  • CNN:  Think about it. When did you realize CNN’s reporting moved from news coverage to info-tainment.  I think it was the late 90’s, but that is just a guess.  Their timeline of 9-11, updated on 9-11-2013, has no reference to KSM!  Bin Laden is still identified as the “mastermind”, “This terrorist attack on the United States is orchestrated by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.”  However, most ridiculously, CNN still lists the Dec 2001 Bin Laden Confession Tape as a viable part of the narrative “December 13, 2001 – The U.S. government releases a tape in which Osama bin Laden takes responsibility for the attacks.”  They fail to mention that this tape came under heavy scrutiny from international media and research organizations.
  • Digital History: This online US History survey course has an impressive backing of sponsors.  The goal of the project  is also This Web site was designed and developed to support the teaching of American History in K-12 schools and colleges and is supported by the College of Education at the University of Houston. Overall this is an impressive project with some expanded features. However, the final unit”The 21st Century” includes a quiz on 9-11.  Looking at question 3 below, you should figure out where I am going with this:

3. The mastermind behind the terrorist attack was

a. Timothy McVeigh                    b. Saddam Hussein                     c. Osama Bin Laden

I emailed them about this, but never received a response. What a surprise.

KSM, the Mastermind of 9-11, 2001

I lay it out there, Khalid Sheik Muhammad is the master mind of  9-11. Osama Bin Laden is not the mastermind behind 9-11.  Therefore, any educational material, standards, test, curriculum, etc, that professes Bin Laden is, needs to explain its stance KSM-w-620x349against the sources below.  As you review them, please remember, I am arguing that the narrative about the 9-11 Mastermind found in current curriculum resources are faulty,  misleading, numbing, and a gross dis-service to the students, teachers, and education profession.

I offer evidence that questions  and contradicts those resources.  Review them yourself.  Come to your own conclusion. Let me know what you think.

  • The New Yorker Magazine:   In 2010, groups protested the idea of putting KSM on trial in NYC (remember that?).  “Greg Manning, whose wife, Laura, was severely burned in the World Trade Center attacks, stood before the crowd and said, “Thousands are already dead because of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s choices…There’s a place for the courts, but not for the mastermind of 9/11.”
  • The Daily News: Maybe the title says it all “Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, 9/11 mastermind, allowed to build vacuum in CIA prison.”  Maybe not.   But it is hard to ignore this claim written in July 2013.  Too new? Read on…
  • 2007 Military Tribunal Transcript: I guess we forget that these documents are, at least theoretically, our possessions.  Regardless, this 2007 transcript offers a bit to read about KSM and his role in 9-11.  He, and his personal representative, profess “I hereby admit and affirm without duress… I was responsible for the  9/11 operation A to Z”
  • Wikilieaks:  This memo of “Combatant Status Review” of September 4, 2006  signed by Rear Admiral Harry Harris Jr. is telling. that KSM was the Mastermind of 9-11.   Page 5… “Detainee was the mastermind of the 11September 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.”  Read for yourself.
  • 9-11 Commission Report:  I guess this is the smoking gun, if there is to be one.  The US committee  announced, in 2002, that KSM was the mastermind of 9-11. The group was “an independent, bipartisan commission created by congressional legislation and the signature of President George W. Bush in late 2002, is chartered to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks. The Commission is also mandated to provide recommendations designed to guard against future attacks.”  They explicitly state “No one exemplifies the model of the terrorist entrepreneur more clearly than Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks.”

 

The Atlantic  Monthly ran this title in 2012″How the FBI, CIA, and Pakistani intelligence worked together — or didn’t — in the global hunt for the mastermind behind September 11, 2001″… Everything the Americans could rustle up pointed to Karachi. Every source and bit of information said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was operating out of the capital of Pakistan’s Wild West…

So, where does that leave the us?  Survey your colleagues. Ask them who is Khalid Sheikh Mohammad?  Ask them who is the “Mastermind of 9-11”?  Review the material you use and the narrative about 9-11.  Weigh the evidence and ask why is KSM not in the narratives, standards,  and curriculum materials for high school students.

 

I would like to end by noting another type of narrative around 9-11.   Both TED videos detail attempts at creating meaningful interpretations of what happened on 9-11.  It is important that these messages are in the public sphere, the collective conscious.  Take a look and see how they impact your view of 9-11.  These voices, emphasizing a social historical approach,  remind us that world events and globalization networks are never one-way avenues of “Them” causing harm to “Us.”

Enjoy.

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Photography, War, and Worldview: Where DBQs and Media Literacy Meet

I recently visited the Corcoran Gallery of Art located in Washington D.C. to see the exhibit “WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath” on view until September 29th.  The exhibit is on tour, organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.  Its overview description states:

“Images recorded by more than 280 photographers, from 28 nations, span 6 continents and more than 165 years, from the Mexican-American War in the mid-1800s to present-day conflicts. Iconic photographs as well as previously unknown images are featured, taken by military photographers, commercial photographers (portrait and photojournalist), amateurs, and artists. The exhibition examines the relationship between war and photography, exploring the types of photographs created during wartime, as well as by whom and for whom. Images are arranged to show the progression of war: from the acts that instigate armed conflict to “the fight,” to victory and defeat, and photos that memorialize a war, its combatants, and its victims. Portraits of servicemen, military and political leaders, and civilians are a consistent presence.”

I urge you to attend this exhibit if it comes close to you.  If that isn’t possible, watch the promo video below, read the BBC report, and/or take a virtual tour online.

The exhibit was fantastic. It stimulated a mix of emotional and intellectual responses: beautiful, sad, horrifying, motivating, agitating, challenging, clarifying… The combination was something I wasn’t expecting.  One section of the tour was overwhelming and I had to leave it for a moment to recenter.  The exhibit. I thought, was leaving its mark upon me.

Numerous images continue to reverberate in my mind and remain vivid memories. This was my favorite picture –   A wristwatch frozen in time, 11:02 a.m.  marking the explosion of the Nagasaki Bomb on August 9, 1945. It was found under a mile from the explosion’s epicenter. Chilling.

Nagasaki watch

 

So how does this relate to  teaching and education.  This exhibit, and others like it,  represents  the heart of social studies/history education – it helps form an individual’s world view.  I firmly believe  that a major purpose of learning about the past (history), the humanities, and social sciences to be an existential enterprise.  The existential practices  students engage with include:

  • conceptual learning
  • questioning
  • researching their interests
  • reflecting and investigating personal and social beliefs and conclusions
  • developing new information and processes
  • seeking new experiences

The ultimate goal of this model of teaching and learning is the construction of a personal worldview (which will change overtime).

That is a powerful educational outcome!  (And a definite characteristic of 21st century learning). What other fields claim this as an objective?

Let’s explore a little further using contemporary education parlance,.”WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath” provides the opportunity for students to engage with content and demonstrate critical/creative thinking by combining media literacy and document based questions.  (whew!) Let’s explore these two ideas:

1) Medial Literacy:The ability to ACCESS, ANALYZE, EVALUATE, and COMMUNICATE information in a variety of forms-is interdisciplinary by nature. Media literacy represents a necessary, inevitable, and realistic response to the complex, ever-changing electronic environment and communication cornucopia that surround us.

To become a successful student, responsible citizen, productive worker, or competent and conscientious consumer, individuals need to develop expertise with the increasingly sophisticated information and entertainment media that address us on a multi-sensory level, affecting the way we think, feel, and behave.

The Center for Media Literacy has numerous resources and opportunities. I think this image does a great job explaining the concept too.

medialit_infographic

 

2) Document Based Questions (DBQ):  Are typically an essay or series of short-answer questions that is constructed by students using one’s own knowledge combined with support from several provided sources.

AP courses use them stating, “the DBQ typically requires students to relate the documents to a historical period or theme and thus to focus on major periods and issues. For this reason, outside knowledge — information gained from materials other than the documents — is very important and must be incorporated into your essay if the highest scores are to be earned.”  Similarly, IB history courses also use DBQs.  The suggested strategy for students analyzing DBQs is the OPVL approach (Origin -Purpose – Value – Limitations).

However, DBQs are not just for students in advanced courses.  Notably, the Regents Exam uses them. Their approach, less analytical than the IB, focuses on preparation and structure stressing “Before actually writing the DBQ essay, one should analyze the task and organize the information that they wish to include in the essay response…carefully read the historical context and the task. Look for clues that will help identify which historical era(s) the DBQ is focusing on, and the information required to thoroughly address the task.”

