Publisher's Synopsis
Beyond the Textbook is a chronicle of what happened when several "interesting ideas" about teaching and learning history were put to the test in Providence, Rhode Island, public schools. Here, diverse mainstream students used documents and primary sources to actually construct history, acting as historians and drawing their own conclusions about the past.Instead of offering a single model for teachers to copy, Beyond the Textbook presents nuanced illustrations of what "student historian theory" looks like in action. Included are accounts of actual classroom lessons; discussion topics; sample handouts and primary sources; and excerpts from students' writings. There are also frank recollections of the brainstorming, collaborative teaching, curriculum development, and evaluation that Kobrin and his colleagues did--as well as feedback from their students.
