The school year has started in many parts of the country. My students will return after Labor Day. I've been at this for a number of years. This will be my 27th year of teaching. Like most of my colleagues in this profession, I recognize this will be unlike any year I've ever experienced. Most of the teaching world is focused on health issues, technology challenges and making connections with their respective flocks as they navigate hybrid, virtual and face to face instruction. I won't be ignoring those issues myself. However, I find my interest gravitating to the world that has been redefined in the wake of George Floyd's death and what this watershed moment means to history teaching and curriculum in the K-12 classroom. My hope is that most teachers can make the pivot and bring to an end the rather melba toast exceptionalism narrative of United States history and begin to explore a more robust and complicated examination of the nation's past with their students.
This blog will be dedicated to my observations and suggestions along the path to redesigning the US history curriculum. I expect to consult recent scholarship, collaborate and experiment over the next year. I've chosen Jill Lepore as my guide. As a history geek, I've been a fan of hers for a number of years. I consider The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity one of the most influential books in my career. Lepore also works with teachers and has appeared at a number of online professional development offerings during the pandemic. Her book, These Truths: A History of the United States, was published in 2018 and challenges the traditional narrative and if you listen to her read it on Audible---almost sounds poetic. Lepore examines, among other things, racial injustice, gender inequality and economic motive as she traces the evolution of the United States. I plan to dive into some other texts along the way, but Lepore's narrative will help frame much of my work on a new history curriculum. In subsequent posts, I will provide some highlights from the book, supply links to primary sources, hopefully interview teachers and historians and reflect on how things are going in a pandemic classroom. Here's to a new and fruitful beginning.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorMarc Turner teaches US History and Government in Columbia, South Carolina. Archives
May 2021
Categories |