STEPHANIE

ANNE CALLAHAN
14R Salem Street, Right, Woburn, MA 01801 | (508) 272-4216 | Stephanie.callahan21@gmail.com
http://www.stephanieannecallahan.com


The following words have been attributed to Aristotle, The mark of an educated

mind is to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.1 Ironically, I accept these

words as doctrine. To become fully educated citizens my students must analyze the

pros and cons of a variety of perspectives on historical and contemporary, controversial

and forgotten issues. In short, they will become reflective thinkers as imagined by

Dewey, a practice born out of inquiry in the classroom. My work teaching at Prospect

Hill Academy, my graduate work at Boston University, and my Master of Arts in History

from Providence College have shaped my educational philosophy as such: to inspire a

lifelong love of learning, teach for college readiness and entrance into the professional

world, inspire students to think critically about the humanities, and foster responsible

citizenship: locally, nationally, and abroad.

My inquiry-based units will be planned backwards, organized around an

essential question that students will explore throughout the entire unit. Each days

work will be structured around a subsidiary inquiry question, one that encourages

students to form an opinion on the essential question. For example, a unit on the

Industrial Revolution may be structured around the essential question: What is more

important, the community or the individual? Inquiry-based learning engages students

and allows them to learn authentically, mirroring how individuals learn outside of the

classroom.

1 The true quote from Nichomachean Ethics reads as follows, For a well-school man is one who searches

for that degree of precision in each kind of study which the nature of the subject at hand admits: it is
obviously just as foolish to accept arguments of probability form a mathematician as to demand strict
demonstrations from an orator." (Pg. 5 Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle The Library of Liberal Arts Trans.
by Martin Ostwald, 1962)

 Through inquiry-based learning, students will grow as gray or reflective

thinkers as opposed to dichotomous thinkers. Students and adults alike all too often

have trouble identifying value in a viewpoint that is otherwise flawed. Through

inquiry-based learning students will develop the ability to contend with shades of gray

during evaluation of any source of information. Thus, students will have a significant

advantage in college and career. They will be able to understand the viewpoint of

another, collaborate with others in both personal and professional settings, hold to a

system of values while still recognizing its potential to grow and change, and have some

idea of the path in life that will bring them fulfillment.

Inclusion of multiple perspectives in my curriculum will encourage my students

to be culturally competent citizens. Purposeful selection of primary and secondary

sources to include a variety of opinions will allow students to see our world as it is: an

interaction of people, events, and ideas, as opposed to a singular narrative. Including

multiple perspectives, from the traditional Anglo-American narrative to Howard Zinns

A Peoples History of the United States, will add diversity to the curriculum. Students will

investigate how these divergent historical narratives intersect, and discuss the

interplay between history and literature of the time period.

Students will be able to explore multiple interpretations of literature and

history, as well, through inclusion of books reviews and historiography in the

curriculum. Study of historiography will allow students to view history as historians

do, a discipline in constant flux. Students will explore historiography first through film,

to visualize numerous interpretations of the same time period. Eventually, students

will write original research, investigating and writing their own literary analysis and

historic research papers.

Study of a historic era cannot be separated from the philosophy, art, music,

theology, science, and literature that materialized concurrently. One method I will use

to introduce art into my curriculum is Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS). According to

the official VTS website (2015), this activity is perhaps the simplest way in which

teachers and schools can provide students with key behaviors sought by Common Core

Standards: thinking skills that become habitual and transfer from lesson to lesson, oral

and written language literacy, visual literacy, and collaborative interactions among

peers.2 Students are able to apply their prior knowledge to a piece of artwork in full

class discussion. The piece of art, selected by the facilitator, can be either a primary or

secondary source, depending on the desired goal of the lesson.

At least once per month students will have the opportunity to explore current

events, as this is one of the means by which students improve their social awareness

and, in turn, can transform and better our society. Study of current events may happen

at the conclusion of a unit, where students can explore the essential question through a

contemporary lens, exposing the struggles we continue to grapple with today. Students

will also explore current events through debate, in which the purpose is not to win, but

to enlighten understanding through discussion of new information and perceptions

(Rossi, 1996).

Students will also practice civic engagement, through the New York Times

Student Opinion Question pieces. Students will have the opportunity to write an

2 Visual Thinking Strategies. Whats Going On in This Picture? http://www.vtshome.org.
editorial for submission to the publication. This assignment affords students the

opportunity surpass debate of poignant issues and work instead to solve these

problems. To test growth of civic engagement over the year I will also have my

students participate in two current events assessments, one given at the start of the

year and one at the conclusion. I will use these to compile data on growth in student

civic engagement, so that each year I can re-evaluate opportunities for my students to

participate in their democratic society.

In addition to growing as reflective thinkers and engaged citizens, students

must also leave my classroom with a set of practical skills: technological fluency,

writing a cover letter, successfully presenting themselves in a job interview, and public

speaking. Students will learn to write well by undergoing a rigorous editing process for

their first research paper of the year. Additionally, students will complete a variety of

writing projects, including creative and persuasive writing. Students will write

creatively in a Thought Journal, in which students will develop their voice as a writer by

connecting classroom learning with their personal experience. The Thought Journal

also encourages students to connect relevant current events and personal experiences

to class material. Lastly, computer use will be encouraged or required, depending on

available resources. Students will learn to type, use a word processor, and properly

research historic material with on-line databases and search engines. Lessons will also

include how to properly scrutinize an electronic source.

Students will be encouraged to bring their authentic selves and lived experience

to the classroom every day. I will avoid making assumptions about my students,

instead allowing them to voice their opinions on a topic before we engage in study,
particularly before studying controversial current events. Students need to know that

they can give their opinion in a space free from judgment. While I will include study of

histories that are relevant to the backgrounds of my students, I will also continue to

teach perspectives unfamiliar to my student body. While students need to study where

they come from, they also need to be educated as citizens of the world. Additionally, I

will immerse myself fully in my students community, joining in relevant cultural events

and experiences to better understand the background of my students.

As teaching is evidently and inevitably uncertain3 classroom routines will

bring order to my classroom. A Do Now will start each class, sometimes as a check for

understanding on a previous class, some to build intrigue around a new topic of study,

and other times as a pre-assessment. Students will have a structured syllabus, in which

current events are discussed at the beginning and end of each unit. Throughout the

year, the Thought Journal will allow students a creative space to voice their opinion,

before sharing it aloud with their classmates. Consistency of routine is necessary in a

classroom where inquiry-based learning and multiple perspectives force students to

confront a multitude of conflicting information.

Additionally, I will utilize my experience with data analysis to inform my

teaching. Through design and use of a student tracker and curriculum map on Mastery

Connect software I will track student data and determine student progress on mastery

of both Common Core Standards and the Massachusetts History and Social Science

Curriculum Framework. I will then assemble pre-determined skill-based groupings,

3 Floden, Robert E. and Christopher M. Clark, Preparing Teachers for Uncertainty, (1988), 1.
leveled texts, and other differentiated assignments to address skill gaps identified by

this data interpretation.

Inquiry-based learning, exploration of multiple perspectives and historiography,

interdisciplinary learning, and current events all determine how students will learn

historical content in my classroom. In order to thrive in twenty-first century America

students also need the skills of self-awareness, cultural competence, reflective thinking,

self-advocacy, empathy, speaking, reading and writing well. I want my students must

become well-educated citizens, able to navigate our increasingly global society.

Furthermore, I want my students to have the skills necessary to not only thrive within

the society as it exists today, but also to have the drive and inspiration to transform and

better our world.