By Anonymous, Jun 30, 2009 in Pedagogy and Teaching
Next spring I'll be teaching a course on colonial and revolutionary American history. I've picked up some strategies for teaching the Founding from sessions of the Summer Institute, and I'm particularly interested in utilizing Gordon Lloyd's website on the Constitutional Convention. I'm also fascinated by Jonathan Den Hartog's syllabus and his assigning of an important monograph to each student to review and briefly discuss in class. I'm curious to know how successful this endeavor was. I also wonder if colonialists have had good results from assigning primary sources such as Winthrop's A Model of Christian Charity or excerpts from Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation. As Gary Gregg emphasized, if one of our goals as teachers is to stimulate our students' imagination and inspire them to appreciate and think deeply about the ideals and values of earlier Americans and their institutions, do these primary sources serve us better than fast-moving popular narratives such as Mayflower and 1776? I'd appreciate hearing about previous successes and disappointments from anyone who has taught this subject.
1 Response to "Teaching Colonial/Revolutionary American History"
Aaron Nathaniel Coleman on Jun 30, 2009
Depending on the quality of students, the Winthrop and Bradford material could be hard. If they are moderate students, they should like it. I think the stirring of their imagination comes from the lectures, and relating the importance of their topic to the overall themes of the course and relating it to their own world.
Narratives are good - I've used John Ferling's A LEAP IN THE DARK and it has gone over very well. Let me also suggest Jack Greene's collection of primary sources published by Norton. The first volume goes to 1763 and the second starts in 1763. These are wonderful source books and have served me well - and I have had very good feedback by students on them. The documents are political/constitutional in nature and students seem to relate to them better than social document that explains a social world we no longer have.
This has rambled, I know, but I hope it helps.