His-Story

While I can't recall much of my early Social Studies experiences, I do remember somewhere along the road the concept of "his" story. Basically, who ever is telling the story is getting their perspective into the history books. More times than not, it's usually the story of the "winner" or the story of the person/side holding more power and money (these two usually go hand and hand, right?) As an elementary student, I am almost certain I was only exposed to one side or perspective of the story for any event in history.
Approaching teaching in this manner provides a great disservice to all of our students. My group and I are doing our notebook unit on the American Revolution. I pretty much had to reteach myself about this event in our history (it was very interesting too!) but also consider ways I would teach portions of this era to my students. One of our essential questions addresses taking in to account the point of view of the British. I found it interesting to research and read about this view point of the Revolutionary War-one that I don't think I have ever truly considered before. Students would no doubt find researching both sides interesting as well!
It is important to teach and show students that there is always more than one way to view an event or time in history. Just like we are told to teach students that there is more than one way to approach a math problem, or as Mrs. Toliver would say, "There is more than one way to skin a cat!" we need to point out to our students that there are always two sides to every story.
Maxim, page 87 states "Provide every child with the time, opportunities, resources, understanding, and affection to achieve the important goals of social studies education." It is important to address individual differences among our students and show our appreciation for them as unique individuals. Biases must be eliminated from the elementary school environment. Showing students multiple points of view and and teaching them to consider alternate perspectives will help to open their eyes and their minds to a diverse and multicultural world