Current High School Social Studies Teacher. Experience Teaching 7th - 12th grade.
My Topic and Purpose
Engaging students in Public History is a experience that can go along way with helping create lifelong learners. Studying Public history is studying how people learn about history outside of a classroom as well as how people interact with historical landmarks, museums, and other spaces where history is meant to be learned. One of my most interesting classes in undergrad was Intro to Public History. This class taught us how to explore the ways the public learns and interacts with history. This course culminated with a project where the students created web pages detailing a specific monument or historical landmark in their community. it was a unique way to instill the ideas and skills of being a lifelong history learner. The course would also serve as a way to get show students how to be more involved in their community and help them develop a sense of belonging to that community.
Scope of Learning Outcomes and Content
What is Public History?
How the general public learns about history.
How the general public interacts with history.
How to conduct research within a specific community.
Basic Interview Skills
Creation of research projects for a specific community.
Benefits of student engagement in their communities.
Fostering sense of belonging
Appreciation for their surroundings
Needs Assessment
Educational opportunity
The goal of creating lifelong learners seems to take a backseat to making sure students pass the standardized tests of today. Teaching students about public history opens the door for them to gain skills that will help them be able to engage in their community's history throughout their life and feel a sense of attachment and belonging to that community, wherever it may be.
Learners/participants
Participants in this course will be Graduate level students with some level of teaching experience (I.E. full-time, part-time, or student teaching). Participants will come from a variety of educational backgrounds and experiences. This course will be geared towards those studying to become social studies or FACS-type Teachers/Professors but will be open to any and all disciplines looking to further their educational portfolios. This course will be used to support the growth of Public history Education in k-12 schools and provide teachers with the resources and skills needed to develop valuable learning experiences for their students to engage in public history. This course will run for about 6 weeks (PENDING) and will require access to a computer, online databases, as well as local libraries.
Analysis of gaps
My analysis comes from a survey of Social Studies Certified Teachers across 7-12th grade in New York State. Out of 11 Surveys sent out I received 4 back. Analyzing responses to the survey, 3 major points jump out. Frist, none of the teachers who responded said they felt confident in defining the term public history. while each of their definitions were on the right path, their confidence ranked average or lower. Second, only half of those who responded said they had completed a unit or project in which they asked their students to engage with their communities. Those teachers, notably, were middle school teachers who don't have a content specific final/standardized test at the end of the year. Lastly, all surveys returned indicated that teachers would like to learn more about how to engage their students in public history practices such as local research projects and increase community engagement.
Existing efforts to my knowledge, public history is not an individual subject taught in local schools near me. The tenants of public history are somewhat covered as a part of existing social studies courses, mainly US History, Participation in Government, and Economics. There are many courses and local colleges covering this topic in one way or another. However, more focused efforts need to be made in order to ensure this vital part of social studies education is being taught at the middle school and high school levels.
Intent statement: This course will help teachers understand the meaning of public history as well as create projects/assignments to help their students be more engaged in their communities and become better equipped to be lifelong learners.
Performance-Based Objectives
After completing this mini-course, learners will be able to:
1. Define the term Public History
2. Discuss the importance of Public History in our daily lives
3. Create projects centered around the principles of Public History
Task and Content Analysis
Before taking this course, the learner:
should have basic knowledge on computer usage, word processors, and research skills (pre-requisite)
should be working towards a career within an educational setting (pre-requisite)
must have a passion for history and/order community engagement (pre-requisite)
Unit 1
What is Public History
After this unit the learner:
will be able to define Public History
will understand the importance of teaching public history
will be able to identify key aspects of Public History
Unit 2
How do we interact with and learn from sources of history?
After this unit the learner:
will understand how people interact with history in their everyday lives
will be able to identify key sources of history in their communities
will be able to discuss current issues surrounding public history sources (IE statues, monuments, etc.)
will understand how to research their communities public histories.
Unit 3
Benefits of Student Engagement in their communities
After this unit the learner:
will understand the importance of creating engaged students.
will be able to discuss strategies for improving student engagement in their communities.
will read an article focused on instructional strategies for student engagement
will begin to build student projects.
Unit 4
Creating Projects for Students
After this unit the learner:
will understand how to develop a Public history projects for their classes.
will be able to implement the principles of Public history in their classes.
will understand how to evaluate students engagement in their communities.
will create a plan to help their student engage in their communities throughout the school year.
Curriculum Map
Unit
Goals / Topics
Activities
Unit 1
What is Public History
1. will be able to define Public History
2. will understand the importance of teaching public history.
3. will be able to identify key aspects of Public History
Digital Journal Activity
Reflection
Unit 2
How do we interact with and learn from sources of history?
1. will understand how people interact with history in their everyday lives
2. will be able to identify key sources of history in their communities
3. will understand how to research their communities public histories.
1. will be able to discuss current issues surrounding public history sources (IE statues, monuments, etc.)
2. will be able to identify key sources of history in their communities
3. Digital Journal Activity
4. Reflection
Unit 3
Benefits of Student Engagement in their communities
1. will understand the importance of creating engaged students.
2. will be able to discuss strategies for improving student engagement in their communities.
1. will read an article focused on instructional strategies for student engagement
2. will begin to build student projects.
3. Digital Journal Activity
4. Reflection
Unit 4
Creating Projects for Students
1. will understand how to develop a Public history projects for their classes.
2. will be able to implement the principles of Public history in their classes.
1. will create a plan to help their student engage in their communities throughout the school year.
2. 2. Digital Journal Activity
3. 3. Reflection
References and Resources
Belanger, Elizabeth. “Public History and Liberal Learning: Making the Case for the Undergraduate Practicum Experience.” The Public Historian, vol. 34, no. 4, 2012, pp. 30–51, https://doi.org/10.1525/tph.2012.34.4.30.
de Andrade, E. P. (2021). Public history and history teaching: convergences between the writing of history and teaching in context. Estudos ibero-americanos, 47(2). https://doi.org/10.15448/1980-864X.2021.2.40294
Flanagan, C. A., Martinez, M. L., Cumsille, P., & Ngomane, T. (2011). Youth civic development: Theorizing a domain with evidence from different cultural contexts. In C. A. Flanagan & B. D. Christens (Eds.), Youth civic development: Work at the cutting edge. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 134, 95–109.
Foster, A.-M. (2020). Review: What is Public History Globally? Working with the Past in the Present, edited by Paul Ashton and Alex Trapeznik. The Public Historian, 42(2), 158–160. https://doi.org/10.1525/tph.2020.42.2.158
Li, N., & Sandweiss, M. A. (2016). Teaching Public History: A Cross-Cultural Experiment. The Public Historian, 38(3), 78–100. https://doi.org/10.1525/tph.2016.38.3.78
O’Connell, H. A. (2020). Monuments outlive history: Confederate monuments, the legacy of slavery, and black-white inequality. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 43(3), 460–478. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2019.1635259
Wray-Lake, L., & Syvertsen, A. (2011). The developmental roots of social responsibility in childhood and adolescence. In C. Flanagan & B. Christens (Eds.), Youth development:Work at the cutting edge. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 134, 11-25. doi: 10.1002/cd.308
Videos
Edutopia. (2015, February 6). Community-Based Learning: Connecting students with their World. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA1e2kz_adc
Laita, J. (2018, February 13). Birkbeck explains: What is public history?. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xc4FrN2AVg Matter of Fact. (2017, August 12). The argument for keeping Confederate statues. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsjntUFCs3A&t=104s
Oliver, J. (2017, October 9). Confederacy: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5b_-TZwQ0I&t=1s
