Brighton High School And Others Draw Lessons From Egypt

Most schools require a cursory study of ancient Egypt. But when it comes to the current uprising, teachers are finding opportunities to provide real-world lessons and expand students' thinking.

Michele Pellam, a history teacher at Boston's Brighton High School, tells Education Week about how she aligned her curriculum on Egypt with state standards. She had students draw parallels between the current unrest and events in United States history, such as the Boston Tea Party.

Pellam says the discussions have caused students to expand the way they think about differences among people.

"The stereotypes that they had disappeared," Ms. Pellam said of students taking part in those current event discussions. "Having one discussion can completely change their frame of mind."

The New York Times Learning Network offers resources on Egypt that help students explore the role of young people in the uprising, invite students to post reactions to news and keep them up to speed with unfolding events.

Josh, a 17-year-old who blogged on The New York Times, demonstrates that students have an opinion about what's happening on the other side of the globe.

"Students nowadays should pay close attention to what is going on in Egypt. The protests and such are great inspiration and show that people will stand up for what they believe in. Pushing a bill through a legislative system is a way to get change, but millions of people gathering in a capital and protesting is another way."

Comments

[Fran Jaime]

12:37 AM on 02/14/2011

History is not only about what happened in the past. It is very importantly about what is happening now. Connecting the two is an invaluable aid towards producing human beings who care about their historical context.

[ALoayza]

11:01 AM on 02/12/2011

This is what people who are closed to shared information, the Internet, and new technology don't understand. We don't need history taught by writers of the books but by the events that shape our lives they way they happen. And when we need to learn our history and now thanks to Texas Textbooks will have omitted or conflicting views on history (which only exists when the right tries to rewrite it) we should learn all of it, including connecting the dots on why the right or anyone would WANT to rewrite it. We are now seeing the sociopolitical effects that free information provides. Sure there is a lot of awful stuff on the web, but what raises to the top of being most popular for oppressed nations...freedom and opposition to the oppression that comes from only a handful of awful people in power. Look at the group anonymous for example. Those activist hackers have the ability to cause lots of harm to the world but only wield it against companies and people trying to stifle Julian Assange, wikileaks, and anyone the Chamber of Commerce tries to silence in knowing the truth about how big business runs the governments of the world. Check Brad Blog, Think Progress, and Salon for what has just happened over the last 24 hours where security companies who had been bidding for the chamber of commerce's business to help silence their enemies. They temporarily shut down the servers of Brad Blog because of emails that Anonymous

[Martha T]

10:24 AM on 02/12/2011

Beautiful way to integrate real life into somewhat boring lessons of history....

[eric14]

10:05 AM on 02/12/2011

She had students draw parallels between the current unrest and events in United States history, such as the Boston Tea Party.
-------------------------------------------
Hahahahahaha.

[Theophrastus]

10:10 AM on 02/12/2011

Perhaps now some HS student will be able to tell the difference between the historical tea-partiers and today's tea-baggers.
*cue rimshot*

[mandalay007]

10:25 PM on 02/11/2011

I think this is cool. High school civics doesn't even seem to be there anymore, and we are producing cultural and historical ignoramuses of the lowest order--------a reminder of the American Revolution is always in order also.

[Venicelady]

10:39 PM on 02/11/2011

As a high school history teacher, I wholeheartedly concur!