Michael Vander Wal

Statement of Faith-based Teaching and Learning

My worldview, with regard to this lesson, is twofold. I believe students shouldnt be told

what to think about any issue, and that students should have their preconceived notions about

topics challenged whenever possible. These two worldviews may seem to contradict each other,

but I believe I can be true to both beliefs in this unit plan.

My approach to how students should think can be seen in no better place than how I am

covering Marxism. There is no doubt that any discussion of Karl Marx is going to be

controversial, and some students will undoubtedly have strong feelings on the issue. I personally

have strong opinions about Marx, but I plan on not making them known to the students. I plan

on simply going over what Marx thinks about capitalism, the enlightenment, and the family in a

way that only brings out what the students opinion of Marx is. I fully recognize my inability to

remain completely unbiased about the topic, but I feel I can mitigate this bias by having the

students read Marx directly. I also plan on simply explaining difficult comments in laymens

terms, and not giving my personal opinion on anything. By doing this, the students will be able

to decide for themselves if Marxs ideas are valid and worthwhile.

I will challenge the preconceived notions of students in my remaining lessons. For the

nationalism/imperialism lesson, I purposely chose examples and readings that are outside the

box. When one thinks of 19th century imperialism (if one thinks of it at all), one usually

gravitates toward a topic having to do with European or American colonial expansion. It is

because of this gravitation that I decided to use Japan as the main topic for the discussion of

imperialism. Japans reasons for imperialism during the 19th century are virtually the same as

Europes (need for raw materials, living space, and global status), but their location and history

make them a unique case in this era.

I also chose Italy and Germany as my specific examples of nationalism, because usually

one thinks of 19th century nationalist movements as small countries throwing off the yoke of their
oppressors, and heroically gaining their independence through activism and determination. I

wanted to show students that nationalist movements can come from the privileged classes (as in

the case of Germany), or the privileged classes can simply use the common man to get what they

want (as in the case of Italy). Using both Italy and Germany as examples of nationalism is also

handy because Germany and Italy feature prominently in the narrative of World War I.
In this unit, I also wanted to challenge the common notion of World War I being just

about trench warfare and senseless charged into enemy machine guns. To be clear, I did not

overlook this important aspect of the war, but I did make the extra effort to include many of the

events that took place in Russia and the Balkans. In my experience, the extent to which Eastern

Europe is discussed in World War I usually begins and ends with the assassination of Archduke

Franz Ferdinand. I always thought this approach did students a disservice because it left out

important events like the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and left students with an untrue and

incomplete notion of what World War I actually was.

The way my worldview and my students worldviews interact in this unit should be

interesting. The kids in my classes live in a very left wing bubble at City, so they should really

enjoy the discussion on The Communist Manifesto. I do, however, hope I can get them to at

least recognize some of the flaws in Marxs philosophy even if many of them will agree with

what he stands for. I also hope I can get them to see the causes of World War I as more than just

a reactionary movement against the new found progressivism among the general population.
While I am fairly confident this unit will challenge my students preconceived notions of

World War I, it is still just a guessing game. I dont actually know if the students do believe

these things about the war. They could be more knowledgeable about the topic than Im

thinking, or they could come into the topic fresh. They could have no presuppositions about

World War I at all. In the same vein I do not know if Ill really be able to keep my bias about

Marx in check. I do not know if students will pick up on what I think, and decide to just agree
with me in order to possibly get a better grade. I need to see if I can do this correctly, and

whether or not my preconceived notions about the students need to be challenged.