Regan A. R. Gurung

Read Chapters 2 & 3 - 3/14/2013

Coverage or training in historical training? Chapter 2 suggests the former is preferable, but many college instructors, citing lack of education about basic history, drill content, content, content and see that as the need. Why can't we have our cake and eat it too? Emphasize coverage while modeling the kind of historical thinking that we use in our own historical research? We can do this by adopting the meta techniques on display at TAO. Teach the material, but model the methodology in your delivery. Methodology also critiqued: lecture-heavy, students learn through osmosis from lectures/readings. Lack of attention to thoughtful assessments. "Coverage model" as a facts first approach. Andrews and Burke propose the "five Cs" of historical thinking: change over time, context, casuality, contingency, and complexity. Opponents of coverage have different approaches, but all ask students to directly enter a contested discourse in which they produce their own judgements and argue for them on the basis of historical evidence. "Asks students to argue in writing for the inclusion of either Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" or Paul Johnson's "A History of the American People" in a hypothetical adult education course, thereby requiring them to think critically about the interpretations of two very different overviews of U.S. history." Historical thinking as "counter-intuitive" because students assume there is one right history, not that all interpretations are constructions. Not to say it’s all just a matter of opinion. Interpretations need to be justified on the basis of evidence. "A sober look at a century of history testing provides no evidence for the 'gradual disintegration of cultural memory' or a 'growing historical ignorance.' The only thing growing seems to be our amnesia of past ignorance."

In chapter 3, "pedagogical narcissism," teaching others as we learned. What worked on us will work for us. Emulating the professors that inspired us is similiarly problematic. "In short, we rely on the default pedagogy of the discipline--packing texts, packing interpretations, packing the students--without thinking carefully about what students learn from it." Similar dynamic to Chapter 2. Invite students into disciplinary conflicts. Demonstrate the contested nature of that discussion.… (más)

Regan Gurung (who visited Boise State in 2010), is an expert in the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning. He is a frequently pubished author on this topic and this particular book clearly outlines the process faculty might wish to employ when they investigate why (or why don't) students learng in my classroom? The book explores and defines teaching effectiveness. We're encouraged not to beleive that 70% of our students passing a course means we're a good teacher. Sometimes we teach in ways that don't elicit learning as well as we might imagine. This book helps the faculty member ask the tough questions of what would help me be the best teacher?… (más)