Becoming Historians

In this unique collection, the memoirs of eleven historians provide a fascinating portrait of a formative generation of scholars. Born around the time of World War II, these influential historians came of age just before the upheavals of the 1960s and ’70s and helped to transform both their discipline and the broader world of American higher education. The self-inventions they thoughtfully chronicle led, in many cases, to the invention of new fields—including women’s and gender history, social history, and public history—that cleared paths in the academy and made the study of the past more capacious and broadly relevant. In these stories—skillfully compiled and introduced by James Banner and John Gillis—aspiring historians will find inspiration and guidance, experienced scholars will see reflections of their own dilemmas and struggles, and all readers will discover a rare account of how today’s seasoned historians embarked on their intellectual journeys.

Becoming a History Teacher is a collection of thoughtful essays by history teachers, historians, and teacher educators on how to prepare student teachers to think historically and to teach historical thinking.

Considers what aspiring and mature historians need to know about the discipline of history in the United States today.

We find our way forward by going back. The invented history of the Western world is crumbling fast, Anishinaabe writer Patty Krawec says, but we can still honor the bonds between us. Settlers dominated and divided, but Indigenous peoples won't just send them all "home." Weaving her own story with the story of her ancestors and with the broader themes of creation, replacement, and disappearance, Krawec helps readers see settler colonialism through the eyes of an Indigenous writer. Settler colonialism tried to force us into one particular way of living, but the old ways of kinship can help us imagine a different future. Krawec asks, What would it look like to remember that we are all related? How might we become better relatives to the land, to one another, and to Indigenous movements for solidarity? Braiding together historical, scientific, and cultural analysis, Indigenous ways of knowing, and the vivid threads of communal memory, Krawec crafts a stunning, forceful call to "unforget" our history. This remarkable sojourn through Native and settler history, myth, identity, and spirituality helps us retrace our steps and pick up what was lost along the way: chances to honor rather than violate treaties, to see the land as a relative rather than a resource, and to unravel the history we have been taught.

Becoming Hopi is a comprehensive look at the history of the people of the Hopi Mesas as it has never been told before. The product of more than fifteen years of collaboration between tribal and academic scholars, this volume presents groundbreaking research demonstrating that the Hopi Mesas are among the great centers of the Pueblo world.

Thematic emphases in this text include the contacts between European women and those outside European frontiers, sexuality and its importance for the construction of gender over the centuries, and the role of women in the great events and movements in European history and the impact of such events on them.

A revolution in history education is propelling historical thinking and knowing to the forefront of history and social studies education in North America and beyond. Teachers, teacher education programs, schools, and ministries of education across Canada are all among those embracing the idea that knowing history means knowing how to think historically. Becoming a History Teacher is a collection of thoughtful essays by history teachers, historians, and teacher educators on how to prepare student teachers to think historically and to teach historical thinking. Covering the teacher’s experience before, during, and after formal certification, Becoming a History Teacher contains a wide range of resources for teachers and educators, including information on the latest research in history education and examples of successful history teaching activities.

Becoming an Outstanding History Teacher will take the practitioner through the process of improving their practice from start to finish. It offers a wide range of approaches and techniques for teaching and learning that will help to keep students stimulated and engaged when studying history. With history regularly topping public polls of important school subjects and among the most popular subjects to be studied at GCSE, this book considers the components which make an outstanding history teacher and how best to ensure students are motivated and maximise their potential. Focusing on all aspects of teaching history, it provides a step-by-step discussion of the development of lessons and covers a wealth of topics, including: long-, medium-, and short-term planning the classroom environment managing all student abilities dealing with interpretations and sources arranging history fieldwork formative and summative assessment setting meaningful and effective homework. Packed full of tried-and-tested strategies and activities that are easy to implement, this is essential reading for both newly qualified and experienced history teachers who want to ensure outstanding teaching and learning in their classrooms.