Society for History Education

Closing the Gap between Professors and Teachers: "Uncoverage" as a Model of Professional
Development for History Teachers
Author(s): Timothy D. Hall and Renay Scott
Source: The History Teacher, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Feb., 2007), pp. 257-263
Published by: Society for History Education
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andTeachers:
ClosingtheGap BetweenProfessors
"Uncoverage"as a Model ofProfessional
forHistoryTeachers
Development

D. Hall andRenayScott
Timothy

CentralMichiganUniversity,
MountPleasant,Michiganand
OwensCommunity
College,Toledo,Ohio

OUR AIM in theCentralMichiganUniversity

Alpena-MontmorencyAlcona TeachingAmericanHistory(TAH) Projecthas been to forgea
modelofprofessional
thatwouldnotmerely
teachdevelopment
improve
ers'knowledgeofevents,people,anddates.We havebeenseekingto go
theirunderstanding
ofthenatureandpractice
beyondthisto strengthen
of historical
and to developtheirabilityto helptheirstudents
thinking
setofskills.In doingso,we havediscovered
developthisdifficult
through
trialanderror,
thetruth
thatprofessional
is mostmeaningful
development
andeffective
whenthecontent
ofteacherlearning
is strongly
linkedtothe
curriculum
thestudents
arelearning.'In ourprimary
sourceworkshops,
we haveworkedto combinesophisticated
instruction
in thehistory
our
willteachwithpracticalstrategies
focusedon developing
efparticipants
classroom-tested
lessonsandmaterials
thatreflect
andteachboth
fective,
thecontent
andstructure
ofthediscipline.
Our decisionto centerthegrantactivitieson "primary
sourceworkshops,"was informed
by GrantWiggins'and JayMcTighe'scall foran
oursubjectas wellas SamWineburg's
"uncoverage"
approachtoteaching
researchon historical
to fillthegaps in
Insteadof attempting
thinking.
TheHistoryTeacher Volume40 Number2

2007
February

D. Hall andRenayScott
C Timothy

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258

D. HallandRenayScott
Timothy

knowledgewithintensivelecturecourses,we have sought

participants'
to "inquireinto,around,and underneath
thecontent"of UnitedStates
in an effort
to helpourparticipants
learnto think
and Michiganhistory
theirknowledge
ofcontent.2
Wehaveworked
whiledeepening
historically
withparticipants
toselectrichprocessesoreventsinMichiganandUnited
Stateshistoryand organizedtheworkshopsto uncoverways in which
historians
construct
knowledgeaboutthepast.
In the weeks beforeeach workshop,participants
were expectedto
information
read materialwhichprovidesnotonlyneededbackground
ontheworkshop
but
this
in
context.
Theyare
topic puts
historiographical
buttoideninstructed
toreadnotonlyforthemainpointofeachselection
frames
thereadinghistoriographically
andtoidentify
tifyhoweachwriter
andconflict
Thisalso
variation
pointsofinterpretive
amongthereadings.
meanslookingforwhether
each writeris awareof otherinterpretations
or approachesto theissueandwhyeachwriter
believeshisorherstudy
addressesthoseapproaches.
Forexample,
inoursummer
2004
participants
workshop,
"Michiganin theGreatWest,"readselectionsfromWilliam
Cronon'sNature'sMetropolis,
SusanGrey'sTheYankeeWest,
andMartin
Hershock'sworkon earlyagrarianresistance
to therailroadcompanies.
Theworkshop
askedwhether
theearly19th-century
westward
migration
was drivenbymarket
forcesora traditional
agrarianethos.3
Oncea rangeofinterpretations
hasbeenidentified
foreachworkshop,
we led theparticipants
in an exploration
oftheeventorprocessthrough
intensivestudyof relevantprimary
an activitywe termed
documents,
"conversations
withthepast."(We had spentsometimeexplaining
what
historians
meanwhentheyspeakof "conversations
withthepast"and
"debatesaboutthepast.")Documents
wereorganized
toformcase studies
ofvariouselements
oraspectsofthetopicinquestion.Our"Michiganin
theGreatWest"workshop,
forinstance,
was organizedintocase studies
ofpushandpullfactors
inmigration
toMichigan,theformation
ofearly
the
of
local
and
Michigancommunities, development
regionalmarkets,
thecomingoftherailroad,andthedevelopment
ofthelumberindustry.
wereorganizedintosmallgroupsofthreetofivepeople,and
Participants
eachwasassigneda case study
withaccompanying
documents.
Eachgroup
was givena set of openingquestionsalongwiththedocument
packet,
theprocessofinterpreting
their
questionstailoredto assistthemthrough
specificdocuments.
Thiscase studyapproachwas designedto serveatleasttwoimportant
and
purposes:to uncover-thatis, to tease out fordirectexamination
skillsandto modeltheuse ofprimary
docupractice-crucialhistorical
mentsin classroomteaching.The case studiescarriedrichpotentialfor
a wide rangeof historical
habitsof thought,
morethanwe
uncovering

