This practical book addresses the consistent questions that were posed by secondary social studies teachers during professional learning sessions. In particular, it examines ways to break through the inclination and perception expressed by many teachers that "my kids cannot do that." Drawing on 22 years as a high school history teacher, 7 years as a state level curriculum specialist, and extensive work with in-service teachers across the country, the author provides research-based guidance for engaging students in investigating the past. Lesh examines ways to develop effective questions that guide historical inquires, how to utilize discussion in the classroom, and how to align assessment to inquiry. He also shows teachers how to incorporate difficult histories within an inquiry framework. Each chapter uses a specific lesson, framed by student work, to illuminate approaches in real classroom scenarios. Topics include The Pullman Strike of 1894, the Marcus Garvey question, Dust Bowl Migrants, Mao and Communist China, the LGBTQ+ fight for rights, and multiple lessons from World War I. This follow-up to the author's book "Why Won't You Just Tell Us the Answer?" fills in gaps and expands tools and classroom examples to assist today's teachers. Book Features: Offers ways to promote teacher growth as it pertains to historical thinking. Demonstrates how to align investigating the past with the needs of reluctant readers and students with special needs. Provides lesson materials and instructional guidance. Addresses how to teach difficult subjects, such as LGBTQ+ history. Aligns historical literacy with inquiry-based instruction.
Every major measure of students' historical understanding since 1917 has demonstrated that students do not retain, understand, or enjoy their school experiences with history. Bruce Lesh believes that this is due to the way we teach historylecture and memorization. Over the last fifteen years, Bruce has refined a method of teaching history that mirrors the process used by historians, where students are taught to ask questions of evidence and develop historical explanations. And now in his new book 'Why Won't You Just Tell Us the Answer? he shows teachers how to successfully implement his methods in the classroom. Students may think they want to be given the answer. Yet, when they are actively engaged in investigating the pastthe way professional historians dothey find that history class is not about the boring memorization of names, dates, and facts. Instead, it's challenging fun. Historical study that centers on a question, where students gather a variety of historical sources and then develop and defend their answers to that question, allows students to become actual historians immersed in an interpretive study of the past. Each chapter focuses on a key concept in understanding history and then offers a sample unit on how the concept can be taught. Readers will learn about the following:, Exploring Text, Subtext, and Context: President Theodore Roosevelt and the Panama Canal, Chronological Thinking and Causality: The Rail Strike of 1877, Multiple Perspectives: The Bonus March of 1932, Continuity and Change Over Time: Custer's Last Stand, Historical Significance: The Civil Rights Movement, Historical Empathy: The Truman-MacArthur Debate By the end of the book, teachers will have learned how to teach history via a lens of interpretive questions and interrogative evidence that allows both student and teacher to develop evidence-based answers to history's greatest questions.
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