History

Hello and welcome to 8th grade U.S. History on the Explorer Team!

A little about myself and about the history class that your son or daughter is enrolled in:

My name is Brian Omdahl. I have taught history for over twenty years in the Grand Forks Public Schools. I enjoy teaching 8th grade students about our nation's past and have had a *blast* here at South Middle School!

However, when I tell people that I teach history, I often get one of two reactions. The first and most prevalent is:

"How can you stand to teach history?!?!? I HATED history when I was in school! All we did was copy notes, read from the textbook and memorize for the tests. And sit through hours and hours of monotonous lectures!!! None of it made any sense!! Just memorize these generals, these presidents, these battles and spit it all out again. WHO CARES!! HOW CAN YOU STAND HISTORY?!?!"

The second reaction I get is less frequent, and a bit more muted, but reflects a maturity that understandably comes with age:

"I spend time with my kids watching the History Channel and I really enjoy ___________ [World War II, the American Civil War, learning about the evolution of the automobile, etc.]. As I get older, I am starting to make some more connections now and I think history is more interesting to me NOW compared to when I was younger..."

As someone who has sat through hours of endless lectures, and memorized names and places that seemingly had no connection, I can relate to both reactions. Somehow I developed a love for history - not because of the teaching I was subjected to, but in many cases, in spite of it.

The real challenge for me as a teacher (and it is ongoing) is how can I help students make those "connections" now, when they are middle schoolers, so that they too can experience a sense of understanding and maybe even a sense of awe and wonder at the immensity and grandeur of our human experience here in North America.

And there it is. Human. These "characters" from history were not one-dimensional caricatures. They were not perfect demigods. And they were certainly not "boring." They were human. They lived and breathed and dreamed and suffered and had many of the same experiences that we *ALL* have while here on earth. But how do I get my students (your sons and daughters) to understand this...?

First, I have taken a step back and reflected on how history has been traditionally taught. Textbook, lecture, notes, quizzes, more notes, more lecture, more tests - this has not worked. It is fair to say that the teachers that I and most Americans had when we were young may have been doing the best that they knew how to do, but in the end, the results paint a less than fantastic picture of the profession and of the content. Many Americans today either hate history or do not understand, comprehend or remember much of what they learned.

I will learn a lesson from the past. I will try to turn "lectures" more into class discussions (where students participate and sometimes even LEAD the discussion using Socratic Seminar methods) and I will use the textbook as a fact-filled resource instead of as the main focus for learning the content . And when possible, I will change HOW the content is to be presented to your sons and daughters with an emphasis on: roleplaying and historical reenactments of key moments in history, visiting guest speakers from my patented Time Machine (sorry, Doctor...), and use of political / strategic / economic "games" or simulations where the students make the decisions that will affect their lives.

READ MORE, WRITE MORE, TALK MORE

As a class, we will document these experiences using the Chromebooks that the district has provided. We will use Google Classroom as the portal into our world of daily activities, projects and assignments. Students will READ primary source documents whenever possible. [And, due to grant money, students will also have access to a variety of visually-rich and historically accurate graphic novels that each showcase a single important event, person or group from history.] When it comes to South's emphasis on improving student literacy, students will be writing reflections and narrative essays as one key assessment tool. And when it comes to talking more, students will discuss critical concepts, themes and ideas using Socratic Seminar circles.

As a teacher, I should see increased interest and depth of understanding amongst my students. In-depth class discussions and student writings should also reveal increased comprehension of the historical events and important people portrayed in the individual graphic novels. Common assessments could be administered as a means to highlight student comprehension.

Of course, the activities mentioned above go way, way deeper into the content and will take A LOT MORE TIME than the traditional lecture / notes / quiz pattern. This is a dilemma for me as a teacher, and one that I do not take lightly.