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andTeachers
ClosingtheGap BetweenProfessors

259

could fullyexploitin ourlimitedformat.

We focusedmoston thehabit
of questioning
thecase studydocuments
and makinginterpretive
inferences fromtheevidence,and thenon connecting
theinformation
and
inferences
drawnfromthevarioussources.All inferences
neededto be
backtothespecificsourcesfromwhichtheywere
supported
byreferring
Eachgroupspentseveralhoursanalyzing
therelevant
documents,
drawn.4
individualfindings
intocoherent
written
and
organizing
interpretations,
thegroup'sfindings
intoa concluding
to
finallyorganizing
presentation
be madeto theotherworkshop
Once
each
had
made
participants.
group
theirpresentation,
theentiregroupofparticipants
discussedconnections
ofthevariouscase studygroups.The objectwas to
amongthefindings
an answeror possibleanswersto thequestionposed by the
formulate
wereencouraged
to takea standon thequestion
workshop.
Participants
andtosupport
thepositionwithevidence.Inthisway,theworkshops
providedbothexperience
intheactivity
ofhistorical
anda modelfor
thinking
materials
whichtheteacherscouldadapttotheappropriate
usingprimary
age leveloftheirstudents.
we eventually
We thinkthattheworkshop
methods
evolvedhadsome
to truehistorians,
a
successin revealingthehabitsof minddistinctive
has called"uncoverage."
The historians
on
processwhichone historian
ourteamworkedhardto achievethis"uncoverage"
byexposingourparto a richarrayofsources,each arraydesignedto forcethemto
ticipants
thinklikehistorians
to answerthequestionposed.Ourhopewas thatas
"uncover"fortheirstudents
thehabitsof
teachers,
theywouldsimilarly
was notall thatwentinto
mindofhistorians.
The workofthehistorians
ourTAH grantprojectworkshops,
however.Therewerelinkedsessions
In
whichweretheresponsibility
oftheeducation
onmethodology
faculty.
wereintroduced-most
forthefirst
thesesessions,participants
time-to
Wiggins'and McTighe's"backwarddesign"approachto formulating
bothforits
unitand lessonplans.We foundthisapproachpromising
historical
to
the
intrinsic
to
good
questions
adaptability
largeinterpretive
articulation
of
a
which
could
forma
and
for
its
inquiry
"learningcycle"
based
for
lessons
focused
on
uncovercommon,theoretically
template
and practice.5
Wejoinedthisstructural
approach
inghistorical
thinking
selected
andadaptedfromthe"History
withinstructional
methodologies
Alive"curriculum.6
we foundmostadaptableincluded:the
The HistoryAlive strategies
of visual
"social studiesskill builder,"thatfocusedon interpretation
on groupinquiryintoa
sources;"problemsolvinggroupwork"centered
"responsegroups,"anothermethod
interpretation;
problemofhistorical
issueorhistorical
ofgroupinquiry
intoa contested
problem;and"writing
arounda
focusedon organizing
forunderstanding,"
writing
assignments

