Transcript Overview and Priorities for Teachers of World History

Overview and Priorities
for Teachers of World History
Patrick Manning
World History Center
Five World Historical Courses:
• World Geography (Middle School)
• World History to 1800 (Middle School)
• World Cultures (High School)
• World History 1700 to present (High School)
• World History from start to present (HS)
Elements of the Course, 1
• Space
• Continents and oceans
• Mountains and river valleys
• Language groups and political units
• Time
• Timeline by region, era, topic
• Topic
• Social
• Political
• Economic
* Religious
* Cultural
* Environmental
* Technological
Continents and Oceans
Pacific-centered political map
River Valleys Worldwide
World language groups, c. 1500
Timelines – 1
Timelines – 2
Topic - Empires
Topic – Religion, technology
Elements of the Course, 2
• Styles of Interpretation
• Narrative – a sequence of events and processes, telling a story and conveying
a lesson
• Analysis – identifying a problem and solving it through use of evidence and
logic
• Global Thinking
• Connections
• Big patterns
• Links among scales from local to global, immediate to
long-term
Competing Issues in Knowledge
and Skill
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Basic knowledge - geography
Study skills – critical reading
Historical knowledge – events and processes
Historical interpretation – narrative and analysis
Global skills – connections, systems, scale
Relevance – linking the course to the lives and
interests of students
• So … What part of world history to teach?
Group Work I:
Identify key spaces, times & topics
Objective: Identify elements of a world-historical course
that are of interest to teachers and to students
Tasks
1. Form groups by course
2. Begin with an outline of the course
3. Select an eclectic list of interesting elements to
include in the course
4. Prepare a revised course outline highlighting the
elements you have selected
Articulating a Coherent Plan – 1
Three big problems:
Problem 1: how to keep up with the schedule but
also convey the messages of the course.
Problem 2: how to link the various sections of the
course to each other, and ensure that students
remain aware of all parts of the course
Problem 3: how to maintain an overall logic to the
course
Articulating a Coherent Plan – 2
Types of links within the course
– Events and processes
– Recurring issues
– Cumulative learning
– New problems in history
– Return class to early exercises, reconsider them
Articulating a Coherent Plan – 3
Main themes and lessons
– What balance of political, social, environmental,
etc.?
– What balance of local, global?
– What balance of elite and people’s history?
Forms of interpretation
– Narrative: sequence of events, telling a story
– Analysis: identifying and solving a problem
Group Work II:
Objective: Prepare a course plan that shows how to
link the sections
Tasks:
• Within course sections:
• Narrative of main lesson for each section
• Analysis of major issue in each section
• Among course sections:
• Identify types of links
• Overall course:
• Summarize the course and links within it
Implementing the Plan – 1
• What can go wrong
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Oversize Introductions, delaying entry to core material
Lost time: snow days
Preparing for exams (is that lost time?)
Study skills vs. relevance
Tendency of students to focus on iconic knowledge (e.g.
Egypt & Rome)
• Tendency of students to recite cross-sectional
statements on the past, undocumented
• Spontaneous historical discussions: good or bad?
Implementing the Plan – 2
• Do students still see history as a set of facts to
learn for an exam?
• How do students compare present and past
situations?
• Can students envision themselves in the past?
• Can history serve as a laboratory for students
to experiment with complex situations?
Implementing the Plan – 3
• How does one assess student learning?
• How does one face exams?
Group Work III
Objective: A set of keys to help students
identify connections among course
sections
Questions:
• How will students articulate course lessons?
• What should students remember?
• What narratives should students be able to tell?
• What analyses should students be able to conduct?
• What connections should they be able to describe?
Task:
• Develop guidelines to help students comprehend and
articulate the links among course sections
• Develop guidelines on what students should try to learn