Teaching history with heart
BY ARIANA TAVAKKOLI
History teacher cartoon. The Week.
“I just want my students to leave my class with empathy and compassion,” says Elise Robison, a high school history teacher at Sidwell Friends School, who believes history isn’t just about the past but about giving students the tools they need to become better humans for the future.
For Ms. Robison, education has always been at the center of her life. Her passion to teach began in her 8th-grade history class because she appreciated the fact that everybody was held accountable in the same way and that her teacher always showed up willing and able to help everybody. Ms. Robison mentions that “There is something to be said for seeing every single kid and recognizing everyone has the ability to learn.” Throughout her educational journey, she recalls always wanting to “be a person that could help students learn a subject where they could feel like they were valued as humans instead of just being a student.”
Ms. Robison's mission to create a welcoming space for every kid has allowed her to stay connected with her students even after they’ve graduated. She acknowledges that it can be difficult to balance her own life with a career that is so high maintenance, but the kids keep her coming back, and she takes pride in watching them succeed. Ms. Robison's way of teaching showcases that the true power of education lies in teaching young minds to care as much as they think.
Ms. Robison has been through many steps along her educational journey, and a challenge she faced was feeling very little representation as a female of color. She brings up that at her old school, it was mostly male, and recently it has been nice for her to see that shift some. She emphasizes that “Girls, too, want to learn and become historians,” and that “It’s important for people to see themselves in the room.” She has experienced the assumption that she didn’t earn her place to be in some of her past educational environments, but she hopes for people to realize that she has done her learning and deserves to have the same access and ability as others. Ms. Robison also recognizes the struggle of balancing personal life and career because, without a separation between the two, it feels like a 24/7 thing, which can be a lot. Some tips she's tried to manage work-life balance in education were to have a cut-off time for email and to understand that certain things just aren’t realistic. Ms. Robison's journey calls attention to the significance of representation, persistence, and setting healthy boundaries in the pursuit of meaningful education.
Ms. Robison hopes her students leave her class feeling confident, exploring topics they know nothing about. “I encourage them to do things that bring them joy and challenge them,” she says. She also wants them to have faith in their own inquiry skills. To make history relatable for today’s generation of students, Ms. Robison highlights the human element of the past, believing it resonates more deeply when students comprehend that the figures they study were real people—somebody’s someone. She aims to be honest with her students about her own experiences, offering perspective without imposing her views. Acknowledging that they are often learning about “topics that are not very delicate but need to be thought about delicately,” she motivates them simply to “be good humans and want to learn about other people.” One of the things she values most about teaching at Sidwell Friends is the school’s dedication to providing a program that reflects diverse narratives and multiple perspectives. “Especially right now, when so much information is swirling in the air, I hope my students have learned to know their rights and to use their historical thinking skills,” she says. Ms. Robison makes it a priority to ensure her students don’t just learn history, they understand it, question it, and, most importantly, feel it.
Ms. Robison advises other aspiring educators to follow what perplexes you and be ok stumbling. She relays, “Early on, I used to think about teaching as wondering who is going to be proud of me, but now I am proud of myself that I am able to teach the curriculum that I take pride in.” Her classroom is not just a place of learning but a space where understanding and curiosity are encouraged and grow side by side.
