Latest news with #WorldHistory
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Russian Bear trap: Ex-Trump advisor VICTORIA COATES reveals president's risky plan to exploit the secret of Putin's bloody war machine
The great state of Alaska is an eerily appropriate backdrop for the Trump-Putin meeting to end the Ukraine war. For the land itself is a symbol one of the most dramatic turning points in world history. Your browser does not support iframes.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Triad teachers, students preparing for once-in-a-lifetime trip abroad to learn about Holocaust
(WGHP) — By now, most teachers across the country have said goodbye to their students, turned out the lights in their classrooms and started a well-deserved summer vacation. But there are dozens of North Carolina public school teachers from the coast to the mountains preparing for what will likely be a once-in-a-lifetime experience abroad learning about the Holocaust. That includes Damian Adame, who just finished his fourth year teaching World History to ninth-grade and tenth-grade students at Page High School in Greensboro. 'It's a mixed bag. There are a lot of emotions that go into it,' Adame said. 'There's excitement because this is honestly something that I've wanted to do. But, at the same time, it's also a little daunting.' Adame is one of nearly 40 North Carolina public middle and high school educators selected to travel to Poland to learn about the Holocaust in the very places where much of it happened. Led by retired Greensboro Rabbi Fred Guttman, they'll spend eight days visiting death camps, ghettos, communities and museums and eventually bring it all home to their students. 'One of the cool things about this trip is it's not just a tour of the camps. It's not just a tour of these areas where the events occurred,' Adame said. 'It's a walking classroom. We're going to learn and take all these things and implement them in our classroom in a brand-new way.' The trip is funded by many organizations and private donors, including longtime Holocaust education advocates Zev and Bernice Harel of Greensboro. Zev is a Holocaust survivor who was sent to several death camps as a teen, including Auschwitz and Ebensee. He spent decades sharing his story all over the world. 'I felt comfortable doing that because the Holocaust was an experience that not too many survive,' Harel said. 'Each time [I was] speaking about human adaptation and what survivors did in order to make it possible to survive.' 'At some point, the survivors realized that if they didn't start talking, everything that happened and everything they witnessed would disappear with them eventually,' Bernice said. Now, at 95 years old, Zev isn't able to share his story like he used to. So in a lot of ways, this Holocaust education trip is picking up where survivors left off, ensuring stories such as Zev's continue to get told. 'Every person that goes on this trip is hopefully going to have a deeper understanding, but it's also going to give them a deeper connection,' Adame said. 'It's going to make us more motivated to give a better scope of what's going on with this event.' The teachers leave for Poland on Monday, and FOX8's Katie Nordeen and McKenzie Lewis have been invited to join them. You can expect their special stories on Teaching the Holocaust in September. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Virginia governor vetoed bill to make Black history classes count towards graduation. What's next?
Black members of the 1887-88 Virginia General Assembly. Then-state Sen. John Robinson is pictured on the far left of the back row. (Photo courtesy of Encyclopedia of Virginia) A Northern Virginia faith leader and parent said she will continue asking state lawmakers to make two African-American history courses count towards the state's graduation requirements for history, after the governor — who vetoed the measure and whose four-year term is sunsetting — leaves office. Pastor Michelle Thomas, president of the NAACP Loudoun Branch, and Robin Reaves Burke of the Loudoun Freedom Center proposed the concept to state Del. David Reid, D-Loudoun, shortly after the commonwealth added African American History and AP African American Studies to the list of courses permitted to be taught in public high schools. Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, and Reid successfully passed the proposal through the General Assembly with some amendments. On March 24, Gov. Glenn Youngkin proposed an amendment requiring the General Assembly to pass the proposal again in 2026, but lawmakers did not accept it. Youngkin then vetoed the bill, stating that it would cause students to miss 'key concepts essential to understanding how historical world events have shaped our modern economy, government, and international relations.' Thomas was surprised and disappointed by the decision, she said. 'You can't divorce African American history from the founding of America. It is the absolute foundation of American history, and so to try to marginalize this and say students shouldn't be learning it, or it's not as important as mainstream history, or the history that he's trying to tell is absolutely ridiculous,' Thomas said in a statement last week. Thomas said she first considered proposing the legislation after her daughter was interested in taking an African American studies course and seeking flexibility with her class schedule towards meeting her graduation requirements. Under Virginia's standard diploma requirements, students are required to take U.S. History, Virginia and U.S. Government, and either World History or Geography. The bill would have given the students the option to substitute African American History or AP African American Studies studies with World History or Geography. Virginia's diploma requirements concerning history Standard Diploma US History Virginia and U.S. Government One other course in World History or Geography Advanced diploma All four are required. Proposed standard diploma (House Bill 1824 in the 2025 GA session – vetoed by governor) US History Virginia and U.S. Government World History or Geography or African American Studies or AP African American Studies 'While I am supportive of expanding choices in what classes students may take to satisfy graduation requirements, we must ensure that classes that replace others are germane to the comprehensive goals of high school education standards,' Youngkin wrote in his veto statement. But Thomas defended the proposal. 'We're not saying 'do away' or 'you can take this or that.' You can take all of them,' Thomas said. 'You can take World History II, if parents feel like World History I and World History II are important. But for those parents (and students) who believe African American history is also and equally important, allow them to get graduation credit for it.' She said she also believes the governor's decision falls in line with a national agenda to minimize or remove public references to Black history, and could align with his future political plans. The curriculum has been continually debated by the public, education leaders and Youngkin's administration during the governor's entire time in office, which concludes in January. The first AP African American studies course was added last year, but not without controversy — Youngkin's education department proposed dozens of revisions before its approval, the Washington Post reported. Reid said in a statement that he was disappointed by the governor's decision and plans to reintroduce the bill at the next session, beginning in January. 'The governor chose to ignore the very values he outlined in Executive Order One on his first day in office — his stated commitment to teach the full story of American history,' said Reid. 'Instead, he allowed political fear to override principle and missed an opportunity to give parents and students more choice in how they learn our shared history.' He also said Virginia history and African American history are important parts of America's origin story, citing the significance of the first House of Burgesses — the first democratically-elected legislative body in what would become America — and the arrival of the first Africans in present-day Hampton, both defining events that took place in Virginia roughly two weeks and 40 miles apart. 'Virginia history is African American history, is American history,' Reid said. 'Our children deserve to learn the truth of our shared story — and they deserve the freedom to choose how they learn it.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