The DBQ Project co founders Chip Brady and Phil Roden  (now in their 13th year) state “we believe that all students can develop high-level critical thinking skills if they have consistent instruction and a chance to practice. Our engaging questions and use of primary and secondary sources give students the opportunity to investigate history from a variety of perspectives.  Our flexible pedagogy supports discussion and debate as students clarify their own ideas and write evidence-based arguments.”

The DBQ Project provides outstanding resources and professional development. In my experience they have been a model of effective history education.

The DBQ resources and approaches have become common curriculum features.  Organizations have regularly include them in their curriculum materials. But is is also a good strategy for students and teachers to create their own.

Some guidelines are here and here and here.  A Prezi about the process is below.


World View

One  observation I have about DBQs is that they rarely, at least in my experience, utilize contemporary pworldview1hotography.  I imagine this is partly due to perceived content restrictions. However, consider the larger claims voiced by whatever content standards you use.  Using photographs like the ones in  “WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath”   have students explore their understanding  of big ideas and concepts. These skills, in turn, help students construct their world view.  In other words, the DBQ approach can be used as a meta-cognitive task. Teachers may already do this. If you do please let me know….

In the end I believe this existential objective should be an explicit  and intentional part  of the DBQ process used in social studies and history classes. Set the bar high for your students and make your DBQs relevant with contemporary images.  Considering the current realities of war and conflict, media literacy is a skill which needs attention.  The photos at the Corcoran exhibit will leave a profound impact on students and expose them to realities of war hidden from them in mainstream media. I hope you try this exercise at least once this school year.

Heard of a van that is loaded with weapons
Packed up and ready to go
Heard of some grave sites, out by the highway
A place where nobody knows

The sound of gunfire, off in the distance
I’m getting used to it now
Lived in a brownstone, I lived in the ghetto
I’ve lived all over this town

This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco
This ain’t no fooling around
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey
I ain’t got time for that now

The song’s full lyrics are here

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A (Potential) Cure for the Summertime Blues

Hall of Famer Eddie Cochran, and musicians after him covering his iconic rock and roll hit, claimed that there “Ain’t No Cure for the Summertime Blues.”  As we approach mid-August, that end-of-summer-break-sensation starts to creep into our minds as well as the realization that the annual return to the classroom is on the horizon.

This post offers a remedy of sorts for those summertime, back-to-school, blues.  No, it isn’t a suggested career change or an extended excursion (this would be avoidance). Rather, the post is a dose of excitement, motivation, and awareness for your consideration and exploration.  Inspiration comes from all sources and is all around us. Checkout this  excerpt (including part of the poem Los Heraldos Negros (The Black Messengers) by Cesar Vallejos) featured in the film Girl Rising:

NARRATOR “In a lot of the world, school is free. Parents don’t just have to pay for school. They have to buy books and uniforms. Sometimes, they pay for exams and report cards. For millions of families, it is simply too much.

A girl born on planet today has a one and fourth chance of being born into poverty. And a very good school, that is where she will stay.

But the right education could change all that. Knowledge is power, just ask Senna.

SENNA, 14-years-old “Reciting Text”: The Black Heralds, by the great poet Cesar Vallejo.

There are blows in life, so powerful . . . I don’t know!
Blows as from God’s hatred; as if before them,
the backlash of everything suffered
were to dam up in the soul . . . I don’t know!

The first time I read that it took my breath away. The rhythm of it, the force. For me, it was unforgettable.”

What blows will come this school year?  How will you and your students respond to them? How tuned in are you? How do you frame teaching, the  profession, the experience? Can you explain your educational philosophy?

I suggest looking at these resources below and leave a comment in the morning. 😉  Enjoy!

Blogs (I focused on Social Studies/History Blogs)

  • History Tech:You’ll find all sorts of ideas, tools, and best practices in the social studies here at History Tech. So feel free to browse around, subscribe to the feed, or leave a comment.
  • World History Teachers Blog: This is a  webpage written by high school teachers for those who teach world history and want to find online content as well as technology that you can use in the classroom.  There are sister blogs about US History and US Government as well.
  • Not Another History Teacher:  Melissa Seideman teaches 11th grade U.S. History, 12th grade Government/Economics, and AP Government and Politics in Cold Spring, NY. Her goal is for her blog to provide teachers with resources that can excite a student’s love of learning. Technology can meet student needs, engages them, and help them to be the best learner they can be.
  • The MiddleWeb:  all about the middle grades with a sharp focus on teaching and learning in grades 4-8. Since 1996, we’ve been providing resources for teachers, school leaders, parents and others interested in the success of young adolescents. In 2012, they completely redesigned the website around four streams of original content.
  • World Religions Blog: This is a blog by high school teachers for those who teach World Religions and want to find online content and technology.
  • Mr. Martera Musings: World History & International Relations Teacher at University School of Milwaukee, Martera writes “Being creative and making things keeps me happy.”

 

Federal Initiatives

  • Connected Educators:In collaboration with a wide range of educational organizations and educators, the Connected Educators project is increasing the quality, accessibility, and connectedness of existing and emerging online communities of practice.
  • The Institute of Education Sciences: provides rigorous and relevant evidence on which to ground education practice and policy and share this information broadly. By identifying what works, what doesn’t, and why, we aim to improve educational outcomes for all students, particularly those at risk of failure. We are the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, and by law our activities must be free of partisan political influence.
  • US Department of State Office of the Historian: The Office’s public outreach activities include hosting scholarly conferences on key issues in the history of U.S. foreign policy, answering historical research  questions, consulting with scholars, educators, and students, and working with high school teachers across the country to provide high-quality materials for classroom use.

Fueling the Passion

  • EdWeek Professional Development Index: Whoa! Check it out.  From “About Japan” to “Zane Education.”  And that is just for the History/Social Studies filter. There has got to be something for you.
  • Teaching American History:  The website redesign is indeed more attractive.  Did you know they have a free online Saturday Webinar Series?
  • Geoffrey Canada: Our failing schools. Enough is enough! : Why, why, why does our education system look so similar to the way it did 50 years ago? Millions of students were failing then, as they are now — and it’s because we’re clinging to a business model that clearly doesn’t work. Education advocate Geoffrey Canada dares the system to look at the data, think about the customers and make systematic shifts in order to help greater numbers of kids excel.
  • Write your Teaching Philosophy: Your teaching philosophy is a reflection of your education and classroom experience, developed during college or graduate school, and in the classrooms where you have taught.  Take time to write or revise your philosophy statement.
  • The UN Global Education Initiative:

    The Global Education First Initiative is led by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon. It gathers a broad spectrum of world leaders and advocates who all aspire to use the transformative power of education to build a better future for all.

    The Initiative aims to raise the political profile of education, strengthen the global movement to achieve quality education and generate additional and sufficient funding through sustained advocacy efforts.  Achieving gains in education will have an impact on all the Millennium Development Goals, from lower child and maternal mortality, to better health, higher income and more environmentally-friendly societies.

     

    Perspective:

On an existential note, if none of these links act as cures for the summertime blues, you can always find another.  Eddie Cochran couldn’t.  He died in 1960 at 21 in a car accident in the UK while on tour. Tragic indeed.  “Summertime Blues” was ranked number 73 in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Cochran’s short life provides some perspective that I always found useful right around the start of the school year.  So does this recent discovery; the children’s cook Zoom by Hungarian illustrator Istvan Banyai.

So, don’t forget to smile at the start of the school year.  Who would you  actually be impacting if you waited until winter break?

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Identifying the “Why” in Education -10 Theories For Educators to Know, Apply, and Share

Throughout this past school, the concept of “starting with the “Why” has consistently appeared in various settings.  The mantra is emphasized in meetings,  promoted by AVID leadership in our county,  referenced at the NCSS meeting in Seattle, and is a guiding principle around professional development.  At the orientation meeting for judges at the the National History Day tournament, an explanation of “Why” was used identifying  our TheGoldenCirclecollective enjoyment of history and support for students’ engaging with the past. I researched the concept and its “Golden Circle” approach to leadership.  Applying this to education is, I argue, is essential to the professionalism and artistry of our field.  We should all be able to answer the “Why” for our personal practices, content area, school mission, and national purpose… and provide that answer to our students and their parents.

