Maymester...

So, here at Purdue University we have a lovely thing we like to call "Maymester." It's a one-month-long version of a course that is usually a semester-long affair, which basically translates into 2-3 hours every day with the same 20-some-odd people learning an intense, "reader's digest version" of material. Yesterday I started my History 151K class, American History up to 1877. This picture is the cover of one of the two textbooks for my month, and I have to say, I LOVE it! For any of you who have ever taken a U.S. history class that you hated, buy this book. :) It puts the stories and the characters back into history, and although it certainly has its own agenda the most important thing to remember is that it gets you thinking. When, as an educator, we live in an era of testing and therefore easy answers, it's refreshing to see a text that is interesting, engaging, complicated, real. Pick it up if you see it, I know it's available online and at Borders and if you aren't a history buff it's okay, this book is like a book that I would pick up on my own. But enough of this plug for Loewen.

Today we focused on the over-use of the term "hero" and the heroification of historical figures in traditional textbooks, as well as the way historians recreate the story of a people's history. I have a hard time with the word "hero," and I'll tell you why. Once upon a time I was in 6th grade, and I had a social studies teacher that I hated. It seemed like no matter what I did she had something awful to say, and the more creative and real my close friends and I became in our work the more frustration she had with us. One day she had us write about one of our favorite hero that had to do with American history, and I decided to write about Brigham Young. She was quick to inform me that Brigham Young could not be my hero, and the reason was that he didn't sacrifice anything big for anyone, and he didn't die, so he wasn't a true hero. The word "hero" has been sour to me ever since. I have, of course, developed personal heroes over the 13 years since that time and I have also learned many things to refute that argument now, both about Brigham Young's influence himself and about the meaning of the word "hero", but I gotta say, that moment sticks with me. Now, of course, I realize that she meant that I had to pick an archtypal (aka White, male, 2-dimensional, dead...snore...) figure like a President or a military dude, that I wasn't allowed to think of "greatness of soul" as a characteristic of a hero. Well, she was wrong. More importantly, teachers, when a student brings people and experiences of their own cultures and backgrounds and interests to the educational table, be careful if you want to attack them. You will lose them, you will always, always lose.

My professor had us do a wonderful little activity in which we got to act as historians and analyze one another's cultures. She had the class divided into 3 groups and each person in the group had to put 2 things of ours into this large Ziploc baggie. Then she switched the baggies up between the groups and we had to pick apart details from what we held in our hands about how the people we were studying lived. It was a great little exercise in sociology/history work and it's applicable to children of all ages. As a future elementary school teacher, it inspired me by reminding me of many similar activities I participated in as a child and now I want to keep those and other activities somewhere safe so I don't forget about them.

More thoughts on history to come...stay posted!