Reflecting on 2024 from a History Classroom

[smccormack]

Last year at this time I blogged about my observations of 2023 from my vantage point of a community college history classroom. At the top of my concerns for 2023 were student mental health and a general feeling that my students were disconnected from their peers, which I unscientifically speculated was fallout from the COVID years. A full year has passed and I’m again reflecting on what I observed over the past twelve  months. Here are some of my thoughts:

On one hand, the social disconnect prevalent amongst students that widened in the COVID years is becoming less noticeable in my classes.

The adjustments I made within my classroom to forge social connections at the start of 2023 appear to be catching on. At the conclusion of each semester this calendar year I felt as though many students ended my courses having interacted with several of their classmates. For some students my goal of increasing their in-class-interaction was limited to group work, while others seemed to create genuine bonds of friendship with their classmates that were evident as they came to class each day. In addition, I was particularly encouraged to hear that some students had enrolled in my sections of introductory courses because they knew they would be interactive. 

While on the other hand, getting students to participate in campus-wide events remains a huge challenge. 

Our campus has so many great events planned each year to engage students in areas outside of academics. Convincing students to attend such events solely for the purpose of expanding their understanding of the world around them remains incredibly challenging. Case in point: our college hosted two successful artists at separate events to showcase their work and talk about their career paths. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I had to beg and bribe students to attend (extra credit anyone?). The same held true for events related to academic success – in-person attendance at information sessions about majors and career paths, for example, were of little interest to students. “Can’t I get this information online?” was the common retort when I started my event-attendance sales pitch. Ultimately, those students who did attend on-campus events not directly related to class content almost unanimously reported positive experiences … getting them into those non-classroom spaces, however, was not easy.

History education is more important than ever before. 

The 2024 election cycle proved, once again, that Americans need to be more informed about our national history. The proliferation of online news sources and social media channels have increased the spread of both information and misinformation. Our students need the tools to make informed, educated decisions based on what they read and see, coupled with a solid foundation in historical knowledge. There is no academic space better equipped to prepare them to be informed citizens than their history/civics classes. As we think about content coverage we also need to reflect on what lessons are particularly meaningful to the current times, which feel particularly unstable politically for many students. 

One of the most important facets of teaching that was reaffirmed for me this year was that students need to feel comfortable asking questions. Even in the most difficult of political times when our nation is intensely divided ideologically, students must be able to pursue the study of history without fear. 

Happy New Year! Looking forward to more collaborative conversations in 2025!