Now that summer is upon us, it is a perfect time to reflect on the Why.
The Golden Circle

Beginning as a student in anthropology, Simon Sinek turned his fascination with people into a career of convincing people to do what inspires them. His earliest work was in advertising, moving on to start Sinek Partners in 2002, but he suddenly lost his passion despite earning solid income. Through his struggle to rediscover his excitement about life and work, he made some profound realizations and began his helping his friends and their friends to find their “why” — at first charging just $100, person by person. Never planning to write a book, he penned Start With Why simply as a way to distribute his message

 

The 10 theories below are obviously not a comprehensive list.  They represent what happens to be synthesizing in my current experiences, reading, and discussions with colleagues and my PLN.  They help me answer the Why which in turn guide the How and What of history and social studies education. What theories would you add to the list?  What do you think of these?  Enjoy!

 

  1. Carol Dweck – Mind Set :
    Mindset is a simple idea discovered by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck in decades of research on achievement and mindsetsuccess—a simple idea that makes all the difference.In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. They’re wrong.In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.Teaching a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity in the worlds of business, education, and sports. It enhances relationships.

Test your Mindset here!

 

2. Daniel Goleman – Emotional Intelligence:   The phrase, or its casual shorthand EQ, argues that IQ, or conventional intelligence, is too narrow; that there are wider areas of Emotional Intelligence that dictate and EQ at workenable how successful we are. Success requires more than IQ (Intelligence Quotient), which has tended to be the traditional measure of intelligence, ignoring essential behavioural and character elements. We’ve all met people who are academically brilliant and yet are socially and inter-personally inept. And we know that despite possessing a high IQ rating, success does not automatically follow.

“Most gratifying for me has been how ardently the concept has been embraced by educators, in the form of programs in “social and emotional learning or SEL. Back in 1995 I was able to find only a handful of such programs teaching emotional intelligence skills to children. Now, a decade later, tens of thousands of schools worldwide offer children SEL. In the United States many districts and even entire states currently make SEL curriculum requirement, mandating that just as students must attain a certain level of competence in math and language, so too should they master these essential skills for living.”


3. Sugata Mitra – Minimally Invasive Education:  MIE is a pedagogic method that uses the learning environment to generate an adequate level of motivation to induce learning in groups of children, with minimal, or no, intervention by a teacher.  Mitra suggests this approach develops “functional literacy” in students and demands reflection on how time and money  is being spent in education: “If computer literacy is defined as turning a computer on and off and doing the basic functions, then this method allows that kind of computer literacy to be achieved with no formal instruction. Therefore any formal instruction for that kind of education is a waste of time and money. You can use that time and money to have a teacher teach something else that children cannot learn on their own.” 

Minimally Invasive Education in school asserts there are many ways to study and learn. It argues that learning is a process you do, not a process that is done to you. Another advantage is that MIE ensures that children themselves take ownership of the Learning Station by forming self-organized groups who learn on their own. Finally an unsupervised setting ensures that the entire process of learning is learner-centric and is driven by a child’s natural curiosity.

Mitra has recently announced the Self Organized Learning Environment (SOLE).  SOLE is a place where children can work in groups, access the internet and other software, follow up on a class activity or project or take them where their interests lead them.  Download the toolkit and try it out.


4. Phil Schlectly – Engagement Theory:  Schlectly focuses attention on student motivation and the strategies needed to increase the engagementprospect that schools and teachers will be positioned to increase the presence of engaging tasks and activities in the routine life of the school. The Theory of Engagement proceeds from a number of assumptions. The most critical ones focus on the way school tasks and activities are designed and student decisions regarding the personal consequences of doing the task assigned or participating in the activity.  The use of technology, although commonly supposed, is not a requirement for Schlectly’s theory. In fact,  the technology – engagement relationship has spawned its own body of research and literature. In turn, the theory looks at the effectiveness of teachers leading students through discussions and action planning.  Letting students take control of their learning, and use the school as a network, would definitely be a step in a different direction.  Schlectly also mentions “that relationships, and the work assigned directly impacts student’s performance.”

 

5. Paulo Freire – Critical Pedagogy: Critical Pedagogy is a domain of education and research that studies the social, cultural, political, economic, and cognitive dynamics of teaching and learning. Critical Pedagogy emphasizes the impact of power relationships in the educational process. Emerging in the late 1960s with the work of Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, Critical Pedagogy has evolved as a cross-disciplinary field. “Critical Pedagogy would never find it sufficient to reform the habits of thought of thinkers, however effectively, without challenging and transforming the institutions, ideologies, and relations that engender distorted, oppressed thinking in the first place — not as an Freireadditional act beyond the pedagogical one, but as an inseparable part of it. The method of Critical Pedagogy for Freire involves, to use his phrase, “reading the world” as well as “reading the word” (Freire & Macedo 1987). Part of developing a critical consciousness, as noted above, is critiquing the social relations, social institutions, and social traditions that create and maintain conditions of oppression. For Freire, the teaching of literacy is a primary form of cultural action, and as action it must “relate speaking the word to transforming reality”(Freire 1970a, 4).

 

 

 

6. George Siemens – Connectivism: At the core, connectivism is a form of experiential learning which prioritizes the set of connections formed by actions and experience over the idea that knowledge is propositional. It shares with some other theories a core proposition, that knowledge is not acquired, as though it were a thing. Knowledge is, on this theory, literally the set of connections formed by actions and experience.  One aspect of connectivism is its central metaphor of a network with nodes and connections.In this metaphor, a node is anything that can be connected to another node such as an organization, information, data, feelings and images. Connectivism sees learning as the process of creating connections and elaborating a network. Not all connections are of equal strength.

The starting point of connectivism is the individual. Personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into organizations and institutions, which in turn feed back into the network, and then continue to provide learning to individual. This cycle of knowledge development (personal to network to organization) allows learners to remain current in their field through the connections they have formed.

7. Lev Vykotsky – Social Constructivis Theory:  Vykotsky, when juxtaposed to Piaget, emphasized the social interactions between students and teachers.  In short positive relationships are significant to learning.

His Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) are two of Vykotsky’s major legacies found in contemporary education. ZPD addresses the difference between what a child can achieve independently and what a child can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner. Vykotsky sees the area in the ZPD as where the most sensitive instruction or guidance should be given – allowing the child to develop skills they will then use on their own – developing higher mental functions.

Vygotsky believed during the learning process children first learn by imitating adults. In the beginning, children are unable to complete a particular task without assistance. Over time, this child may be able to complete more complex tasks with adult assistance because the ZPD of a child isn’t stagnant, it continuously changes as he or she conquers increasingly difficult work over time. Focusing more on education, ZPD can be useful to educators because it should remind them how students can be expanded to reach goals with or without adult direction and support. This is often referred to as “Scaffolding.”

The MKO strongly relates to ZPD: “it refers to someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept.

Although the implication is that the MKO is a teacher or an older adult, this is not necessarily the case.  Many times, a child’s peers or an adult’s children may be the individuals with more knowledge or experience. In fact, the MKO need not be a person at all (website, video).   The key to MKOs is that they must have (or be programmed with) more knowledge about the topic being learned than the learner does.”


8. Gary Marx – 16 Trends: Sixteen Trends … Their Profound Impact on Our Future, and Future Focused Leadership … Preparing Schools, Students, and Communities for Tomorrow’s Realities, lays out evidence for major trends and then speculates on their profound implications for society at large and education systems, such as schools and colleges, in particular.  He adds, “We have a distinct choice–we can simply defend what we have…or we can create what we need to get our students, our schools, and our communities ready for a fast-changing world.”

His new book will build upon his 16 trends.  Marx states “The next generation in the trends series focuses on political, economic, social, technological, demographic, and environmental trends. Among more than 20 societal forces that will get special attention in the upcoming book are identity and privacy, sustainability, scarcity vs. abundance, and energy. They are in addition to dramatic developments in aging, diversity, the flow of generations, technology, interdependence, and the environment, to name a few. Massive trends that impact the whole of society provide an outstanding launch pad for active learning, project-based education, real-world education, teaching thinking and reasoning/problem solving skills, and learning through inquiry. Students are drawn to using futures tools, such as trend analysis, issue analysis, and gap analysis because each one comes with an invitation to consider implications for shaping their own futures. The new book will be published by Education Week Press.