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260

D. Hall andRenayScott
Timothy

clearpurposewhicharisesoutofthematerialandissuescurrently
under
consideration.'
wererequired
toproduceanextended
lessoninParticipants
materials
use ofprimary
thatsignificantly
corporating
significant
engaged
withspecialfocus
pupilsin one ormoreelementsofhistorical
thinking,
claimswithevidence.Themethodology
courseincluded
uponsupporting
sessionsinwhichparticipants
theresultsofclassroom
follow-up
reported
use ofthelessons.Revisionswererequiredbeforefinalsubmission.
We begantheprojectconvincedthatourplan forlinkedhistory
and
sessionswaswellgrounded
inhistorical
content
as wellas in
methodology
recentstudiesofhistory
andlearning.
Yetourinitialforayintothe
teaching
oftheprogram
as well
projectexposedweaknessesintheoverallstructure
as conflicting
the
and
the
teachers.
assumptions
by university
specialists
Participants
provedless eagerto read,study,andworkwiththecontent
ofourhistory
coursesthanwe hopedandtheyexpresseddisappointment
at notbeinggivenclassroom-ready
materialswhichtheycould putto
immediate
use. The program
mindful
oftheneedto market
coordinator,
a summerexperience
thatwouldattract
contracted
use ofa tall
recruits,
butproveddifficult
to incorporate
authentic,
shipwhichwas historically
intothestandards-based
curriculum
we wereattempting
to establish.In
teachersexpresseddiscontent
withtheseparation
evaluations,
first-year
ofthecontent-based
coursesfromthemethods
course,andwithbothfrom
classroomapplication.
The initiallessonplansreflected
thisdisconnect
ina disappointing
lackofobjectivesfocusedon historical
anda
thinking
relianceoninformation
textbook
sources
continuing
gleanedfrom
existing
andimperfect
was inorder.
priorknowledge.Clearly,a re-thinking
Our revisedprogramdesigndevelopeda muchtighterintegration
betweenthecontent
andmethodology
thanwe hadinitially
planned.We
thenre-focused
theprogram
ontheintensive,
all-daysummer
workshops
conductedover two week periodsalreadydescribed.The workshops
remainedfocusedprimarily
on historicalcontentand investigation
as
describedabove butwithsessionson backwarddesign-based
teaching
at keypointsthroughout.
Thisintegration
set
methodology
incorporated
theworkshops
withina meaningful
contextof practiceforteachersby
todeveloplessonsontopicsrelatedtotheworkshop
preparing
participants
lessonsthatincorporate
thehabitsofhistorical
ina central
content,
thought
are
invited
to
use
materials
the
and
way.They
presented
during workshop
areprovidedwithlinkstoadditional
richweb-basedresources
suchas the
LibraryofCongressAmericanMemoryProject.
Have theprimary
sourceworkshops
increasedparticipants'
abilityto
thinkhistorically
andtopassthatgainon totheirstudents
inrich,engagsoundlessons?Ourhonestanswermustbe thatthegains
ing,historically
so farhavebeenmodestanduneven.We wouldliketo be able to report

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andTeachers
ClosingtheGap BetweenProfessors

