Teaching history should not be reciting an endless list of dead men, entombed between the covers of a textbook. Instead, "Breaking Away from the Textbook" offers a fascinating journey through world history. Not a comprehensive, theory-heavy guide, this book focuses on active classroom activities, methods for students to grapple with humanity's…

Teaching history should not simply be an endless recitation of irrelevant facts, entombed between the covers of a textbook. Instead, "Breaking Away from the Textbook" offers a fascinating journey through world history. Not a comprehensive, theory-heavy guide, this book instead focuses on exciting classroom activities, methods for students to…

In this article, the author points out that in this increasingly visual world, outstanding films can engage classes and lift the curtain on the cultures and modern history of Latin America. He recommends some of the most gripping and perceptive films on this topic, and offers advice on how teachers can provide the background to these dramas and…

Examines the use of biographies in teaching elementary students about contemporary women. Discusses sources of appropriate works and provides teaching suggestions for use with elementary school children. (GEA)

Discusses methods of teaching about the history of genocide and the potential for its occurrence today. Encourages students to confront commonly-held beliefs in order to understand human rights abuses. Studies current genocidal tendencies, such as those in Iran, to demonstrate the "latent potential in all of us to allow such evil to occur."…

An elementary-level U.S. history unit which compares colonial and modern America is described. Topics for comparison include communications and transportation, family relationships, leisure activity, and school life and activities. (KC)

When used to supplement print materials, explore dimensions of interpretation, and raise questions about bias, films can prove valuable aids for arousing students' curiosity about the past. Films that can be used in secondary classes to teach about the sixties are described. (RM)

A secondary history teacher describes how he uses rock and roll music to help students study and interpret modern American history. Besides being a lot of fun to teach, a rock unit makes students realize that even contemporary music has a place in history. (RM)

Suggests that if the concept of genocide is not integrated into our mental and moral world, we become passive or active participants in processing people for destruction. Provides definitions of the terms genocide and holocaust and eight classroom strategies to help develop understanding. (Author/KC)

This high school unit of study on India's Mahatma Gandhi is designed to be used in courses of contemporary problems, government, and 20th century history. The unit contains a listing of the course objectives, needed resource materials, teaching strategies, and evaluation procedures. The course is taught over a 9-day period, and brief lesson plans…

Describes one professor's attempt to improve his college's introductory history course by offering an alternative which stresses a biographical approach to twentieth century individuals who have shaped the contemporary world. (JDH)

Intended for use in grades 4-8, this book provides teachers and librarians with everything they need for a successful literature-based history program in upper elementary and middle school grades. Through recommended reading selections, extension activities, and other supplementary information, the book integrates historical fiction and nonfiction…

Outlines an innovative way of teaching "World History Since 1500" at Samford University (Birmingham, Alabama) called the "great roads" approach, centered upon important roads in a country's history. Presents the "Veracruz to Mexico City corridor" case study used to teach a Latin American modern history course. (CMK)

Intended for both teachers and students, this publication, written in Spanish, briefly traces Mexico's history from its Conquest in 1519 to the overthrow of Porfirio Diaz in 1910. The following are briefly discussed: Mexico's Conquest in 1519; events immediately after the fall of Tenochtitlan; the War for Independence; Texas' separation from…

Vietnam War literature offers students a unique mix of themes which in many ways speak directly to them as, perhaps, no other literature is able to. This literature can help them better understand literature, history, the world they live in, and themselves, as well as the Vietnam War. A sequence of classroom activities (beginning with an…