| Teacher Supplies home >
Teacher Supplies Info Center > Teaching History
Teaching History
Click
here to see our selection of Teaching History.
 When
teaching
history, it is very important to incorporate a multicultural
perspective into the curriculum. For example:
One teacher teaching history in California discovered that the
background of the community established in the Boyle Heights section
of East Los Angeles, where she was teaching history began with the
Gabrielino Indians.
Thus, first she taught about the Gabrielino Native American Culture.
Secondly, she noted to her students that by the late 19th century
Boyle Heights had become a completely different, it had converted
into a wealthy white community. The class then discussed and did
assignments on the sequence of events responsible for this transformation.
Thirdly, in the early part of the 20th century, some of the original
settlers of the city of Boyle Heights moved to the Westside of Los
Angeles. Then, almost suddenly, waves of immigrants and native-born
people came to dwell in the community. So by the 1920s, the social
fabric of Boyle Heights had transformed again by the influx of Japanese-American,
Jewish-American, Mexican-American, the Molakan tribe, as well as
other ethnic groups in her teaching history, the class discussed
how, like immigrants in the rest of the country, each of these groups
were able to established their own ethnic identity within a polyglot
community.
Then the lesson became a broader one—the class covered the
Great Depression. They discussed why it was a difficult time for
the residents of Boyle Heights and how it had become this way. World
War Two changed that area forever all over the nation. The 1950
census shows the community in flux with a growing Mexican-American
population, and the 1960 census shows that Mexican-Americans had
become the majority there and in 2006 the area is 95% Latinos.
There need to be more lessons as teachers teaching history, redefine
their curriculum and the importance of cross-cultural understanding.
The example I gave is only one of many designed to give students
a broader, world vision of their daily lives. Teaching history should
reflect human connections around the world, similarities and differences
and the understanding of both. Teaching history should illustrate
to students how the many other cultures out there relate to our
nation, the state and if and how these cultures have effected out
lives. Do not restrict yourself, as a teacher teaching history to
lessons of America, even if you are teaching about cultures that
have been carried here from somewhere else. Be sure to include lessons
on other nations—smaller nations whose lives were lived out
much more differently than ours and how traditions have transformed
within those cultures as well. Discuss the cultures unusual to them—have
them give input such as writing papers or taking tests with essay
questions to be sure they understand it in their own words. They
will begin to connect complex aspects of modern life from multicultural
perspectives.
I believe that teaching history must be meant to educate children
in global multiculturalism—and that will be a cornerstone
of their history classes.
Discuss teaching ideas, lesson plans, classroom
strategies
and more on our teacher
forum!
Browse worksheets, projects, lessons, books,
activities and other teaching products by grade level:
Kindergarten
1st Grade
2nd Grade
3rd Grade
4th Grade
5th Grade
6th Grade
|
