I like the direction this is going, and your retelling of the story of Caesar crossing the Rubicon is intense and gripping. But I'm afraid that the discussion questions are too intimidating. They would probably produce a lot of blank stares, for adults as least as much as children.
A talented teacher would know how to guide the discussion in a fruitful direction. But the rest of us need a framework for how to do that.
One of the key elements is to start with making observations before presenting interpretations. Even if everyone reads the exact same story, they won't necessarily notice the same things. And drawing out basic facts from a story is a much less intimidating starting point.
This is a REALLY good suggestion. I usually feel the same sort of panic, when coming across Big Questions; I think I assumed I was the odd man out. I'll play with this — being careful that this could become a big project in itself!
I LOVE the direction you're headed with this. Bringing philosophy (and binaries) front and center adds a whole new level of engagement.
One thought about this specific story- it's very dense. It feels as though it will require significant unpacking for most students to appreciate its nuances. I anticipate a series of questions along the lines of: Why did they want Caesar gone? Who was in charge? Senate? Who was president? Is a republic the same as the US? What was he doing up there across across the Rubicon? What sort of conquests? Rome? Are the Senate the bad guys?
Parents and teachers are in a great position to facilitate the sort of discussions and that will help make sense of this. And more connections and depth are definitely good things.
I guess I'm just imagining that if I were to attempt to teach this to a larger group, like a class, I would need to think very carefully about how to scaffold the material so that students wouldn't find the background knowledge too high an obstacle to be able to engage.
Too much info: that's a really good observation. I struggled to figure out how much historical data to put in it — too much and it's overwhelming; too little and it's a fairy tale. One could have an LLM customize the story for the reader (cue obligatory "Young Ladies' Illustrated Primer" Diamond Age reference), though I'm hoping to get this out as a printed thing.
One thing, however, that might lessen the pain of unfamiliar references is that each story will include a link or three to a quality video on YouTube.
Wait! What I don't want to imply is that you should take out too much of the context as that could neuter the story.
To me it reads as either an introduction for students that is meant to be difficult, to produce questions that will be unpacked over the course of a unit OR as compressed version of a story for teachers to translate into an oral format, which could then be adjusted for the listener's understanding.
You might like checking out the short saint stories my husband wrote (https://amzn.to/42hGNyY). I think a strength of them is he tends to start with a vivid moment or danger and then zooms out a little to answer the question of "How did [saint] become the kind of person who could navigate this choice?]"
I noticed the second version of the story includes the question, "What kind of man will he become?"
I was a bit surprised, because I expected a question more like, "What kind of man is he?" I don't know if this was intentional, but I think Brandon's version hints toward a virtue ethics framework for evaluating Caesar's choice.
Ordered! (I actually meant to get it when I heard you talking about it years ago, on I think Luke Harrington's podcast?) In various houses that my wife and I have lived in, we've made a "wall of saints" with photos of family, friends, & famous folk we've respected. You make me realize I should consider recommending something like that in the workshops & book...
Finding ways to help history matter to my kid is probably my greatest challenge as a homeschooler. This is a kid who will easily engage in a critique (philosophical debate) of current events, policies, etc. but who will also readily state having absolutely zero interest in anything framed as history.
So I've recently started taking a different approach and focuses more on current events and recent history because it's far easier for my kid to find a way/reason it matters to us in here and now. I have been using The New York Times Learning Network's materials which tends to spark great conversation. More recently we've started listening to Curiosity Chronicles Modern History volume 1, and I'm experimenting with reading aloud Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American.
This is really interesting to me because I have been doing a bit of de facto history homeschooling with my 12 year old son by listening to Mike Duncan podcasts: first the History of Rome and now Revolutions. And what makes it matter to us is that we can discuss the themes that come up over and over again: legitimacy, succession, restraining self-dealing, and paying the army without bankrupting the country, to name a few. Some of these are particularly relevant today!
I like the direction this is going, and your retelling of the story of Caesar crossing the Rubicon is intense and gripping. But I'm afraid that the discussion questions are too intimidating. They would probably produce a lot of blank stares, for adults as least as much as children.
A talented teacher would know how to guide the discussion in a fruitful direction. But the rest of us need a framework for how to do that.
