Change the World, One Child at a Time

Lisa Hook enthusiastically works towards her dream of becoming a teacher.

Early Inspiration

Lisa Hook grew up in Orange, California and has known she's wanted to become a teacher for a long time. Several experiences working with children over the years have convinced her that she can make a difference in their lives and that she can do that best as a teacher. After considering her options, she decided to pursue a degree at SDSU because of its well-respected teacher education program. Now as a Liberal Studies major, she has begun the course work to achieve her goal. One such course is History 411: World History for Teachers.

Examples of Student Learning Outcomes for History 411

Identify significant events, people, places and methodological questions in World History pre-1500 CE.
Identify significant social historical issues from readings and discussions.
Learn to conduct research that would aid in developing teaching units.
Develop critical reading and interpretation skills of both primary source evidence and secondary scholarly readings.
Synthesize and interpret, in short writing assignments,historical themes from scholarly readings and primary sources.
Integrate multiple resources, including textbooks, teacher workbooks, and scholarly articles for effective use in teaching World History.
Generate and answer questions about historical people, places, concepts, and events through research and discussion.
Develop a portfolio of all research and analytical writing assignments, organized around student-selected historical themes and concepts.
Conduct classroom observation of a public school World History class to experience real world application of course concepts.

Developing Critical Skills

History 411 is a course on how to teach and understand history. Students develop the inquisitive and analytical skills of a historian while learning how these skills are essential to the instruction of history itself.

Although Lisa had never been a huge fan of previous history classes and therefore history, this class gave her a new appreciation of the subject. Rather than simply memorizing significant names and dates, students explore overarching historical themes through various inquiry-based assignments and discussions, allowing them to develop a nuanced understanding of the methods and major issues in world history.

Assignments engage students with history in a number of ways. Weekly journal entries prompt students to reflect on historical themes and questions, developing critical skills for understanding and interpreting history. Students further explore their topics in classroom discussions. In one of her journal writing assignments, Lisa explored the thematic topic of food production in ancient India and China.

Conducting and analyzing research are important skills for historians and teachers; students produce short writing assignments analyzing primary sources they've uncovered. Lisa analyzed the teachings of Confucius in the Analects.

Bringing It All Together

After nearly a semester of developing an understanding of history through research, analysis, and discussion students complete several final tasks that bring everything together. Towards the end of the course, they spend 2-5 hours in public school classrooms observing world history classes. The classroom observation is a motivating experience. "It really put everything we learned into perspective," Lisa reflects.

For the final assignment students compile their research and writing assignments into a coherent portfolio. Students organize their portfolios to reflect their understanding of the methods and problems of world history and a cover letter reflects their growth in the course. Lisa's included how her perception of history changed. Her portfolio, as well as her classmates' are now ready to serve as a future teaching resource.

To conclude the course, students participate in an exit interview with the instructor where they discuss their portfolios, their new understanding of world history, as well as their reflections on the course.

Evaluating HIST 411 student achievement

Journal Writing Assignments: "The journal writing assignments gave me an opportunity to connect what I was reading to what we discussed in class and then further to how we could implement these ideas into our own classroom."
Primary Source Analyses: "The primary source analyzes were by far the hardest assignment in the class. By 'hardest' I mean the most mind stretching. This assignment required that we pull from all of our resources that we had learned in class."
Classroom Observation: "Observing the affect the teacher's energy had on her students gave me another spark of inspiration."
Portfolio: "The portfolio was a culmination of our hard work this semester. It is rewarding to see how much I have grown through the course of the semester when all my work is in one place!"

Evaluating the HIST 411 Course

Student journaling, in-class discussions, and frequent assessment of student performance allow Elizabeth Pollard to make adjustments during the course of the semester. For example, when it became clear after the first research assignment that students did not have the library skills to conduct the three research assignments Pollard had set for the class, Pollard arranged for an intensive library session with a reference librarian.
Besides the standard course evaluations, Elizabeth Pollard seeks valuable feedback regarding the course during the exit interviews she conducts with each student individually at the end of the semester.

Making HIST 411 Better

Elizabeth Pollard: "In conversation with colleagues in the History Department, I am continually working to isolate desired learning outcomes in order to make sure that the assignments are designed in such a way as best to reach those outcomes. Additionally, I am in the process of developing clear grading rubrics for each assignment. Finally, as the CSET exams become a reality for school teachers in California, I need to find a way to make sure the learning outcomes of the course match with the practical issue of teachers needing to pass a state exam to certify their capability to teach this subject."

Click here for more information about the Department of History.