Perspectives on Teaching Women's History: Views from the Classroom, the Library, and the Internet

Abstract

elcome aboard, everyone. Thanks for agreeing to participate in an electronic forum about teaching women's history. In preparing to teach a women's history course for the first time, I was disappointed to discover few recent discussions of strategies for teaching specific to women's history. Although examining other teachers' syllabi is instructive (and made by the Internet), I remained curious about why certain choices were made. Recognizing that many teaching strategies are contingent on institutional opportunities and constraints, it nevertheless seems worthwhile to launch a forum where we discuss and debate ques- tions of pedagogy in women's history. While choosing texts, designing as- signments, apportioning class time, using technology, and evaluating stu- dents are subjects that pertain to all of our teaching, it should prove inter- esting to explore these issues as they relate to women's history courses in particular. At the very least, we can provide a guide for those designing courses for the first time or seeking to modify existing courses. I'm on a postdoctoral fellowship at Florida International University, a public university in Miami, where I'm teaching women's history for the first time—specifically, a course on U.S. Women's History (since Recon- struction). Although trained in women's history at Ohio State University, where I earned my Ph.D., I did not have an opportunity in graduate school to teach women's history. I have, however, taught numerous sections of U.S. history survey and a number of interdisciplinary women's studies courses. One of the issues I'm currently dealing with relates to my choice of readings. I assigned as one of my books Linda Gordon's The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction, thinking it was a good example of recent scholarship in U.S. women's history, an interesting narrative full of drama and suspense, and a text that admirably treats the issues of race/ethnicity and gender. 1 My students, however, are intimidated by the text: over 300 pages of text and copious information about mining communities—what I consider out- standing social and labor history and they consider boring! I think there's a lot you can do with this book without asking students to read every word, but the question on my mind is about using texts that challenge students, few of whom seem to enjoy reading, versus selecting those that seem easy