A delayed post, short and, hopefully, sweet. The annual World History Association conference is a usually highlight of my year. This year’s conference in Korea reminded me of the draft to this post.
I had a great time at the 2025 WHA Conference in Louisville. Gathering with good people during trying times buoyed my spirits. And, as always, the conference featured generative exchanges among people involved across a range of history teaching and learning . In one such session World Historian Laura Mitchell asked the essential question1 of the group: what do you have students do?
This question is especially important for new teachers. In history, students should be working directly with sources and concepts. One method of encouraging this vertical learning, with students working through texts in small groups. If student work is visible—whether on a white board, black board, or paper on an easel—teachers can circulate and offer timely feedback. This intervention can help students to build literacy skills, a goal mentioned by several higher education instructors throughout the conference. This works best with shorter sources, so it does not help with the struggle to get students to read books or articles outside of class.
As a peer instructional coach in my penultimate year working in a high school I had opportunity to observe vertical learning working well in math classes. History has more in common with math than it may seem. I often encourage students to view history through the lens of problem solving.
PS: I often have one of my best meals of the year while attending WHA, and 2025 was no exception. I enthusiastically recommend Mayan Café in Louisville. I enjoyed delicious lima beans, and more!
- Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe’s work on “Essential questions” has been stretched and distorted, such that students whom I tutor sometimes have twenty or more “essential questions” per unit. I’m using the phrase here in the original sense which is well-summarized the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Center for Teaching and learning here. Related, Dr. Mitchell advises World History teachers to “Dare to Omit,” critical advice for creating space for students to construct knowledge. I repeat this frequently with preservice teachers. ↩︎
