Lies My Teacher Told Me, Chapter 6

"To make no sense is to be crazy" (Loewen, 177). Lies My Teacher Told Me opens its 6th chapter with an argument that history textbooks fail to present ideas to its readers. Ideology behind certain events, according to Loewen, is beyond the mental capacity of textbook authors and so any idea that wouldn't make sense to them is published as insanity. The example given in the text is the case of John Brown, who was executed after his raid on the Harper's Ferry arsenal. According to Brown himself, his raid was sure to stir up some reaction regardless if he failed or succeeded. This reckless abandon with with Brown threw himself into his plans comes across as mentally insane by old American textbooks. I think the lesson to be pulled from the discrepancies is that textbooks have had to have time to adjust with changing ideals. Textbooks are published right after new data is presented- I am sure that the information on 9/11 is presented differently in textbook editions today than it was initially in textbooks after the attack. This makes sense- people react to something, and they write about it. I think the most important thing to take from this chapter is that textbooks will always be riddled with some sort of bias, and as teachers we have to work around this roadblock. I believe it will be important to teach my students how to find truth in textbooks by getting affirmation from primary documents. I also will impress upon my students that the history presented is the agreed upon truth- which leads to my big question- what is truth? Why do we deliver history from the perspectives of the winners, when further possibilities are out there. I think this chapter delves into this question by talking about the ideas that fill history- but are virtually ignored by textbooks. I think it will be hard as a teacher to pick and choose which ideas are worth discussing without overloading the students' ability to comprehend my lessons.

The following link explores the story of John Brown by debating his position in history as a hero or as a terrorist. The Story of John Brown 

This chapter goes into great detail discussing people who were against slavery but ignored by textbooks. According to Loewen, our legacy of anti-racism was admired around the globe but we at home forget about our unsung heroes. I think that textbooks do this in order to continue their blatant black-and-white, right-or-wrong discussion of history. If texts took the time to talk about all of the people who lost, the impression that southerners were bad people who wanted slaves and northerners were good people who didn't have slaves would be lost. This would just make history even longer to teach, which is hard with such a vast curriculum as it is. I think the important thing to do as a teacher who has to stick to certain timelines every year is to remember to bring in voices from the other side and give them to students alongside the traditional text so that they understand there was another side to every story without it becoming overbearing.

Cantu Chapter 8

R. G. Collingwood believes that history is a type of science because it involves interpretations- in our case, of the past. I agree with this because we put a lot of faith on our accepted truths of the past in order to come up with a cohesive (ish) history of the world. This chapter in Cantu discusses the social studies curriculum as being complex and large- indeed, it is a lot to take in as a teacher. Social studies education aims, on many levels, at creating good U.S. citizens. Does this then limit the way we look at nations abroad? As a future teacher I plan on incorporating numerous lenses through which my students will look at moments in the past. I think that by avoiding traditional frameworks, my students will get a more well-rounded look at the past, while still gaining knowledge on how to be an active participant as a citizen of the United States.

One aspect of this chapter which I found to be rather interesting was the mention of contrasting historical events to their movie counterparts. The example given was The Titanic. I think that adding things like this into class is a great way to link popular culture with significant moments in history. By showing clips of a well-liked film alongside a formal documentary, students can connect things that they like and understand with their history lessons. This is also a helpful way to help teach students how to sift through historical data and pull out only the truth as opposed to the Hollywood fantasy. In a similar vein, I believe that the most important of the National History Standards is the student ability to conduct research. Discovering on our own has always been an effective tool at keeping somebody interesting in something, and to be able to do it correctly can only help.

An example of using media as a link to history: The Great Gatsby and life in the 20s in America
The Great Gatsby

One final aspect worth noting from this chapter is the opening discussion on the order in which we teach history. Because history includes thinking chronologically, it seems that it is critical that we choose proper order for teaching our students about the past. I like that history starts out at the family level and slowly works its way outwards to state and nation and world history. This definitely will help me in creating lesson plans because even with my high schoolers, it will be important to start off  hooking students with something that they can personally relate to before we jump into the big picture.

The Big Question: how do we get students to view history through an almost scientific lens?

