Where Historical Learning and Citizenship Intertwine
The content of this article is response to Carla Peck essay “Peering Through a Kaleidoscope: Identity, Historical Understanding and Citizenship in Canada.
Historical events are not one-dimensional, different cultural, racial and ethnic groups view events with different sentiments. If we are only looking through one lens (our own perspective) we will miss out on three dimensional construct. This three dimensional construct contains ones ethnic origins, location, heritage etc. Peck’s study focused on finding how students connected with historical matter, they were presented with a myriad of significant Canadian events and asked to choose ten (of which were significant to them) and categorize those ten events into one of the three narrative templates (each of which present Canada as a whole in a different light). Students choose narratives and historical events that were in sync with their ethnic backgrounds. These results suggest that there must be a greater link between historical events and citizenship.
Citizenship is defined as “the state of being vested with the rights, privileges, and duties of a citizen.” This is fostered from a young age and is enveloped within our democratic rights.
One of the curriculum objectives is for students to ‘know what it means to be a Canadian’ generally this objective is met by attaining facts yet not delving into the breadith of the matter of various cultural lens and what this means to students personally. Historical accounts/ narratives cover the ‘basic questions of who, what, when, where and how’ (pg 63.) But what we need to be more concerned about address is discussing with our students ‘what matters in history and why is it important to know this’ (pg 63.) Each new generation looks upon the face of history and reinterprets’ it based on present day advances, technologies, politics etc. Thus the ownership is projected on the teachers, learning of students can be effected by culturally embedded biases about historical events, and multicultural values within the classroom need to be further developed.
Ultimately as a pre-service teacher I am concerned with learning how to affectively teach my future students. Knowing that we each hold a cultural identity that in some aspects defines how we relate to the world. As a culturally sensitive teacher I cannot shield my students from facts and events that occurred no matter their cultural orientation. I can be an informed teacher that takes the time to look up multiple opinions and beliefs. That can look a great many ways; for instance I can look up primary sources or contact firsthand accounts of living decedents of the event (if available.) I also strongly believe in constructive discussion that showcases of different perspectives within a historical setting. Students would be asked to connect with certain people groups and flesh out what was important to them and how they can relate this to their own lives.
An important feature for any historical lesson is for the educator to sit down and write down the basic who, what, when, where and how. Identify the authors biases, and your own personal biases. Then take time to think what is important for the students to know about this historical period and how can I present it to them from a neutral standpoint. Since a neutral standpoint is difficult to attain perhaps the idea of bias should be addressed within the classroom.
Questions:
-Should we change the system of thought that goes into the social studies curriculum or modify the curriculum to meet the student’s various cultural heritage?
-If historical thinking is so closely situated with how students perceive their identities how can we help this to be a positive process?
-Canada is a multicultural country that accepts persons from all over the world. So if we teach from a primarily anglo-saxon perspective, students from different backgrounds will have difficulty relating and answering the internal question ‘why is this important to me?’
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