4 ms·

I'm going to disagree with everyone! You should learn history — or any subject — by starting with the things that interest you and working outward from there.

I'm going to disagree with everyone! You should learn history — or any subject — by starting with the things that interest you and working outward from there. Studied that way, nothing is dry, because your motivation to learn stems from what you're passionate about. For example, I learned 20th-century world history based on its relation to aviation, and in the process gained a real, abiding interest in history; I learned medieval history based on my interests in the music and religion of the time. I'm weak in the Enlightenment, but I'm sure I'll get there. I strongly recommend this approach, not because it is systematic or comprehensive, but because it encourages you to actually learn, not just bone up for tests. Being old and curmudgeonly is fun, too.

inimino 8y ago
This is the best answer, but it raises a difficult question, which is what do you do with a classroom of thirty students?
- JasonFruit 8y ago
  I don't have the slightest idea — that's why I teach my own kids.
  - inimino 8y ago
    Which is a great answer too, though our modern life puts it out of reach for most.
- quadrangle 8y ago
  You follow the top-down curriculum demanded of you by the dysfunctional bureaucracy we've built to control everything because teachers are disrespected in our society. But while doing this, you give the kids real perspective by talking about the b.s. of it and explaining critically what's wrong and what's right with the curriculum so that the kids don't think that it's their fault if they are confused, bored, or otherwise struggling with the one-size-fits-all system. [disclaimer: I'm an independent community teacher/tutor who somehow avoided for-better-or-worse getting into the normal classroom teaching role, and I'm writing from an outsider perspective, albeit on things I think about a lot.] Well, what ought to happen in a class of 30 kids? There ought to be at least 2 teachers (1 main, 1 assistant maybe) for a class that size, and they should do a mix of multimedia, field trips, reading, open discussion, group activities, and some amount of inviting each student to explore their own questions and have them help each other research those questions while you work to guide them and go around the class discussing fascinating insights of interest to each of them. They can share with each other what they've learned and not have to all be doing the same things. The focus should be not on learning facts about history but on understanding how one goes about critically researching history so that they have good critical thinking and research skills going forward in their lives and interest in history as a topic.

inimino 8y ago

This is the best answer, but it raises a difficult question, which is what do you do with a classroom of thirty students?

JasonFruit 8y ago
I don't have the slightest idea — that's why I teach my own kids.
- inimino 8y ago
  Which is a great answer too, though our modern life puts it out of reach for most.
quadrangle 8y ago
You follow the top-down curriculum demanded of you by the dysfunctional bureaucracy we've built to control everything because teachers are disrespected in our society. But while doing this, you give the kids real perspective by talking about the b.s. of it and explaining critically what's wrong and what's right with the curriculum so that the kids don't think that it's their fault if they are confused, bored, or otherwise struggling with the one-size-fits-all system. [disclaimer: I'm an independent community teacher/tutor who somehow avoided for-better-or-worse getting into the normal classroom teaching role, and I'm writing from an outsider perspective, albeit on things I think about a lot.] Well, what ought to happen in a class of 30 kids? There ought to be at least 2 teachers (1 main, 1 assistant maybe) for a class that size, and they should do a mix of multimedia, field trips, reading, open discussion, group activities, and some amount of inviting each student to explore their own questions and have them help each other research those questions while you work to guide them and go around the class discussing fascinating insights of interest to each of them. They can share with each other what they've learned and not have to all be doing the same things. The focus should be not on learning facts about history but on understanding how one goes about critically researching history so that they have good critical thinking and research skills going forward in their lives and interest in history as a topic.