Teaching Philosophy
Most people view history as unchanging, unbiased, and only marginally relevant to their lives. Generally, a traditional history classroom involves memorization of “objective” facts that are quickly forgotten, and tests that are equally unmemorable. However, today’s history is much more active, participatory, and diverse. My classes revolve around asking deep, relevant, and profound questions such as: “How is history used to manipulate your thinking?” or “How can we learn from how people in the past navigated epidemics and pandemics?” or even “Are we happier today than in the past?” Our classes revolve around open-ended questions which students can apply to their present lives. History is more than just dead people who did great things, we can use it to look at a variety of peoples’ experiences to challenge our current society, our identity, and avoid misconceptions.