To Illuminate History

Making History Picture-Perfect

Abstract

Teaching can be improved dramatically if we use images creatively and in a way that was not possible until recently. As a student, I was fortunate to be in the classrooms of several extraordinary teachers who inspired with their words, stories, and insights, but I had to use my imagination to supply the visual content inherent in what they said, much as I did when reading. This was not a bad thing; I eventually wondered, however, whether it was something to build upon, not be satisfied with. At the start of my teaching career, several decades ago, I launched a collection or history related cartoons to circulate in class- for both their perspective and the light touch they provided-and, almost immediately thereafter, I began to include occasional pictures from books and other sources. I also made use of art slides and others from my travels to historic places. But passing materials among students sometimes distracted as much as enlightened, and by the time everyone had a chance to examine a given image, the class was usually onto another topic. And using slides served-and sometimes still serves-a purpose, but mostly as separate and distinct presentations. In contrast, transparencies and PowerPoint give teachers greater flexibility. ¹ What I want to suggest here, however, might very well be perceived as a more imaginative and educational way to employ these images or what can be called "Illuminated Teaching, Learning, and Understanding."