Cantu Chapters 6 and 7

Chapters 6 and 7 of Cantu investigate the impact that technology has in the modern classroom. Chapter 6 opens by claiming that "teachers who are unwilling to learn, unlearn, and relearn new classroom technologies will soon find themselves to be pedagogically illiterate in the classroom" (Cantu, 6). These struck me as powerful words because oftentimes we think about how we have to remain up-to-date in our content are that we forget we have a second concentration- technologies. I think that being competent with technology is important because it allows you to remain connected to students who undoubtedly know their way around the internet.

In order to stay ahead of the curve, and our students, it is important that we remain lifelong students in the field of technology. There are many arguments for technology in the classroom as a means towards enhancing learning, so it is important to become on board. I believe the most important aspect of technology in a classroom is making sure it WORKS- students need to be learning; it is not enough for them to be happy that you have set up a web-quest instead of presenting them with questions from the textbook. Students have to be able to enhance their skills in ways that are beneficial towards their future in a global society. I think the biggest component of technology I will be using will be targeted towards developing collaboration between students. If they can work on a project together without having to worry about the travel to get to a meeting point, they are still learning how to work with others as well as becoming more proficient at navigating sites such as Blogger or Google Docs.

Finally, just as teachers are tasked out at creating good citizens, we now also are responsible for forming their digital citizenship- the internet is available to us all, but we have to be models and guides for the proper way to use it.

Technology helps us reach higher standards of learning than were expected in the past, so it is important that we keep up with the changing times in order to have a digital classroom that works rather than one run by students who know more than we do. One example of a useful digital classroom tool that was mentioned in Cantu is survey monkey. This is something that students can use for their projects outside of the classroom, or one we can quickly utilize in class in order to start a discussion. Survey Monkey

Big Question: When does technology take away from direct classroom instruction, and how do we achieve a good balance between digital learning and traditional methods of teaching?

Lies My Teacher Told Me, Chapter 5

This chapter discusses the impact that slavery has had upon our nation. Unlike most of the chapters in Loewen up to this point, American textbooks seem to have done a better job at describing the 'peculiar institution' which was slavery. However, while the life of the slaves and their lack of rights illustrates the negativity associated with slavery, Loewen argues that history does a poor job of explaining the impact of slavery on white citizens in both the North and in the South. Also, we must take into consideration that while we no longer have slaves, we still have racism. According to Loewen, white people feel that they are elite in terms of class in comparison to African Americans and much of this superiority complex is rooted in the existence of slavery. Slavery taught civilizations that it was natural for whites to be on top and blacks to be on the bottom (Loewen, 144).

While I  understand to an extent Loewen's critique in which he bashes textbooks for failing to connect slavery to racism, I can't quite help but argue that he is wrong. Perhaps the connection is rarely explicitly published but I believe that the link is truly a no-brainer. Our ancestors made it okay for races to create a hierarchy, and we are left today with the racism that obviously arose from institutions like slavery. Especially in America, economies revolved around the use of slaves, and when an entire lifestyle is uprooted, the remnants of the past don't simply disintegrate. I do agree with Loewen, however, in his argument that the way racism is taught should be shifted. It would be beneficial for students to see how the ideals behind racism shifted over time. It also would be great if students learned about the types of people who had and who did not have slaves. By giving a fuller picture, a more accurate history is displayed and it is easier to connect the past to the present.

I believe that in my classroom I will focus on presenting racism as a problem that hasn't gone away, and it isn't something that is confined only to problems between blacks and whites. When I teach slavery, I will impress upon my students the reality of an issue that is prevalent even today. I think that current events are important, so clips such as the one found in the following link will be great tools to utilize to connect the past to the present. 2013 Miss America

The Big Question: Can we look towards a society void of racism, or is this problem here to stay?

Cantu, Chapter 4

As new teachers, there are going to be many unknown obstacles that are going to come at us from all angles and we have to be ready to go with the flow and make adjustments. The fourth chapter in Cantu goes into detail on several classroom strategies that will help get students involved in discussion and hopefully also keep the class engaged and on track with the day's lesson. There were many strategies that I would definitely implement in my classroom. Graphic organizers are probably one of my top picks to help students gain an effective tool for note-taking. In addition to helping students make connections between parts of our lesson, graphic organizers can be used in so many versatile ways. If you need students to understand a chronology, you can have them construct a timeline of events. Flow charts of cause and effect would also be  a great way to help students link important events or people within a unit of history.