The advantages of spending more time engaging the students with hands-on activities and primary source readings on a handful of topics are that this would allow the class to "drill down" and go for a deeper exploration of that topic or topics and the deeper understanding that would naturally follow such a tactic. And this would also lead to a much greater chance of students being *engaged* with the content and interested in learning MORE about the content. In his book, Readicide, Kelly Gallagher, educator and one of our nation's leading voices in literary education, encapsulated the argument for deep immersion in the content:

“…The biggest danger of sprinting through various readings in any content area is that we graduate students who do not develop an interest in any content area. Authentic interest is generated when students are given the opportunity to delve deeply into an interesting idea…by sacrificing deep, rich teaching, we begin chipping away at our students’ motivation. Want to extinguish an adolescent’s curiosity? Cover as much material as possible.” (Gallagher, 10)

You may be asking yourself: "If these methods take longer, and Mr. Omdahl goes way deeper into the content, then how can he possibly teach EVERYTHING from the textbook to my son or daughter?" Truthfully, I can't. At least, not effectively.

Instead, I will change the focus of my teaching away from an effort of trying to teach ALL of the contents of the textbook, and instead focus on the ESSENTIAL learnings (those key events, concepts or themes) that all American children should have an understanding of.

In short, the main topics your son or daughter will learn about in 8th grade history this year will be:

• Native Americans with a focus on the Eastern Woodland Indians (since these tribes had primary contact with the French and English explorers and settlers),
• life in the 13 colonies and the French & Indian War,
• events leading up to the American Revolution,
• the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights,
• the international slave trade and the life of slaves in the colonies and in America
• and the Civil War

Some of the concepts or themes which meander and weave a web throughout this narrative of American history:

• the manner in which people have been treated in the past and the manner in which they ought to have been treated
• the interactions and interconnectivity of cause and effect consequences that can erupt into warfare (why and how humans fight each other)
• the consequences of warfare (the resolved and unresolved after-effects that may still be with us today)
• the basic human rights (as defined in the Bill of Rights) and the responsibilities of American citizens

An old time-worn phrase is that "history repeats itself." Well, not exactly. Instead it is those common themes found repeatedly throughout the human experience on this planet that lead peoples and nations to make good choices that then usually lead to peace and growth (or conversely, the poor choices that take us down a bad road of economic despair or futile wars). By spending class time and discussing these concepts or themes, we can only expect to gain a deeper understanding of that person and the choices made that set a people or a nation on the path toward a particular outcome.

Besides reading primary source documents and "living" or doing history through reenactments or games, another important aspect of who I am and HOW I best learn is that I am very much a visual learner. I have tried to make my classroom as visually stimulating as possible. The presentations that I give will be replete with pictures, videos where useful, maps, paintings and photographs of REAL locations whenever possible. This visual tactic is useful for me as a learner and may also be a key tool that your son or daughter employs when trying to learn new content. An added bonus of using visual content as much as possible and coupling those visuals with first hand source documents and stories is that this helps many students (ELL, RTI, and others) who might have a hard time processing the historical content being taught in the classroom.

Reenactments, visuals, map game boards where students interact (trade goods, conduct diplomacy, move armies to instigate or prevent conflict), stories from first hand primary sources, essays that reflect individual learnings class discussions of essential topics... Sounds good. But is this class addressing the state standards?

Let's take a look:

Standard 1: Students apply social studies skills and resources.

Standard 2: Students understand important historical events.

Standard 3: Students understand economic concepts and the characteristics of various economic systems.

Standard 4: Students understand the development, functions and forms of various political systems and the role of the citizen in government and society.

Standard 5: Students understand and apply concepts of geography.

Standard 6: Students understand the importance of culture, individual identity and group identity.”

Key words found in most of these standards are “students understand.” By reading more deeply, writing more, interacting with the content in a direct, "first-hand" manner and talking more about the key people and events found within the primary sources and graphic novels, student understanding can not help but be increased. A strong argument can also be made that student interest and engagement with the content will be a powerful tool that I can employ as a teacher to lead my students to a better understanding (and appreciation of) American history.

Thank you for taking the time to read a little about my approach to teaching and the kind of experience that your son or daughter will have in my history classroom.

***

Gallagher, K. (2009). Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

If you would like to reach me, you can email me at: bomdahl280@mygfschools.org

Or, you can phone South Middle School @701-746-2345 and leave a message or ask to speak to me directly. I am available after school (3:30 p.m. on) or before school (prior to 8:30 a.m.)