Charting the Past, Shaping the Future: A Comprehensive Guide to the History Education Degree Curriculum

Introduction

A history education degree curriculum is a multifaceted program designed to equip individuals with the content knowledge, pedagogical skills, and practical experience necessary to excel as history educators. Whether aspiring to teach at the secondary level, contribute to curriculum development, or pursue advanced research, a well-structured history education program serves as a foundational stepping stone.

Building a Foundation: Content Knowledge and Skills

Graduates cultivate content knowledge through coursework spanning World, United States, European, and Asian history. Students who demonstrate an interest in History and maintain a 2.0 GPA or higher may be admitted to the major. A core component involves developing professional teaching skills, often initiated through a Social Studies Methods course, a prerequisite for entry into a Teacher Education program.

The curriculum emphasizes the critical reading of historical narratives and arguments, enabling students to analyze and synthesize diverse historical perspectives. Students learn to construct evidence-based narratives using primary and secondary sources, honing their skills in historical research and argumentation.

Pedagogical Training: The Art and Science of Teaching History

The best history teachers are storytellers as well as instructors. The program combines content knowledge with training in inquiry learning and pedagogical skills, providing significant practice in secondary classrooms. Teacher candidates learn to create inquiry-based curriculum plans, incorporating diverse instructional strategies and technological literacies. They practice teaching lessons and assessing student learning, adapting instruction for diverse learners.

Graduates should be able to successfully orchestrate learning in secondary classrooms by planning meaningful, standards-based instruction, delivering lessons successfully in the classroom, assessing learning, and modifying instruction for diverse learners.

Read also: Internship Guide

Program Structure and Flexibility

A flexible program design and experienced faculty allow you to continue working full-time while advancing your career. Summer intensive courses bring together history educators from across the state for collaborative learning and professional growth. Students may be able to use some courses to meet more than one requirement.

Learning Outcomes and Standards

The program's learning outcomes align with standards from various organizations, including the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), and the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC). These outcomes focus on:

Learners, Learner Differences, and Learning Environment: Creating an inquiry-based, productive, collaborative, high-expectations classroom setting. Engaging and motivating secondary-grade learners. Developing and refining learning plans appropriate to the grade level and diversity of learners (e.g. differing needs, abilities, race, class, gender, religion, and cultural background). Adapting lessons for different learners' cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical development. Articulating the relevance of teaching multiple perspectives to a diverse group of learners, recognizing the interconnectedness of all people.
Concepts/Knowledge Application: Inquiring, thinking critically, and gaining content knowledge and application to teach history, geography, government, and economics at the secondary level. Practicing disciplinary habits of mind, research skills, evidence-based argumentation, and interpretation. Selecting and assessing the value of primary and secondary sources for use in teaching secondary learners. Incorporating multiple perspectives, drawing on and recognizing relationships among local, regional, and global issues. Teaching required standards for the subject and grade level taught.
Instructional Practice Planning and Organization: Planning for a learner-centered classroom. Planning a year of study in History/Social Studies at the secondary level, meeting required standards (National Council for the Social Studies and Arizona standards in particular). Producing and reviewing lessons and unit plans that foster critical thinking and active learning. Analyzing sources, methods, and unit designs and begin to determine which are appropriate and powerful learning tools to meet a variety of learning outcomes.
Instructional Strategies and Methods: Demonstrating skills and methods that help students build knowledge and apply their knowledge in historical/critical inquiry.

The Path to Becoming a History Teacher: A Step-by-Step Guide

The path to becoming a teacher is pretty much the same no matter what, but depending upon the grade levels and subject you’re going to teach, you’ll need to hone your education to fit. Here is a step-by-step guide to becoming a history teacher.

History teachers generally have three institutional-level options for teaching: high schools, community colleges and universities.
To become a high school history teacher at any level, you’ll need a bachelor’s degree in education along with a major or minor in history or social science. This is the minimum requirement to teach at a middle or high school level. If you already have a bachelor’s degree without an emphasis in history, you will most likely need to take additional history and teacher-training courses to meet your state’s teaching requirements.
If you want to teach at a community college, earn your master’s degree. Some states require all teachers to earn a master’s degree. Check with the Department of Education in your state for requirements in your area.
Doctorate or PhD programs not only prepare you to teach at public and private universities but for a career as a researcher, analyst or writer at an advanced level. Fortunately, you can find a large number of accredited online bachelor’s, master’s and PhD programs in history. History or World History, or regional area such as Russian or Middle Eastern history, but most will require the same extensive overview of modern and ancient eras and survey classes. If you hold a degree in another area, such as health care or business, but have always felt the pull toward teaching history, you may still be able to transfer your degree but you’ll need to take the required amount of credits to fulfill history specific requirements. Although each state has its own teacher certification guidelines, teaching history in middle or high school always begins with a four-year degree. Some states require completion of continuing education courses to stay certified. These course requirements differ from state to state. Some states also require you to sit for a competency exam such as the PRAXIS II, in history, and each state will have its own set of requirements to enable you to do so. More important, history never sleeps and evolves on a daily, even hourly basis. Taking classes or CEU credits in your field of expertise keeps you current and relevant as events happen, as well as ensuring that you’ll maintain your state certification.

Salary Expectations and Job Market

The Bureau of Labor Statistics cite a median annual salary of $81,500, with the highest 10% of history teachers in the postsecondary arena making $158,140 annually. It may not always be easy to find a job teaching in your specific area of specialty but there are some cities that hire more history teachers than others. Interestingly, some of the metropolitan areas are logical candidates, either because they are the forefather states of our country’s inceptive history, or project an image of the Wild West and its storied heritage.

Integrating Technology into the Classroom

Maps and charts, chalkboards, globes and textbooks are fine and well but these old staples of the history classroom are moving to the cupboard and making way for technology-savvy students and teachers. The BBC compiled a list of apps that add dimension to the job of imparting history, and make it interactive, fun and fascinating.

Read also: Navigating College History Class

The Accelerated Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) Program

The Teacher Education Concentration is a track to a B.A. in History that includes the specific history and social science courses recommended for eventual Social Studies teachers in North Carolina. Students take the regular undergraduate requirements, but also can use free electives to begin graduate Education classes. Students graduating with a 3.5 GPA may count some of the credits from their senior year for an additional year in graduate school in the College of Education, leading to the Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) degree. Professional education courses, and the student teaching experience in a high school, are part of the graduate portion of the program, leading to eligibility for North Carolina certification to teach Social Studies in secondary schools in North Carolina and most other states. This accelerated program is designed to be a five-year track from freshman to the M.A.T. Holders of the M.A.T. are more competitive in the teacher job market. Recent M.A.T. graduates have a 100 percent job placement rate into the profession.

The national trend in new standards for curriculum and student learning emphasizes content, and the B.A. in History provides a strong foundation of historical and social science content. The coursework in the College of Education makes a student better prepared in educational theory and actual teaching practice.

Course Examples

History Methods and Writing (HI 300) - A course to introduce the methods and skills of historical research and writing.
The Senior Seminar (HI 491) - A small seminar as a capstone research and writing experience for seniors.
The remaining four history courses in the major must be beyond introductory (200) level, with at least three of them being Advanced Electives (400-level classes). History majors satisfy the College’s general education requirements with courses need for Social Studies certification, and the University requirements of the General Education Program. The degree plan allows 21 hours of free electives for a total of 120 credit hours to graduate. In the remaining free electives, students should reserve nine hours to begin taking graduate courses in Education during the senior year. You must apply to the Graduate School and to the ABM program in the College of Education once you have earned 75 credit hours.

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