Source: Thinking: How Students Learn About the Past By T. Mills Kelly
“If we are to take full advantage of the opportunities that digital media offer us to improve the teaching and learning of history, we need to be very clear to ourselves and to our students what we mean when we say “historical thinking,” and then create rich learning opportunities for students that encourage them to see history as we see it.”
T. Mills Kelly, “Thinking: How Students Learn About the Past,” in Teaching History in the Digital Age (University of Michigan Press, 2013), 25, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv65swp1.6.
- T. Milly Kelly describes the process of being a history teacher, trying to understand the concept of history, and better yet trying to explain that concept to a bunch of 9-12th grade students. There is a clear and overall theme of Change and Tradition. Being that we are a class focused on teaching history in new media, I found it interesting that before even touching a computer, one must gain knowledge of what should even be taught. Since the start of teaching US history, dating back to post-civil war, we have always struggled with what and why to teach about history. Throughout the article, Kelly brings up the idea of “historical thinking”, being that being able to use our access to primary sources and crate complex thoughts, allows us to see a true version of the US and its past. These ideas of change and yet a constant “traditional” American story being told, give us as teachers (or at least for me) ideas of how to transform these stories into more interesting ways to inform students.
“The “ours/yours” debate takes on such great urgency because we tend to believe that history serves a very important function in the process of nation building.”
Kelly, 18.
- Throughout the article, the author speaks about the difficulty of teaching history, discussing the abstraction of history itself and its overall definition that must be addressed first. The quote above made me truly question the type of history we, as teachers, will teach. With history itself being so complicated and so many things occurring, all with importance, it’s going to be challenging (or maybe problematic) to pick which to explore. A question that sparked in my mind after reading this quote was: “What is the reasoning for history being such an important part of the US culture? Is this Us vs Them idea of history new?” Although seeming self-explanatory, I feel as if the lack of conversation is what complexes many people’s idea of history itself, not knowing what is “important” and what is a “fun fact”.
“For example, Stéphane Lévesque offers a definition of historical thinking that is much more
Kelly, 21.
focused on history as an epistemology rather than a craft, (…) ‘To think historically is thus to understand how knowledge has been constructed and what it means. Without such sophisticated insight into ideas, peoples, and actions, it becomes impossible to adjudicate between competing versions (and visions) of the past’…”
- The article brings up different historical thinkers, displaying how they each bring a different POV to the idea of teaching history. In the quote, the author brings up Stéphane Lévesque and his ideas of what thinking historically really is. This brought up an interesting point that to think historically one must understand the reasons behind such knowledge, by researching the creator’s background and life. Only then can one accurately (to the best of their ability), explain a version of a part, lacking all bias. Teaching future students, the context of history is extremely important, and making sure that one is equipped with the tools to tackle such complicated topics is necessary.
For the future of history, we as teachers (as discussed throughout the reading) must be able to understand the complexity of the history we are teaching. We must (before touching the google slides) be able to create a detailed understanding and reasoning behind the type of history we are teaching. What goals are we aiming towards? The article provides a lasting impression that providing students with exciting yet necessary tools to dissect the complexity of America, can help shape the future as we know it.
