美国一位初一历史教师要求初一学生提供50张照片显示个人生平

黄安年文  黄安年的博客/2015年9月8日清晨美东时间; 傍晚北京时间发布

我们的大外孙,新学年在SevenBridges Middle School 上七年级，历史课程由Amanda Lifschultz老师讲授由探险到美国内战时期的历史,内战后到当今时期的美国则在下学年学习。

这位历史老师的做法很有创造性,第一单元学习要求培养学生的历史学习惯方法,让学生和家长自己动手参与体验。开学第一周就要求学生在劳工节过后的第二周上课时提供50张照片显示个人生平，等于是从十二三年来自己或家庭积累的大量照片挑选有代表性的个人成长过程。

这下可难坏了学生和家长，首先需要将与个人成长相关的照片集中起来并加以挑选。如果平时不积累,现在可要抓虾了。

其次，在挑选照片时需要有个通盘考虑，不同年龄段照片分配要适当，也就是虽然不是年年有,却要符合传记照片选择的基本要求。

第三,照片挑选后需要将这些扫描或者用彩色打印机打印下来,现在的大连照片是在数码电子卡里面的，并没有打引出来。

第四，需要将50张照片按照时间顺序和编辑思路排列出来加以编号，还要做必要的说明。

上面四部完成了,课程作业就基本做好了，而这些需要相当多时间。

学生通过自己动手会加深对于如何收集和选择资料,动手撰写个人(人物，历史人物)传记的亲身体验。其实通过已经有的照片来显示个人传记只是传记撰写的一种方法,传记是人写的,历史是客观存在的，历史的存在和个人撰写的传记是有区别的，这和个人的选择倾向,资料的运用是有相当关系的，全部的或者全面的个人成长史仅仅靠个人挑选的照片是不够的。

有感于SEVEN BRIDGES MIDDLE SCHOOL七年级历史课教师给家长的信

黄安年文  黄安年的博客/2015年9月1日下午美东时间; 9月2日凌晨北京时间发布

今天看到Chappaqua NY SEVEN BRIDGES MIDDLE SCHOOL七年级历史课教师通过电子邮件发给学生家长的一封信,信中谈到This yearwe will be studying American History from the periodof Exploration through theCivil War,既本学年学习由探险时期到美国内战。并且提到第一单元的教学Our firstunit is 'Budding Historian'. During this unit, we willestablish a foundation ofskills to bring to our study of AmericanHistory.  The culminating projectfor the Budding Historian unit will bethe Photography Autobiography project.The purpose of this project is toprovide students with an opportunity to betterunderstand what makes a person,place, event, or experience significant.

  七年级相当于我国初中一年级学生,我们从中可以看出,美国中学教师对于美国历史课程的重视，注意和家长联系,将学校教育和家庭教育联系起来。这也有助于家长加深对美国历史的了解。

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Hi. Myname is Amanda Lifschultz and I am the AmericanHistory teacher for 7 East. This year we will be studying American History fromthe period of Exploration through the Civil War. Throughout the year, I willsend out email
blasts addressing upcoming projects or units of study.

   Our first unit is'Budding Historian'. During this unit, we will establish a foundation of skillsto bring to our study of American History.  The culminating project forthe Budding Historian unit will be the Photography
Autobiography project. The purpose of this project is to provide students with anopportunity to better understand what makes a person, place, event, or  experience significant. We will be makingconnections between our understanding of what makes an event significant intheir lives and our understanding of what makes an event significant in ourstudy of American History. We will develop criteria for determining whichevents are significant events.

The project also provides students with the opportunity to think about how historiansdecide what to include in our textbook and what to exclude from the textbook?We will examine the idea that what historians decide to include in the tellingof history amplifies the importance of those events and diminishes the value ofthe events that were left out or omitted.  

Once the project has been completed, students will participate in a gallery viewingof the Photography Autobiographies. At that point, they will be expected torecord an evaluation of the source material and draw conclusions with regardsto the culture of the class.

Iam looking forward to getting to know your child!