I was in love with the beginning of the passage, The Theory Behind the Historical Method, when we are at our last Foundations day. I liked it so much that I emailed direct quotes of it to one of my colleagues who has a great passion for history like we all do! She loved the parts I sent to her, they motivated both of us!!
For Tier One the part that I keep going back to is, "Seeking personal or local connections to history whenever possible." This is one of the unselfish reasons I enjoy doing summer workshops that are about history. In reality, the other parts are completely selfish! I love history, I love traveling, I love learning...see, they're all selfish! The unselfish reason I do it is for my students. Many of them will NEVER travel outside of the state of California, and many of them may never even travel outside of the County of San Diego. I love bringing back real pictures and stories of my experiences to get them motivated to want more out of their life. To show that history is still there for them to see. This is so encouraging to them and it really brings out passion for history that they never knew they had. It is truly a blessing to be able to be a facilitator of learning and joy for history. Bringing back primary source documents, reading secondary sources and historical fiction to bring it even more alive for them has been so fun! I also really enjoy bringing in different perspectives of historical events, like many of you do! My colleague, Nancy, is great about looking at a different perspective than me and it truly is a great collaboration and wonderful way to get me out of my comfort zone. By doing this she really allows me to bring more to my students than I would if I hadn't had a deep discussion with her.
I truly enjoy history and looking at Tier One, I know I can do an even better job of bringing it alive and making connections for my students.
