world history Articles

What do all these events in World History have in common?

* Napoleon enters Russia, defeats the Russians at Smolensk, and enters Moscow.
* Louisiana becomes a State
* British P.M. Perceval is assassinated in the House of Commons
* U.S. declares war on Britain
* James Madison is elected President
* Beethoven composes Symphonies No. 7 and No. 8.
* Swiss explorer J. L. Burckhardt discovers the Great Temple of Abu Simbel.

The answer in a moment. What has always interested me is how many seemingly disconnected events throughout history are in fact somehow connected. As we go back in History, we see this to be less obvious. Partly because we have a hard time relating to something that happened say in the year 1812, but mostly because communication back then was so primitive and inefficient that events could be happening at the same time around the world, but not be effected by each other's events. As time passes, and communication improves, we see this disconnect to be replaced by much more of a connection. It seems now that most of the events that happen in the world will very much effect other events happening half way around the world.

Language restrictions as well as the advances in technology (the internet is huge here) has made world wide communication much less of an obstacle. History has shown us that many events have happened, that may not have happened, due to the lack of communication. Many technological advances have also been accelerated due to this same improvement in communication.

With that said, and back to the original question posed, what do all the above events have in common? The answer: The year 1812.

Students (including Lifelong Learners) tend to learn (and teach) the way that they were taught.

And, repeating content information...

* Lists
* Formulas
* Dates
* Vocabulary Definitions
* Quiz Items
* Etc., Etc. in an endless, boring array

Teachers are fond of calling repeat focus and instructional activities "reinforcement." But constant repeating of the material to be learned can be counter productive, and even negatively productive; i.e., the student learns less than they knew before. Focused attention upon the repeated information does seem to strengthen the bond to that learning.

But, repletion, on its own does not work. The reason that more and more "Reps" of verbalizing or sub vocalizing content fails to provide increased content retention is that our brains are hard wired to quit paying attention to this sort of stimuli. The part of our brain that is responsible for this miracle of survival is called the "Reticular Activating System" (RAS). The RAS filters unimportant information, data...any stimuli that is repetitive.

This is a survival mechanism that allows us to notice things that move, change, pop up in our environment. Items that are unchanging, uniform and boring to our brains just get filtered out. But this mechanism causes our attention to fade as we keep repeating subject matter content. Result: More repetition equals less recall and diminished performance. In addition, our mind can only deal with a limited number of items at once, generally from five to nine. Our minds actually focus upon one item at a time, but we perform the equivalent of "Task Switching," in this case, "Item Switching." The way that our minds handle complex subject matter content is to make sense and meaning of that information and collect it into chunks.

So, any method that assists our mind in creating categories of information and "Filing and Sorting" information into these categories is more effective than rote repetition. Methods that "Chunk" information" (and are both learning and review tools) include:

* Mind Maps
* Concept Maps
* Graphic Organizers
* Charts
* Graphs
* Diagrams
* Flow Charts
* Doodles
* Card Sorting
* Association Strings

Because the RAS in our brains functions so well, we can use repetition...sometimes. But, repetition cannot be the only strategy that we employ for our learning success. In fact, uniform repetition of subject matter content should be our "Course of Last Resort." So, find other methods for learning except repeating the same information, and you will increase your level of learning success.

I'm sure we all remember school days in our past, subjects we loved, those we dreaded, and those that never made much of an impression on our youthful souls. Always a lover of literature, reading, and writing, for some reason throughout elementary and high school days, I loathed history. And then in college, I had an epiphany when I not only had professors that brought it alive and made it real, but inspired me to take a degree in the subject and actually be nominated into the honorary Phi Alpha Theta history fraternity for outstanding scholarship.

In grad school, though, I majored in gifted counseling and education, my minor was once again, history. And now I tutor the subject, loving every minute. As we all gain experience and learn from it, I hope, so too do we find ways of incorporating that experience into our teaching and sharing with others. And here I am beginning a new venture with WyzAnt and starting amazingly, by tutoring a subject I truly love: of course, history. In this the subject was world history and I found that there are countless ways to garner positive responses and bring the subject alive, even with the most recalcitrant students. In the past I've worked with students who had given up on themselves, didn't even try, and thought history of all subjects, was dull, boring, unimportant. My WyzAnt student was very motivated and eager to learn though had left learning until the last moment and put himself under a terrible time crunch. As I could relate well to the art of procrastination and it's consequences, I was able to share a great deal with him.

In any subject, providing relevance to the student's life and thoughts is crucial. In history even more so and it is so easily done. I found that by relating early history to present day, by showing links between past and present, by incorporating study aids and a system of notes and acronyms, it made the process easier and more relevant to his life. In tutoring history as well as most other subject areas, I found the following aids to be of great value:

1. Set specific study times and skills for each session.
2. Use index cards to create a study guide that follows the curriculum stressing those items of greater significance.
3. Incorporate other study aids: time lines, maps, "key" words and associative clue words, flash cards and outlines.
4. Organize all study aids in a multiple pocket binder where each has it's place in order and includes, pens, blank note paper, any class handouts, relevant past assignments/projects, etc.
5. Communicate clearly all expectations, goals, and other pertinent points towards objectives.
6. Keep clear, consistent lines of communication open with parents, if possible with teachers, and with the student as well.
7. Respect confidences and use repetition and reinforcements to expedite learning skills.
8. Above all, remain positive, consistent, and remain focused. Don't let distractions intervene and try to keep the student from being easily distracted or stressed out. KEEP YOUR COOL!!

Tutors are special people, who take the time to share their expertise in a particular field of knowledge. A valuable tutor will work themselves 'out of work', by empowering their pupil to peruse their own knowledge. Inspiring and individual to find their strengths, and acknowledge their weaknesses in learning, will only propel that individual to success. The more we understand ourselves, the more desire knowledge of the world around us, the more confident we become. A tutor should encourage, be considerate, be tolerant, be patient, and mostly, be a listener. A tutor, who knows their student, is a tutor geared for success!

Serving, Little Rock, Bryant, Benton, both Pulaski and Saline Counties! We want to encourage learning!

Sometimes, it is essential to provide students with additional perspectives, besides the tutor's. As I tutor more and more, I realize that even with the one-on-one benefits of tutoring, there is a need for interaction with other students. However, the problem is, there are no other students to provide this feedback when you are tutoring a student. I have found that creating relationships with other students is a remarkable enhancement to the tutoring experience.

I have used Pen Pals to meet this need. There are a variety of websites that offer pen pals for different purposes. If I am tutoring a student in Social Studies, Geography or History, a Pen Pal is an amazing resource for FREE and REAL information about the study topics. This is usually an exciting concept that is well-received by the student because they thrive with interactions with others and they think it's amazing to connect with people like them all around the world! Using the right resources for this is essential, so I suggest that tutors spend some time locating the right program for their needs. Usually, those that are dedicated to teachers offer the most security and less potential for spam and unwanted leaks of information to the Web. Additionally, these sites allow the tutor more access to hand-picking the pen pals for their needs. The greatest benefit for this type of tutoring lesson is the ability to focus on the writing skills of the student while not needing to create writing assignments for the sake of writing! This makes the students more likely to give their effort to their tasks AND it allows the tutor to challenge the student to become eloquent in their writing efforts because it is directed at a "friend". I encourage tutors to give this a try in Foreign Languages, Writing, History and Social Studies, ESOL... actually, the possibilities are endless! I'd love to know how YOU are using Pen Pals in your tutoring!