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This year I've started assigning something I call "Weekly Encounters" where students get credit for telling me how they "encountered" our course content out in the wild. The goal is to help them appreciate how much history is relevant. Here's some of the best responses:
One student connected their philosophy lecture on Plato's desire for elite rule to the blatant oligarchy of the Confederacy
While on a Youtube dive, one student found a video about current day "Dandies" in the Congo & connected it to our discussion of "Dandies" in the early 19th century
Some of the best came when my students went home for Thanksgiving and their parents got involved. After watching an ERA debate while her mom looked on, my student debated her mom over whether or not women should have to be drafted.
One of my favorites -- a jazz band player suddenly realized the historical roots of a song called "John Brown's Other Body"
Another one that TRULY delights me - a student got a reference from Gilmore Girls about Rory's good English roots ("My ancestors came over here in the Mayflower!" Rory complains after Logan's family rejects her. #TeamJess)
One student connected Red Dead Redemption 2 (a video game that takes place in the Civil War) it to our discussions about capitalism and slavery. ( @_jonathansjones -- they cited your Slate article!))
(really, students LOVED Matthew Desmond's article on slavery & capitalism in the 1619 project -- I never stopped hearing about it -- https://nyti.ms/39ZPp0n )
One student kept me entertained with a lot of memes:
There's apparently a lot of students who suddenly understand Tupac and Kayne raps after learning about the War on Drugs and Rodney King beating, among other 80s & 90s topics
A tragic relevance -- we learned that in 1918, the death rate was so high that coffins were scarce in some cities; a student shared that when a relative died in the spring, the funeral home had run out of caskets.
I really love it when a student suddenly discovers history in movies they've seen before -- one watched Pirates of the Caribbean and realized, oh, THOSE West Indies (I, similarly, had the same discovery after my grad training and a whole book on Madeira wine)
One student shared that our discussion of the party realignment under Reagan helped them understand the politics of their own family (and thus understand how national transformations play out in personal experiences)
One of the most meaningful things I did was have students interview someone who was alive on 9/11. I got SO many responses about how they learned things they'd never known, just b/c they hadn't had a reason to ask.
And yes, one student did report my class made them better at Jeopardy.
For everyone asking -- I put the assignment in a google doc. I've done it for credit using discussion boards; I've also done it for extra credit (when I didn't want to overwhelm my TAs with more grading) https://bit.ly/37MAHdK
TYSM for all the kind feedback! I’m so psyched at the thought of you all incorporating this into so many different courses! Pedagogy is so much fun :)
For anyone wondering: I was teaching two US history courses (pre & post 1865) largely aimed at college freshmen & non-majors. They can be a tough crowd, so finding relevance in their own lives is doubly powerful bc most argue they “don’t like history.”
Boy howdy this blew up. I just wanna give a s/o to any teachers reading this — this was such a hard year. You’re so valuable to your students! Wishing you a relaxing break!
