We've spent quite a bit of time so far this semester with Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States (that's him to the right). So I'm wondering: Do you think Zinn is relevant for elementary teachers? Is there anything -- in terms of his approach to history, the content of the chapters you've read, the voices that are heard in his text -- that will be useful for you as a teacher of social studies? Even if you wouldn't use A People's History with your students, has it taught you anything worthwhile? Or do you think the class time we've spent on Zinn would have been better utilized reading about/discussing methods or strategies that are specifically geared for elementary teachers? Whatever your opinion, be honest. Don't just say what you think I want to hear.
15 comments:
I enjoy reading the chapters from Zinn's book. I love reading and learning about different events in our history, especially wars. I found the chapter we read about Columbus very interesting. A lot of those facts I read in the chapter, I never learned throughout elementary, middle and high school. I particularly liked the chapter I had to read for my PowerPoint presentation, slavery. I have learned about the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, and the issue of slavery throughout my schooling. But, this chapter talked about a couple key figures that I had not heard about before this class. I feel reading this information may be helpful as a teacher. In Zinn's book, we are reading about different points of view that are not available in a textbook. As a future teacher, I want to try and incorporate these views in my lessons using outside books and other resources. The age will determine how in-depth I can go with my supplemental resources. Overall, I like reading Zinn's book and I feel it will be very beneficial to me in the future.
The Zinn reading has proven to be very beneficial. I know that I, and many other students in the class, am worried about having the knowledge of the content that we are required to teach. The Zinn readings have refreshed the basic information of the events in history as well as teach us the “realness” and the truth of what really happened in the past. I am glad that I know different perspectives because I can teach my students about different perspectives. The voices heard in the book are also great because they show emotion that the individuals in history went through. I feel like I am better able to present my future students with emotional times rather than only presenting them with facts.
The Zinn readings have also taught me to read critically. This is definitely a trait that I plan on teaching my students. I don’t want them to accept everything they read and hear. I want them to analyze and think deep about the information they will be learning about.
Of course strategies for teaching social studies are very helpful, BUT I feel like we have learned many throughout our educational courses. I am curious to see what everyone thinks about this. Do you all feel the same way?
I think that reading Zinn is very beneficial to us as future elementary school teachers. I'm in the Wheeling PDS and one of the phrases that plays a key role in our district is being a lifelong learner. As teachers we need to always be learning and finding out new information to teach our students. We will never know everything, so we should never stop learning. Reading Zinn is a great way for us to continue learning about subjects that we will be teaching. Although some of the specific details Zinn discusses may not be appropriate for all grade levels, we can still pass along the point. It is very important that we, as teachers, are aware of the other side of many of these stories since the textbooks we may have to use will not share this information.
I enjoy hearing Zinn's perspective and appreciate what he has to say about history. I think that it is an important skill to always look for the truth in whatever you are doing and by reading Zinn, it forces you to leave what you previously learned behind and form a new opinion of past events. Although I very much enjoyed our talks about Zinn in class, I would also like to have some methods to teach social science. It would be ineteresting to discuss in class different teaching methods that would help enhanse Zinn's perspective. It is always nice to understand history content, but if you do not know how to teach it in a meaningful way, the students will not understand it.
Does Zinn Matter? YES. I believe so. Personally, I have learned so much about American history by reading Zinn’s book from the perspective of those who have been silenced. Every time I read a new chapter I learn something about American history that makes me question everything that I have previously learned. I am 21 years old and I am learning some of the most basic aspects of history because no one had ever taught me the whole truth. I could have all of the social science methods in the world, but if I am not teaching my children the whole truth, I do not morally believe it would be right to teach them at all. Someone is just going to come along later in their life and contradict what I have taught. That is what happened to me, and I personally feel cheated. I think that in the case of social studies, content is just as important as social science methods. Depending on how much one knows of the content (and not just the sugar-coated stuff) their need for receiving instruction in methods will differ. For me, I want to know the content before I learn how to teach it to children. And in learning the content, I am also learning methods because I am encouraging myself question and to seek the truth, and never to take one position as the whole truth, something I will encourage my students to do as well.
