Teaching, Like History, is About Considering Different Perspectives • Jim Swike (Adjunct Instructor, History)

During class on Columbus Day, a student asked me what I thought about Indigenous People’s Day. Another asked what I thought about knocking down statues. These kinds of questions are common in a history class and probably other classes too. They can lead to “hot moments” in the classroom, but they don’t have to if you follow the two basic JEDI principles below.

My responses to questions like this, and my philosophy about teaching in general, are built upon two basic principles: 

•    The teaching of history is the teaching of multiple perspectives. 

•    My number one goal is as an educator is simply to be kind and be helpful. 

When teaching history, then, I am very careful to look at everything from multiple perspectives. Rather than just rip down the statue of Columbus, it would be more useful to have a plaque that provides the variety of perspectives on what he did and did not do. And let’s build other statues celebrating others’ contributions. When teaching the history of our nation, I ask students to consider not only what they might have been taught in school but also I ask them to consider the 1619 Project. Part of being helpful is to help students look at things from a variety of angles. Give them all the information they need to better understand and appreciate our history and guide them as they work through their own thoughts on each issue.

I share a number of JEDI teaching ideas and strategies for your consideration below. But they all really come down to considering things from the students’ perspective and to treating them in a kind and respectful manner. 

Use humor to make class engaging and enjoyable. 

I teach with a healthy sense of humor but, believe me, I have been teaching for a very long time and I’m not doing some stand-up routine in my classes. I’m not here to put on a show, I’m here to teach history. But I do use humor as a way to help students connect to me and to the content. 

For example, my students are required to do presentations that include PowerPoint slides. When introducing the project, I share with them a PowerPoint presentation that I had done when I was taking a class. The assignment for me had been to look at the pros and cons of a specific topic and then, at the end, to indicate which side I thought was more persuasive. I go through my slides quickly to give students a sense of them—and then I get to the last slide. 

It's an image of Julie Andrews singing out in the Swiss Alps. I thought I was being clever, playing with Switzerland being infamous neutral, and that’s the note I wanted to end on. Looking back, it was terrible, I did the assignment all wrong, I bombed it. 

But the students get it, and we all laugh, and I let them see that failure isn’t like a death sentence. I learned from that failure and I persisted, and now I’m their professor. It is important for students to see us as human and for them to know that we see them as human. 

Long after your class is over, students are not going to remember every historical fact that I have taught them. But what people do remember is how your class felt, how engaging it was. I asked students every semester on day 1 and at semester’s end how they feel about learning history. I love when they say, “I like history classes better now because of the way you taught it.”

Keep your content relatable.

We know from cognitive science that students retain information better when it connects to the schema that they already have embedded in their brains. So when teaching them about things that feel like ancient history to them, it’s critical that we constantly make connections to their lived experiences. This is true in all subjects, not just history. 

For example, when teaching about the Black Death, I might offer some parallels to the Covid pandemic. Or when teaching about the Industrial Revolution, I show a photograph and ask them, “If you saw this workplace photograph taken today, what looks wrong with this picture?” and they immediately notice that the women workers have long, loose garments on while standing next to heavy machinery and that there are small children hard at work. I ask them to help me brainstorm who today is most like Cleopatra or like Julius Caesar. 

These extra connections not only bring the subject to life, but also better help students retain the course content. 

Build in extra help supports for your students.

I haven’t forgotten what it’s like to be a college student and I have college-aged children as well, so I am aware of what college can feel like for students. Here are some strategies I use to help all of my students have a better shot at doing the best they can in my classes. 

• I build my Brightspace class websites early and open them at least 1-2 weeks before the semester. I send an email and invite students in so they can get used to the set up. I don’t want the technology to get in the way of their learning.
• I do short weekly videos to explain assignments. This helps students because they can pause my videos, rewind, and watch them again and they don’t have to feel embarrassed about asking “a dumb question.” 
• I’m an adjunct professor so I don’t have formal office hours, but I do stay after class for a few minutes to catch any questions they might have. This helps the students and me, since it typically means fewer individual emails. 
• When students do email me, I respond very quickly. I tend to always have my SCCC email open so if I happen to see a message come in, I just reply right away. I love having “inbox zero,” but more importantly students are so appreciative of prompt replies. 

Be flexible in your academic policies. 

I remember being a student and seeing syllabi from professors where it felt like they were coming at me with a hammer. It can feel overwhelming and intimidating, and I don’t want my students to feel that way about my classes. Some JEDI suggestions:

• Re-read your syllabus and change all of the “thou shalt not” language to say what students can do to perform well in your class. 
• Consider assigning a 59 rather than a 0 on missing assignments. This depends on your class policies, of course, such if you drop lowest grades. A 59 is still an F grade, but it doesn’t completely tank their overall performance in the course if they had a really bad week or two due to things outside of their control. 
• Know that not all students are good test takers. Build in assignments that give them other ways to show they know your course content. I do have midterms and final exams, but the way I’ve weighted my assignments, I put a good emphasis on their PowerPoint presentations so that balances things out for any students who are just bad test takers. 
• Give students options to catch up on their work. Things happen. Life has intervened on your best plans, and you know this happens to students too. Treat them as you would any other fellow human. 
• Encourage students by bringing up previous discussion posts (helps to get their okay ahead of time) and highlight and celebrate their good work with the class. Shine a light on their successes and invite their classmates to give feedback and keep talking through ideas. 
• To help address cheating, especially in real-time online classes, record yourself talking through your content in a unique way. This doesn’t take as much time as you might think, and the videos don’t have to be long. Then ask students questions or give them a quiz specifically based on your video so they cannot look up the answers. 

I hope some of these JEDI strategies can help more of our students at the college to succeed. Ultimately, it is all about simply being kind and respectful to the people in our classes.