November

Avoiding the Lure of Historical Presentism.

In reading the article, The Historical Method; Building Student Understanding of the Past, one aspect of the tier one stategies seemed particularly interesting and challenging. As a learner I find it very difficult to avoid historical presentism. While reading I often find myself judging the actions of historical figures, based on my own values. Being that this is difficult for me I can only imagine how difficult this skill is for a 5th grader. In my teaching I have always mentioned the importance of this to my class, but until now I had never thought about the importance of teaching this as a skill. Rather than just mentioning that people in the past had different values, beliefs, and standards is not enough. It is important to build a background for this type of understanding.

I think this skill can be seen through narrative writing. Through a narrative writing students are asked to build characters, emotions, and actions. Writing a historical narrative would give the students the opportunity to develop the skill of Avoiding the Lure of Historical Presentism.