This week was the beginning of our second semester here in Colorado, and in my A.P. United States history class we changed from a block (95 min) class last semester to a skinny (45 min) class. We are up to the Progressive Movement and have found our numbers shrink from 26 to 12, due to the workload and couple of minor accidents… just kidding.
During our 2-week Christmas break I asked my students to not even look at their history book and just enjoy their break, and I am pleased to report they followed my instructions. So this week we took a pause to discuss American historiography. We’ve covered all of the various movements since the 18th Century: Romantics, Rationalists, Realists, Progressives, and up to the more recent Social, Conservative, and New Left movements.
However, I wanted to mention the fabulous discussion we had today that evolved organically and was not intended. The prompt centered on the question, “What is a historian?” All I can say is I wish I had recorded the discussions, simply wonderful!
[Note: Above photo is me -seated in the center- with some of my regular United States history class students from a few years ago. I do not take a lot of photos.]
