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re: Hamilton-documentary vs show based on history?

Posted by: MikeR 04:37 pm EDT 10/30/15
In reply to: re: Hamilton-documentary vs show based on history? - Mac29 04:30 pm EDT 10/30/15

Um, it should absolutely be used as a teaching tool because it's getting people interested in history. Competent teachers will follow up with lessons on separating fact from fiction and viewing entertainment with a critical eye.


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re: Hamilton-documentary vs show based on history?

Posted by: Mac29 05:08 pm EDT 10/30/15
In reply to: re: Hamilton-documentary vs show based on history? - MikeR 04:37 pm EDT 10/30/15

People should not have to be taken to a broadway show to become interested in American history. Our history should be, and in many cases is, taught in schools in the most accurate manner possible long before children are of the age to attend and understand historical references portrayed in a broadway musical. The teaching of the events and people that founded our country must be presented to our young people in the most accurate way possible. You are not going to get this information by watching Hamilton. I agree that a competent teacher can separate fact from fiction, but in Hamilton there is some fact and some fiction that must be discussed with our young people so that they are correctly informed.


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re: Hamilton-documentary vs show based on history?

Posted by: MikeR 07:44 pm EDT 10/30/15
In reply to: re: Hamilton-documentary vs show based on history? - Mac29 05:08 pm EDT 10/30/15

>People should not have to be taken to a broadway show to become interested in American history.

That's a lovely straw man you've constructed. Find me one person who said that "people should have to be taken to a Broadway show to become interested in American history." But surely even you can't deny that if someone isn't interested in history but becomes interested as a result of seeing a Broadway show, that's a good thing. Right?


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re: Hamilton-documentary vs show based on history?

Posted by: ntjvy 05:35 pm EDT 10/30/15
In reply to: re: Hamilton-documentary vs show based on history? - Mac29 05:08 pm EDT 10/30/15

I feel like you're making some assumptions here that I don't necessarily agree with.

I don't think anyone anywhere is arguing that students "have to be taken to a broadway show" (oh the misery of that) in order to "become interested in American history". But it is one way that students could become more interested in history, or feel more connected to history.

It seems that you're assuming (and I maybe wrong here) that the study of history stops, or should stop with facts and dates, but that it only part of the picture. I said it before and I'll say it again, analysis and source evaluation skills are key for creating strong history students. Without these skills no source is valuable to them once they leave the classroom.

Hamilton is a wonderful opportunity for students to do the following as part of a broader unit. It allows them to look at history from a unique vantage point told with a voice that they can relate to, and gives them an opportunity to practice their source evaluation skills.

I haven't seen anyone anywhere claim that it should be the one and only experience regarding Federalism, The Constitution and Alexander Hamilton in a child's educational career.


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re: Hamilton-documentary vs show based on history?

Posted by: ntjvy 04:51 pm EDT 10/30/15
In reply to: re: Hamilton-documentary vs show based on history? - MikeR 04:37 pm EDT 10/30/15

I agree!

As a history teacher, the idea that it shouldn't act like a teaching tool is beyond my understanding.

It shouldn't be used as the ONLY teaching tool to teach about the era, but it is certainly a valuable teaching tool.

Also, competent teachers will not only follow up with lessons, but will have had their students practicing source assessment skills prior to introducing it in the classroom. My high school juniors watched the clip from the White House Poetry Jam and then spent time assessing the values and limitations of the clip for history students, a skill that they also practice with textbooks, lectures, documentaries and primary source documents.

If you teach kids how to think for themselves and provide them tools for skillful historical analysis you significantly broaden your teaching tool kit. Without the skills you have to eliminate all sorts of resources from the classroom. (World War II propaganda or the book All Quiet on the Western Front come to mind off the bat.)


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