Aside from the note-taking aspect of class, discussion is going to be a great way to keep history alive and interesting in the classroom. Cantu offered some helpful hints to get students involved in class. I like the idea of having student's call on one another to participate, because this helps them hold each other accountable. Another idea that I believe is a good way to keep discussions lively is to use some form of think-pair-share, because students might feel more comfortable sharing if they had a chance to get a second opinion on their answers first. Finally, I think it is crucial to watch how we respond as teacher's to student answers. Sometimes students might respond with something completely incorrect, and we have to watch their feelings when we correct them. Cantu argues that we should respond to student interaction in a non-evaluative way to help coax further thought out of them. You have to give students time to collect their thoughts and fully articulate their beliefs, and sometimes this may take a minute. While we do have to keep the discussion moving, it is important to be mindful of brainstorming time.

One question that I have about incorporating numerous strategies into the classroom is how can we be sure to fit in all of the multiple intelligences without dragging on a unit past a reasonable time frame?

The following page could be a helpful tool for teacher's to use to coach them through a successful lesson conducted via student discussion: Teaching With Discussions

Lies My Teacher Told Me, Chapter 4

In 1815, "Americans" became the proper terminology with with to refer, not to Native American Indians, but now European Americans instead. In this chapter of Lies My Teacher Told Me, Loewen explores yet another aspect of American history told through the eyes of textbook writers rather than through the eyes of truth. History textbooks describe the Native Americans as savages- a stark contrast to the classy civilization attributed to the Europeans. Indeed, the idea of European superiority was noted in the Sioux word for the white men which means "one who has everything good". History textbooks leave out the tragedy faced by Native Americans at the hands of the white men because people like to hear feel-good stories;

"Feeling good is a human need, but it imposes a burden that history cannot bear without becoming simple-minded. Casting Indian history as a tragedy because Native Americans could not or would not acculturate is feel-good history for whites. By downplaying Indian wars, textbooks help us forget that we wrested the continent from Native Americans" (Loewen, 131).

This chapter is relevant to myself as a future educator as I go about deciding the best and most true portrayal of history for my students. If I am going to be teaching European and American histories, the plight of the Native Americans will fall into my curriculum. I believe that it is important to discuss the whole story rather than creating a short, albeit sad, story of the Native American's timeline. We cannot act as though our entire past is full of sunshine and butterflies- I believe it is okay to show students that there are cases when the past was dark, because this offers perpetual hope for a bright future: it is thanks to the Native Americans for many of the ideals presented in our own Bill of Rights. Native Americans taught our early settlers how to work the land, engaged in trade, and did so many positive things to help jump-start our new country that I believe they need a truthful tribute.

The Big Question: How, since textbooks like to present feel-good stories for students as opposed to accurate portrayal of past events, would American history textbooks have opted to tell the story of the Holocaust if the execution of all those Jews and other minorities had happened, not in Germany, but in The United States?

The Genocide of Native Americans is a documentary which presents a deeper look at the downfall of Native Americans starting with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. At least a segment of this could be shown in class as a way of illustrating the darker sides of colonization of the Americas.

Cantu, Chapter 3

Creating lesson plans is one of the jobs that will never end- even if you have a set of units that you must teach on a yearly basis, the students that you have in your classroom are always going to be different, thus you will need a different skill set and plan of attack for each new group. One of the most important parts of being an educator is keeping up-to-date in all arenas of teaching: popular culture, technology, new research in your field, and the culture of your school. In order to stay ahead of the curve we must be constantly learning ourselves- this is how we attain the best results.

