Week 6: History Writing in the Classroom

History classes have a lot to offer students, but the discipline is consistently listed as one of the least favorite subjects. I think that this is often because the focus of these classes is put on the wrong things, namely, how well students are able to memorize facts and details like names, dates, places, and events. History, as a discipline, is about so much more than memorization and it offers opportunities to engage in a variety of academic tasks. Social studies and history teachers who hope to provide real learning opportunities to their students should seriously consider switching their emphasis to skills, lessons, and activities which favor a more in-depth approach to the discipline.

There are several practices which teachers can utilize in their classrooms, as the article describes. These don't have to be stressful or tedious for either the students or the teacher. Students are often asked to compose academic writing in history classes, but teachers rarely allow time for revision of these compositions. This is disheartening because no historian goes through the writing process alone. If the goal of the teacher is to imbue their students with the "tricks of the trade", to teach these students how to approach the field of history, it should be common practice to allow time for peer-revision and rewrites of assignments.

The practice of peer-review itself actually encompasses many disciplinary practices for the field of history. First of all, the act of writing historically is vital for the discipline, as it is how new ideas are constructed and shared. Secondly, when a history article is going through the process of publishing, peer-review is an absolute must. By allowing for students to engage in the reviewing and commenting of peer written papers, the disciplinary skills related to peer-review are able to be taught. Even after a book or article is published, there is the chance for other historians to write reviews, commenting on the strength of the argument, the abundance or lack of credible sources, or even the writing style. This step of the history writing process is replicable in the classroom as well, with limited infringement on the pace of the class. The writing of reviews of either peer-written assignments or of "content expert" written texts offers a disciplinary tie from an activity which might already happen in classroom. (Peer-review looks different in different countries. For example, in America, when a review is written of a book, the tone is expected to be collegial and relatively forgiving, though not exclusively so. In Germany, however, reviews are often scathing.)

Thus, even one activity, the production of an historical writing by students, offers a wide range of learning opportunities which teach basic literacy skills, but which are entrenched in the history discipline.

Article Referenced:

Gritter, K., Beers, S., & Knaus, R. W. (2013). Teacher scaffolding of academic language in an advanced placement US History class. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 56(5), 409-418.