Comments on: History Doesn’t Have to Be Dull and Boring http://www.blog.montessoriforeveryone.com/history-doesnt-have-to-be-dull-and-boring.html High Quality Montessori Materials Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:46:30 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v= hourly 1 By: Shawna http://www.blog.montessoriforeveryone.com/history-doesnt-have-to-be-dull-and-boring.html/comment-page-1#comment-777 Shawna Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:48:00 +0000 http://montessoriforeveryone.dreamhosters.com/history-doesnt-have-to-be-dull-and-boring.html#comment-777 In community college my history instructor didn't assign a text. In fact, she had written her own booklet of the same material from the text, but she emphasized feeling and emotions and thoughts of the times. We were not to remember dates and names, rather we were to try to understand what the people where feeling and thinking and how that affected history.<br/><br/>It was one of the best classes I took! Dates and places aren't what make history... it's our reaction to those events, movements that make the history... and it was a joy to study for that class.<br/><br/>I never could understand why we had to memorize all those dates... when would we truly use those dates. Yes, being aware of them and having learned of them would be useful for creating a frame of reference... but memorizing served what purpose? In community college my history instructor didn’t assign a text. In fact, she had written her own booklet of the same material from the text, but she emphasized feeling and emotions and thoughts of the times. We were not to remember dates and names, rather we were to try to understand what the people where feeling and thinking and how that affected history.

It was one of the best classes I took! Dates and places aren’t what make history… it’s our reaction to those events, movements that make the history… and it was a joy to study for that class.

I never could understand why we had to memorize all those dates… when would we truly use those dates. Yes, being aware of them and having learned of them would be useful for creating a frame of reference… but memorizing served what purpose?

]]> By: montessori_lori http://www.blog.montessoriforeveryone.com/history-doesnt-have-to-be-dull-and-boring.html/comment-page-1#comment-773 montessori_lori Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:56:00 +0000 http://montessoriforeveryone.dreamhosters.com/history-doesnt-have-to-be-dull-and-boring.html#comment-773 Wow, quite a transition from hating history to majoring in it. Very cool. <br/><br/>I was blessed to have some wonderful history teachers in high school, and I had the opportunity to travel quite a bit as a young girl (Europe, Asia, the Middle East) which captivated me completely. <br/><br/>I always felt that my history background let me really get into that subject as a teacher. Since I liked it, the kids did too. <br/><br/>Great point about how history is the basis of everything else. History majors, represent! Wow, quite a transition from hating history to majoring in it. Very cool.

I was blessed to have some wonderful history teachers in high school, and I had the opportunity to travel quite a bit as a young girl (Europe, Asia, the Middle East) which captivated me completely.

I always felt that my history background let me really get into that subject as a teacher. Since I liked it, the kids did too.

Great point about how history is the basis of everything else. History majors, represent!

]]> By: AR_Teacher http://www.blog.montessoriforeveryone.com/history-doesnt-have-to-be-dull-and-boring.html/comment-page-1#comment-772 AR_Teacher Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:33:00 +0000 http://montessoriforeveryone.dreamhosters.com/history-doesnt-have-to-be-dull-and-boring.html#comment-772 Lori - I was so excited to read your post about history. I personally HATED history in high school. It was awful!! However, I graduated from college as a full-fledged history major. I found that history is the most interesting, intriguing, thought provoking subject ever. Everything relies upon history. There is no other subject taught anywhere about anything that does not rely upon history.<br/><br/>While I don't teach it at my current job (most history teacher positions tend to be attached to coaching positions in public education) I have so many wonderful ideas based on my studies in college about how history can be brought to life.<br/><br/>I think that teachers looking to teach history must throw out the idea of rote memorization of names, dates and important events from the standard text. It is much more important to find something that the children are interested in and let them research its history on their own. I think that dressing up and role-playing are also awesome ways to bring history to life.<br/><br/>Again, thank you so much for writing about how history can be made fun and exciting, instead of the traditional/boring memorization of junk dates and names for the simple purpose of knowing them. We must let children explore and absorb history... perhaps in this way, the good will be repeated and the bad will not. :) Lori – I was so excited to read your post about history. I personally HATED history in high school. It was awful!! However, I graduated from college as a full-fledged history major. I found that history is the most interesting, intriguing, thought provoking subject ever. Everything relies upon history. There is no other subject taught anywhere about anything that does not rely upon history.

While I don’t teach it at my current job (most history teacher positions tend to be attached to coaching positions in public education) I have so many wonderful ideas based on my studies in college about how history can be brought to life.

I think that teachers looking to teach history must throw out the idea of rote memorization of names, dates and important events from the standard text. It is much more important to find something that the children are interested in and let them research its history on their own. I think that dressing up and role-playing are also awesome ways to bring history to life.

Again, thank you so much for writing about how history can be made fun and exciting, instead of the traditional/boring memorization of junk dates and names for the simple purpose of knowing them. We must let children explore and absorb history… perhaps in this way, the good will be repeated and the bad will not. :)

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