While lesson planning, it is clear that we are going to have to adhere to common core standards. It is argued in this chapter that these standards are necessary, but are also merely a compass. Once we find true north, it is on us to maintain an engaging environment that not only targets state standards of education but also captures the imagination and potential of our students. In order to do this, we must target every level of Bloom's Taxonomy as to maintain  diverse curriculum. I feel that lower levels of the Taxonomy are definitely more targeted towards state tests and standards- simple knowledge base questions and rote memorization are very much "to the test". I believe it is important to insert the general knowledge into curriculum, but it is far more important to explore the higher order end of the spectrum. Questioning beyond the norm forces students to actually think about what they're learning and apply it to themselves- by creating an exciting world of discovery in the history classroom, students will WANT to discover where they came from, how they are going to fit into the bigger picture that is history, and develop a legitimate interest in a subject that maybe once was the most dreaded part of their day.

As a future educator, I plan on working simple knowledge based questions into general teaching, but assessment will definitely revolve around more than just multiple choice tests. I think that it is great to challenge students with projects and papers that test their research skills and give them a chance to be creative and maybe disagree with history instead of simply accepting it as something that happened for a change. Overall, while lesson planning I will remain conscious that I am creating a blueprint for the success of my students and will make the plan as diverse as possible- games, papers, technology- the works! My only question- how do you stay on track as far as timelines go when you are trying to fit in all the higher order thinking alongside state mandated curriculum? When I have been in classrooms, the one consistency between every school I have been at is that time flies by and teacher's are always forced to edit so that enough information is covered each unit. I want to ensure that student's have time to both learn AND challenge themselves so that history is something they think about even when they leave my classroom at the end of each day.

The following link speaks to the technology geek in all of us- apps for smart phones and how they apply to the different levels of Bloom's! Bloom's Taxonomy on Your Phone

Lies My Teacher Told Me, Chapter 2

Loewen describes Christopher Columbus as an original myth- a character so stripped of his actual personality that we can describe him as one of history's good guys, and somebody that we should emulate. Of course, once again, history text books leave out much detail- including slave and sex trades, the murky background that makes up Columbus' biography, and even the idea that Columbus was the one to prove that the world is round- with further research, it seems that the global population already knew that. While it has already been touched on that history textbooks create heroes, I feel that the main argument in this chapter that will be important to me as a teacher is the disturbing fact that history textbooks don't agree on material. For example, so many triumphs have been attributed to Europe, but further research indicates that most advances have been a fusion of numerous countries. This is something unpublished by textbook companies because their target audience wants to hear that the white man brought about all the success of the past. However, according to Loewen, "diffusion of ideas is perhaps the most important cause of cultural development" (39). I will definitely take into consideration the bias that goes into publishing classroom textbooks and do extra research, mainly on primary documents, to find evidence for my students that presents a more well-rounded story of the past. This is especially necessary in multicultural classrooms, but even in classrooms that are predominately white- students should hear the truth which is that maybe the white man wasn't always the hero. Learning this way can potentially cut back on racism amongst youth because white students won't get the normal lecture that they're number one- in reality, they're just one of many who worked together to create, trade, and develop.

The following video argues that Africans were in America before Columbus; this could be shown in class as a discussion starter- going against the grain of the traditional story of the discovery of America.
African Presence in Ancient America

I think a main goal I should set for myself after reading about the discrepancies between books, and further reminders that much of what is presented in history books is heroification, is to always put forth the extra effort to find research which presents a full back-story for my students rather than relying only on the textbook supplied by my school.

Overall, it seems clear that textbooks are written to please a target audience and it is my job as an educator to, rather than be a people pleaser, tell the truth and give the whole story.

