history5

Benoy's Lectures

Caveat Emptor

I teach History 12 mainly using the lecture method. This is done deliberately because the overwhelming number of students enrolling in this course at Sutherland intend to go on to university or college. Most Humanities courses in post secondary studies are taught this way. I see History as a bridge course between high school and post-secondary education, so lecturing, in a small class environment, where the teacher is easily accessible, serves as a transition to what will come next. Hopefully students will adjust before paying huge tuition fees.

These notes are the basis of what I teach, but should not be considered a script. Stories, illustrations, and connections with current events are integral to every lecture -- and this material does not appear in my lecture notes. This also changes constantly.

Also, these notes were not originally made for publication. They are full of my scribbles, spelling errors and typos -- things that might not be apparent when listening to my classes. I have not done much to update all of these notes over the years -- other than make a few unintelligible scribbles. The updating happens as we cover the work in class. The longer I teach and the more knowledgeable I become, the less scripted my delivery. I do not have the time to tidy all of this up and rather than not make this material available at all, I have decided to put it on the web -- warts and all.

Not all lectures are given every year and the material within lectures is often abbreviated -- depending on the class and on the time available in a given semester.

Note also that the lectures are not necessarilly listed in the order that they are presented. A course as sweeping as history makes sorting content difficult. For the most part I sort chronologically, but from time to time a thematic or geographic system is applied.