So TRUE! I think it's part of the reason I switched from teaching English to Social Studies for my last 20 year career in local high schools. I wanted young people to FEEL, to take time to hear the voices of people who lived during difficult times. I was able to incorporate all I'd learned from 6 years of teaching literature and writing, pushing kids to read books like Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee....to take the time to hear the screams of dying Sioux.
I so appreciate having you, your compassion and your wisdom in Tribe Tilt. Your book, Awake to Racism is a great example of looking at history with a different lens, Joann.
This one made me think! So much of our world is built on what history tells us. But you are right, history smooshes stuff, and I don't think we do a good job at questioning what got cut out and who controlled the narrative.
Thinking is what I was going for, Camilo. We are facing up to the fact that our history books - all history books - are rarely written from diverse perspectives. "Who controls this narrative."
We are trying to shift (tilt?) the conversation in Higher Ed from teaching History to teaching Historical Thinking: "the capability to apply insights about the past to help us understand the present and shape the future". Learners who develop this capability can contribute distinctive value on diverse project teams, especially in workplace innovation projects where we know that more diverse teams can be more likely to create breakthrough innovations.
I am looking forward to our conversation Thomas! Historical Thinking: "the capability to apply insights about the past to help us understand the present and shape the future. And so much more that I resonated with on your link about being flexible in the skill set we take forward with us.
I just realised when we celebrate independence day we forget all those screams, pain, cries,helplessness and hope people had experienced during the process.
We read nothing in text books except a few formal lines about the history of sub-continent.
We had a neighbour who lost his wife, daughter and all the family members during the indo-pak separation. Everyone was killed in front of his eyes. He suffered that trauma all his life. There are thousands of stories like these on both sides but we never talk about those pains and losses.
May be this is the reason I hated history in student life. I never enjoyed it because it had nothing except learning about the dates of events happened. We hardly talk about the HUMAN or emotional element in history books.
Thank you for engaging in the conversation, Aimen. You bring up a great point - one that took me a long time to "get".
History is actually "His-Story". We lose that in the dates and timelines discussions.
Your point makes me wonder if we would hold more attention from students if they each had to act out a different point of the journey from different perspectives. I remember going on a walking tour of Boston's Freedom Trail - and each tour guide came dressed as a different major figure in the fight for freedom (I don't recall if there was a perspective from the British side!) You got your tour embellished with little details that mattered to that particular character and his/her perspective. It brought the story alive.
He mentions a diary written throughout the Great Depression, where the reader can follow the twists and turns of how things evolved, without the inevitable hindsight bias that appears in most books/papers that were written after the fact.
Thank you for this link to a great post, Matan. (Thanks for hoarding good links!) His point 6 - Opportunity is here today, gone tomorrow - is a great one. We keep waiting for the cycle to change, and don't recognize until too late that we are in a new space.
Love this idea of history smooshing stuff. I often have this debate with a good friend of mine who says our lives have changed over their course more than any other generation. I argue that it feels that way simply because we don't have all the details from the past. We read about things like the invention of electricity, but we can't feel what that was like at the time and how much people's everyday lives changed because of it.
I agree, Randy. What I also would love to be privy to is the adoption cycle - who took up the "weird" ideas like flying, electricity, heart transplants first. Is it access to courage, information (peace of mind) or money that makes you an early adopter?
Agreeing with those who mentioned their history hate from schooldays. Luckily with Twitter I am embracing my new love of history from the perspective of visuals, like The Cultural Tutor.
I agree totally with the other person on this conversation thread that said history was boring and they hated it in school. I did too. Too cut and dried and no soul. I do believe it should be taught via documentaries not books. That gives it more heart and soul. Have a couple of schools doing it here now using many of the great documentaries available on YouTube etc. It helps lots.
But yeah it sure smooshes stuff. Totally agree. 450 years of Portuguese colonization here... Smooshed into a single sentence in Indian history books. So true. 😂
I agree, Ricky. Shows such as Six and Hamilton have also made learning a little more interesting. Travel helps to put timelines in context too - I remember reconciling timelines for the US fight for independence alongside the French Revolution on a trip through Europe.
Sorry, Karena. History is really not my forte. I hated it! The only thing about Indonesian history that I remember is that the Dutch colonised Indonesia for three and a half centuries and built infrastructure. The Japanese then came in and undid most of that in three and a half years. We used to say that the Japanese were there 'seumur jagung' or as old as a corn plant. Three and a half months is how long it takes for corn to grow from germination to harvest.
Thanks for the shout-out, Karena! Also interesting to think about the "smoosh" of history. I do wonder what the books will say about the Covid-19 era, or Trump's presidency for example. We have to summarize things in order to tell a story about them, but there are so many days and weeks worth of lived experience that will inevitably be lost.
Who will read each of Dr. Fauci's daily news briefings and the subsequent flurry of family phone calls across the globe, decoding the information? It does give us pause for thought, doesn't it? I hadn't gone to the Trump presidency. Enough on the climate and Covid-19 data points.
What did we say about the 1918 Spanish Flu? Same thing .. though I do wonder if Remote Work is the takeaway from Covid .. seems like that’s here to stay.
Pandemics have historically been triggers for huge changes in society. They change the flow of labour, affect supply/demand and change the balance of power.
So TRUE! I think it's part of the reason I switched from teaching English to Social Studies for my last 20 year career in local high schools. I wanted young people to FEEL, to take time to hear the voices of people who lived during difficult times. I was able to incorporate all I'd learned from 6 years of teaching literature and writing, pushing kids to read books like Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee....to take the time to hear the screams of dying Sioux.
