THE OUTSIDER OBSERVER

Vignette on the article “The History Lesson” by Angelides, P. and Gibbs, P. (2006). Supporting the continued professional development of teachers through the use of vignettes. Teacher Education Quarterly, Fall, 2006, pp. 111-121.

The cited vignette reminded me of my history teacher from 1st to 3rd year at high school. She used to study “Historia by José Cosmelli Ibañez (1982) Editorial Troquel” textbook by heart and repeat it in class. We all knew that attending her class did not help us develop any learning competence, it was the same as pressing the play key in a tape recorder. The effect was that we lost motivation and hated history.

So was the experience described in the vignette under analysis.  Students were not taken into account, the teacher did not make a diagnosis of the group for the planning neither a students’ learning follow up. Besides, she adopted a teacher-centred style as if she were the owner of the knowledge.

She would rather get to know her students, be a facilitator instead of a cold lecturer, promote group activities, foster communication among students and above all, give her students the possibility to experience the joy of learning.

The use of a video in the warm-up period and I would guide students to find out the causes and consequences for each historical event providing them with background information and time line synopsis. Many students are familiar with computer games so she could also use some tactical games such as “The Age of Empires” or “Civilization” as models to teach many history contents.

References

The History Lesson” by Angelides, P. and Gibbs, P. (2006). Supporting the continued professional development of teachers through the use of vignettes. Teacher Education Quarterly, Fall, 2006, pp. 111-121.

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC