September 30, 2024
By Meag Campos, Project Manager
Listen to this week’s Hooray For Monday podcast for Meag’s conversation with Cosby Hunt, Director of Youth Programming and Real World History instructor, about the lessons all teachers can take away from this unique Inspired Teaching program.
I recently had the privilege of interviewing Inspired Teaching’s Director of Youth Programming, Cosby Hunt. In addition to his work with us, Mr. Hunt is a secondary social studies teacher with years of experience bringing joy into the classroom. He is also the course creator and instructor for Inspired Teaching’s Real World History, a program that serves young people directly and models the kind of engaging, meaningful teaching we promote in classrooms everywhere.
Students who participate in Real World History bring “historical thinking” to life. They study the Great Migration through practicing the skills of historians. Then they practice these skills through internships with prestigious and historic sites across Washington, DC.
During our interview, Cosby emphasized the ways in which other history teachers – and all teachers – can make learning meaningful for students and for themselves.
History classrooms are some of the most essential places for students to practice civic discourse; this is where young people learn how to think, not what to think. It’s critical for young people to learn to disagree better, how to disagree respectfully, and how to practice readiness for complex interactions. In my conversation with Cosby, we show how the Inspired Teaching Approach builds these and other critical skills. When teachers embrace their role as Instigators of Thought, building their classrooms around Inspired Teaching’s 5 Core Elements: Mutual Respect; Student As Expert; Purpose, Persistence, and Action; Joy; and Wide-Ranging Evidence of Student Learning, children thrive.
We also discussed the ways in which Inspired Teachers meet their students’ needs, as outlined in our ABCDEs of Learner Needs, while also ensuring students have a rich academic experience.
Teachers and students should be making connections and building relationships. This ties to the Learner Need of Belonging.
In the case of Real World History, Belonging is relevant not only between Cosby and his students, but between his students and their narrators. Learning more about each Great Migration experience helps connect students to their learning and their communities.
Students need to do research of their choosing. This ties to the Learner Need of Autonomy.
Cosby was intentional in his designing of the coursework for Real World History, and this focus on Autonomy is reinforced when students choose their second semester National History Day projects. Autonomy promotes self-governing in students and deepens their connection to the task at hand.
Always analyze primary and secondary sources. This ties to the Learner Need of Competence.
Students are intrinsically motivated to persist in their endeavors when their need for competence is met. While practice and reinforcement may be necessary to achieve that competence, empowerment and self-worth connect to students’ ability to work toward an end goal. In Real World History, students are practicing by doing, and their ability to analyze sources is a skill that will strengthen the ways in which they approach sources of information in school and in life.
Have fun and keep joy in the classroom. This ties to the Learner Need of Fun.
Joy is one of our 5 Core Elements at Inspired Teaching, and we believe that it is an integral component of teaching and learning. Having fun while learning is an essential part of building connection and encouraging growth and continuous learning. Through students’ Real World History internships, they have had access to an abundance of fun opportunities across the DC metro area. One student, Makayla, was able to take over the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation’s Instagram account for the day as a way to connect her learning with a broad audience.
For additional insights, resources, and information on Inspired Teaching teacher and youth programming, subscribe to the Hooray For Monday newsletter!