And what you're trying to accomplish is pretty similar to what Bible studies do, so lots of people have already written down strategies for it. I've personally enjoyed the approach that Intervarsity uses: https://library.intervarsity.org/library/leading-inductive-bible-study.
One of the key elements is to start with making observations before presenting interpretations. Even if everyone reads the exact same story, they won't necessarily notice the same things. And drawing out basic facts from a story is a much less intimidating starting point.
Okay, what do you think of a series of questions like these after each story:
Step 1: Observe
• Who are the characters?
• Where's this happening?
• What would it be like to be there? (What might you see, hear, smell...?)
Step 2: Interpret
• What does each character want?
• Why did the character make the choice they did?
• If you could go back in time, what might you ask them?
Step 3: Big questions
(Here, we'd lead into those big questions)
Yeah, that sounds great!
This is a REALLY good suggestion. I usually feel the same sort of panic, when coming across Big Questions; I think I assumed I was the odd man out. I'll play with this — being careful that this could become a big project in itself!
Very cool! Though to be honest, I was kind of hoping for an entire Egan
curriculum built around actual zombies…
I LOVE the direction you're headed with this. Bringing philosophy (and binaries) front and center adds a whole new level of engagement.
One thought about this specific story- it's very dense. It feels as though it will require significant unpacking for most students to appreciate its nuances. I anticipate a series of questions along the lines of: Why did they want Caesar gone? Who was in charge? Senate? Who was president? Is a republic the same as the US? What was he doing up there across across the Rubicon? What sort of conquests? Rome? Are the Senate the bad guys?
Parents and teachers are in a great position to facilitate the sort of discussions and that will help make sense of this. And more connections and depth are definitely good things.
I guess I'm just imagining that if I were to attempt to teach this to a larger group, like a class, I would need to think very carefully about how to scaffold the material so that students wouldn't find the background knowledge too high an obstacle to be able to engage.
Too much info: that's a really good observation. I struggled to figure out how much historical data to put in it — too much and it's overwhelming; too little and it's a fairy tale. One could have an LLM customize the story for the reader (cue obligatory "Young Ladies' Illustrated Primer" Diamond Age reference), though I'm hoping to get this out as a printed thing.
One thing, however, that might lessen the pain of unfamiliar references is that each story will include a link or three to a quality video on YouTube.
Wait! What I don't want to imply is that you should take out too much of the context as that could neuter the story.
To me it reads as either an introduction for students that is meant to be difficult, to produce questions that will be unpacked over the course of a unit OR as compressed version of a story for teachers to translate into an oral format, which could then be adjusted for the listener's understanding.
You might like checking out the short saint stories my husband wrote (https://amzn.to/42hGNyY). I think a strength of them is he tends to start with a vivid moment or danger and then zooms out a little to answer the question of "How did [saint] become the kind of person who could navigate this choice?]"
I noticed the second version of the story includes the question, "What kind of man will he become?"
I was a bit surprised, because I expected a question more like, "What kind of man is he?" I don't know if this was intentional, but I think Brandon's version hints toward a virtue ethics framework for evaluating Caesar's choice.
Ordered! (I actually meant to get it when I heard you talking about it years ago, on I think Luke Harrington's podcast?) In various houses that my wife and I have lived in, we've made a "wall of saints" with photos of family, friends, & famous folk we've respected. You make me realize I should consider recommending something like that in the workshops & book...
Finding ways to help history matter to my kid is probably my greatest challenge as a homeschooler. This is a kid who will easily engage in a critique (philosophical debate) of current events, policies, etc. but who will also readily state having absolutely zero interest in anything framed as history.
So I've recently started taking a different approach and focuses more on current events and recent history because it's far easier for my kid to find a way/reason it matters to us in here and now. I have been using The New York Times Learning Network's materials which tends to spark great conversation. More recently we've started listening to Curiosity Chronicles Modern History volume 1, and I'm experimenting with reading aloud Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American.
This is really interesting to me because I have been doing a bit of de facto history homeschooling with my 12 year old son by listening to Mike Duncan podcasts: first the History of Rome and now Revolutions. And what makes it matter to us is that we can discuss the themes that come up over and over again: legitimacy, succession, restraining self-dealing, and paying the army without bankrupting the country, to name a few. Some of these are particularly relevant today!
I haven't read it yet, but the 4 question method book From Story to Judgement feels like it might be relevant.