History Club Provides Opportunity for Authentic Investment
“What’s the difference between ideology and belief?” Eva asks. It’s 8:30 on a Wednesday morning, and thirty learners have arrived at Long-View an hour before the start of their first block to engage in civic discourse about civics. Welcome to History Club. Invigorated by the return to in-person meetings this fall, the cohort of historically minded fourth through eighth graders has grown and elected to tackle some pretty complex subject matter: the evolution of political thought and government structures. During this meeting, the second of the year, learners examine an extensive list of governmental forms and consider the sources, ideologies, and organizing principles of political power.
Participants from the previous year, like Eva, find much of the club’s structure and cadence of discourse to be familiar: the topic, approach, and trajectory of our weekly discussions is determined by the cohort of learners; the conversation is informed by primary sources and informational texts that are posted in advance of each meeting; the established agreement is that each learner will arrive read and ready to reflect on the material in community. Eva’s call to clarify “ideology” and “belief”— terms that have been thrown around in conversation — therefore, serves to reinforce and model the norm of rigorous critical inquiry that returning learners expect from History Club. Her question is received earnestly. Learners begin to bounce around ideas. Teachers, casually passing through the room, are drawn into the conversation, and join the struggle. In an effort to come to a definitional consensus, they collectively grapple with and refine their understanding of concepts that appear to be evermore complex in juxtaposition with one another.
While this excitement and authentic investment in ideas is carried over from previous years, the evolution of History Club also reflects Long-View’s iterative ethos. This semester, two notable tweaks have been made to further facilitate learner-driven intellectual exchange. The first has to do with reading material. Each week, one or two students now volunteer to contribute texts for the forthcoming meeting. They must ensure that the information comes from credible sources and they have a strong enough grasp of the material to open discussion about the content in the next meeting. The second major change is the scope of the subject matter. In years prior, learners have chosen to focus on a particular epoch; the result was a historical patchwork that, while substantive, wanted continuity and connectivity. In order to broaden their understanding of historical trends while deepening their historical consciousness, learners opted to approach history in more sweeping terms, while focusing on government and politics.
And so next week, the cohort will transfer their thinking about ideology to their analysis of the Codes of Hammurabi. Whoever wants to join the conversation is encouraged to come prepared with curiosity, humility, and an extra cup of coffee.
