The Status Of World History Instruction In American Secondary Schools

The one-year course in world history, popular in some quarters, does not seem to have made much headway. High school level courses on world-history are one of the many responses to the World Wars, yet said courses have never been recommended by a committee of national scope on which there were any historians. Opinion surveys among teachers and students indicate that no other part of the typical social studies program is more criticized than the tenth grade level one year elective world history course. These courses are increasing in number, textbooks are multiplying, and a few interesting experiments are being worked out--yet there is no general agreement on organization, scope, objectives, teaching strategies, or assessment in these courses. This document is a summary of historical and recent surveys on curricular trends in social studies with regard to world history, to help educators assess what impact they may have on the teaching of world history in the 1970s.

This work embodies the most thorough treatment yet made in this country of the subject indicated by the title. The book opens with what history is, the problem of grading history, and the question of aims and values. The aim of history teaching is "to make the world intelligible." Next, the subject of history in schools of Europe and the United States; then, the biographical approach and the study of social groups. Practical methods in making history real by using visualizations are discussed, along with textbooks and their use, collateral reading, the historical method, correlation, and examinations. The critical chapters--dealing with the meaning of history, with the materials of history, with the aims and values of history-teaching, and with the grading of history--are models of clear, logical thinking expressed in simple but concrete language.

The Weathermen. The Symbionese Liberation Army. The FALN. The Black Liberation Army. The names seem quaint now, but there was a stretch of time in America when there was on average more than one significant terrorist act in the U.S. every week. The FBI combated these groups and others as nodes in a single revolutionary underground, dedicated to the violent overthrow of the American government. Thus began a decade-long battle between the FBI and these homegrown terrorists, compellingly and thrillingly documented in Days of Rage.

The extraordinary true story of Ruby Bridges, the first Black child to integrate a New Orleans school -- now with simple text for young readers! In 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges walked through an angry crowd and into a school, changing history. This is the true story of an extraordinary little girl who became the first Black person to attend an all-white elementary school in New Orleans. With simple text and historical photographs, this easy reader explores an amazing moment in history and celebrates the courage of a young girl who stayed strong in the face of racism.

“Should be in the hands of every history teacher in the country.”— Howard Zinn James Loewen has revised Teaching What Really Happened, the bestselling, go-to resource for social studies and history teachers wishing to break away from standard textbook retellings of the past. In addition to updating the scholarship and anecdotes throughout, the second edition features a timely new chapter entitled "Truth" that addresses how traditional and social media can distort current events and the historical record. Helping students understand what really happened in the past will empower them to use history as a tool to argue for better policies in the present. Our society needs engaged citizens now more than ever, and this book offers teachers concrete ideas for getting students excited about history while also teaching them to read critically. It will specifically help teachers and students tackle important content areas, including Eurocentrism, the American Indian experience, and slavery. Book Features: An up-to-date assessment of the potential and pitfalls of U.S. and world history education. Information to help teachers expect, and get, good performance from students of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Strategies for incorporating project-oriented self-learning, having students conduct online historical research, and teaching historiography. Ideas from teachers across the country who are empowering students by teaching what really happened. Specific chapters dedicated to five content topics usually taught poorly in today’s schools.