Review: Teaching What Really Happened

Aaron Outland
TED 690
6/5/2016

Abstract
When developing subject specific pedagogical practices for History classes, it is important for
history teachers to consider the complexities of historiography. In his book, Teaching What
Really Happened: How to Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks & Get Students Excited About Doing
History, James A. Loewen addresses many of the issues adversely affecting the teaching of
history in America. It also provides teachers with actionable suggestions to avoid "the tyranny of
textbooks." It is an invaluable tool for history teachers who wish to make their subject matter
comprehensible to their students, and "Teach What Really Happened."

James W. Loewen is a professor of sociology who has made a career out of analyzing
history education in the United States. His bestselling book Lies My Teacher Told Me, analyzes
the shortcomings of history textbooks in the United States, and the issues that occur because of
these history textbooks. Teaching What Really Happened is the sequel to this well-known book,
written specifically for teachers of history. Continuing from the research Loewen conducted in
Lies, he offers teachers constructive ways to implement his findings.
The Tyranny of Coverage
The first chapter of the book is called "The Tyranny of Coverage." This references the
immense size of history textbooks and how teachers struggle to teach all of the facts in a single
school year. The average US history textbook "boasts 1,150 pages, several hundred 'main ideas,'
and thousands of 'terms and names' to memorize" (Loewen, 2010, p. 19). As a result students
end up studying for each test and immediately forgetting the information as soon as they can.
To counteract this problem, Loewen suggests that teachers think about history as "forests,
trees, and twigs." Forests are the large, overarching themes of history. Trees represent historical
eras and events, and twigs represent key terms and facts. Teachers should focus on no more than
10 forests in a school year. Teachers should winnow out trees that are unimportant, uninteresting,
or irrelevant to the present. In addition, each tree, "must tie to at least one of the skills that the
teacher, district and state want students to develop" (Loewen, 2010, p. 28). Teachers should only
teach the twigs that are most important, but "twig memorization should not be the focus"
(Loewen, 2010, p. 21). This requires that teachers give up the idea of following the textbook as
the main curriculum, since they are primarily composed of twigs.
This is jarring when you are forced to consider that some topics in history will be missed.
Deciding which topics are important, and which are not, is now added to the teachers' list of

responsibilities. However, the pedagogical advantages are amazing, when you consider that the
extra time can be spent focusing on historiography and doing history.
Historiography
Loewen describes historiography (the study of history) as "one of the great gifts that
history teachers can bestow upon their students," since it helps break the myth that history is the
memorization of past events. Historiography also brings out the controversial side of history,
which students find more engaging. Loewen describes several easy ways to introduce students to
the concept of historiography, including introducing students to the errors of history and the
cultural and political influences that effect the writing of history.
Doing History
As all professional historians know, history is more than just reading a textbook. "Doing
history, broadly defined, means identifying a problem or topic, finding information, deciding
what sources are credible for what pieces of information, coming to conclusions about the topic,
developing storyline, and marshalling the information on behalf of that storyline, while giving
attention to information that may seem to contradict the argument" (Loewen, 2010, p. 83). This is
a long list, but each item touches on the skills that have greater emphasis with the Common Core
State Standards. Loewen describes, with detailed examples, how students can do history by
critiquing history, writing academic papers, and doing research on local history. These are great
examples for teachers to use when developing Project Based Learning activities to engage
students in history that is relevant and interesting to them.
Conclusion
The last six chapters of Teaching What Really Happened focus on six specific content
areas that Loewen believes are problematic in teaching United States history. These are

informative, especially when teachers consider them in conjunction with the broader suggestions
that Loewen makes in "The Tyranny of Coverage," "Historiography," and "Doing History." In
comparison to a history curriculum founded on the rote memorization of facts, the history
curriculum suggested by Loewen is far more interesting, educational, and worthwhile. I suggest
this book to every history teacher who is interested in providing their students with a worthwhile
history curriculum.

Source
Loewen, J. W. (2010). Teaching what really happened: How to avoid the tyranny of textbooks
and get students excited about doing history. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.