Discussing our Difficult Past: When Past and Present Collide in Your Classroom

Even if we don’t teach in the History Department, past events, policies, and practices can come up in our class discussions or lectures. Engaging the difficult past inevitably requires reckoning with its implications in the present. In this workshop, Dr. Abby Reisman will draw from her scholarly and practical expertise on teaching in history classrooms to share techniques for constructive, careful framing and facilitation of historical content. Participants will learn how to instructionally prepare for and respond in the moment to our difficult past in a way that promotes student learning without perpetuating harm.