|
|
|
Review
| Exploring World History: Ideas for Teachers, by Mark Williams, Lou Ratté and Robert K. Andrian. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann, 2001. 177 pp. $19.00, paper.
|
| The goals of the authors are clear if ambitious. They wish to "relive for the reader [their] own... experiences as [they] have wrestled with the challenge of creating courses in world history" (2). Each describes in detail a yearlong course she/he has designed, two meant for high-school students and the third for sixth-graders. The approaches of the authors diverge quite a bit, one exploring broad topics over a long period, one exploring individual cities serially over a long period, and the third looking at a very specific area in a narrow slice of time. By relating their different experiences, they hope to demonstrate that "there is no one way to teach world history..." and that "experimentation and exploration of different approaches is essential for world history teachers...." (3). |
1
|
|
Robert Andrian and Mark Williams, both history teachers at the Loomis Chaffee School, fill their essays with practical examples of what to teach and how to teach it in a high-school setting, albeit the somewhat ideal setting of a well-financed private boarding school populated by intelligent and motivated students. Their essays would be quite valuable to any high-school teacher seeking to create or sharpen a world history course. Andrian uses his course to create "world citizens" (164) through studying the interaction of cultures at their mutual boundaries over long periods of time. He describes in detail his yearlong course in world history from 500 B.C.E. to the present, in which he focuses on the twin themes of movement and encounter. He contends that the movement of people and the "encounter of tangible and intangible [cultural] possessions...represent the driving forces behind world history...." (13). Andrian gives a detailed case study of how to teach world history, using a medieval banquet at which students role-play various historic figures to emphasize the interdependence of the medieval world. He also discusses the ways not to teach world history, including a useful list of excessively Eurocentric topics and tactics to be avoided (121–24). When faced with the question of how to include such detailed and fascinating excursions of imagination into a curriculum when facing the demands of Advanced Placement testing, though, Andrian recommends that schools expand the world history courses to include three years of coursework instead of one or two (133). Williams subtitles his first essay "Learning a Lot About a Little," and this adequately sums up his approach. His course takes a careful look at the world from 1492 to 1750, focusing on the Anglophone world and looking in at how events in England and the Americas caused or were caused by events in the rest of the world. Rather than attempt complete coverage of any historical period, Williams chooses to "devote significant time and energy toward motivational goals," hoping to encourage students to develop a lifelong interest in history (69). He develops motivation and interest in his students through the use of lively examples, films, and field trips to stimulate their historical imagination (144). Despite the care with which Williams seeks to include global themes in his course, it sits on the near edge of being a "Europe in the world" course rather than world history. Lou Ratté, director of the Hill Center for World Studies, seeks to show how scholarly interest in cutting-edge theoretical debates can inform teaching in the K-12 curriculum. She decries the gap between historical scholarship and the subject as taught in our schools and outlines her participation and leadership in a six-year-long project for the reform of the sixth-grade curriculum in the Hartford, Connecticut area. Her essays put world history in the context of political and ideological struggles over the meaning of "eurocentrism" in both the more formal scholarly arena of post-colonial studies and in the very practical arena of curricular reform from an administrator's perspective. Her stimulating essays dwell on the practical difficulties of directing course reforms and will be of more use for education students and those who teach Education courses. |
2
|
|
This is a well-written, thoughtful and engaging book. It would be appropriate for advanced undergraduate or masters level courses in Education or in courses designed to teach history majors to teach world history. It would also be useful to current K-12 teachers of world history looking for new ideas or for help designing their own courses. |
3
|
| | |
| Hampden-Sydney College |
Robert H. Blackman |
|
Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.
|