16Marx

9. Howard Gardner –  Multiple Intelligences:  Arguably the most influential educational movement of recent educational practice, MI has had to contend against rampant misconcpetions and faculty application of Gardner’s theory.  I have come across this numerous times in my career. So, please, be on guard when practioners reference Gardner. Gardner defined the first seven intelligences in Frames of Mind in 1983.  He added two more, Naturalist and Existentialist,  in Intelligence Reframed in 1999.  “Based on his study of many people from many different walks of life in everyday circumstances and professions, Gardner developed the theory of multiple intelligences. Gardner’s MI Theory challenged traditional beliefs in the fields of education and cognitive science.  According to a traditional definition, intelligence is a uniform cognitive capacity people are born with.  This capacity can be easily measured by short-answer tests.  According to Gardner, intelligence is:

  • The ability to create an effective product or offer a service that is valued in a culture9_MI
  • A set of skills that make it possible for a person to solve problems in life
  • The potential for finding or creating solutions for problems, which involves gathering new knowledge

In addition, Gardner claims that:

  • All human beings possess all intelligences in varying amounts
  • Each person has a different intellectual composition
  • We can improve education by addressing the multiple intelligences of our students
  • These intelligences are located in different areas of the brain and can either work independently or together
  • These intelligences may define the human species
  • Multiple intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened, or ignored and weakened
  • Each individual has nine intelligences (and maybe more to be discovered)

 

 

10. Benjamin Bloom/Lorin Anderson – Revised Taxonomy:  “In 1956, Benjamin Bloom headed a group of educational psychologists who developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. During the 1990’s a new group of cognitive psychologists, lead by Lorin Andersonblooms_gears_ipad_720x952-2cpl0pd1 (a former student of Bloom), updated the taxonomy to reflect relevance to 21st century work. The change from nouns to verbs associated with each level is significant.”   It is important to know that the list of action words that are typically associated with each level does not guarantee that students are engaged at that level.  Specific expectations and follow up questioning is essential to the process.  For example, asking students to “Compare and Contrast two images”  does not automatically place student thought at the “Analysis” level.  More is needed from the teacher.  For example “Compare and Contrast two images.  Explain your 3-4 findings that address the economic and social contexts of both images. Which do you find more appealing and why?”

Debate about the need to master a lower level of the taxonomy prior to advancing to the next one is prevalent.   Can student’s engage with a higher level first or is the lowest level the entry point for Bloom?  My belief is yes students can be engaged at higher levels first. In fact the “hierarchy” dimension of Bloom has been challenged and conceived as a fluid network of thought and action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Memento Mori – Memorial Day Reminders to Live By

Happy Start to the 2013 Summer.

I am big on reminders in life that remind us to live our lives actively and with perspective. The part of the title of this post“Mememto Mori” ((Latin ‘remember that you will die) is one of those reminder for me. From  wikipedia – ” Popular belief says the phrase originated in ancient Rome: as a Roman general was parading through the streets during a victory triumph, standing behind him was his slave, tasked with reminding the general that, although at his peak today, tomorrow he could fall, or — more likely — be brought down. The servant is thought to have conveyed this with the warning, “Memento mori”  Likewise, Albert Camus’ existential philosophy stressed that there is really only one main question in our lives: “Why should I not kill myself?”  As he says in The Rebel, “the absurd is an experience that must be lived through, a point of departure, the equivalent, in existence, of Descartes’s methodical doubt.”  If you want some summer beach reading from Camus, my favorite is The Fall.

This past week has provided multiple reminders and reflections on life, memory, and global perspectives. I would like to share a few of them from a beach on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.  As the sign in my guest room says “If you’re lucky enough to be at the beach,you’re lucky enough.” I hope these three reminders resonate with you on some level.

beachkite

I feel like I could do this and play chess at the same time…

  A. The PAST – Memory and War – Teachers. Who among you assign’s students WV Senator Robert Byrd’s speeches in 2003 regarding the United State’s invasion of Iraq? Give them a read. Consider them for your primary source cache and

document based questions.  How important is the voice of dissent in US History? (I assign Dissent in America:Voices That Shaped a Nation to my undergraduate students and believe Byrd’s speeches could be added to update Dissent in three American wars).Remember, threat of invasion sparked a record setting number of protests; the most ever seen in world history.  Byrd’s two speeches, given towards the end of his 57 years of service are classic post 9/11 texts.

  • “Sleepwalking Through History” -speech given on Feb 12th, 2003.
    “Yet, this Chamber is, for the most part, silent — ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing.We stand passively mute in the United States Senate, paralyzed by our own uncertainty, seemingly stunned by the sheer turmoil of events. Only on the editorial pages of our newspapers is there much substantive discussion of the prudence or imprudence of engaging in this particular war.”
  • “Today, I weep for my country” – speech given on March 19, 2003.  (Includes rebuttal from Sen. John McCain)

“What is happening to this country? When did we become a nation which ignores and berates our friends? When did we decide to risk undermining international order by adopting a radical and doctrinaire approach to using our awesome military might? How can we abandon diplomatic effortswhen the turmoil in the world cries out for diplomacy?

Why can this President not seem to see that America’s true power lies not in its will to intimidate, but in its ability to inspire?”

 

B. The PRESENT -Memory and the Global – an interview with Dr. Ed Gragert

Edwin H. Gragert is Director, Global Campaign for Education-US. GCE-US is a coalition of national and local organizations working to ensure a quality education for all worldwide.  Formerly, he was Executive Director of iEARN-USA. Since 1988, iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) has pioneered the educational use of innovative communications technology and teacher professional development to facilitate on-line collaborative project-based learning in elementary and secondary schools in 130 countries worldwide.  He is a member of the Steering Committee of Global Teacher Education. Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Gragert:

  1. Tell us about how Global Teacher Education came to be and what your vision and  goals are ?
Global Teacher Education (GTE) emerged from discussions between several of us who had worked professional development in the area of international education for in-service teachers.  The key players were the Longview Foundation, the University of Maryland Graduate School of Education, iEARN-USA and Crosswalks Foundation–all pulled together by the former president of Kellogg College at Oxford University–with whom I had worked previously with the World Education Corps project.  We realized from our collective information that there were few institutions of teacher education that were preparing future teachers for their classrooms with skills to enable their students to be globally competent.  At the same time, there were a number of calls from key individuals at organizations like NAFSA, Ohio State University, etc.   We looked at the pioneering work done by the Longview Foundation and explored ways in which we could highlight best practices of institutions that had either systematically integrated the world into their pre-service programs or had exemplary global education programs for possible replication across the country.
We also wanted a dynamic place where various stakeholders at institutions of teacher education could connect with each other to exchange ideas and program ideas–both with each other and as part of national and international community of people interested in global education at the teacher education level–whether they be deans, faculty members, graduate students, researchers.  We also envisioned a place where current and new scholars could post research papers and think-piece blogs for discussion.
“Our Mission is to ensure that U.S. teachers are properly trained to prepare our young people to cope and thrive in a globally-connected world. By partnering with colleges of education and professional bodies in the education and teacher preparation spaces, GTE will support the internationalization of teacher preparation programs by connecting professionals, as well as advancing and disseminating research and best practices.  Our mission is based on a vision of our nation’s young people being prepared to become truly global citizens – confident in their own culture, yet able to understand and appreciate other cultures with which they will increasingly interact in their personal, social and economic lives.”

2. What are some of your experiences around Global Education that you brought to GTE?

The contributions that I have been able to make have been on how to design an interactive and community global education website, make recommendations on technologies to be used, suggest ways to develop and maintain an online community of practice among educators, as well as point to resources that can be of assistance as universities prepare for globalizing their programs.  Further, I’ve seen and been a part of practical examples of how K-12 educators have integrated global content and connections in different curricular areas.   Over the past three years, I’ve worked with the Organization of American States for iEARN-US to provide online courses for university teacher education faculty in the Americas to give them experience integrating collaborative project-based learning using Web 2.0 tools — all in an online setting that involved individuals from multiple countries and cultures.