LaShawna Powers named department chair at NEO
MIAMI, Okla. — NEO has announced a new Department Chair of Social Sciences & Department Chair of Communication and Fine Arts. Officials with NEO say LaShawna Powers, a dedicated NEO faculty member for nearly 15 years, assumed the role this spring. Powers has taught a great number of courses during her time at NEO, including U.S. History I and II, Humanities I and II, World History, and History of the American Indian. NEO says Powers has not just been beneficial as a teacher but also has served as the academic advisor for NEO's Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society since 2013, in addition to having shown a conducive ability to lead during her term as a member of the NEO Faculty Senate, during which she served as President from 2022-2023. 'LaShawna is a proven leader and respected professional on NEO's campus,' said Dr. Dustin Grover, Vice President for Academic Affairs. 'Her exceptional performance in the classroom, deep engagement with students, and the strong confidence her peers have in her all speak to her readiness to succeed as an administrator at NEO.' For more information, please contact NEO Coordinator of Public Relations and Marketing, Jonah Fabian, at jfabian@ Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Chicago Tribune
08-04-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
District 204 board OKs revisions and new textbooks for several high school classes, new electives for next year
At its meeting Monday, the Indian Prairie School District 204 board approved course updates and new instructional materials for several existing high school classes and two that will be new next year. The courses included in the changes are French 2, Advanced Placement (commonly referred to as AP) Biology, AP Environmental Science, AP United States History, Criminal Law and World History through Media, according to the meeting agenda. Following the board's approval on Monday, the district will be purchasing new textbooks and their accompanying digital resources for all of the courses except World History through Media, amounting to just over $400,000 in total, according to Monday's meeting agenda. The board also approved curriculum revisions to the five courses at Monday's meeting. The courses were updated via collaboration with teachers from the district's three high schools in line with state standards, College Board course and exam descriptions for applicable courses, the district's strategic plan, 'culturally responsive instructional practices' and the district's 'Portrait of a Graduate' goals, according to the meeting agenda. District 204's director of high school core curriculum and instruction Michael Purcell gave a presentation on the proposed curriculum updates for next school year at the district's board meeting on March 24. At the March meeting, Purcell's presentation noted that the proposed revisions would be open for comment until the April board meeting, when they would then be voted on. At Monday's meeting, the district confirmed that there had been no public comment on the changes. The French course and three AP courses are all existing classes at Indian Prairie high schools, Purcell explained in March, but Criminal Law and World History through Media will be new next year. For the French course revision, Purcell noted in his March presentation that the new units for the course align closely with the AP French curriculum that students can take later on in high school, per the district's course catalog. The three AP courses that will be updated for next year are AP Biology, AP Environmental Science and AP U.S. History. The AP Environmental Science course in particular tends to provide students who do not take many other AP classes during their time at Indian Prairie a chance to take an AP course, Purcell noted. 'We really look for those opportunities to, to talk about AP classes that are more accessible than others,' Purcell said at the March 24 meeting. 'It's not easy by any means, but unlike an AP calculus class or an AP physics class, it doesn't require as much background knowledge to access. It requires an interest and a work ethic.' The updated AP U.S. History curriculum focuses on themes including national identity, geography and the environment, migration and settlement, politics and power and American regional culture, Purcell previously said. Asked by board member Susan Demming in March about culturally-responsive instruction, Purcell noted that the new French resource represents French-speaking cultures that are not France, and said that the AP Environmental Science resource showcases more diverse portrayals of scientists. In January, the board also approved changes to the middle school English Language Arts curriculum, which will now use a digital curriculum resource. They also OK'd the district to modify some of the books it teaches: all sixth-graders will read 'The Giver' by Lois Lowry, while seventh-graders will read 'Brown Girl Dreaming' by Jacqueline Woodson and eighth-graders will read 'Twelve Angry Men' by Reginald Rose. The changes approved Monday will also extend to two new course offerings for next year: Criminal Law and World History through Media. The two new courses were brought to the board in October, according to past reporting. They were approved in the fall so that students could enroll in the courses in time for the 2025-26 school year, Purcell explained at the March meeting. The two courses are not AP classes, Purcell said, but rather one-semester social studies electives available to students in grades 10-12. The idea for these courses is to prepare students for the transition between the district's freshman year geography class requirement and the U.S. history course requirement. 'Some of our students leave our freshman social studies class not quite ready to take on U.S. history,' Purcell said at the March meeting. 'So (we) really wrote these classes with that in mind – to really look at, what are those social science skills that students need to bridge that gap.' As for the criminal law class, Purcell noted in March that it was born out of surveys of students and staff on what types of courses they'd like to see, and based on survey data from students of what they want to study in the future or pursue as a career path. The district already offers a business law class for students to take, and Purcell noted that the district wants students to have the option to take both as companion classes. The World History through Media course will include units on topics like historical accuracy, 'What happens when cultures collide?' and 'Does change always mean progress?,' according to Purcell's presentation in March. Students will learn about films as well as podcasts, television, infographics and other forms of media.
