Just Another Average Monday

Last week I was beginning to feel really run-down: tired and cranky, frustrated with my lack of progress and not knowing everything when I need it, and basically needing a break.

On Friday I went to an all-day workshop on teaching reading, then drove two and a bit hours to a tiny country town for a two-day conference. Friday and Saturday nights were spent at the "local" with lovely like-minded educationalists, while Saturday and Sunday were spent with said educationalists in various workshops, followed by driving home, thinking about the planning I needed to do, and not doing any of it.

And so I find myself back at school, having had no real downtime, but somehow feeling a little re-energised. School today was uneventful, but I was in a better frame of mind, so even though I dealt with some of the same behaviour challenges and the like, I feel better about it. Maybe that's just because we've moved onto a new unit of work, and I'm kind of hoping that a lack of interest in the material could have been one of the problems in the last unit - hopefully I can inject a little more interest into the next unit of work (part-Ancient Greek History, part Australian Government).

Highlights of the day:
"Miss, does the Government help pay for school?"
"We love you Miss!" (yes, really. :-))
"Miss, how did the Labor party sack Kevin Rudd?"
From the same student: "Miss, why did Gough Whitlam get fired?"

On a little tangent: "Miss, if the Queen goes to McDonalds, does she get it for free?"

Reflecting on BSSS History rationale

The BSSS's rationale for the study of History in years 11 and 12 makes perfect sense to me. I like that emphasis is placed on the role of history in shaping an individual's sense of where they fit in the world, as well as shaping their understanding of cultural heritages and why values and beliefs vary from one culture to another.

I'm also pleased to see that the rationale calls attention to the fallibility of history, its flexibility of interpretation and that various theoretical approaches to history, be they feminist history, Marxist, post-colonial, marginalised, indigenous and so on, can both illuminate history from another angle and problematise some elements of history.

The rationale compares quite closely with my own reason for teaching history. I've always found it an interesting topic and one that sheds light on the modern world and how we live today. I like that looking at the world through an historians' eyes helps us to be more accepting of different cultures, more tolerant, and yet at the same time more critical and analytical. The old adage rings true: "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."

A definition of History

Reading the NSW Board of Studies History syllabus, I quite liked the introduction to the discipline of history. It's not often I actually am struck by an eloquent, all-encompassing yet realistic piece of text like this in such formal documents:

"History is a disciplined process of inquiry into the past that allows students to locate themselves in the broad continuum of human experience. It enables students to appreciate and enjoy the human endeavours and achievements of the past, both for their own intrinsic interest and for their legacy to later generations. History provides opportunities for students to explore human actions in a range of historical contexts and encourages them to develop understanding of motivation, causation, consequence and empathy.

The study of history provides the intellectual skills to enable students to critically analyse and interpret sources of evidence in order to construct reasoned explanations, hypotheses about the past and a rational and informed argument. History also enables students to understand, deconstruct and evaluate differing interpretations of the past. The cognitive skills of analysis, evaluation and synthesis underpin the study of history and equip students with the ability to
understand and evaluate the political, cultural and social events and issues that have shaped the world around them.