I was checking out my Google Reader and came across the title of a blog post that caught my eye. The title was "Constructing Empathy". I clicked on it and began to read. I didn't even realize that the post was written by my professor, Ira Socol, until I was finished watching the second video.
Anyways, the post covers a lot of great stuff about creating history in more of a real, human, empathetic way in the classroom. It is true that we spruce up some of our terrible historic events and just turn them into dates and numbers. I also liked how Ira said that the video he posted covering the tsunami in Japan was the best one he'd seen yet because it was eye-level and longer than a short clip. Having clips like this in the classroom will make students realize that these are real human beings and not just numbers on the death count on television. It will make them realize that all of the men and women who died in historical events are not just numbers in our textbooks but human beings that had thoughts, feelings, and emotions of their own.
What are some other ways to create more of an empathetic environment in the classroom when it comes to history and current events?
I agree with Ira that the video is better without narration because that way it serves as a primary source; I think primary sources need to be used in classrooms more often instead of getting everything from someone else's interpretation. Don't get me wrong- learning from experts who have studied the primary sources definitely has its uses because interpreting a source in the context of its time and culture as well as in light of other sources takes a LOT of time and studying.
ReplyDeleteI also think there definitely needs to be a bit more context around the source than what was given in Ira's post. He probably intentionally did not want to go too in depth with each example he gave, but I watched most of those videos confused and wondering what the heck was going on. All I saw was conflict. I didn't know why, I didn't know who or where or anything. It makes it difficult to even keep track of what I'm seeing. Students should not be expected to interpret and discuss something when they don't know anything about it. So, obviously you'd want to give at least an overview which I'm sure Ira would agree with- it just might not have been within the purpose of the post to do so.