History as Memory

This week I am attending my fifth Teaching American History Program seminar at the University of Alabama.  To brag for just a moment, I have attended more of these than anyone else which goes to prove just how much I love learning.

Today we traveled to the American Village in Montevallo for a special "teacher only" program about bringing history to life.  This was my first trip back to the Village in about four years.
 Since they opened about ten years ago, I have always taken a class or two on a field trip there.  I haven't been able to in about three or four years.   I was amazed at how much they have grown.  They have amazing (and educational) programs, but they have so much more on to come.

Tom Walker, the Director, welcomed the group this morning and during his welcome he made two statements that I thought were profound.  The first quote he attributed to the author/historian David McCollough and the second to his grandmother.

"The hardest part of teaching history is that it is hard to forget that we know how it turns out."

"History is to a country what memory is to an individual."

I have probably heard these quotes,  or some alternative form, before but today they held a different meaning.  Teaching history is hard, but it is made even harder because as a teacher I know everything (or  as much as possible) about the subject I am teaching.  My students do not.  In that aspect, it is hard to break things down and decide what parts should and should not be taught.  It is also hard in that history is always being questioned and in some instances, rewritten.  While that is good it presents a challenge for a teacher to try and convey both sides of a story and why some on the outside continue to question it. Isn't that part of what we try to teach our students?  To not only understand different opinions, but to continually question and critically think.

The second quote struck me more profoundly.  We have become a nation that has become very selective in our memory and in too many instances just plain lackadaisical in paying attention to this nation's history.  So much is being lost in the process.  If our house was on fire the first thing we would grab would be our picture albums because they are the history of memories for the family.  History classes should be the picture albums for our nation's history.  As teachers we need to pull out those albums more often and peruse them with a renewed sense of purpose rather than teaching to the test or just meeting the objectives.