Comments on: Teaching War

By: Steve Conway

Steve Conway — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:57:56 +0000

Scot,
It has been 40 years since I have taken a history class and I still remember those history teachers who approached their subject matter in the way you suggest. Those teachers both inspired me to question and formulate my own ideas and to appreciate that process in other individuals. Thank you for your commitment to your profession

By: Scot E. Klohe

Scot E. Klohe — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 06:08:36 +0000

History teachers have a responsibility to engage student’s cognitive processes. Students who are reading history for facts come away from the learning material with text at the very best. You as the history teacher can unravel the layers of text and teach (scaffold the information cohesively) the students how to read for context. When the students are guided properly, they understand greater context from the historical text they were reading, analyzing, and synthesizing into works, and then they will begin to understand the underlying subtext. Teaching a learner to be subjective is not an easy task. An approach that may help would be to teach the students in your class how to analyze their own learning processes and to implement cognitive strategies of their own conscious device (metacognition). Students who understand how they learn are more empowered to learn on their own. Blooms taxonomy (1956) is one good example of how to measure a student’s cognition: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Teaching students to teach themselves will help them see past the simpler aspects of historical context, learn to deconstruct the effects of differing cultural influences on history text, and attain an understand of humanity as a global construct. Your students can see that world history has winners and losers (be it imperialistic conquest or economic conquest), but as depressing as it may, every human you teach to see this global construct contributes to a more egalitarian world. And every person you enable to teach themselves can teach others. (BA history/minor English; and I am currently in a masters in teaching secondary education program; endorsements history, pursuing English).

By: Carrie

Carrie — Tue, 06 May 2008 08:19:17 +0000

You are so helpful to me right now as I struggle with a way to approach teaching WWI. I am a westerner teaching in Indonesia, and history, as you know, is always viewed through a certain cultural lens.
I am just wondering if you have any ideas on how to teach WWI in the face of colonialism and it’s seeming effective results today (since England still remains at the center of world power).
And, how do you keep kids from getting depressed by it all once you’ve made your point? What resolutions do you try to empower them with?

By: Curtiss Cline

Curtiss Cline — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:37:02 +0000

I too am studying to be a History teacher, but I have to disagree with portions of Jordan’s reply. I don’t think that Dan was implying the absence of facts in his post, he actually makes the point of going through the causes of the war, the impact of the individual soldier and the results. Unfortunately, that is all a lot of history courses will go through. I have always been of the opinion, and it is stated by Dan, that if all we were to spew out was a myriad of facts our students would only be qualified to write encyclopedias or be on game shows. We must be able to stimulate critical thinking skills in our students about these issues later in life. In other words, they must learn what facts are facts, because everyone has a bias.
Where I can agree with Jordan is that I do not feel it is my job to educate students on the morality of war. This is a decision that they have to arrive at in their own critical thinking. It is difficult to apply any current theory of morality to what the individuals of the early twentieth century felt were justifiable reasons to go to war. To do so is playing armchair quarterback. It would be more reasonable to openly discuss with students what they feel the reason for the war were, and let them try to reason through their justification, guiding them with the facts. Any other approach invites the suggestion of bias. The United Kingdom has some interesting guidelines to consider on this subject, (http://www.citizenshipfoundation.org.uk/lib_res_pdf/0118.pdf) such as;

“• giving equal importance to conflicting views and opinions;
• presenting all information and opinion as open to interpretation,
qualification and contradiction;
• establishing a classroom climate in which all pupils are free to express
sincerely held views without fear.
It also means teachers seeking to avoid unintentional bias by:
• not presenting opinions as if they are facts;
• not setting themselves up as the sole authority on a subject;
• as far as possible, not giving their own accounts of the views of others,
but, rather, letting the actual claims and assertions of protagonists speak
for themselves;
• not revealing their own preferences in unconscious ways, e.g., facial
expressions, gestures or tone of voice”

It seems to me that the trick is, and the point of Dan’s post, is not that the teaching of facts is ignored, but how to present the facts so as not to bias the student’s thought.

By: Jordan Taylor

Jordan Taylor — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 03:05:09 +0000

I am studying at the moment to become a history teacher and I love war history. Unlike you, I am fascinated with the technological advances and the ingenious of new war tactics. Although our reasons are different in the pursuit of the history of war, we share common opinions and questions on how to teach such a touchy subject. I have come to the conclusion that it is not my role to indoctrinate students on the morality of war. I believe that a teacher of history is one that produces facts, a variety of opinions, and various view points. History is a subject that must be discussed in an open forum and it is my job as a history teacher to create an atmosphere where students feel free to discuss any and all points without being embarrassed for stating their ideas. You stated that you don’t believe that it is your role to teach facts as a teacher, but to stimulate thought. From this I would ask you if you feel it is necessary to have the facts when making decisions. This frightens me as an upcoming teacher that one would feel no obligations to teach the facts. Once again, is it not important to have the facts when making decisions? One of the major problems in society today is the idea that the facts do not matter. Students are making more and more decisions on what “feels good” instead of deciding on what the facts tell them. I am not stating that facts equal opinion. There are just some things that are fact regardless of opinion.

By: piece of shep : Technology and Education

piece of shep : Technology and Education — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:39:26 +0000

[...] blogs that I have since subscribed to. One of my favorites to read is A History Teacher. Two recent posts I thought were excellent. I hope one day I will be able to incorporate the technology that this [...]

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 09 May 2007 06:26:31 +0000

I think your approach is very deliberate and informed and would provide an excellent framework for teaching about war.

I’m in my fifth year teaching AP US History and am married to a European History AP teacher and we often wrestle with how to teach a series of wars appropriately and efficiently.

Using the Stanford Philosophy website and the concept of “just war” can clarify and streamline approaches to conflict in a way that lends itself to graphic organizers which break wars down by the most influential factors.

For my less historically inclined students, that visual depiction of categorical reasons, coupled (perhaps) with a weighting system for each possible type of cause could serve as an excellent segue into essay questions which elicit more evidence-laden and focused responses from students–especially when covering a sequence of related conflicts such as the religious wars of the 15th and 16th centuries.

By: steve

steve — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 18:36:15 +0000

I’m not a history teacher. For the past 23 years I’ve made my living as a cameraman and editor. About 7 years ago a friend of mine, who is a Vietnam vet, asked me to shoot a presentation he and several others were giving at a local high school. A history teacher there had invited them to speak to her classes the year before and when they returned the following year, he asked me if I wanted to videotape it.
I was sincerely moved by the impact of this meeting. It was cathartic for the 4 vets who presented to this group of students but I was particularly impressed by the response of the the students attending.

That was the inspiration for a series of interviews that I did with veterans of that war. I decided that I wanted to do a documentary that could be used in classrooms. I’ve completed my work and am putting together a website to let teachers know about it. I’d appreciate any feedback from students and history teachers…Thanks.
steve@sjconway.com

By: joe

joe — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 16:19:10 +0000

i am a history teacher also. i think you have some really good ideas. right now in my american history classes we are studying WWII. we watched “saving private ryan”, “the band of brothers”, and right now we are currently watching “schindler’s list”. sometimes i think that students can learn the facts rather easily if they put them in a chronological order in their mind. but, i think students have a bigger problem walking in the people’s shoes who were involved in these conflicts. i don’t think i have a “pro-war” or “anti-war” sentiment in my instruction, but i do try to get students to analyze why certain nations get involved in war. i think after they can do that, then they can walk in the people’s shoes and truly realize that war is not some romantic journey of self-discovery. sometimes i feel that i teach more social skills than anything else. which is OK with me as long as i can mix in a little history.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 06:51:39 +0000

I teach history to three different age groups in a homeschool co-op setting (please don’t kick me off your blog Although my degree is in music ed, my second love is history and I hope some of my enthusiasm will rub off on my sometimes reluctant students. I share your goal to help my students understand the big ideas and the context of history over the trivia which is soon forgotten, and help them learn the critical thinking skills they’ll need to navigate the endless bombardment of information which they receive on a daily basis. I appreciate your thoughts on a “just war” and your sensitive and balanced approach in teaching current events. I look forward to reading more!