261

a greaternumberof dramaticresultslike theaccomplishments

of one
lesson
on
the
role
of
the
Erie
Canal
in
whose
to
participant
migration
in
reflected
the
central
historical
of
the
the
question
Michigan
"Michigan
GreatWest"workshop
thatillustrated
theroleofthemarket
inwestward
The lessonincludedrich,appropriate
and settlement.
migration
primary
and tranmaterials,
includingperiodmaps,storereceipts,illustrations,
thatengagedpupilsin historical
scribedletters,
organizedintoactivities
and supporting
conclusions
questioning,
drawinghistoricalinferences,
withhistorical
evidence.
Ifwe lookspecifically
at whether
ourparticipants'
lessonplansshow
to"uncover"thehabitsofmindso theycanbe learned
theyareattempting
we findthattheresultsso farare moremodest.To be
by theirstudents,
focusedon a central
sure,mostlessonswe haveexaminedarenowbetter
and
question.Most engagepupilsin readingsourcesforinformation,
and
inferences
from
the
sources.
Most
about
askingquestions
drawing
amongthe observations
theyhave
help studentsto makeconnections
made.The practiceof evaluatingsourcesis less consistently
promoted
habitsofthought
areless central
inthelessonplans.Yetthesehistorical
to thelessonsthanwe hopedtheywouldbe. Oftentheyoccupyonlya
smallportionofthelesson,withtoo littletimeallocatedformeaningful
in
primarily
practice.Some lessonplansused and discusseddocuments
rather
thaninthemainbodyofthelesson.Mostreflect
optionalextensions
a levelinsufficient
tocarry
a noviceunderstanding
ofhistorical
thinking,
theirpupilsveryfarinthoseskills.
a disregard
forthequestion
In addition,
severalparticipants
exhibited
inthetopicstheychosefortheirlessons.Some
ofhistorical
significance
withlittleattention
towhether
those
localinterest
chosetopicsofprimarily
topicsillustrated
largerthemesorprocesses.Evenwherelinksweremade
betweenlocal history
themes,onlya fewpartopicsandlargerhistorical
tomakethoselinksexplicit.We foundall this
mademucheffort
ticipants
somewhatdispiriting,
especiallybecausewe had takenpainsto address
toselecttopicsinMichigan
thequestionofhistorical
significance
directly,
linkstolargerthemesofUnitedStateshistory,
thathadsignificant
history
thatused
to professional
historical
andto introduce
writing
participants
to engagecentralthemesofhistorical
interpretation.
Michiganhistory

WhatWeHaveLearned
In thefirst
place,we havelearnedthatitis possibleto forgea strong,
anda teachereducabetweena history
department
partnership
productive
faculties
share
that
both
tiondepartment.
Wehavefound
manyofthesame
andmanyof
in
schools
education the
concernsaboutthestateofhistory

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262

D. HallandRenayScott
Timothy

thesameconvictions
abouttheimportance
ofdisciplinary
A
knowledge.
teachermustknowhistory
well in orderto teachitwell.We wouldcerdifferences
betweenthedisciplinary
tainlyneverdenythemanyimportant
ofhistory
andthemethodological
perspective
emphasisofsocialstudies.
do in
Still,we have foundthatourdiffering
languageforwhatstudents
theclassroomoftenmaskssignificant
aboutwhattheyshould
agreement
be doingandwhytheyshouldbe doingit.In retrospect
we can see that
ourinitialdesign,withseparatecoursesforhistory
content
andteaching
reflected
habits
andperhaps
methodology,
lingering
ofcompartmentalizing
our
own
turf.
Our
to
find
common
came
aboutin
guarding
ability
ground
measure
as
we
worked
to
our
two
fields
of
into
large
integrate
expertise
a comprehensive
at
aimed
teachers
become
better
at
program
helping
andpassingthatskillon totheirpupils.
thinking
historically
Wehopethatwe havealso learnedoverthepasttwoyearstolistena bit
morecloselytoteachers
andtheirconcerns.
Wedo notbelievetheagenda
we brought
totheprojectwas wrong.Teachersdo needbetter
knowledge
ofthepastinordertoteachitwell,andtoomanyprofessional
development
continueto perpetuate
a focuson methodological
programs
quickfixes
tothedetriment
ofbothteacherandstudent
Nevertheless,
understanding.
we have cometo recognizethatwe formulated
ourinitialprogram
with
an insufficient
ofthegap betweenourexpectations
andthe
appreciation
andwithinsufficient
consideration
ofteachers'
participants'
expectations,
concernsfortheirclassroompractice.Bothgroupshavehadto
legitimate
with
adjust.Wehopethisprojecthasbecomea moregenuinepartnership
teachersas a result.
we haveleamrned
thathistorical
involvesa setofhabits
Finally,
thinking
ofmindthatdo notcomeeasilyandcan at bestonlyintroduced
duringa
twoweekslong.Historians
themselves
workshop
developthesethrough
ourmaterials
aftertwoyearsofpractice,
yearsofpractice.In reviewing
we can certainly
areaswherewe needtomakemoreexplicitand
identify
we areattempting
to
preciseourfocuson thehabitsofhistorical
thought
uncover.Weneedtoclarify
theexpectation
ofprecisely
howtheseshould
show up in lesson objectives,activities,and assessments.Ultimately,
ourexperience
hasstrengthened
ourconviction
aboutsomething
however,
thatgoes farbeyondTAH grantprojects.Thisconviction
is thatthebest
to
is taughtin theschools-especiallytheelplace improvehowhistory
schools-is inuniversity
courses.Therisingexpectations
ementary
history
forteachersat all levels,butespeciallyforelementary
makes
teachers,
itverydifficult
forthemto findthetimeneededto developthekindsof
skillseachdiscipline
forthemtoteachitwell.University
students
requires
havemoretimeavailableto learnthesehabitsofmindwhiletheyare in
collegethantheywilleverhaveagain.Therefore,
collegeanduniversity

