A teacher dramatically strumming his guitar, singing a song to giggling high school students, recently graced a Washington Post article by Jay Mathews.
While the guitar serenade is a unique feature of Mark Ingerson’s AP history course, the more intriguing thing about his classroom is that it doesn’t rely on traditional textbooks. Ingerson, Mathews reports, doesn’t believe in them because they offer a firehose of information that students never remember. He keeps a few basic texts on hand, but mostly to satisfy official requirements.
Instead, Ingerson takes a different approach to teaching history. The students learn facts, but in a more interactive way through source material, collaboration, and discussion. Mathews describes the classroom scene:
“This past year teaching AP, he [Ingerson] had each student compile 200 flashcards. They repeatedly paired up to quiz each other. ‘I wanted students to know the material so well that if I said ”Federalist 10,“ literally any student could spout off three to four specific ideas that made that document important and could use that in an argument,’ he said.”
Why does he take this unique approach?
