Transcript interpretations

INTERPRETATIONS
WHAT?
WHY?
PROBLEMS
SOLUTIONS
What do we mean by
‘interpretations’?
• CONSTRUCTED representation of the
past
‘An interpretation of history is simply
someone’s version of history’. Ian Dawson
Constructed AFTER the events
Types of Interpretation
DISTORTIONS
PROPAGANDA:
STALIN / HITLER
Types of Interpretation
GENUINE
THE BIG
CHALLENGE
DISTORTIONS
PROPAGANDA:
STALIN / HITLER
ENTERTAINMENT
E. G Films
What do students need to
understand:
• That different interpretations exist
• That different interpretations can be
equally valid
• That deliberate distortion of the past is not
a genuine interpretation
• Why different interpretations exist
• How to evaluate validity
Why do students have difficulty
understanding INTERPRETATIONS?
• Life experience = truth or lie
• Reinforced through educational experience of
right or wrong answers
• Compounded by GCSE questioning..
– (c) ‘Haig was an uncaring General who sacrified his
men for no reason.’
Do you agree with this statement? Explain your
answer. [10]
• …Which can lead to 2 dimensional teaching at
KS3
A far cry from Historical
understanding:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Most of the past is unknowable
The past has no absolute reality
History is present oriented
Historians give the past meaning
Keith Jenkins/David Lowenthal
How can we help students
understand interpretations?
•
•
•
•
Start early
Revisit skill/concept often
Appropriate and consistent vocabulary
Spend time – move beyond developing
historical knowledge base to construction
of past
How can we help students
understand interpretations?
• To understand an interpretation students have to engage
with the process of interpretation
i.e to know what it is, they have to do it
Interpretation is done by those who “translate,” and
“decode,”. Grinder and McCoy
Interpretation is a planned effort to create an understanding
of the history and significance of events, people, and
objects. Anderson and Low
How can we help students
understand interpretations?
• Sources
• Positionality
“Historians give the past meaning
– and the meaning depends on
the historian”
1. SOURCES
“Most of the past is unknowable”
Upper 3 – What we learned about History this lesson…
Being a historian is a bit like being a detective – Daria
Historians know what happened in the past by bringing
evidence together – Sophie
Historians can never be 100% sure about what happened
in the past, we can only use the evidence to give opinions
– April
There’s no right or wrong answer so long as you have
linked it to the clues you have – Chloe
Use every bit of evidence, even a tiny piece can help a
lot – Georgia
You should use the most likely explanation, based on
what you already know about history – Katie
Extending the idea - positionality
• Suggest both images
are on a book cover,
but one is large and
the other tucked in the
corner.
• Which would ‘X’
(Jeremy Clarkson,
teacher with known
views, Pink) choose
to be the large picture
and why
• Give the book a title
that reflects the
interpretation
“Historians give the past meaning”
2. Sources to challenge
interpretations
“The Jews are our
misfortune”
Published in Der
Sturmer, 1932. Der
Sturmer was a Nazi
paper
Nazi election
poster from
1933
“The Jew is the
parasite among
humans”.
Part of a Nazi
speech from 1944
Temporary money,
'Notgeld' issued in
May, 1921 from
Beverungen, with
one year validity.
Such money was
issued as a
temporary
measure during the
great German
post-World War I
inflation. The
reverse side of this
one mark note has
an anti-Semitic
image of a Jew
hawking his wares
despite obvious
poverty of German
citizens.
19th century BRITISH image of a Jewish tailor
Further discussion
• How far do these additional sources
challenge our interpretation of Nazi antisemitism?
• Why do you think that anti-semitism is
often presented as just a Nazi problem?
“History is present oriented”
3. USING DIFFERENT SETS OF
SOURCES
• Split class into groups and give them different
material to generate interpretations
– Tsar Nicholas
Extension: POSITIONALITY
Give all class all material
Then give them an interpretation role card and ask
them to select 5 sources to present as an
exhibition, and write additional text to make their
interpretation persuasive
“The past has no absolute reality”
Positionality
• 4. Simple questioning
– Battle of “Hastings” (reinforcement)
• 5. Changing the angle of approach
– Haig
(CARD SORT SCAFFOLD)
“Historians is present oriented’
In 1914 everyone expected the war to be over by
Christmas. But the war turned into stalemate and
lasted 4 years. When the war wasn’t over quickly
people became nervous and looked for reasons
why things had gone so wrong.
Soldiers in WWI were recruited into PALs
battalions, so they could fight with their family
or friends. When there was a big attack like the
Somme whole communities of men were wiped
out. This had a huge psychological effect on the
people of England and they looked for someone
to blame.
British soldiers in WWI were ordinary men who
didn’t know how to fight. Haig and his Generals
ordered these men to walk slowly towards the
Germans. German machine guns found these
walking men an easy target for their machine
guns and casualties were high. The Generals did
this to prevent panic during an attack
New technology was invented during WWI, such
as the tank. For a while, this exciting new
technology had very little effect on the war.
Because it was new, it took time to learn how to
use it effectively.
WW2 started in 1939. This war also lasted a long
time (6 years). So people realized that the
nature of warfare had changed
At the time, no-one understood what a ‘new’
type of war was being fought. In the 19th century
(when the WWI Generals were trained) wars were
usually quick attacking battles. With hindsight,
we can see that the Generals were unprepared
for a war of attrition.
There are very few people left now who fought in
WWI so our collective memory isn’t so scarred.
Positionality
• 6. Exercises which map changes in
interpretations –and reasons for same over time
– Cromwell
– Hitler
“Historians is present oriented’
Credit to Ian Dawson
7. Evaluating interpretations
• Again trying to move beyond two
dimensional “which do you trust most?”
• Obvious distortions should be easily
criticised
• Framework to manage ambiguity
Interpretation 1
Score
/10
Interpretation 2
Score
/10
Who created this
interpretation and what
point of view will they
probably or possibly
have?
Why was this
interpretation created?
What was the probable or
possible purpose of the
author?
Differentiating with age of student / ability of student / nature of Interpretation
What type of source is
this? E.g Film, Diary,
Speech
Are there any particular
problems with this type
of interpretation?
When was this
interpretation produced
and what difference does
that make?
Interpretation 3
Score
/10