A History Teacher's Perspective

....This week is when the conversations really started to happen. I started by asking them, “What do you know and what did you hear?” I gave them an opportunity to fill out a Google form where they can ask questions privately. Then I pulled up maps of the region, the most objective maps I could find. I had students write down what they knew about the conflict and share that with a partner. A lot of them brought in information that they heard on social media that is completely false, that’s been debunked numerous times over and over again. That's an opportunity for me to say, “Where did you hear that? Can you tell us the source?” Because, as a teacher, you don't want to just say, “You are flat-out wrong. You are misinformed, obviously.” This is what we do in history classes. We always get students to check the source, analyze bias, contextualize and corroborate information. We also have conversations about how we feel about it. Of course, we want to make sure students feel emotionally safe to be able to discuss and talk about their opinions. Pavlovich: What sort of questions are the students asking you? Dier: Well, some students have virtually no knowledge. A student wrote on the slip, in the Google form, ‘What is Gaza?’ Then some students are asking questions like, “Why did Hamas do what they did?” Other students are asking, “Why is Israel bombing Hamas? What's the cause of all of this?” A lot of them were born in 2007 or 2008, so they may not have any knowledge of things that have transpired prior to this. They're aware that they are missing historical contextualization that is necessary to have these conversations. They've asked basic questions about things they've heard on social media. They've asked questions about what their parents have said. Pavlovich: You talked about the issue of misinformation and disinformation. How do you teach your students to be critical of what they’re seeing on social media and online? Dier: Even before we have these conversations, the way I teach history is I have students analyze primary and secondary sources. I ask them to source the documents, to figure out who said it, why they said it and who was the audience. We look at other documents to see if they corroborate. We do all of these different things that historians do. So when events like this happen, I'm constantly telling students, “You have to analyze the source.” Because it's not just news media, it’s celebrities who are weighing in, the state of Israel has an Instagram account. People are all over TikTok giving their hot takes. Pavlovich: Some teachers avoid current events because they aren't up to speed or they’re worried about politics. What would you advise them? Dier: I understand that we are in a time where teachers, notably history teachers, might be nervous to discuss certain topics. I mean, this has been an issue in multiple states where they've passed legislation designed to stop teachers from teaching about certain issues regarding race, gender, sexuality. In terms of an issue like this, I will say we have a moral obligation to at least hear our students out. And to grapple with them, even if it's just grappling with the news together as opposed to doing a lesson on it. Just giving them a space to address everything coming their way. I understand that some teachers might be nervous and not want to take on a topic that is considered contentious in the United States. If that is the case, and that teacher is worried about being fired or backlash, then I would suggest the teacher get with their administrators to try to come up with a plan to at least address it as a school or as a community. Because what students learn outside the classroom always seeps in, and in many ways, if we don't address it, that is what can lead to antisemitism and Islamophobia, which is certainly on the rise given these events. Source: https://www.wwno.org/education/2023-10-20/local-teacher-on-talking-to-students-about-the-israel-hamas-war