HIST 300 Response Questions
** Unless otherwise stated, please answer all the questions for any
given response assignment. A good answer will consist of about 5-7
thoughtful sentences per question and will draw specific examples from
the assigned readings. Whenever possible, write down specific page
numbers in parentheses. This will help you later with class discussion
and with the final reflective essay.
Introductory comments on Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Please do not treat this book as a definitive
guidebook on pedagogy. Instead, think of it as one
teacher’s attempt to convey a vision of effective teaching.
Try to use his book to build your own ideas about what purpose teaching
should serve and how teachers should relate to students.
Freire’s choice of words will at times make
for challenging reading. If you find still can’t figure out
a tough sentence after reading it a second time, write down the page
number in your notes and just keep reading. You might figure out
the meaning later, in which case it will be useful to have written down
in your notes the original page number. Keep a list of any terms
or passages that you still can’t figure out, and we can discuss
them together in class.
A key concept for Freire is
“dialectic.” A dialectic refers to a process by which
someone tries to find the truth by contrasting two different positions
and then synthesizing them into one single (and hopefully) truthful
understanding. Candy eaters who enjoy Reese’s Peanut Butter
Cups intuitively understand the beauty of the dialectic approach.
Reese’s takes two contrasting ingredients (peanut butter and
chocolate) and then synthesizes them to arrive at a superior
conclusion. If you replace candy with ideas, then you have a
dialectic! Another word that Freire uses as a rough synonym for
dialectic is “dialogic.”
History
300 Winter 2011
Response One (based on Freire, 29-86)
1. According to Freire (esp. in Chapter 1), what is the purpose of a good teacher, and how does a teacher achieve that purpose?
2. Pick any historical topic. How would you teach that topic
using the “banking” method? In contrast, how would a
Freire-style teacher teach that topic?
3. Imagine that U.S. public schools started operating according to
Freire’s principles. What do you think would be the three
biggest advantages to this switch?
4. What do you think would be the three biggest disadvantages or dangers?
History
300 Winter 2011
Response Two (based
on Freire & Frost)
1. Drawing on Chapter 3, identify at least five steps or techniques
that Freire recommends for encouraging critical thinking. As
always, include specific page numbers with your examples.
2. As you read further in the book, are you more impressed with the
benefits or hazards that would come in using Freire’s
methods? Offer at least two specific examples from Chapter 3 to
illustrate your thinking.
3. Frost offers four active-learning exercises that she uses in her
college teaching. Of the four exercises, which one do you think
would work best at the secondary-school level (middle school or high
school)? Why? Which would be the hardest to adapt for
secondary-school students? Why?
4. Which of Frost’s exercises would Freire like the most?
(Or, if you prefer, which of her exercises would he criticize?)
Offer at least two different specific references from Freire’s
book (including page number and/or brief quotation) to provide
substance for your answer.
History
300 Winter 2011
Response Three (based on Foner, intro & chs 1-3)
Before reading Foner’s book,
take a look at the tips on reading section of my website.
You’ll find some advice there on ways to get more insights from a
long reading assignment, while perhaps even saving time. Hint:
it’s all about learning strategic ways to skim! Whatever
you do, be sure to read Foner’s introduction carefully and pay
attention to how he summarizes the different kinds of freedom that
Americans have held. Then use these questions to guide your
reading of the chapters.
1. Which definition of freedom discussed in Chapter 1 seems most
strange or interesting to you today? Why? How would you try
to make that definition of freedom relevant to 8th or 11th graders
today?
2. What is the larger significance of the 1780 Virginia law for
veterans of the American Revolutionary War? That is, how does
this law illustrate Foner’s larger themes in Chapter 2?
3. How would you get an 8th grader interested in the historical
concepts of “free labor” and “wage slavery”
that Foner discusses in Chapter 3?
History
300 Winter 2011
Response Four (based on Foner chs 4-6)
1. Focus on Foner’s discussion of either abolitionists or
women’s rights advocates in Chapter 4. What historical
theme was most important to you in the chapter, and how would you get
8th grade students interested in it?
2. According to Chapter 4, how did the Civil War and Reconstruction
transform American notions of freedom? How do these notions,
created in the 1860s and 1870s, shape current events today?
3. Nineteenth-century Protestant minister Theodore Parker once wrote,
“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a
long one…. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward
justice.” Martin Luther King, Jr. later reworked the line
as, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards
justice.” Can you reconcile these abstract statements on
the progress of history toward greater justice with the setbacks that
Foner presents in Chapter 6? Does Chapter 6 mean that Parker and
King were wrong?
History 300 Winter 2011 Response Five (based on Foner, chs 7-10)
Please answer three of the following four questions.
1. Based on Chapter 7, what do you find to be the most significant and
lasting contribution of the Progressives to our society today?
How do you see the Progressives’ legacy at work in today’s
America. Do you find that legacy mostly positive or negative?
2. Sketch an active-learning exercise involving Foner’s
discussion of World War I and civil liberties. In 5-7 sentences,
explain what your activity would involve and what students would do in
it.
3. Based on chapter, 9, give FDR a grade for how well he advanced
American “freedom” during the Great Depression. Does
he get an A+, an F, a C, or something else?
4. After reading Chapter 10, do you think it’s appropriate to say
that World War II dramatically improved domestic U.S. society?
History 300 Winter 2011 Response Six (based on Foner, chs 11-13)
Please answer all three questions.
1. Using Chapter 11, identify three specific ways in which the Cold War
rivalry with communism changed American notions or practices of
freedom. Then think about whether the post-9/11 “war on
terror” has altered American notions or practices of
freedom. Do you see mainly parallels or mainly differences
between the Cold War and the post-9/11 period?
2. If you had to pick one aspect of “Sixties freedom” (Ch.
12) as the Sixties’ most important and/or most enduring
accomplishment, what would it be and why?
3. How would you teach the rise of conservative freedom (Ch. 13) to 11th-grade students in Los Angeles?