“(Global Campaign for Education-US) is working with a number of World Affairs Councils (and other organizations) to arrange for partial or full screenings of the new film “Girl Rising,” about 9 girls in 9 countries and the obstacles they face in getting an education globally”
                           3. Can you comment on the state of global education in the US? Where are the challenges, successes, hot spots?
My sense is that the awareness of the importance of making US education more global is at an all-time high.  Although the issue is not a significant part of the Common Core State Standards, there is consistent talk of how we can better prepare our students to interact effectively in global, cross-cultural and multi-lingual environments.   Yet, an “all-time high” is still dismally low.  And it’s in a time when social studies and World Language classes are being dropped in the rush to focus on STEM and test preparation.  If the STEM courses were being infused with global examples, interaction and comparisons, it would be fantastic, but this is not happening on any meaningful level.  One success was the recent strategic plan adopted by the International Affairs office of the US Department of Education, which pointed out the importance of our students becoming globally competent.   But, the downside is that this report did not once mention technology — which is the only way we will be able to reach the exponential numbers of students — and it did not deal at all with the urgent need to provide professional development for our teachers, since they too lack globally competence.  Although, of course, attention should be placed on both teachers and students, in my opinion, priority should be on the teachers as multipliers.  Until this need is met, we will only be dealing with the symptom (globally incompetent students), rather than the problem–that our education needs systemic internationalization.

4. What are some of the demands and opportunities on teacher preparation and PD?

The largest issue in my experience concerning PD is how it fits into a teacher’s daily classroom life.  All too often, PD is arranged by someone (principal or Department chair) who is not familiar with the needs of individual classroom teachers.  In the interest of scale, a PD is often arranged for all teachers in a department, based on someone’s perception of need–rarely the teacher.   Yet, teaches are eager to gain new skills and perspectives. In my experience, they are ready to learn new methodologies to help their students learn better.   Traditional forms of PD, however, are rarely effective because they do not meet the needs of a teacher when s/he needs the information and new skills.  As you have pointed out on numerous occasions, instead of a 1 or 2 day professional development session on software, hardware and/or curriculum that someone else has designed and that may or may not be used (or needed), teachers need on-demand PD on issues and technologies when they are useful.  We often cite personalized student learning as a way to address individual student learning needs.   This same concept is critical for teacher professional development.   Global competency has been skillfully defined, so we know where the goal posts are.  But, few people are looking at how to move teachers along the journey from global beginner to globally competent.    And it’s key that we keep in mind that it is a continuum and that all teachers are at different points.  So, cookie cutter approaches don’t work because either they are beyond where a teacher is or they are at too basic a level.   Therefore, there needs to be a way for teachers to indicate what their questions and needs are when they have them so that immediate and appropriate PD can be arranged for that particular teacher on a particular question or issue.  It’s my experience that the most effective form of PD is when teachers are in their own teaching environments, using the technology and configuration that they daily have available–rather than going to an off-site venue that. Needless to say, this cannot be done on a personalized and scalable level without technology.

5. What advice do you have for administrators and teachers regarding global education/competencies?

Teachers need to be encouraged at all levels.  My experience is that teachers who want to enter the field of global education, as well as those who are already integrating the world into their classrooms at any level are often isolated and looking for support from peers and administration.  Administrators are in a key position to open up the space for teachers to experiment with ways of engaging their students international issues and themes, as well as directly with their peers around the world–as part of their subject teaching.  All too often teachers feel that they cannot take the risk of trying new techniques in their teaching of math, history, literature, language arts, etc., particularly since there is little direct guidance provided by the Common Core State Standards.   Teachers need time to gain the confidence that their students will read and comprehend at a higher level, and that they will be more motivated to learn science if they are interacting with an authentic audience around the world–whether it be in peer editing of creating writing or comparing the chemical content and quality of water samples from different parts of the world.  And in this learning phase, teachers benefit from support from their peers, many of whom are also going through the same process.   So, my advice for teachers is to seek out communities (usually online) that share their interest in globalizing education.  Although the primary focus of the GTE site is for teacher education faculty, administrators and students, we encourage in-service teachers to both explore the resources and join in conversations and blog discussions.   After all, practicing teachers have much to teach the teacher educators.

 

3. The FUTURE-  Memory and Inquiry – CCSSO’s Framework for Social Studies Education.

This is a reminder and a preview.  Last fall in Seattle, at the NCSS conference, we received an update on the “Vision for the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Inquiry in Social Studies State Standards”    The key word here is “framework.”  These are not standards.  “The forthcoming framework, to be released in 2013, will be a significant resource for all states to consider in their local processes for upgrading state social studies standards, rather than set standardsfor states to adopt.”  At the core of the framewoccssorks are the skills of research, inquiry, and  questioning.  All of these are practical skills celebrated by colleges, employers, and in civic organization.  Collaboration and communicating are also part of the framework’s skill based approach.   “At the heart of the C3 Framework is an inquiry arc a set of interlocking and mutually supportive ideas that feature the four dimensions of informed inquiry in social studies: 1) developing questions and planning investigations; 2) applying disciplinary concepts and tools; 3) gathering, evaluating and using evidence; and 4) working collaboratively and communicating conclusions.”

This sounds great.  I believe it will inject life  into history and social studies education and provide focus and support to a teachers who look to interject into STEM dominated educational discussions. Moreover, it resets history education’s Romantic purpose of building national identities and assimilation in imagined communities. At its simplest, the framework recognizes that life is very often an encounter of narratives and exchange of questions.

 

Anyone for a game of chess?

 

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Publish and Prosper: Infographics, The Networked Classroom and Student Generated Knowledge in the Public Sphere

Greetings.  April proved to be a busy (good busy) month. I apologize for the delay in this post.

I delivered my presentation “Publish and Prosper: Tips on Promoting Student Generated Knowledge in the Public Sphere” on March 27th  during the inaugural  School Leadership Summit.  The mission of the conference was “to kick off an event that would perpetuate and would be a place for broader conversation amongst school leaders and the ed tech / blogger / social media crowd.” Stay on the lookout for future online conferences.

This post expands upon my conference presentation. A special thanks to my session moderator Jason Borgen, program director at the Santa Cruz County Office of Education. Check out these links.

So… on to this week’s post.

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Infographic: An umbrella term for illustrations and charts that instruct people, which otherwise would be difficult or impossible with only text. Infographics are used worldwide in every discipline from road maps and street signs to the many technical drawings in this encyclopedia.”  -PC Magazine

 

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a collaboratively  generated, student infographic is priceless.  Infographics, at their best, are research based student products synthesizing text, design and visuals– typically specialized maps, charts, themes, graphs, and illustrations – in one creative and specially designed media.  At their worst,  infographics are glorified collages or posters. What distinguishe(and  elevates) an infographic beyond these static items is technology’s impact on design, crowd sourcing, and the abiltiy to edit and update information. What’s more, their educational appeal has grown with the advent of “media literacy” and “information literacy” as 21st century skills related to college and career readiness and the adoption of the Common Core State Standards.

  • They convey a lot of information using specific  language selection.
  • Useable with low language levels.
  • Visual and mathematical / statistical aspects can help to convey meaning.
  • They are much easier to read then dense text on a computer screen.
  • They lend themselves to be used across disciplines.
  • You can find infographics quickly and easily on almost any topic.
  • They develop multiple literacies and intelligences in students.
  • You can help students to become more critical of information sources.

I am arguing that infographics should be promoted as student generated media/knowledge that add to existing discussions,  can be effectively shared and modified, help achieve the demands of 21st century education, and promotes a culture of connectivism (see below).  When combined, these represent the culture of a “Networked Classroom.”

Two Infographics about infographics

  1)         From EVR: Informed Ingenuity   

 

2) From Huffington Post

 

Infographic Resources: Deciding which inforgraphic tool to use in your classroom is based (in my experience) on personal preference and school approval around privacy issues (do students have to register) and technology specs.  There are advantages to having students in a district use multiple, common (2-3) formats.  Here is a selection of infographic tools inspierd by the Daily Tekk’s 100 list.

  1.  Visual.ly: Visually is a one-stop shop for the creation of data visualizations and infographics
  2. Infogr.am: Create infographics in just a few minutes. No design skills needed.
  3. Easel.ly: Create and share visual ideas online.
  4. Piktochart: Our Mission is to simplify information and make it exciting
  5. Tagxedo: Turns words — famous speeches, news articles, slogans and themes, even your love letters — into a visually stunning word cloud.
  6. iCharts: Create great-looking charts in minutes with interactive and easy-to-share data.

