World History: Our Modern World

History is a collection of stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. Over the course of the two semesters, we will read a variety of stories – some will be primary sources (non-fiction accounts of historical events) and some will be historical fiction (still primary sources from the time period, but fictional). Students will learn how to evaluate sources for bias, for reliability, and for historical context.

History is hands-on fun! Over the course of the two semesters, we will play a number of games designed to help players think about the historical period. Why did people react in the way that they did? Why did governments make the decisions they did? One of the best ways to get insight into those questions is by playing games. Some of these will be traditional type board games, while others will be more free-form, to encourage students to think like historical figures.

History happened to ordinary people. Students will, over the course of the two semesters, adopt a historical character (or, maybe, more than one) and write a journal/diary detailing how that character experienced their daily historical world.

History is happening all around us all the time. The job of historians is to track and observe that passage of history. Students will find a news source that they like, or look at several if they prefer. Each week, we will begin the class with a short discussion of the recent news, and, if pertinent, how it connects to what we’re looking at in class. Students will, over the course of the two semesters, write a journal/diary detailing how THEY experience THEIR daily historical world.