I so appreciate having you, your compassion and your wisdom in Tribe Tilt. Your book, Awake to Racism is a great example of looking at history with a different lens, Joann.
This one made me think! So much of our world is built on what history tells us. But you are right, history smooshes stuff, and I don't think we do a good job at questioning what got cut out and who controlled the narrative.
Very insightful!
Thinking is what I was going for, Camilo. We are facing up to the fact that our history books - all history books - are rarely written from diverse perspectives. "Who controls this narrative."
We are trying to shift (tilt?) the conversation in Higher Ed from teaching History to teaching Historical Thinking: "the capability to apply insights about the past to help us understand the present and shape the future". Learners who develop this capability can contribute distinctive value on diverse project teams, especially in workplace innovation projects where we know that more diverse teams can be more likely to create breakthrough innovations.
At one point, we created a light-hearted deck of Super Hero cards to highlight these Super Powers which can be developed in Humanities and Social Sciences. You can see the card for our "Historia" super hero at https://www.wincan.ca/blog/2019/11/7/the-case-for-demonstrating-the-capabilities-of-ba-graduates-through-workplace-innovation .
I am looking forward to our conversation Thomas! Historical Thinking: "the capability to apply insights about the past to help us understand the present and shape the future. And so much more that I resonated with on your link about being flexible in the skill set we take forward with us.
Very interesting perspective, Karena.
I just realised when we celebrate independence day we forget all those screams, pain, cries,helplessness and hope people had experienced during the process.
We read nothing in text books except a few formal lines about the history of sub-continent.
We had a neighbour who lost his wife, daughter and all the family members during the indo-pak separation. Everyone was killed in front of his eyes. He suffered that trauma all his life. There are thousands of stories like these on both sides but we never talk about those pains and losses.
May be this is the reason I hated history in student life. I never enjoyed it because it had nothing except learning about the dates of events happened. We hardly talk about the HUMAN or emotional element in history books.
I enjoyed this pieces!
Thank you for engaging in the conversation, Aimen. You bring up a great point - one that took me a long time to "get".
History is actually "His-Story". We lose that in the dates and timelines discussions.
Your point makes me wonder if we would hold more attention from students if they each had to act out a different point of the journey from different perspectives. I remember going on a walking tour of Boston's Freedom Trail - and each tour guide came dressed as a different major figure in the fight for freedom (I don't recall if there was a perspective from the British side!) You got your tour embellished with little details that mattered to that particular character and his/her perspective. It brought the story alive.
This is such an excellent point!
It reminded me of this post by Morgan Housel: https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/10/15/6-things-i-learned-from-the-book-the-great-depress.aspx
He mentions a diary written throughout the Great Depression, where the reader can follow the twists and turns of how things evolved, without the inevitable hindsight bias that appears in most books/papers that were written after the fact.
Thank you for this link to a great post, Matan. (Thanks for hoarding good links!) His point 6 - Opportunity is here today, gone tomorrow - is a great one. We keep waiting for the cycle to change, and don't recognize until too late that we are in a new space.
Love this idea of history smooshing stuff. I often have this debate with a good friend of mine who says our lives have changed over their course more than any other generation. I argue that it feels that way simply because we don't have all the details from the past. We read about things like the invention of electricity, but we can't feel what that was like at the time and how much people's everyday lives changed because of it.
I agree, Randy. What I also would love to be privy to is the adoption cycle - who took up the "weird" ideas like flying, electricity, heart transplants first. Is it access to courage, information (peace of mind) or money that makes you an early adopter?
Agreeing with those who mentioned their history hate from schooldays. Luckily with Twitter I am embracing my new love of history from the perspective of visuals, like The Cultural Tutor.
@Sam Knowlton encouraged me to sign up for the Cultural Tutor newsletter this week. I look forward to being blown away, Kelly.
Nice one K. ❤️
I agree totally with the other person on this conversation thread that said history was boring and they hated it in school. I did too. Too cut and dried and no soul. I do believe it should be taught via documentaries not books. That gives it more heart and soul. Have a couple of schools doing it here now using many of the great documentaries available on YouTube etc. It helps lots.
But yeah it sure smooshes stuff. Totally agree. 450 years of Portuguese colonization here... Smooshed into a single sentence in Indian history books. So true. 😂
I agree, Ricky. Shows such as Six and Hamilton have also made learning a little more interesting. Travel helps to put timelines in context too - I remember reconciling timelines for the US fight for independence alongside the French Revolution on a trip through Europe.
Sorry, Karena. History is really not my forte. I hated it! The only thing about Indonesian history that I remember is that the Dutch colonised Indonesia for three and a half centuries and built infrastructure. The Japanese then came in and undid most of that in three and a half years. We used to say that the Japanese were there 'seumur jagung' or as old as a corn plant. Three and a half months is how long it takes for corn to grow from germination to harvest.
I learn something new from you each time, Laila! I like that parallel of three and a half.
Thanks for the shout-out, Karena! Also interesting to think about the "smoosh" of history. I do wonder what the books will say about the Covid-19 era, or Trump's presidency for example. We have to summarize things in order to tell a story about them, but there are so many days and weeks worth of lived experience that will inevitably be lost.
Who will read each of Dr. Fauci's daily news briefings and the subsequent flurry of family phone calls across the globe, decoding the information? It does give us pause for thought, doesn't it? I hadn't gone to the Trump presidency. Enough on the climate and Covid-19 data points.
What did we say about the 1918 Spanish Flu? Same thing .. though I do wonder if Remote Work is the takeaway from Covid .. seems like that’s here to stay.
Pandemics have historically been triggers for huge changes in society. They change the flow of labour, affect supply/demand and change the balance of power.
Black plague ☠️☠️
They keep coming!