Overview: In his introduction, Loewen writes extensively about the textbooks that have, ironically, aided in making American students worse at history. The purpose of his book is to aim at pieces of history mistaught, or completely glazed over. Also in the introduction of Lies My Teacher Told Me, Loewen writes about the hatred of and underperformance in American history, particularly by students of color. The first chapter focuses on what Loewen calls "heroification", or the reduction of varied and complex historical actors like Woodrow Wilson (top) and Helen Keller (bottom, right) to palatable, inoffensive archetypes. In my screencast, I highlight how it is not just textbooks that should make us wary of this oversimplification.
Screencast: Screencast 2
Big Question: Is the internet an effective tool for combatting "heroification" in history?
Interactive Link: The link I chose is part of a PBS series of videos called "60 Second Presidents". It is a video series that covers all of the presidents so far and does so in short blurbs. I discuss why this is useful but also problematic in my screencast. https://illinois.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/d6cdb0ae-6a88-4aac-b163-ee1aab3d51ff/woodrow-wilson-60-second-presidents/?#.W4Shd85KiUk
Screencast: Screencast 2
Big Question: Is the internet an effective tool for combatting "heroification" in history?
Interactive Link: The link I chose is part of a PBS series of videos called "60 Second Presidents". It is a video series that covers all of the presidents so far and does so in short blurbs. I discuss why this is useful but also problematic in my screencast. https://illinois.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/d6cdb0ae-6a88-4aac-b163-ee1aab3d51ff/woodrow-wilson-60-second-presidents/?#.W4Shd85KiUk
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