Digital and Standards Based Classroom, Chapter 2

This chapter encompasses the core learning standards that teachers are to adhere to within their classrooms. I believe that these standards are an important guideline for teachers to use to keep their units on track. In my opinion, it is probably best to shoot for standards beyond what would be traditionally expected at each age group. This way the students are challenged and held to a higher level of competence, which I believe will in turn serve to boost their confidence if they can tell I greatly believe in their ability to master content. The core standards cover a wide array of topics in social studies, including tracking individual development. I believe that we can turn back to Loewen's argument that history textbooks create too many false heroes when we tackle this standard. By creating heroes that are actually normal people- by telling the whole story of the past- students can look at themselves as individuals with the potential for great, world-changing success. Other standards that are laid out include the necessity to create competent American citizens. I believe it is important to instill a certain degree of nationalism in our students and teach them how they can become involved in our government because a sense of pride will help create a future of citizens who can work to make a positive impact in our nation as well as the world. Indeed- global connections are another thing to keep in mind when we are teaching our students. The world is much flatter than it used to be, and it is important for students to realize the impact that technology has had on bringing the world's population far closer together. I think that a great way to touch on this core goal is to create an activity that bridges a classroom of students in America to a classroom of students across the globe. By utilizing media such as Skype, the two classes can communicate and work on a collaborated unit from across the sea. This would truly open student's eyes to new worlds, as well as building tolerance for people different than us and an expanded curiosity towards international populations.

Sites like this one can help teachers connect with other classrooms to open the door to expanded learning possibilities for their students:
Skype in Schools

This chapter also offers an impressive selection of lesson plans that target each of the core standards. Keeping an archive of links and ideas like this will definitely be a great idea for me in my future classroom, so that I always have something new to pull out for my students to keep class interesting. By giving students research projects that start from web pages, they will be allowed to utilize their skills with technology as well as putting them in charge of their own education by researching- whether it be a web quest, a paper, or a simple reflection.

Overall, I believe that the standards set are good ones that work to help students develop into well-rounded individuals. It is the teacher's responsibility to fit the standards into curriculum while still ensure diverse lessons that capture the imagination of students. In the history classroom, this is a daunting task as we are combating the stereotype of being the boring subject- but with passion and time, teachers can definitely bring history up into the list of favorite classes in school. 

Lies My Teacher Told Me- Introduction and Chapter 1

This book opens with the immediate claim that high school students hate history. History is easily the most boring subject in school in the eyes of students because teachers turn the subject into a lecture hall that requires only regurgitation of memorized dates and names, and no critical thinking or excessive thought. Generally, history text books create heroes rather than telling the full truth. Indeed, Loewen provides the example of Helen Keller. Students learn of her valiant struggles to learn to communicate- but they miss out on hearing about her support of the Communist party and her staunch alliance to socialism. History textbooks elevate certain characters from the past by only highlighting their positive impacts on the course of history, rather than delving into some of their falls from grace- for example, Woodrow Wilson used his power as president to segregate the federal government (19), but students don't tend to hear that side of the past. History is written by the victors, and textbook authors wish to present these victors as positive images that people can look up to as role models. Textbooks lie by omission when they leave out dirty facts, and the lies spun make history a dry subject that no student would have interest in. Sadly, even when the truth is presented to the public, it is often hard to convince people of the truth because so many heroic attributes have been drilled into our heads since elementary school.

In my classroom, this definitely applies to my future teaching style. It will be my responsibility to go beyond the textbook and present the other side of history to my students. In order to foster critical thinking, students must engage in the darker side of history. This way, they can learn how changes occurred and why many stories of the past are not as cut and fresh as they seem to be. Primary sources from the other side will be a great way to shed some light on the darkness. I believe that by illustrating historical figures as they truly were, and not as some false hero, they will become more relate-able. This is important for young people to learn because it gives them all a sense of self-worth and potential. Of course, I will be working against the grain of established writings, so I will be sure to provide accurate and trustworthy cited sources to prove credibility.

I think that one big question this chapter fails to answer is how should we touch on the positive aspects of history's villains? Loewen makes a great point when he argues we are lying by creating heroes, but are we also committing lies of omission by leaving out the good that our villains did? By making history so black and white between good and evil, we take away the legitimacy and realistic quality that history actually does have, it's just that nobody gets to hear about it unless they do some digging on their own. For this reason, I believe a research paper in which students are required to either find a positive impact of a stereotypical bad guy or a negative impact of a stereotypical hero. 
For a helpful start, students could pull from the following sites;

Woodrow Wilson- Progressive Racism
A Blog About Adolf Hitler

Overall, the opening chapters of Lies My Teacher Told Me immediately work to open our eyes to the information lacking from our history textbooks. It will be my job as a future educator to present the whole picture of history- not just the fairytale endings that textbooks are always eager to publish.