Interview with a Historian Official 2
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Southern New Hampshire University *
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History
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Feb 20, 2024
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Interview with a Historian
1
Interview with a Historian
Sergio M. Davila
Applied Studies in History Graduate Education
Professor Benjamin Arrington
Interviewee: Pedro Venegas, Social Studies Department Head at Cleveland Middle School
Interview with a Historian
2
What is a historian? PV: History or Social Studies is the study of behaviors, actions, interactions, decisions of people of notable history. I love history because it details the human condition, for ill or goodwill. Triumph, defeat. tragedy, weakness, strength, and corruption are all features that encapsulate history.
What is a historian? What is a historian’s role? What makes a lay historian different from a professional historian?
PV: In my humble opinion, an amateur historian is one who is intrigued by the events of the past and enjoys making conversation, but doesn’t engage in history on the academic sense, like a professor or history teacher at the high school of junior high level. In other words, educators employ the historical method and the average lay person doesn’t. Plus, professional historians study history as their career and work at universities, high schools or junior highs.
What type of historian does your historian classify themselves as? What type/area of history does their work/research focus on? What led them to their specialization?
PV: I am a Department Head of the Social Studies Department in Cleveland Middle School. I supervise and guide the 6
th
, 7
th
& 8
th
Social Studies teachers every day as Department Head. In their work, how does your historian determine what to include and what to exclude in/from their historical analysis? Why? For example, if their work focuses on gender history but they exclude race/ethnicity from their analysis because their larger focus is the socio-economics of a primarily ethnically homogeneous society.
PV: As department head, I make sure that the teachers of all grades teach only what is prescribed in the curriculum. Also, we teach only what the TEKS need us to teach. If a subject is not taught on the STAAR test, we do not teach it in class. Ways to stay current on the latest research and developments in their field.
PV: With Social Studies, it is imperative attend workshops, professional development opportunities, and to collaborate with fellow colleagues would help in staying current with teaching an educational trends.
Interview with a Historian
3
Current historical trends and where they see the profession heading.
PV: The Social Studies/History profession is projected to grow between 3-5 percent between 2 and 9 percent between 2023 to 2034. The teaching profession is projected to yield at least 400-500 openings
a year. Professional issues and ethical obligations of historians.
PV: As social studies teachers, we must act with due diligence and do our jobs in the classroom. Being that we must act according to our contracts, this also includes academic honesty, maintaining confidentiality, honesty and other issues not listed in our teaching contract. REFLECTION
While reflecting on this interview with my department head, I heard many things that I have heard before, but even with that being said, these ideas and facts are still impactful and important to this very day. When I heard Mr. Venegas talking about the openings that were projected over the years, that was an eye-opener. A reason why that is so is that there is so much teacher turnover that once one teacher leaves, another can take their place almost immediately. When it comes to teachers having their workshops and professional development up-to-date, it is
essential that all teachers keep up-to-date with their hours. We must work at least 100 hours a year to keep up with professional development. As always, I have some misgivings about teaching to the standardized STAAR US History test. Teaching only certain facts to pass a test given by the state of Texas severely limits what I can teach in a US History test. Everything is scheduled and by the book. To be honest, it is far more enjoyable to teach Texas History and World History, as I can teach outside the box and not have to worry about sine test. That being said, it is fun to teach about the War of 1812 and the Civil War.
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