Blog Post #6: Historical Writing

I think, especially in history, that students need to be able to voice their own opinion. Having an opinion in history can really engage the students in the content material. The whole point of history is to question how or why these events occurred. I believe that students being able to have their own opinion can create a more engaging writing environment. Although there are times in which students will need to be able to summarize or analyze a historical event, I believe that teachers can create a more historical thinking classroom through opinionated writings. Teachers will need to implement fact based writing in the classroom to help provide assessment feedback for the teachers to find out how much a student knows about a subject, but this form of writing can be overwhelming for students. Teachers need to promote a classroom in which students can question history verbally and in written form.

As I have stated, I believe that students should be able to create what they are interested in questioning or talking about. Teachers should provide a basis in which students can take a concept and try to explain it in a way that interests them. It is nice for teachers to see the creative thinking that students can come up with during a verbal or writing assessment. Students are more engaged when they have an opportunity to express their belief about a certain topic. For example, when talking about the atomic bomb dropped on Japan, students can talk about whether or not they think that is was necessary or not. This allows teachers to see the mindset of the students and see what creative things that they come up with. Students can respond to many forms of literacy. There are many texts and videos that express an opinion towards a specific historical event in a biased way. Students should be able to question these different multimodal texts and form their own opinion on the matter.

When students have formed their creative writing pieces about the historical event or time period, they should be able to demonstrate what they are trying to say. For example, students can create a video or an oral presentation that expresses their viewpoint on the content material. I think that creating a video would be a fun and engaging way for students to express how they feel. Students can get creative and make a video however which way they want to. Teachers should provide multiple ways in which students can apply their writing. The purpose of this application of students’ writing and thought is to provide an outlet in which students can present their ideas to either the classroom or the teacher in a different way. For example, I loved the book Salt to the Sea that I read in my literacy class, but I wanted to tell everyone how I truly felt about it. I think that the digital book talk that we presented provided an outlet for me to express how much I truly cared about the content that I was reading about. If I were to have presented just a normal writing to my classmates, it would not have given the same emotion and persuasion to read the book that I would have liked. Applying what I read to this digital book talk helped me provide a platform in which I could express my attitude toward the book that I read.

I think that teachers can support students in their writings in numerous ways. One way would be to provide a demonstration in which students can follow the model to see how it is done. This can create excitement and relief for the students as they see what the standard is that the teacher is looking for. For example, to go back to the digital book talk, seeing other people’s projects helped me see the expectation and mad me get excited about the numerous ways in which I could convey the information from the book to my classmates. Another way in which teachers can support students during writings and presentations could be to provide specific details for what students need to talk about. Teachers need to be able to break down what is expected of the students and provide clear details as to what the teacher is looking for in these applications. Providing a clear rubric or guideline sheet can help students follow what they need to do. Teachers need to be careful about being too strict with the guidelines. They need to allow students to get creative and think of ways to express themselves without jeopardizing the goal of the project.