Historians Conference for MS/HS Students

What is it?

Have you ever wondered what Historians do when they have meetings? What do they talk about?  Are these meetings some sort of mass debates of events from the past? or contests of who knows more about the past? 

In this first post, I will share my experience in one of these conferences as well as how I was able to introduce this concept into the secondary Social Studies classroom.

Why is it important for students?

In 2010, I was teaching middle school History.  I always wanted to make my classes more interesting, but realized that many of my students wanted to do more “fun projects” in class.  So, I reached out to other colleagues and continued to look more beyond the textbook and curriculum. I determined to search for History content that is meaningful and relates to modern day issues. I believe that the subject of History can be just as important for career skills as Science and Mathematics.

I joined the American Historical Association and was intrigued by their annual meetings. I thought, “I need to see what contemporary historians are talking about” and what are history professors teaching in university courses. I did not think at that time that I would be able to use much information for my own middle school level classes. It was purely for my own professional interests.

At the annual meeting, programs were available to help guide your weekend.  History fans would love the variety of events that were offered.  There were workshops, poster sessions, presentations, film sessions, lectures, and meetups.  Like Comic-Con for Historians, without the costumes. There was something for everyone.  For example, there were: Employment tables and interviewing workshops, urban and rural histories, marriage roles and racial relations in the Atlantic World, etc. There were a few presentations on K-12 History education as well. How can my students experience this exposition?

“How can middle school and high school students practice real historiography? How can they see and practice what historians do?”

How to do it?

As I walked around the hotel conference center and checked out some of the sessions, I began to notice that there is a big disconnection between all the topics at the conference and what is being taught in the History classrooms. So many topics and subtopics are discarded in the K-12 classroom basically because there is just no time. How can middle school and high school students practice real historiography? How can they see and practice what historians do?

Here’s what I did:

I piloted a Historians Group. They would be asked to do two things:

1. “Call for Papers” - Produce a short abstract of their topic.

2. Present their findings to the rest of the group in a visual capacity.

I had to start small since this would be on a volunteer basis. I initially invited high performing students, and students who needed more of a challenge.

1. Call for Papers. With a final count of ten students, I asked them to choose a topic on a part of history that they wanted to know more about.  Then they were to go deeper in research.  Each group member had to submit their proposals in the form of a one page abstract. After I reviewed and approved each of the proposals, they had to read each other’s abstracts and generate questions for the presenter. That way, they are an involved audience for each other. 

2. Presentations. Then, I created a date for presentations.  Usually during lunch time.  They had to be short to allow time for questions. Overall the presentation took about four weeks, since we only did them once a week.

“They had ownership of the entire process.  From topic choice, research, composing their abstract, to creating their presentation.”

  For example, one student wanted to learn more about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII.  I challenged him to go beyond the facts and statistics.   To try to imagine that your audience already knows the basic details about the event.  My question to him was, “What is something that might not be taught in regular History classes?”  He also was interested in photography, so I encouraged him to try to combine both interests. He submitted a proposal of a Japanese photographer who survived the attack and was one of the first to capture the immediate effects of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima - Yoshito Matsushige (1913-2005). His abstract and presentation was about learning about the bombing through the lens of a local person. An abstract from another student was called ‘How the Black Death was a blessing, not just a curse’. She shared sources on how wages rose, bargaining agreements between workers and owners were established, and how there were improvements in medicine. They had ownership of the entire process.  From topic choice, research, composing their abstract, to creating their presentation.

“They liked that they learned from each other, rather than the teacher being front and center.”

What are the enduring effects of this for students?

At the end of this project, I had the students do a reflection on Google Forms. According to the feedback, the students liked how they were able to choose any topic that they wanted.  They liked how it did not require a long research paper (the abstract and presentations were short) Also, they liked that they learned from each other, rather than the teacher being front and center. Lastly, they liked that they learned things that might not be taught in a K-12 History class.

All of the participants answered that they would definitely do this again.  They were already thinking of their next topic to present.  

This is just the start.  I am glad that the students had a glimpse of what historians do, and how they come up with different topics for research.  With more time, I will make this project more real-world by introducing a theme for all the presentations.  For example, “Change”.  I would tie in how historians propose their topics so as to convince book publishers to pay them to write a book on their topic.  Also, there is an option for a poster presentation on their topic that they can display out in the hallways of the school.  Again, this is a start and I am happy that these students see History as something that is alive and useful in the modern world.

Need some inspiration? Try some of these lessons that your students will enjoy!