Invariably, I start the year with several students worried that they will never be able to memorize all the dates they fear I will throw at them. My philosophy about dates is that some specific dates are important, but it is even more important that students have an understanding of cause and effect. When students are able to place events in sequence and understand how events are interconnected, then history becomes three-dimensional. Past events become living and breathing stories that had no foregone outcomes as they were occurring.
Dr. Bill Ross’ Bracketing History method is a valuable strategy that has enhanced my repertoire of teaching techniques and helped my students grasp sequencing, and cause and effect. During the procedure-setting first week of school, I review the timeline, giving brief summaries of each of the events, and explain how our This Day In History days work. When choosing events/people to use for our This Day In History days, I choose some that I know the students will be able to figure out relatively easily, others that will be more difficult, and others that dovetail to the curriculum. I use events/people that we have previously studied as a review, events/people that we are currently studying as reinforcement, and events/people that we will study later in the year as a way of piquing the students’ interest with a tantalizing look ahead.
Bill’s energy and enthusiasm while teaching teachers the Bracketing History method were infectious. He gave us a glimpse of a This Day In History teaching strategy that was fun, inclusive, and instructive. I realized that using this method would not only facilitate student engagement and learning, but that I would have fun while teaching. Bracketing is a dynamic teaching method that hooks students’ interest and facilitates an understanding of sequence, and cause and effect. Additionally, as Bill has so aptly demonstrated, it doesn’t hurt to throw in some humorous clues, either!