Personally, I have learned so much from reading chapters of the Zinn text. Before this class, I did not have a strong background in Social Studies content. Now that I am realizing the truths, it is becoming more intriguing to me. Although elementary school teachers would not use this text in the class for the students to read, we can use it as a resource. It serves as a great source to reflect on and get a different perspective then their textbooks. With older elementary, I think it would be wise to encourage my students to challenge the author of their textbook by doing other research from other perspectives. Once the students realize this view, it goes past learning about events in History and more about being better readers and researchers.
I think this book has been very useful. It has been a long time for me since I focused on history. I feel like this book has been a refresher for a lot of material, but has also brought a lot of new issues to the forefront. I also find all of the new information useful. Having a different perspective and facts to support it has really helped me remember more aspects of history. Obviously I wouldn’t use this book with my students because it would be too difficult. However, I think that if there was a version or something like this for children that followed our curriculum, I would definitely use both of them in my classroom. I almost feel like my social studies education when I was younger was missing a lot of important information.
I will definitely use this book as a resource for me when I am teaching social studies. It think this book will also help me to find other books and resources that I can give to the students to expose them to both, or all, sides of the story.
Zinn is a very useful resource because he shows different perspectives. As a future teacher I believe it is important to continue to learn. Zinn's approach is very interesting because it's from a different point of view. My eyes have been opened on numerous occasions while reading these chapter and that's the point. Even if I do not use this book in my classroom, it's a great source to pull information from. It is such a plus when teachers read a little more into a topic that they plan on teaching so that they will be a few steps ahead of the students. I believe this book helps with that.
I believe that each of us is coming away with a new perspective on history than we came into this class with. If other perspectives are to be taught in schools, there needs to be support for the teachers. I believe that Zinn's book is a great start to that because it is providing otherwise not talked about information.
I believe that it is very important to talk about Zinn. I feel like I have learned a lot from reading his book. Most of the information that I am learning now I never learned even in high school. As a future teacher, I need to be aware of topics like this so I am prepared if one of my students believes differently on a topic I am teaching. I also think that my students should know the real side to history instead of going through most of school not know this like me. Reading the assigned chapter and putting together a powerpoint is very helpful for me. Since I haven't taken a history class since freshman year of college I forgot most of the events. Learning about the different historic events is interesting and very beneficial as a future teacher. At times I would like to talk a little bit about methods but what we are reading in Zinn is helpful to me as a future teacher.
I definitely feel that Zinn should be a part of our social studies methods. I have learned so many things that I never knew... let me rephrase that.. I have learned the truth about so many things that I THOUGHT I knew... Above all he has taught me that I have had an incredibly sheltered social studies education. I think it is really important for students to be exposed to multiple viewpoints so that they can learn how to critique information and use their critical thinking skills to develop their own opinions. Teachers are constantly encouraging students to learn; I am beginning to doubt how much teachers encourage their students to really think... and to not JUST think, but to think outside the box.
At first I was inclined to say that Zinn's book was also a refresher to me of the content... but after thinking about it, I don't even think I can consider this book a refresher.. I would say it is more of a primary source of education for me.. because I was definitely never taught the information presented in this book!
I think that every preservice teacher should read this book.. or at the very least, be exposed to the truth about the many lies fed to us in school.
I'm glad that as a pre-service teacher, I am becoming familiar with the lesser known historical facts and viewpoints by reading Zinn. I think that it’s important to know the multiple perspectives of historical events and it simply makes me a more well-rounded individual, as well as teacher, to know this information.
I do, however, question how useful the information that we are learning will be when we are actually out teaching. I think that a lot of the things we are learning in Zinn’s A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES are quite controversial, as was seen in our extensive discussions surrounding the issue of the “true story of Christopher Columbus.” I think that at this time, it might be difficult to move away from the mainstream viewpoints in the social studies curriculum that we develop in our classrooms. Especially at the elementary school level, there is pretty big emphasis on being “politically correct” and trying not to “rock the boat” with controversial issues. A lot of this pressure I think comes from the administrative level – school principals, etc. I think perhaps curriculums will become more open to the incorporation of more alternative viewpoints as time goes on and older teachers and administrators begin to retire and be replaced with us younger generation teachers.
