Jennifer Medina

May 19, 2016

Popular History and Family Memories

History is too neat and rosy is a remark found in the scenes from a survey from

How Do Americans Understand Their Past? and it is a remark I came across often when

giving my surveys out to my peers to fill. Learning about the past and feeling connected to

it can be very difficult when schools teach the same history over and over again since

grade school. We are conditioned to learn only a specific kind of history. So when one

wants to learn beyond that, individuals turn to their family and local museums to learn

more about the different types of history that is out there. My survey results can definitely

see that response as well not just from me.

The Presence of the past survey showed me how differently five of my friends and

family interact with history. I found it to be interesting that only one out of 5 felt learning

about the United States as a past was more important when everyone else answered their

family was more important. My results were fairly comparable to those of class of 2014.

Both survey results showed that students felt they were less connected to the past when

studying history in class rather than spending time with family or spending time at a

museum.

Throughout the semester I have been introduced to many different activities that

will help teach history in class. These include:

1. Topic of the week: mid 1600s-1700s New England

-Using the New England Trials activity is a good activity for students to participate and

interact with other students while learning what punishments civilians would receive for

actions that today hold little to no punishment.

2. Topic of the week: Spanish-American War

-Doing the Rough Rider interview activity will be a good exercise for students to learn what

kinds of questions individuals were asked and how their answers depended on whether

they would be selected to be a Rough Rider.

3. Topic of the week: Italian/Irish/German/Jews/Chinese/Mexican immigration

-The Immigration game is a fun activity that has students learn about their respective

immigrant family and have to share their information with others to learn about their

history, which leads them to playing a game. This activity shows and demands students to

think about what they have just learned.

4. Topic of the week: World War II

-Showing students articles and personal belongings of individuals who were in WWII or

items from the that era can help students see how differently lives were then and also feel a

bit of the emotion from letters and short notes from those in the army.

5. Topic of the week: The Great Depression

-The use of comic books can show students how historical events influenced comic books,

something that is very popular now and can show how that kind of media holds a lot of

history, which they probably didnt think possible.

6. Topic of the week: 1920s-1930s

-I will teach history through the comparing of 1920s and 1930s gangsters so students can

see how they differed in their cause of crimes respectively through their decade.
7. Topic of the week: 1960s

-Students can analyze popular songs from the 60s and decide if the lyrics were appropriate

for young girls to be singing. The difference in lyrics from the 1960s to the present can

show students how far music and culture has changed.

8. Topic of the week: 1970s

-Doing the activity of the four stations including students: creating a peace poster, a flower

headband, psychedelic posters, creating their own pop art, etc. can help students

understand the culture of that era and how that has influenced out current society.

9. Topic of the week: 1950s

-Introducing students to the television shows of the 50s can show students how different

the lifestyle of that era has differed to their current lifestyle and even how much television

shows have changed.

10. Topic of the week: Civil War

-For this I would use primary sources to create titles in my class because it gets students to

actually read and participate and use their critical thinking skills rather than the students

just sitting in class and pretending to be involved.