Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts

As a language teacher, I need to teach grammar, vocabulary, accents etc. all in a foreign language. I need the students to learn to think differently. You just can't express yourself the same way in English as you can in Spanish, even at the fundamental level. So, as I read this article, this quote stood out to me:

As Wineburg says: "it is much easier to learn names, dates, and stories than it is to change the fundamental mental structures that we use to grasp the meaning of the past"

I find, as I'm sure many of you do, that the students just want to learn words, spelling and rules (or names, dates and stories, as he says above). They want to master the rules of grammar that the words will ALWAYS fit into. Unfortunately spanish doesn't work that way, nor does life. Let's face it, there are many adults that want to learn that way too! (As the article pointed out so clearly) It is incredibly difficult for any teacher or student to change they way they think in order to better understand something. I'm not sure it is possible at all.

Lastly, what stood out for me was towards the end of this article. It was the college professor analyzing the historical documents. I actually felt sorry for him at first when the author said his comments weren't any more intellectual than some of the graduate students. But then the professor went on to ask, analyze, question, relate, and ask some more. I was so impressed with his ability to compare, contrast, ask and question himself, much less the documents, in order to create meaning for himself. I know I don't have that ability to analyze, much less the patience to do it that long and that well. It occurred to me that very rarely in my education did a professor ask me to do that. We as teachers need to find more ways to do that more often. It is a critical aspect of education.