Each year when a fresh-faced, bright-eyed group of 8th graders walks into my classroom on the first day, I try to get a single point across that I hope they’ll carry with them throughout the school year and beyond:
History is more than dates and dead guys.

That being said, the question becomes, what is history? To me, history is a living, breathing concept. It is alive with us every day and shapes not only who we are, but who we will become as a society and as an individual. History pulses through our veins, traveling to our minds and hearts, and having an impact in every choice we make, or in every choice we don’t make. History just is.

Everyone has history. The idea that a thirteen year old is involved in making history, even if its just her own at this point in her life, relates the subject to her life. Because many teenagers are self involved, the fact that this subject is a part of them like no other is a starting point for why history should be important to them. Occasionally I get a student who will ask “When am I ever going to use this subject or the skills you’re teaching in my life?”- my response? You make history every minute of every day!

Many times an educator, especially those in the primary grades whose main interest was never history or social studies, will teach a course in a way that does not reflect the philosophy of “living history”. History will simply be taught, it will not be done. By offering students the chance to do history, that is participate in the exploration of historical events, it will leave a lasting impression on the student. When a subject is dry, and even the teacher has no interest, how can the teacher expect the student to like the subject? By offering energy, excitement, and enterprise (the three “e’s”), an educator has the potential to excite a student about the past and give them a desire to reshape the present.