If we hold that history is important and that it is cyclical it is only right then to complete the circle of students understanding...
If we hold that history is important and that it is cyclical it is only right then to complete the circle of students understanding by spending time in the History classroom talking about current events with students. There are two key points to the study of current events in a History classroom—connecting the past to student’s lives today, and helping them to understand current social justice issues in order to give students agency.
A paper presented at the Annual Conferences of the American Educational Research Association in 2000, on the use of current events in classrooms around the United States, Mary Haas and Margaret Laughlin says that in their surveying of teachers, they mostly used current events in the History classroom and that, “Current events were linked to updating and making the social studies curriculum easier to understand or relevant to the lives of students today” (p.14). Students are more likely to retain information and engage in the study of history if they are shown how it connects to their own lives. Those connections could be on a personal level, or on a cyclical level—showing students how the events of the past are repeating themselves today or how events of the past are affecting current events. The study of Imperialism can have an infinitely greater impact on students understanding and lives if they learn about the lastly pain caused by imperialism on the people in India or Rwanda or any other imperialized country.
A paper presented at the Annual Conferences of the American Educational Research Association in 2000, on the use of current events in classrooms around the United States, Mary Haas and Margaret Laughlin says that in their surveying of teachers, they mostly used current events in the History classroom and that, “Current events were linked to updating and making the social studies curriculum easier to understand or relevant to the lives of students today” (p.14). Students are more likely to retain information and engage in the study of history if they are shown how it connects to their own lives. Those connections could be on a personal level, or on a cyclical level—showing students how the events of the past are repeating themselves today or how events of the past are affecting current events. The study of Imperialism can have an infinitely greater impact on students understanding and lives if they learn about the lastly pain caused by imperialism on the people in India or Rwanda or any other imperialized country.
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Once a teacher gets students to connect to the past with current events, he or she can take the study of current events to the next level by adding a social justice lens. Bree Picower (2012) discusses the six elements for teaching social justice in the elementary classroom, and although her paper is geared towards younger children, there are quite a few applicable sections for older students as well. Picower’s six elements are self-love and knowledge, respect for others, issues of social justice, social movements and social change, awareness raising, and social action. She writes,
By addressing these six elements of social justice education in the elementary classroom, teachers lead
students to value themselves, respect the diversity of the world around them, understand how diverse people
have been treated differently and often unjustly, recognize that ordinary people have worked to address such
injustice, and take action themselves (p. 2)
Teenagers are so often wrapped up in their own little world, but Picower’s six elements of social justice curriculum can be used to engage students in a big picture. Picower sums it up perfectly when she writes, Once students become passionate about an issue, their drive to tell others about it is often unstoppable. It’s at this stage that many traditional and new media assignments can be transformed into awareness-raising activities.” (p. 11) Current events and social justice curriculum lead students to be more aware of their community, city, national, and global issues, and to give those student the opportunity to explore ways to raise awareness of issues facing their communities, on local or global levels.
Some may argue that the study of cyclical patterns in history does not need to include a social justice aspect, but when one thinks critically about the goals of designing cyclical history curriculum, it is vital for students to not just understand that history has patterns that echo throughout history up to modern day but that people can make changes to make sure that history does not also become their story. Students can learn to effect change and a rich cyclical history curriculum can help them build those skills.
By addressing these six elements of social justice education in the elementary classroom, teachers lead
students to value themselves, respect the diversity of the world around them, understand how diverse people
have been treated differently and often unjustly, recognize that ordinary people have worked to address such
injustice, and take action themselves (p. 2)
Teenagers are so often wrapped up in their own little world, but Picower’s six elements of social justice curriculum can be used to engage students in a big picture. Picower sums it up perfectly when she writes, Once students become passionate about an issue, their drive to tell others about it is often unstoppable. It’s at this stage that many traditional and new media assignments can be transformed into awareness-raising activities.” (p. 11) Current events and social justice curriculum lead students to be more aware of their community, city, national, and global issues, and to give those student the opportunity to explore ways to raise awareness of issues facing their communities, on local or global levels.
Some may argue that the study of cyclical patterns in history does not need to include a social justice aspect, but when one thinks critically about the goals of designing cyclical history curriculum, it is vital for students to not just understand that history has patterns that echo throughout history up to modern day but that people can make changes to make sure that history does not also become their story. Students can learn to effect change and a rich cyclical history curriculum can help them build those skills.