Do you hear what I hear? (I hear Christmas music a month late.... and really I'm fine with that.)

Firstly, let me do a shameless plug to all you Logan people (or people that want to be Logan people. This recently came across my desk, and I think it's a good thing to pay attention to. Let's face it, we all want this baby to survive the wrath of this puppet.
Click this please!


'Nuff Said.

      Let's be honest. Thankfully, vocabulary is not as hard to learn in history. Your entry level history course to your entry level biology course is a stark difference in understanding.

You know... "Stark" difference?

History's on a much bigger scale and many of the words are said often. Biology, though it happens all the time, you have to have a microscope to see its basics. One of the first History Teachers that I remembered actually liking was Mrs. Jaussi. Nope. I don't remember much of the specifics that she taught. But it was ancient world history and she taught us the differences in Greek civilizations by having us sit in different areas of the classroom according to what area we were to focus on (Sparta, Athens, etc.). We then as a class took turns teaching each other about our respective areas. If I had a better memory, I might be able to remember the specifics of Ancient Greek, but that was sadly a decade ago.

My, how times have changed.

  But when I really started to get into the subject, I realized that how Mrs. Jaussi taught me was more important than what she taught me. For instance, I had a professor down at Dixie State who was from Virginia, Dr Chip McCleod.

This guy! He shaved off his awesome goatee looks like.... what a pity.

Again, I don't remember much of what he taught aside from regular old, run-o-the-mill American History. But the way that he taught the Civil War (being from the South), was fantastic. He said phrases such as "them Southern troops were like 'Oh, he** nah, you ain't comin' in here' and 'Kennedy wasn't going to put up with that monkey business.'" Perhaps, it is what any good professor of history is good at. They are able to know the material and tell a good story.  The words that he chose as well as the way that he spoke them gave them passion and life. Otherwise, it would have been just as efficacious to stay home and read just the text.

Wood, Harmon and Hedrick were basically on the same page. They agree that there should be a strategy for learning vocabulary and that time should be set aside to learn it. I agree, but I don't know if you need to make a HUGE deal about it. Honestly, you use the same vocabulary all the time in history. If there is a word, person or location that you will need to use often, I'd say giving it five minutes would suffice. Heck, just handing out a glossary or keyword sheet would probably suffice. In addition, I'd say just make sure to let your students know that you are expecting them to ask if they don't understand the topic. I think that can be a problem sometimes. We may have taught for 10, 20 years. They just got here. A truly great teacher and prophet, John Taylor once said "It is true intelligence for a man to take a subject that is mysterious and great in itself, and to unfold and simplify it so that a child can understand it."

I think the key here is critical pedagogy. If you are able to adjust to your students method of learning, you'll know just  what to say. Bye ya'll!