Teaching Tuesday: Play in the Classroom

I’m starting to put together my classes for Fall 2026. Like most falls, I’m teaching four class, but this year, two sections of History 101: Western Civilization rather than a section of History 105: World Civilizations. This means one less prep, but also it puts some pressure on me to get the class right. My teaching goals for the Western Civilization class are very broad and this reflects the diversity of students in the class. I have everything from history and social studies education majors to engineering, nursing, airplane flying, and business majors. Some non-history majors are very interested in history and want to dig in during the class; others see this as an inconvenience. As a result, I’ve made the course about engagement with the past. This involves getting the students to think about the past, about our sources, and about history for a couple of hours each week and to write about it. As I’ve written about (endlessly) the students work in groups to produce supplements to…