These are a great start. But if you want to see some dynamic  samples on infographics done professionally, as well as links to more information on infographics, try these:

  • NY Times:  Focus on social studies and history infographics
  • Daily Infographic Every day we feature the best information design and data visualization from the internet.
  • Cool Infographic: highlights some of the best examples of data visualizations and infographics found in magazines, newspapers and on the Internet.
  • Information is Beautiful… see the TED video below. This collection is incredible!
  • Infographic a day: What is new is that infographics’ volume, frequency, and the richness of the media.

 

Infographics require students to access, arrange, evaluate, and create information.

What is Meant by the Public Sphere in Education?

The networked classroom encourages a culture of investigation, knowledge creation, connectivism, trust, and personalized learning.  Teachers utilize their Personal Learning Network (PLN) and students can identify and tap into their own Student Learning Networks (SLN). Notice in the video below the comment that “His teacher rarely lectures. “I recognize there is use for lecture and that there are degrees of lecture substance and purpose.  However, it is clear that the style argued against is the “drill and kill” teacher centered, sage-on-stage style which some teachers erroneously claim will be the only style used in higher education.

Once your students are collaborating with peers beyond your classroom, teachers can empower their 21stcentury classroom by placing student work in

Who is your students’ audience? Where do they get feedback?

the public sphere.What is meant by the “public sphere.”  Simply put, the public sphere is anything beyond the teacher’s eyes only.  The idea of students writing a paper for a teacher’s eyes only is an anachronism. Placing student in the public sphere is easy to do with social media. One suggestion is to do this in a secure course in your school’s LMS. Moreover, students accept greater responsibility and are more invested in their work. Consider the list below a continuum moving from “narrow” to “broad” public spheres. Next to each dimension are a few suggested ways student work can interact beyond teacher-eyes-only models.

a) …classroom:  gallery walks, class discussion of student work.

b) …department:  peer editing from other sections, presenting to other classes, discipline website highlighting student work

c) …school: display tables at lunch, displays in hallways, newspapers, library archives,  part of parent nights

d) … community: student work in civic buildings, displays, local newspapers,

e) … nation: engage in projects like National History Day, collaborate with schools, and colleges, engage in contests

f) … international: establish sister schools, link with non-profits, video conferencing

g)… cyber space: present at online conferences, post work on websites, establish a learnist board, comment on blogs, utilize web 2.0 tools.

Who is calling for students to generate knowledge and publish it for public consumption? In NEW DIRECTIONS IN SOCIAL EDUCATION RESEARCH: The Influence of Technology and Globalization on the Lives of Students  it is argued  that “As pressures mount for society to equip today’s youth with both the global and digital understandings necessary to confront the challenges of the 21st century, a more thorough analysis must be undertaken to examine the role of technology on student learning (Peters, 2009).”  Likewise, “youth are active participants, producers, and distributors of new media. The digital production of youth includes over 38% of designing personal websites, 23% constructing online videos and slideshows, and 8%launching digital causes campaigns….The internet has allowed youth new opportunities in fostering global awareness of civic, humanitarian, political, economic, and environmental causes (Maguth p.3).

The arrow chart (above) frames the public sphere in spatial terms. An0ther model (below) emphasizes the level of student engagement and teacher management.  The best approach to teaching and learning will draw from both spatial dimensions and personal interaction.

 

Student work in the public sphere  can manifest in a variety of forms. Overall, this is a very exciting part of contemporary education that should be part of any collaborative classroom in the 21st century. The infographic is part of this educational model.

 

Rubrics:

The popularity of Infographics have spurred a variety of rubrics for teachers to utilize.  My favorite are here:

If you find one that you think is just as good or better, let me know.

Synthesis – Connectivism and Media Literacy

At least two epistemologies drive networked classrooms to use  infographics as the format for student generated knowledge to be shared in the public sphere.  These two ideas, Connectivism and Media Literacy,join with other learning theories (constructivism, behaviorism) and competencies (college, career, civic etc.) in the world if contemporary teaching and learning.  Both are described below.

Live long. Publish and Prosper.

According to professor  George Siemens, “connectivism is driven by the understanding that decisions are based on rapidly altering foundations. New information is continually being acquired and the ability to draw distinctions between important and unimportant information is vital. Also critical is the ability to recognize when new information alters the landscape based on decisions made yesterday” (Siemens, 2005).

 

Center for Media Literacy: Media Literacy is a 21st century approach to education. It provides a framework to access, analyze, evaluate, create and participate with messages (information) in a variety of forms — from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy.

 

 

 

 

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What it Means to be a (Global) Educator in 2013: The Good, Bad, Pretty, and Ugly.

In 1945 Harvard University published the  General Education in a Free Society (also known as the “Redbook”).  The report summarized two years of research about education in American high schools and suggested a program of study for higher education. The text, selling over 40,000 copies, attempted to answered the question “What should every student know?”

“In the Social Sciences”  wrote Charles Bevard in 1964,  “the Redbook suggested a course it called “Western Thought and Institutions,” which would cover social thought from the Greeks, though  Aquinas, Machiavelli, Luther, Bodin, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Adam Smith, Bentham, and Mill, to the present day. The course would also include enough history to enable students to understand what they read in its proper historical context.

Following suit, the Humanities course was blatantly Euro/Western- Centric requiring professors “to cover eight books selected from a list which might include Homer, one or two of the Greek tragedies, Plato, the Bible, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, Tolstoy.”

Upon reflection, the Redbook’s occidental slant is not a surprise.  As Louis Menand notes in his The Marketplace of Ideas, “Harvard did what Columbia had done at the time of the first World War it supplemented its curriculum with courses specifically designed to meet contemporary exigencies.”   Therefore, it is essential to recognize Harvard’s report as a Cold War artifact defining, celebrating, and exceptionalizing the Western, capitalist node of the Cold War binary. Within this context, the Redbook is a lucid, valid piece of educational research and policy. But, history records change over time.  And every number one hit eventually falls off the charts.

Later works by E.D. Hirsch Cultural Literacy and Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations and his unfortunate , infamous  swan song Who Are We? The

Senor Huntington – way past his prime and out of his league in 2004.

Challenges to America’s National Identity are works clinging to the Redbook’s mid-20th century world view.  At the time of each publication, 1988, 1996, and 2004 respectively, the authors’ narratives about identity and education reeked of post-colonialism and simplified triumphalism teetering on a ledge of anachronism and prejudice about the “Other.”  To the contemporary global educator, Hirsch and Huntington are, simply put, out of tune.

So, what narratives about (global) education exist today.  How far have we come nearly 70 years after the publication of the Redbook? What are some national policies that exist?  How does your school, district, department and own teaching relate to the narratives below? Who defines global education and how is it supported and implemented?  Below are interpretations of global education… in four keys.

 

The Good: Australia – “Global Perspectives: A Framework for Global Education in Australian Schools”

Australia published their conversation on global education in 2002  to “clarify the goals, rationale, emphases, and processes of global education and to serve as a resource  – a philosophical and practical reference point .”  WOW! Music to my ears. Their resource page provides multiple items across K-12 education and engage readers with a series of Socratic questions on why to adopt a global perspective.   Even better, their five learning dimensions are forward thinking, identify “opportunities to learn” and explicitly mention globalization as a goal. BIG SMILE.  The document even includes how this can be done across grade level and content. Rubrics included.  Lastly, contrasted to the US document below, there is no reference to national security as a rationale  to embrace global education. Instead, Australia broke from the Redbook and recognized the changing demands to succeed in multi-polar, interconnected world. Top Marks Australia!

The Bad: The United Kingdom –   “The Revised UK History Curriculum”

Ever feel like you stepped back in time. Not to a better era, but to one where you are happy to have moved away from,to progress beyond the past’s shortcomings. Welcome to the UK’s new national history curriculum. It is important to note  that when educators and academics reference “World History” it doesn’t mean they share an international or global methodology. The UK’s regression huddles around the glories of the past empire and asserts that learning British, and to some extent, European history, equates learning World History.

