My Students

The best leaders of our country have always been the ones with the most compassionate and open-minded approach toward decision making. However, many history textbooks do not completely prepare students to become these leaders due to the omission of key facts that silence certain perspectives.

My 8th grade students attend a diverse urban K-8 school in New Jersey.

They are extremely motivated and love to speak their mind and give their opinion. The upcoming school year will be the second year in a row I have the same group of approximately 100 8th graders. From my experience with them in the 7th grade teaching World History, I can attest to their desire for more challenging material that pushes their limits and challenges them to understand, analyze, and question history, and in the process, better understand current events and shape the future.

My Project

Obtaining "A Young People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn will allow my students the opportunity to develop their critical thinking skills by reading and learning about U.S. History from a myriad of perspectives, not just the ones given to them in standard history textbooks. Students will be able to read speeches and other primary sources that show them that nothing in history is ever cut and dry, and that there are always two sides to every story. My hope is that my students will then apply this same level of analysis to the community and country they live in today.

The lasting impact of this project will be the opportunity it affords my students to learn about U.S.

History from a variety of vantage points. I believe that learning about history in this way will help make them into active citizens that always ask questions and think about policies, laws, and events from as many perspectives as possible.