Transforming History: A Guide to Effective, Inclusive, and Evidence-Based Teaching

by Mary Jo Festle

Overview

Teaching history well is not just a matter of knowing history—it is a set of skills that can be developed and honed through practice. In this theoretically informed but eminently practical volume, Mary Jo Festle examines the recent explosion of research on the teaching and learning of history. Illuminated by her own work, Festle applies the concept of "backward design" as an organizing framework to the history classroom. She provides concrete strategies for setting up an environment that is inclusive and welcoming but still challenging and engaging.
Instructors will improve their own conceptual understandings of teaching and learning issues, as well as receive guidance on designing courses and implementing pedagogies consistent with what research tells us about how students learn. The book offers practical illustrations of assignments, goals, questions, grading rubrics, unit plans, and formats for peer observation that are adaptable for courses on any subject and of any size. Transforming History is a critical guide for higher and secondary education faculty—neophytes and longtime professionals alike—working to improve student learning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299326807
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	04/14/2020
Edition description:	1
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	1,122,185
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Mary Jo Festle is the Maude Sharpe Powell Professor of History and the associate director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning at Elon University in North Carolina.

Editorial Reviews

As director of a teaching and learning center, each year I would give incoming faculty a book on teaching that they would find not only immediately useful, but one to which they could return time and again. Mary Jo Festle's excellent contribution certainly hits that mark.”—Steven S. Volk, Oberlin College


“Festle's command of the scholarship of teaching and learning in history is impressive, as is her integration of theory and practice. This book should be on the shelves of any well-stocked collection in a university teaching and learning center.”—Joel Sipress, University of Wisconsin-Superior

From the Publisher