  • Purpose of study -A high-quality history education equips pupils to think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. A knowledge of Britain’s past, and our place in the world, helps us understand the challenges of our own time.
  • Aims- The National Curriculum for history aims to ensure that all pupils know and understand the story of these islands: how the British people shaped this nation and how Britain influenced the world”

Pupils will learn about events including the including the Norman Conquest, Henry II’s dispute with Thomas Becket, the Black Death, the Wars of the Roses, and execution of Charles I, the union with Scotland and the rise and fall of the British Empire.”  So very, well, Redbookish. E.D. Hirsch would be happy.  Celebrated historian Niall Ferguson  applauds the nationalism and glaring lack of non-western, transnational, and global perspective in the UK curriculum despite overwhelming criticism: “The content of the draft Programmes of Study are far too narrow in their focus on British political history. References to women and diverse ethnic groups are clearly tokenistic. Nods to social, economic and cultural history are rare. The authors of this curriculum have completely failed to understand what progression in history might mean or how a good grasp of chronology can be developed. More than twenty years of thoughtful and sophisticated approaches to curriculum development have been thrown away in this document…the Programmes of Study are far too narrowly and exclusively focused on British history to serve the needs of children growing up in the world today”

The British Secretary of Education Michael Gove’s document falls alarmingly short  of global education theory and practice.  It reminds me of  the Pogues  song  “Navigator”:

“Their mark on this land is still seen and still laid
The way for a commerce where vast fortunes were made
The supply of an empire where the sun never set
Which is now deep in darkness, but the railway’s there yet.

The Pretty: The United States – “Succeeding Globally Through International Education and Engagement 2012-2016” 

Overdue?  Yes.  Unclear on how it will be funded?  I believe so.  Admirable in its scope and objectives? Affirmative.

In the DOE’s  own words, “The strategy, which the Department has already begun to implement, will be used to guide the Department’s activities and allocation of resources to reflect the highest priority and most strategic topics, parts of the world, and activities. It affirms the Department’s commitment

The Global Competence Task Force, formed and led by the Council of Chief State School Officers’ EdSteps Initiative and the Asia Society Partnership for Global Learning

to preparing today’s youth, and our country more broadly, for a globalized world, and to engaging with the international community to improve education.”  Despite its reference to national defense and homeland security as answers to their question “Why an International Focus?” the strategy does contain clear educational theory and practice which emphasizes global competencies for students: “Our hyper-connected world also requires the ability to think critically and creatively to solve complex problems, the skills and dispositions to engage globally… or take alternate perspectives and is infused with global texts, issues, or problem.”

I like it. It has potential… now it needs buy in. To what extent will the national paradigm influence state and local educational visions?  Checkout the plans graphics and outline.  It speaks to a global educational choir, but needs a plan of action for implementation. The document’s strategy references a need for “international bookmarking and applying lessons learned from other countries.”

Ummmm… see Australia below… I mean, above.  (Ok, that will be funny tomorrow).

The Ugly: Global Education Frameworks that reinforce “The Other”. In his reflective work, The Other, Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński reminds us that globalization has put Western relations with “Others” in a new situation. “For five centuries (the West) dominated the world , not just politically and economically, but also culturally…The long 500 year existence of such an uneven, unfair system, has produced numerous ingrained inhabits among it participants.”  The global divide addressed during the the post-colonial/Cold War order has been largely bridged by the “flatness” of globalization.  Asymmetrical relationships  and global disjunctures still exist, however.

READ THIS BOOK!

READ THIS BOOK!

Despite that fact, each of the narratives above reinforcea divide between US and THEM  by essentializing culture as a fixed, natural, static characteristic.  This is done by the use of phrases like “other cultures” and “other people”. Continued use of these phrases is a major shortcoming for any model of global education.

Australia –  the best of the three, the document still falls into the other trap “being open to the cultures of others.”

The US- The multi-cultural traditional in education still creates the unwanted model that there is a true, real US citizen surrounded by all these “other” groups in the nation and world.  This document doesn’t shake that legacy “an appreciation for other countries and culture”.  Still this is a big improvement.

UK-  Here is this irony, the document doesn’t use “other” because in the curriculum no one else exists beyond the British.  Agency emanates from the island into the ether where the other may exist.

The alternative is too recognize that culture is fluid, dynamic, and is a range of behaviors and beliefs with any nation, region, or group.  Instead of “other cultures”, try using “global” or “world” cultures.  The “other” that used in these documents fails to teach that there is no one singular way of acting/thinking in any nation and that for all the celebrated differences, humanity is living in an era where mote people have common experiences, due to technology, than ever before.

Teaching culture as a complex, intepretative,  fluid process – not as a way to identify the “other” when you meet him/her  is the most important part of global competency.  If not, global education remains a museum tool we use to rank groups in a hierarchy of civilized/ advance.  In the end, it is  rather simple to make an epistemological, existential, educational move around how we teach about the “Other.”  This is a cornerstone of authentic global education.

Depending on what educational framework you read, the concepts Global Intelligence, Global Education, Global Awareness, and Global Perspectives are often used as synonyms despite their specific nuances. However, “Global Competencies”, I argue, incorporate these other headings in five  main groupings: content, skill,  habits of mind, pedagogy, and assessment. In turn, “Global Competencies” offer obtainable, relevant, and measurable educational goals for students and educators.

Finally, I want to share with you this fantastic infographic shared by educator Allison Morris.

Please Include Attribution to EducationNews.org With This Graphic Most Education Countries Infographic

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The Power to Problematize: Using Alternative Narratives in the U.S. History Survey

Note, this post originally appeared at SmartBlog Education on February 7th, 2013 and can be accessed here to see comments and explore the SmartBlog website. What is below has additional information not found at SmartBlog.

Engaging students in the process of constructing understanding and meaning of the past is a central act of history education. To do so demands a paradigm shift for students who have been taught to consider the past as an established external truth that is to be memorized. Moving from a history/memorize/noun to history/construct/verb model is facilitated by teaching the concept of “historical narrative.” In my experience, this is an incredibly exciting, relevant and rigorous way to teach about the past.

Teaching history through narratives focuses on knowledge construction, resource evaluation and active learning. These skills speak to the demands of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, global competency and 21st-century education. Furthermore, considering alternative historical narratives invites collaborative practice, research and technology integration. Students can engage with narratives and analyze the power structures and purpose of dominant and marginalized histories. For example, contrasting the “official, master narrative” found in state standards and textbooks with “alternative narratives” introduces students to perspectives beyond nationalized history. Moreover, this celebrates creative and critical thinking.

The February 2013 issue of Smithsonian article “When Did Humans Come to the Americas?” notes, “The peopling of the Americas, scholars tend to agree, happened sometime in the past 25,000 years.” The dominant theory, the Clovis theory, over time, acquired the force of dogma. “We all learned it as undergraduates,” one scholar  recalled. “Any artifacts that scholars said came before Clovis, or competing theories that cast doubt on the Clovis-first idea, were ridiculed by the archaeological establishment, discredited as bad science or ignored.”  Presently those alternative theories, depicted in the map below, carry more weight and successfully challenge the primacy of the Clovis theory. “Take South America. In the late 1970s, the U.S. archaeologist Tom D. Dillehay and his Chilean colleagues began excavating what appeared to be an ancient settlement on a creek bank at Monte Verde, in southern Chile…The excavators found cordage, stone choppers and augers and wooden planks preserved in the bog, along with plant remains, edible seeds and traces of wild potatoes. Significantly, though, the researchers found no Clovis points. That posed a challenge: either Clovis hunters went to South America without their trademark weapons (highly unlikely) or people settled in South America even before the Clovis people arrived. There must have been “people somewhere in the Americas 15,000 or 16,000 years ago, or perhaps as long as 18,000 years ago.” This map shows some main contemporary theories challenging the Bering Sea Ice Bridge story.

Most analyses of contemporary and ancient human DNA suggest that America’s first immigrants came from Asia. They traveled over a land bridge or along the coast. An alternative theory is that members of Europe’s Solutrean culture voyaged to the East Coast.

Most analyses of contemporary and ancient human DNA suggest that America’s first immigrants came from Asia. They traveled over a land bridge or along the coast. An alternative theory is that members of Europe’s Solutrean culture voyaged to the East Coast.

So, what are some fruitful areas of unlearning/learning found in U.S. History courses? Below are three typical units used in high-school U.S. history courses. The section after suggests ways to rethink the standard narrative found in textbooks.

Standard Narrative Examples

Consider these descriptions of extended lessons found in textbooks used at multiple levels (standard, honors, AP, IB, etc.) in our high schools. Quotes are taken directly from textbooks.

