Learning about your past, is learning history

We have all heard that kids do not know anything about history, after my own observation experiences I too came away with that same feeling; it is discouraging, especially for history dorks like myself! After reading some of "Teaching History for the Common Good" (Keith Barton & Linda Levstik), I feel much better about that blanket statement in knowing that it is not entirely true. The various accounts of elementary and middle school students, and the phone interviews with adults even, show that kids and adults alike know a lot about history. They could point to major turning points or defining moments in American History, they understood various pieces of history, albeit the pieces taught as integral to American identity but nonetheless events of historical significance such as the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Civil Rights movement. Those are important moments in history, they certainly do not encompass everything as a teacher and historian I think they should know or I want them to know, but it is a start and it is a start that I can feel good about.

So good, kids are learning history, however that is not the portion of this reading that got me really thinking. The most compelling part of these history studies and data gathering discussing what people know or do not know about history, was how emotional and excited everyone got when discussing their past, their own history. This got me thinking, do historians have it wrong? Have we too narrowly defined what history is? Isn't everyone's past, family history, personal stories, a piece of the broader history narrative? If our past and our own history is something people can cling to and connect with, then that is what we should be teaching. As a teacher, we should not be relegating the creation of family trees, coat of arms, interviewing our relatives, and learning about where we came from and who we are to lower grades. Exploration of personal history should occur at every level in every grade. After all, the older we get the more we care about the past; we get further and further from something and that innate human instinct takes over compelling us to hold on to something, to anything. As a high school history teacher, I want to tap into that, use it to motivate my students early, relate to them and find something about them somewhere in history that I can use to teach them about history.

I know the first argument against this, "we do not have time," "there are standards and tests to teach to!" I get it, but we all know that the first couple of weeks of school make or break the year, establishing routine, classroom structure and environment, outlining classroom management is vital to our success further down the road. Use studying personal past as a way to get to know your students, break down the impersonal history wall right from the start, send your students the message that you care about where they come from and who they are from the day they walk into your class! After all, ensuring that our students know that we care about them is one of those necessary components of a successful classroom.

This week I learned that learning about your past is learning history. Barton and Levstik have a very clear idea as to what the goal of history education is, "its contribution to democratic life."I think at this point in my education, the goal of history in my classrooms, is to get my students to care about the past. To do this, I will start by learning about their past.