One of the courses I have taught is History 235,
“Canadian history from pre-confederation to the
present.” It used to be a first year course, and it
can be hard to engage students in a first year
history course, because the kind of students who
liked high school history are not necessarily the
kind of students who like history as a discipline.
What they've been told that history is in high
school is not necessarily what historical practice is.
The kinds of students who appreciate the approach
I use are not always the students who voluntarily
take history courses. Some students feel pretty
ripped off when I say on the first day that
memorizing dates is not important in this class,
and memorizing facts is not the goal. I tell them
that, but it's difficult for them to process that and
understand what it means. The students who like it
were students who were inherently engaged
anyhow. Students used to getting really high marks
may not like it. Students too often want the
'History Channel'—a colourful story with facts and
some biography—and that's not what I'm prepared
to give them, because the kinds of things I'm trying
to teach them are transferable skills.
I want students to see how the shape of the
narrative and the shape of the material we're
learning are the result of choices made by me, or
by the author of what we're reading. I make a
conscious effort to present material in a way so
that students can see the assumptions behind the
choices, the assumptions that shape the narratives
they're getting. To learn about how those choices
work students do have to learn some facts and
information, but the point is to learn the process.
They're going to get a lot more facts in the course
than they can possibly remember. So, rather than
expecting them to remember everything when
they're being assessed, I instead want them to
remember enough facts to be able to make their
own story and make their own argument.
One of the first lectures I give asks what students
anticipate is going to be included in a course on
Canadian history. I have them all draw a quick map
of Canada by hand—they don't write their name on
it, they just hand it in. I also ask them things like
'name three people from pre-confederation
Canadian history.' And to pick a date for the
beginning of Canadian history. Before the next
class I take note of the most common answers. In
the next lecture—and similar things emerge every
year—I use the results of that exercise to talk about
people's
assumptions
and
where
those
assumptions come from. For example, most people
draw a modern map of Canada, and that gives me
an opening to talk about how our idea of the
geographical space of Canada is itself a historical
construct with particular assumptions behind it. I
want them to see that it’s not at all obvious that a
course on Canadian history would include 18th
century events on the west coast. The fact that we
do study such events as part of “pre-Confederation
Canadian history” is the result of what happened in
subsequent centuries and the fact that British
Columbia became part of Canada. But from the
get-go, I want them to understand that it wasn’t
Road to Global Citizenship: An Educator’s Toolbook
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