As was discussed with the debate on whether or not to teach about the more sinister side of Christopher Columbus and his interactions with the Native Americans, it is important that we as teachers decide on our own if the grade level we are teaching is developmentally ready to handle the more controversial material that we might consider including in our social studies curriculum. Since I am more interested in teaching grades at the intermediate elementary to middle school level, I think that I could use the majority of the things that we are learning in Zinn’s book. I think that the upper grades could definitely handle some of the more controversial issues.
I think that Howard Zinn's book has been an eye-opener. It has been beneficial for me to learn the "other side" or another perspective. The big difference that really caught my attention was Columbus. I never knew half of the information in the chapter and this helped me learn that other perspectives are very important in history. Not only has this book helped me see the other perspective, it has allowed me to remember historical information that I have forgotten.
The only thing I would say that is hard when reading this book is deciding where to draw the lines in teaching. I feel that I was given new information that I have not heard before and now I don't know where to go. I am not sure how to teach this new information or when to teach it. I think that it does depend on each individual teacher and it is their choice on whether or not to teach certain perspectives. Overall, I do that that these different views would be very beneficial to my future students and I can see myself using Howard Zinn's book as a reference in teaching those views.
Like all the previously posted responses, I feel Zinn is relevant for elementary teachers. I believe everything that Zinn presents in his chapters is useful for me as a future teacher of social studies. For far too long we have been taught the "sugar-coated" version of history. It was not until college, when I took an American Diversity class and this class that I learned the "truth" behind many historical figures and events. I can utilize the information Zinn provides in my classroom, not necessarily through this exact text, but through his content.
In our PDS program we've talked a lot about our professional growth and development. After reading Zinn, I understand that I must look deeper into my students' sources of information and make sure they are receiving the proper knowledge. I can look for materials aligned with Zinn's information that are most appropriate for my students' developmental levels.
I feel that our class time spent discussing Zinn is extremely beneficial. Through our discussions in class I am able to pick up on important information and new insights that I might have grazed over. Also, I feel Greg manages class in an effective manner because he incorporates great teaching methods/strategies through our discussions of the readings, like Zinn. We don't even realize it, but it's a two for one deal... We are getting an education on useful teaching strategies and history at the same time!
I defintely agree with everything that people have said. I feel that Zinn's book is wonderful as well as incredibly interesting. I think that it has helped me to become a more critical reader, which is definitely something that I will teach in my classroom. I also want to help my students become independent thinkers. I want them to question what an author might say, for example in textbooks.
I feel that this book has given me many different perspectives of history that I might have never heard had I not read this book. It has shown me that history is so much more than what is said in the mainstream books. There is other information out there and so many unheard voices that are not within the pages of the standard history textbooks.
In reference to what Anna said, I do see how hard it is to be able to share thse ideas with young elementary students. The curriculum is very much set in stone, but it is so important that children develop lifelong learning. I think that sources that coincide with Zinn's ideas could be used within the classroom. I think that it is important to provide several resources for children so that they become independent thinkers as well as learn how to critically anayze what they hear or read.
I also agree with many of you that reading Zinn's book is very beneficial to us as teachers. I think that it does teach us how to become better teachers, beacause it addresses the concept of teaching our students about multiple perspectives, which is vital for the classroom. We are really learning history through different viewpoints and through different ways than we have before, which is interesting to us and this basic concept than Zinn focuses on about teaching the truth and teaching through multiple perspectives is a big idea we can take away from this reading. It also allows us to become critical thinkers of history and delve in deeper to the content we have learned throughout school, but in another approach. It is important for us as teachers to learn as much as we can, for ourselves and our students. Like many of you discussed, we need to be lifelong learners, and this book is helping us do so. Also, if we are teaching any of these concepts in our classrooms, it is important to know all about the topic. Even if we don't teach everything that is in the Zinn book, we will have a broader knowledge of the topic, which is important to have. We are always supposed to research at a "higher" level than we are teaching, so we are really knowledgeable on the topic. This will help us teach the content to our students in a more meaningful way as we will know more of the significance of the events. Also, it will allow us to teach our students and answer any other questions they might have. I think the underlying ideas of Zinn's book, of teaching our students the truth through multiple perspectives will help us as teachers and we will also become more knowledgeable about key topics in history and how they can be presented in an interesting way to our students.
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