A British Historian Teaching the U.S. History Survey
The fall semester is almost upon us, which means, if you are like me, you are frantically trying to wrap up your research projects and get ready to start teaching again. This fall brings an additional opportunity, which is extremely exciting but also always a little bit terrifying: teaching two sections of U.S. History to 1877. It is exciting because, honestly, who wants to teach four sections of World History back-to-back? I like the challenge and variety of teaching different classes. However, there is always a bit of trepidation when I am asked to teach U.S. history, and impostor syndrome can be pretty strong. After all, I am, by training and research focus, a modern British historian. Do not get me wrong: I took plenty of U.S. history courses in my graduate training, and I have taught this course before (most recently Fall 2022, so it has been a minute).
This year I also decided to challenge myself (because two book projects, editing for a journal, and teaching four classes apparently are not challenging enough) by completely redesigning the survey to emphasize active learning while also deciding to finally draw on my strengths and completely globalize the class.
Let me walk you through my changes:
Because I teach at a military college, I find that my cadets appreciate structure and routine.
- Monday: Context and Framing. Short lectures followed by a primary-source warm-up activity.
- Wednesday: Workshop day. Skill-based, active-learning activities.
- Friday: Synthesis and Connections. Global-connections sessions, student-led discussions, and collective debriefs. These are designed to tie the week together.
I am also reworking all of my assignments for this semester:
- Midterm and Final Exams (350 points)
- Weekly Reading Responses (175 points): short, due before Monday’s class, rotating prompts. Graded on completion and genuine engagement.
- Weekly Workshop Participation (175 points)
- History Bowl Competitions (100 points): a review-session game that pits cadets against each other. Everyone on the team earns the same score, so it provides an incentive to study!
- Primary Source Analysis Paper (100 points)
- Scholarly Article Analysis Paper (100 points)
I am most excited about the weekly workshop activities. I used Claude and Gemini to help develop each of these, and I will post about them individually throughout the semester once I see how well they work.
In terms of course schedule, I am following a pretty traditional chronological framework. However, each week will explicitly include a global concept. I decided to do this to lean into my comfort zone. I tell my cadets honestly that I am not an expert on every aspect of American history. I know enough to be dangerous, but I am not as confident discussing the nuances of Andrew Jackson as I am about the British decision not to support the Confederacy in the early years of the American Civil War.
Wish me luck!
I would be lying if I said that I was not a bit nervous about this jump into active learning. I know that it is necessary because even I have become bored with lectures, and my cadets have been begging for changes for a couple of years now. But there is still a part of me that wonders if I jumped into the deep end a bit too quickly. We shall see in a couple of weeks when the semester begins. I will share the results of the experiment over the coming months.
Downloadable Resource
Here is the U.S. History to 1877 active learning syllabus: