Connecting with the Past: History Workshop in Middle and High Schools - Softcover

"For the faint-hearted but eager beginner to the practiced but curious old hand, Connecting with the Past offers 'history workshop' as a new way to involve students in learning about the past. . . . A necessary book that confirms how creative writing can help each student make history come alive in analytically astute and freshly dramatic ways."-Margot Fortunato Galt, Author of The Story in History

In a history workshop, the teacher encourages students to become young historians -- practicing history in imitation of professionals -- to make the people and events of the past meaningful and relevant. Connecting with the Past is the first book to explore the history workshop approach at the middle and secondary levels. Using the Holocaust as a springboard for exploration, Connecting with the Past takes readers into a classroom history workshop, where students examine actual historical artifacts, investigate literature, and express what they've learned through writing. The book provides both the theoretical framework and the step-by-step details of how to put history workshops into practice. Chapters describe precisely how the author made each decision, from the planning stage through to final student presentations. Extensive samples of student discussions and writing are presented and analyzed. Readers will identify with the process described and are invited to transform their own history teaching.