REASONS WHY STUDENTS SAY THEY DON’T LIKE HISTORY AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT!

Many students say that they hate history, but if we analyze this it becomes clear that they do not dislike history, but rather how they are taught history. The traditional and most common methods used to teach history are often boring. When one goes into a

social studies classroom anywhere in the United States, what a person will often see are teachers using copious hand-out sheets with questions to fill in, students supposedly reading a chapter and answering the questions at the end of it, and or copying blackboards or Smart boards full of notes. Boring! Students are being talked at by the teacher with little or no attempt to make the people or events “come alive” and relevant. Instead, students are bombarded with a mass of isolated facts and vocabulary that may or may not be

understood, and they are rarely shown how these facts connect to make a complete and useful story. Boring! It is easy to understand then why “Boring” is the most commonly term students—on every grade level, used to describe history.

This is a serious issue not only for the student who is required by state departments of education to pass exams in history, but it a very serious problem for us as a nation. Why should we know history? The answer is really quite simple. If we don’t know our history we are guaranteed to repeat mistakes, and no person or nation should want to do that. So, the question becomes what can we do to make students enjoy and value history?

Teacher should STOP:

• Lecturing unless it is done in such a way that engages students through the use of hands-on work, superior questioning techniques and technology. The key is purposeful and focused engagement.

• Using textbooks as the sole source of information. Instead, students should be taught and encouraged to research and use documents such as primary sources, organizations, authors and outside experts to provide them with a more comprehensive and well-rounded understanding of the topic.

• Giving hand-outs with lists of isolated facts or fill in the blanks. Students are not taught how these facts connect and therefore, are not able to use them in a meaningful way. Students have to be taught how to put

together these facts in order for them to make sense. They have to learn to apply the concept of cause and effect so that they can make the connections that help them to understand the nation’s story.

• Requiring students to memorize things that they will never use and then testing them on it. While some historical dates are very important, memorizing a list of dates is not relevant. Instead, educators must make history relevant by teaching students how to critically think, analyze and interpret information—how to make it personal. History is an extremely personal subject because it is the story

of people.

• Requiring students to write and then never correcting, commenting or sharing their work. Writing assignments, indeed all assignments, must have a clear purpose and not be what is often referred to as “busy work.”

• Being a teacher-focused instructor who gives students little or no opportunity to discuss, share opinions or give viewpoints on thought-provoking questions or topics.

• Questioning that only requires one word or one fact answers. “In what year did the Spanish-American War begin?” does not demonstrate any real learning on the part of the student. It is boring. However, a question su

ch as “Pretend that you are Fidel Castro. Explain how the Spanish-American War has affected Cuba’s relationship with the United States today.”

Students do not hate history—not when it is taught in an engaging, relevant and challenging manner. To make history haters into history lovers I have written two books called Do Now: Understanding American History in 5 Minutes 1789-1861

And Do Now: Understanding American History in 5 Minutes 1861-2015. These books use primary sources to engage students in a creative non-threatening way. The Do Now books make history “come alive” and show students how our past connects to our pres

ent and the future. #teachingtips