The Impact of Teachers on Students’ Narratives of United States History

• In Event: Interpreting, Negotiating, Teaching: The Role of Teachers in Producing and Disrupting Curriculum

Abstract

In the United States, public debates about what national historical narrative should be taught in schools continue. However, students learn history from many sources—their families, their communities, the media—not just schools. With all those other sources of historical information, what is missing from the public debates about history education is evidence that what teachers teach impact students’ internalized narratives of United States history. In this study, I interviewed two high school teachers who had different views of United States history. At the end of the school year, I interviewed five or six of their students about their understandings of United States history to see if narratives the students shared aligned with the narrative the teachers had taught.

Author

• Erica J Nelson, University of Iowa