Modernist teaching compliments Postmodernist teaching
In my group when we discussed what "postmodernist history" is in comparison to a "modernist" history. Postmodernists tend to view history with a skeptical eye whereas modernists view history as an accepted fact. A postmodernist view of history suits the technology of today since we have the internet and nearly infinite views of history at our disposal. There is no need to memorize what happened historically. Rather, teaching history in an argumentative way, viewing history as conjecture is time better spent. Immediately the methods of teaching history used by Mr. Leff and Mr. Butler came up. Clearly, Mr. Leff teaches in a Postmodernist method where Mr. Butler's teaching style emulates modernism. In Mr. Leff's class, we had to "know stuff," but the majority of the time was spent making an argument as to why something happens. In Mr. Butler's class, when we were told something, we were expected to be able to regurgitate it.
Both postmodernist and modernist forms of teaching could be considered problematic in some ways. For example, not having to "know stuff" could result in a complete lack of respect for history. Without "knowing stuff" a student would not be able to understand his/her life as it currently is. However, if a student is only forced to "know stuff" then he/she will be unable to make arguments and think synthetically and reasonably. Without postmodernist teachings, Doctorow's Ragtime could be viewed as an accurate historical source which one would believe without a second thought.
Therefore, it is important to mix the two styles. Mr. Leff's class does so, which is why his class his so brilliant. Do you think that it is important to mix the two styles? Or is one way better than the other?
Both postmodernist and modernist forms of teaching could be considered problematic in some ways. For example, not having to "know stuff" could result in a complete lack of respect for history. Without "knowing stuff" a student would not be able to understand his/her life as it currently is. However, if a student is only forced to "know stuff" then he/she will be unable to make arguments and think synthetically and reasonably. Without postmodernist teachings, Doctorow's Ragtime could be viewed as an accurate historical source which one would believe without a second thought.
Therefore, it is important to mix the two styles. Mr. Leff's class does so, which is why his class his so brilliant. Do you think that it is important to mix the two styles? Or is one way better than the other?
I've said this in class, but as the teacher of this course, I am always glad that you all have experience with Leff's classes--and from what I hear, Mr. Wilson's teaching style also very much fits this approach. You're right to identify Leff's pedagogy as postmodernist in a number of ways, and it's one of the reasons that you guys tend not to be as freaked out by some of Hayden White's ideas as his fellow historians were at the time. You've already been *doing* history in this way. So then you're ideally situated to start digging into these fun questions about the ambiguity and overlap of history and fiction.
ReplyDeleteI really like the comparison between modernist/postmodernist teaching and Butler flowcharts/Leff Lessons. Ultimately, high school history classes aren't to make students "know things" so much as to teach them methods and strategies for understanding history and relating it to our present situation. If the goal is learning how to learn, then both Butler and Leff have taught us well. The distinction is that Butler teaches us how to absorb information quickly (cramming those last few ID's before the tiz!!) while Leff teaches us to connect, explain, and analyze complex historical patterns.
ReplyDeleteI think I prefer Leff's teaching more than butler. I think it helps to learn the thought process of people in the past rather than the fact that the printing press was invented in 1451. I do disagree that Butler class is primarily modernist though. You are required to memorized flowcharts/Ids, etc; But, a lot of his class time is spent for you to understand why something happened. He spends time explaining his flowcharts to let you understand why it happened. And, I think Butler's sophomore history class is forced to memorize is because there is a lot of stuff to know in history. Butler's world since class is much more like Leff's class where he just talks about why things happened and such. since he doesn't have to cover the entire human history. I think mixing postmodernist and modernist styles is a good thing. Similar to science, you have to take something as fact and work from there or you will just stay stuck.
ReplyDelete