Teaching History to Honors Students at a Community College

This presentation will discuss the specific challenges and opportunities to teaching history to honors students at two-year colleges. It will open by discussing what makes them a unique part of the student body, but also a group with specific needs. It will outline my conceptualization of the place of my classes within the honors curriculum with a special focus on the importance of designing “bridging” classes to help prepare them for transfer to a four-year institution. I will then discuss specific teaching techniques as well as how to approach fundamental historical skills such as primary source analysis and critical reading skills. Finally it will address the specific historical skills and lessons I would like them to take with them, regardless of the ultimate direction of their studies and careers.