INTRODUCTION TO THE TEACHING PRACTICE:
In Jan’s global history classes, he focuses on intercultural understanding or the so-called history of mentality and personalisation, as common principles.
Drawing materials from his Ph.D. about the mentality of the samurai in late Tokugawa-era and his current project map for the silk road, he uses fictional texts and narratives to teach about global history. These types of sources, on which the teaching practice is based upon, seem to be more suitable than more traditional factual and historical sources for the purposes of teaching Global History.
To visualise places and routes where history took place (many students find it hard to imagine or picture these), Jan organises lessons following multiple points of interest on a map. In every city or place, as well as interesting events, there is an effort to connect it to a piece of history and geography.
APPLYING THIS TEACHING PRACTICE:
Teachers may choose a topic such as the Silk Road or the Roman Empire, and instead of exploring it in traditional chronological terms, they can look at social practice or phenomenon, for example, trade, as a focus point. By changing the focus, this teaching practice can give a more accurate insight into how everyday life was experienced.
This teaching practice encourages looking and reserving space for certain social groups which are often underrepresented. For example, women, children, and minorities. It should be noted that this approach will thus need a slight reorganisation of the material you already have. School textbooks don’t always have all of these perspectives, in which case a University textbook may be more useful.
The teaching practice utilises maps to demonstrate how a factor such as trade influences different people across national borders. Questions can be asked such as: How and why trade existed between cities/peoples. As well as how trade might have caused internal and external migrations of people.
ADVANTAGES:
- Opportunity to enhance understanding of the other/3rd person perspective
- Covers often overlooked topics in history education, such as women, children, and migrants.
- It focuses on a personal history that deals with everyday life.
- Not nation-specific. The practice can easily be transferred to teachers from various geological backgrounds.
- Low cost, as it does not require a large investment. Maps can usually be sourced free of charge or very cheaply. Illustrators and artists will require an expense but can be seen as an ‘optional extra’.
- The Best Practice does not necessarily require advanced technological equipment.
- The teaching practice can be conducted both online and offline.
LIMITATIONS:
- The level of educational materials could perhaps be too complex for students of younger ages to read and understand.
- Resources must be made available, maps must be created prior to the lesson by the educator.
- As the topics covered are usually not mainstream, perhaps slightly more time and effort is needed to research and discover these often unheard voices.
