93. Dalton History: The Assignment

The Dalton History Assignments are the foundation of the collective experience allowing students opportunities for critical inquiry, discussion and group participation.

Engage any Dalton grad in a discussion of their experience in History at Dalton and invariably the conversation will turn to the Assignment. I’m sure everyone has a favorite Assignment, and there are plenty of great candidates.

We’ve made significant changes along the way as new events capture our attention and new scholarly debates emerge. Although personnel have changed and the content of the course has evolved, especially with our move to the three-year sequence in an integrated World History course, the Assignment provides both stability and the vehicle for fostering student interest and promoting skill development.

A commitment to the Assignment characterizes the ethos of the department and it provides a physical and increasingly digital manifestation of our best practices. For us, the Assignment represents the foundation of the collective experience, one we care about deeply, and signals a deliberate intention to provide students with opportunities for critical inquiry, meaningful discussion, testing and rethinking ideas, and participating in a community of young scholars.

The content we choose resonates with a belief in cultural literacy since some things just have to be known, and the pedagogy we deploy positions students as the centerpiece in the learning process. To be certain, the Assignment reflects the department’s desire to curate the best possible intellectual and pedagogical experience, and it also illuminates the path the student can take toward greater understanding through considering, questioning, and contemplating.

Even with educational and technological changes, the Assignment has proved remarkably adaptable to these purposes.
—Kevin Slick, High School History Teacher