Why must everything be so serious? Dull and dry as a stale piece of toast. Please do not misunderstand me. There are times and topics that must be handled with the greatest discretion and in an earnest nature. I do not mean to present myself as the jokester or the fool. But something is missing in higher education and it is so important. Where is the wonder? The excitement in learning?
Think back to when you were younger, when learning was fresh and new. It didn’t matter what the topic was, science or art, math or music, even gym. You were excited to see what the day would bring. You were going to create something, learn something new! We’ve lost that in higher education. We’ve lost the wonder and the fun of learning.
Perhaps that is why I enjoyed teaching middle school so much. I loved to see their faces as they grasped a concept or created something in an ancient way. Instead of droning on about cuneiform, I had them create their own air-dry clay letters to “send” to another student in the class. Instead of telling them about the burial rights of ancient Egypt, they learned how to mummify fruit and created their own tombs complete a protective curse, traps, and all the things that they wanted to take into the afterlife. I taught using food analogies, like pizza to explain the birth and death cycle of a star or gummy lifesavers to create a model of chlorofluorocarbons. My favorite lesson was helping them to discover that the laws of physics truly did help them perform better during a kickball game. A practical application of a complex topic.
Today, our students face so many challenges and our world has changed in way never imagined before. We have students who come from different ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds to which, we as educators, must be cognizant of to minimize any faux pas. But does that mean we must be like Ben Stein in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”? Students completely oblivious to the lesson but the teacher keeps on going like the bunny with the drum. Do we stand in front of a lectern and speak in a monotonous tone and bore everyone into hating our chosen field? How do we engage our online students when they could be in completely different time zone and you never “see” them face to face? How can you bring that joy back into learning?
For me, learning history isn’t just a memorization of dispassionate names, dates and places and then reciting it back. History isn’t like multiplication tables you learned in elementary school. These are people’s lives and their decisions that led them to that point we are investigating. I want them to learn that history isn’t linear nor is it static. Everything is intertwined, interdependent and constantly evolving all over the globe. I want my students to experience my passion for history and to (hopefully) become inspired by it. There is an old axiom – do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life. I get to express my love of history every day to my students and experience the joy of telling them the rest of the story. (Hooray for Paul Harvey!)
I believe in challenging my students so that those who are advanced learners continue to excel and exceed those challenges. But I am ever vigilant for those students who struggle or who require extra assistance. I tell them to meet with me in private and we will go over it together to find ways for them to be successful. As one of my favorite books says on its cover – DON’T PANIC! We’ve all be there at one time or another when we encounter something that is more than we expected and are struggling to understand it. My weakness is math, especially Algebra. I couldn’t understand why you were putting letters with my numbers if I wasn’t writing a check! (And telling my students that usually gets them to smile and relax.) We are all human with our own strengths and weaknesses. My job is to not only convey the knowledge and love of history but to assist my students in finding ways to use their strengths and encouraging them to look beyond any supposed weaknesses.
While pursuing my PhD in Higher Education Administration at NDMU, we spent a great deal of time exploring education topics from diversity to creating new policies to making curriculum changes. I revisited a TED talk by Carol Dweck. She discusses how many students rush from one A to the next in a constant need for validation. During my master’s degree, I realized that I was doing the exact same thing. I kept pushing myself for the next A. It nearly crushed me when I received a B+ in a class! Unfortunately, this is something I still do it today and so do many of our students.
It is time for a change in how we present history. If we can embrace diversity within our classrooms, then why can’t we embrace new ways of engaging our students so that they can expand how they learn and adapt to the challenges of higher education? By giving them the chance to explore creative ways to handle challenges and projects, we are instilling in them skills that they can carry over into their adult lives and can assist them in their future endeavors. Let us embrace new and creative ways of presenting our information so to activate their imaginations and minds. If we can do this, then we can bring the wonder, the excitement, and the joy back in learning. Imagine how those lessons can be applied into the world beyond our classroom!
Seeking History 