Article Title
What about the Little People?: Empowering Middle School Students to Discard the Great Man Theory
Document Type
Article
Type of Article
Practice-based article
Abstract
This paper attempts to address the promotion of critical thinking in our middle school students as they reflect on the widely-accepted White Eurocentric perspective of history that has been traditionally taught in school. In this article, the incomplete treatment of history is identified as Carlyle’s Great Man Theory. The hope is that educators can be critical of the curriculum they are teaching so as to promote critical perspectives in their own students. History is not just the story of Great Men – it is a collective story of which many of us have a partial understanding. Specifically, this article addresses class discussions that develop critical consciousness in students through point of view analysis of topics in American history courses. This paper includes strategies for teachers to act in enhancing curriculum to highlight multiple perspectives so as to create a more robust level of understanding and questioning in students.
ScholarWorks Citation
Straub, Sarah
(2017)
"What about the Little People?: Empowering Middle School Students to Discard the Great Man Theory,"
MLET: The Journal of Middle Level Education in Texas: Vol. 4
:
Iss.
1
, Article 1.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/mlet/vol4/iss1/1
Included in
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons
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