Teaching Outside the Textbook Across the Country
We are pleased to announce that 20 teachers from across the country are receiving class sets of A People’s History of the United States. These teachers’ names were selected from the 88 who responded when we asked for stories about teaching a people’s history or “teaching outside the textbook.” The essays were full of inspiring examples of how a people’s history is being taught in middle and high school classrooms, how teachers were introduced to Howard Zinn’s work, and how students respond to learning a more complete version of U.S. history. The list of teachers who took the time to share their story is posted here.
El Monte, California students and their teacher, Chris Lewis (4th from right) with their copies of A People's History of the United States from the Teaching Outside the Textbook class set.
Below are a few excerpts from the essays. Periodically we will share more.
American history teacher Esmeralda Tello (Mastic Beach, NY) said that teaching a people’s history helps her students step into history. In fact, when she recently did a role play on the Trail of Tears, her “students wouldn’t stop speaking about their roles and were still debating even when they went to their next class.” (The role play is posted at the Zinn Education Project site: http://www.zinnedproject.org/posts/1142.)
Middle school social studies teacher, Sarah Treworgy (Lynnwood, WA), used a lesson on the U.S.-Mexican War that brings in the voices of Frederick Douglass; Henry David Thoreau; U.S, Mexican, and Apache combatants; and many others. She writes that, “It was so wonderful to see a group of usually unmotivated students engaged, that I called in another teacher to see this group of students actively involved.” (http://www.zinnedproject.org/posts/1503.)
As American history teacher Michael Swogger (Gettysburg, PA) explained, “I changed the focus of my teaching from a traditional government and hero-centered focus to the very place where change ultimately originates: with the people. After all, my students are, by and large, the ordinary people of today. If societ