One of the best ways to teach history to undergraduate students is to give them the opportunity to think historically, that is, to apply in the classroom the same questions and critical analysis that professional historians do during their research and writing process. My principle goal as a classroom instructor, whether in an introductory survey class or an advanced course, is to push students to create a classroom dialogue about events that occurred during the past. Since I am committed to providing a liberal arts education, my goal is to aid the institution for whom I teach in creating educated people--individuals who can leave the institution not as trained experts in a narrow field but as curious individuals capable of adapting to many of life’s situations.

It is imperative that history courses focus on developing a student’s writing skills as a way of developing their critical thinking and public speaking skills. Each week students in my survey course write one-page response papers to a selected reading where I ask them to reflect not only about the content of the reading but how the historian they are reading reached his or her conclusions. I have purposefully chosen readings that provoke debate and compel students to focus on what evidence makes up the story that is history. For instance, when I teach the Second World War students read a debate over the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After students have had a chance to read the primary and secondary evidence from several different perspectives and after they have written their own response papers, I have the students debate the topic using the information they now have about the historical decision. Only I add a twist to the classroom debate; I have students argue the debate from the side with which they do not agree. If a student wrote a paper in favor of dropping the bomb, then they are asked while in class to join the side that opposes the decision (and vice versa). This pushes students to consider not just their own views but also those of people who disagree with them, a valuable life skill.

Furthermore, my writing assignments allow students the opportunity to think as historians by having them trudge through the process that historians do during their daily work. Students must read closely the primary and secondary sources, formulate effective questions to interrogate material, construct a thesis from evidence after reading and asking questions, and finally, they have the chance to present their views to their peers in class. These writing assignments not only encourage deeper thought about historical topics, allowing every student to formulate their own opinions, but they also persuade more reluctant students to do the assigned reading. Moreover, I believe providing structured comments on students’ assignments is an important part of their learning process. When grading students’ papers, I look for logic and creativity in their thought process as well as patterns of error in their writing. If I notice a student struggling with passive voice, I focus on helping them with this problem by pointing the student toward a resource that clearly explains the rule. If I see a particularly innovative argument, I praise the student and follow it up with a challenging question.

When lecturing I engage students in an interactive discussion of historical topics. I use my own passion for the past to foster interest among the students. For example, during my Civil War lectures on battlefields and American memory, I often bring up personal stories from my time working with the National Park Service at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. This technique promotes a dialogue about the current relevancy of the past, and students are frequently eager to share their own pertinent experiences. Since historical knowledge is imperative for the promotion of an educated citizenry, my American history lectures focus on major themes: immigration, migration and exploration; conflicts over land and labor; and the redefinition of citizenship. I test content knowledge through a series of essay examinations that focus on the material that I lecture about in class.

Above all, I want students to question the world around them after they leave my courses. In my classroom, I strive to create a workshop where students can come in and pick up ideas, try them out on me and their classmates, and reject or accept them through a process of critical analysis. History is happening everyday, and by the end of a course if I have students seeking evidence to back up their own assertions about the past, I consider the class a success and believe that they have reached an important place in their educational journey.