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andTeachers
ClosingtheGap BetweenProfessors

263

needtotakeadvantageofthisfacttoequippre-service
history
professors
thattheyneedto be able
teacherswiththehabitsof historical
thinking
well in theclassroom.Historyand social studiesmajors
to teachhistory
havea courseinhistoriography
andmethodology.
should,ata minimum,
to
Buteverycourseinthecurriculum
shouldbe examinedandreworked
instruction
inhistorical
modelandtoprovidebetter
thinking-especially
theintroductory
UnitedStateshistory
surveycoursewhichis oftenthe
teacherswilltake.8
coursemostpre-service
onlyhistory
elementary

Notes
1.
20,
Development
GarySykes,"Make SubjectMatterCount,"JournalofStaff
no. 2 (1999): 50-51.
2.
GrantWigginsandJayMcTighe,Understanding
VA:
byDesign (Alexandria,
ASCD, 1998),98-114.
WilliamCronon,Nature' Metropolis:ChicagoandtheGreatWest(NewYork:
3.
Lifeon theMichiganFrontier
Norton,1991); SusanGray,TheYankeeWest:Community
ofNorthCarolinaPress,1996); MartinHershock,"FreeCom(ChapelHill: University
MichimonersbyLaw: Tradition,
andtheClosingoftheRangeinAntebellum
Transition,
gan,"MichiganHistoricalReview29, no. 2 (2003): 97-123;Hershock,TheParadox of
and PoliticalCultureinMichigan,
Progress:EconomicChange,IndividualEnterprise,
1837-1878(Athens:Ohio University
Press,2003).
4.
For an excellentdiscussionof habitsof mindand how one historianhas
structured
his surveyclass to uncoverthem,see LendolCalder,"Uncoverage:Toward
a SignaturePedagogyfortheHistorySurvey,"JournalofAmericanHistory92, no. 4
website,<http://www.indiana.edu/-jah/
(2006): 1358-1370.See also his accompanying
textbooks/2006/calder/>.
5.
WigginsandMcTighe,115-133.
6.
We shareconcernsaboutaccuracyof contentin some of thispublishedcurhistorical
ofsomeofthemethods
todistort
riculumas wellas thepotential
understanding
we thought
itimportant
toincorporate
whenuseduncritically.
Nevertheless,
HistoryAlive!
use inMichigan,itsendorsement
becauseofitswidespread
bytheMichiganDepartment
ofEducation,and itsadoptionbyAlpenaPublicSchools.
Alive!EngagingAllLearn7.
BertBower,JimLobdell,andLee Swenson,History
ers in theDiverseClassroom,2nd ed. (Palo Alto,CA: Teacher'sCurriculum
Institute,
1999),41-56,71-124.
thesurveyalongtheselines,see RussellOlwell,
8.
For modelsof reorganizing
Skillsina CollegeSurveyClass," Teaching
"BuildingHigherOrderHistoricalThinking
"TheSurvey,
Again,"OAHMagazine
History27 (Spring,2002): 22-32;JulieRoyJeffrey,
theSurvey:Pedagogical
D. Sears,"Reinventing
17 (April,2003): 52-54;Stuart
ofHistory
AHAPerspectives
43 (February
forEngagement,"
2005): 21; PeterN. Steams,
Strategies
inHistorical
Analysis:A Case StudyinWorldHistory,"
"GettingSpecificaboutTraining
inKnowing,Teaching,and LearningHistory:Nationaland International
Perspectives,
ed. PeterN. Steams,PeterSeixas,and Sam Wineburg
(New York:New YorkUniversity
Press,2000), 419-36.

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