1. The Imperialist Vision

“During the late 1800s, the desire to find new markets, increase trade, and build a powerful navy caused the U.S. to become more involved in international affairs.”

2. American Interwar Isolationism: 1918-1940

“With the international system of the 1920s now beyond repair, the United States faced a choice between more active elements to stabilize the world and more energetic attempts to isolate itself from it. Most Americans unhesitatingly choose the latter.”

3. Cold War

“… an era of confrontation and competition between these two nations (the USA and USSR) that lasted from about 1946-1990 … became known as the Cold War.”

 

Alternative Narrative Options

British Historian Richard Overy reminds us that history “at its best is critical, exciting, thought-provoking, frustratingly ambiguous and uncertain … If history becomes just heritage studies, the collective intelligence will be all the poorer.” In turn, provocative questions and multiple perspectives are cornerstones of effective history instruction. Below are valid alternative narratives corresponding to the standard ones above.

Overy’s work on World War II has been praised as “highly effective (in) the ruthless dispelling of myths.”

1. Empire in U.S. History

When the United States became independent, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson talked about the United States becoming a powerful empire in the future. To achieve this goal, the United States expanded its borders, influence, and power around the globe. For example, the United States was victorious in a war with Mexico (1846-1848) and continuous wars with Native Americans. Both campaigns expanded the nation’s western border across the continent.

2. The Myth of U.S. Isolationism

U.S. interwar intervention existed in the Dominican Republic (1916-1924), Guatemala (1920), Honduras (1919, 1924, 1925), Panama (1921, 1925), and Haiti (1915-1934). Whether defined as militaristic, political, economic, or cultural, U.S. intervention was the norm, not the exception, in the 1920s and 1930s.

3. Beyond the Cold War Binary

The Cold War was the name given to the international world order that lasted from 1945-1991. From the destruction of World War II, two “super powers,” the USA and the Soviet Union, led two blocs of contending nations. A third group, the Non-Aligned Movement, did not formally have a desire to be involved in the Cold War. Main countries involved included Indonesia, India, Yugoslavia, Egypt, and Ghana. However, membership expanded to nearly 100 nations during the Cold War. During the Cold War, these three groups were called the First, Second, and Third World. Scholar Odd Arne Westad in his award winning work The Global Cold War points out that the term “Cold War” “came to signal an American concept of warfare against the Soviet Union.. the Soviets….never used the term officially before the Gorbachev era.”  Instead the USSR used a narrative of Western imperialism.  Therefore the term “Cold War” has limitations to explaining the global order and geo-politics.

 

The ubiquity of standard narratives reinforces a history that is rarely, if ever, challenged. In fact, more nuanced, analytical responses on standardized tests that challenge these perspectives would be penalized or marked as wrong. These narratives are no longer needed as an assimilating identity tool. Contemporary education as well as the dynamics of globalization call for  the skills, content and thinking addressed by using alternative historical narratives.  So, what parts of the U.S. master narrative can you problematize?

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Global Perspectives in U.S. History Education and the Limits of a National Narrative

Click here to see/read Dr. King's Nobel Prize Speech

Click here to see/read Dr. King’s Nobel Prize Speech

This past Monday, the United States observed a federal holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. A 2011 monument to King was erected along the Washington D.C. Tidal Basin. The placing of King’s statue is in line with the Jefferson and Lincoln monument symbolically linking the narrative of freedom and civil rights across three centuries of U.S. historical narrative.  But King’s legacy goes beyond national borders. That’s right, people, other nations pay tribute to MLK. In fact the organization the Overseas Vote Foundation has identified a collection of tributes to Martin Luther King Jr. outside U.S. borders (the list includes Italy, Germany, France, and Australia). There is a school named after Dr. King in Ghana and a garden memorial in India linking King and Gandhi.

Hiroshima, Japan celebrates MLK’s birthday with nearly the same fervor as the U.S. Former mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, right, is credited with holding a special banquet at the mayor's office in honor of King each year to honor his commitment to human rights. (Photo: Kyodo /Landov)

Hiroshima, Japan celebrates MLK’s birthday with nearly the same fervor as the U.S. Former mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, right, is credited with holding a special banquet at the mayor’s office in honor of King each year to honor his commitment to human rights. (Photo: Kyodo /Landov)

We shouldn’t be surprised by King’s global appeal.  He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 where he recognized that his work in the U.S. had global connections: “Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts. Negroes of the United States, following the people of India, have demonstrated that nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation.”   King frequently broadened the context of work effectively framing the U.S. civil rights movement as a case study in global human rights. A few years later  during his 1967 “Christmas Sermon on Peace”, he reinforced his global gaze stating:

“If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective.”

Wow, that is powerful and is a clear inroad to how teachers can globalize the U.S. History survey. So, MLK  the figure, the idea, the historical phenomenon isn’t “owned” by the U.S.  (Let us also not forget the resistance that many U.S. citizens had, [and still have?] to the holiday. Arizona, New Hampshire, and South Carolina were all resistant to the federal holiday). In fact it is a difficult argument to make that any idea, place, event, or group can fully,  and legitimately claimed by a nation as the sole possessor.

Engaging with historical narratives as constructs to be analyzed not memorized is key to effective, relevant  teaching of history (I argue it is the most important).      “Project Narrative” of  Ohio State describe  narrative as a basic human strategy for coming to terms with fundamental elements of our experience, such as time, process, and change….”  Stanford’s “Beyond the Bubble” project identifies Narrative as one of their 4 Historical knowledge categories which  encompass various ways of knowing about the past.” Check out their video:

So, what happens when we combine historical narrative with global education? Why make the move to broadening national narratives? What are the benefits of globalizing national narratives?  Below is a list of resources/manifestos that argue for or have made the move to globalizing the U.S. history narrative and address the questions above.

  •  La Pietra Report: The 21st century opened with the OAH’s call  to rethink the teaching of U.S. history. “While this approach seeks to contextualize United States on a global scale in so far as such a scale is pertinent to the questions at hand, it does not propose to subsume United States history under the umbrella of world or global history. We would not have United States history thus erased; rather the aim is to deepen its contextualization and to extend the transnational relations of American history.”
  • The Choices Program: Brown University’s respected curriculum released the “The U.S. Role in a Changing World ” module in 2009. Although not really global approach to the historical narrative, the module does embrace a global context a situates the U.S. nation in it.  The “possible futures” section engages students in “four distinct alternatives that frame the current debate on the role of the United States in the world.”
  • NCSS: The organization published  “Social Studies and the World: Teaching Global Perspectives” in 2005.   The text is a great complement to their online summary which urges “Global education and international education are complementary approaches with different emphases. The integration of both perspectives is imperative to develop the skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed for responsible participation in a democratic society and in a global community in the twenty-first century.” The text includes a chart the address criticisms of global education including claims that it teaches moral relativism, divides the world between oppressed and oppressors, is unpatriotic, and is hostile to capitalism.  NCSS disagrees with all of those claims.
  • The History Channel:  “The History Channel recently sponsored a global teach-in to address the tendency of textbooks to avoid a global approach to American history—a perspective that often leads students to conclude that America’s story is largely separate from the broader history of humanity. The Statue of Liberty, one of the most popular heritage sites in the United States, is a quintessential vista in American textbooks and yet its story is a global one—mingling with the stories of millions of immigrants greeted by the statue as they entered New York harbor. Links like these demonstrate that American history does not begin or end in the United States, and approaching these global strands through heritage sites is one way to broach comparative history with K–12 students. ”  The live teach in is below.


Globalizing national history narratives won’t eliminate nationalism or collective national identity.  Think about it, most people have a superficial understanding of U.S. history and are still “good citizens.”  There are other societal events, rituals, and symbols (holidays, sports, life experiences, media) that occur frequently with a wider appeal which bind U.S. citizens.  National narratives were created to assimilate immigrants and indoctrinate national identities. National history education responded to that late 19th early 20th century need.  However, with today’s emphasis on globalization, global systems, and world power players other than the nation-state,  history education should prepares students with global competencies to think and act intelligently and successfully in contemporary society.  Simply put, teaching a traditional national U.S. narrative to students short changes them.

Oh and if you didn’t know, the Martin Luther King Jr. monument in Washington D.C. was created by Chinese sculptor Lei Yikin. And guess what, that is OK  because Dr. King’s legacy is not owned or dictated by the United States.