A New England Teacher Works with English Language Learners
Miriam Morgenstern got her Master's in TEFL-teaching English as a foreign language-in 1982 and started teaching adult ESL students. She has taught at Lowell High School for the past nine years. At Lowell, Miriam teaches 11th grade history to English Language Learners (ELLs) and two Facing History electives to support English classes.
Next year, teacher Kerry Akashian and Miriam are starting a social justice academy within Lowell High School. "All teachers who will work in the Academy of Social Justice will be Facing History trained," says Miriam. The first academy class will enroll 50 sophomores for the 2005-2006 school year.
Miriam has participated in many Facing History workshops and institutes, starting with Holocaust and Human Behavior five years ago. "I loved that first institute. I met teachers from all over the United States and I was lucky enough to sit at a table with four teachers from Germany, and a journalist from Singapore. I remember feeling a bit daunted by the caliber of teachers in the room. But I don't think there was a minute of that institute that I didn't love. The activities were so rich, and the approach to teaching was so varied. Facing History's institutes are the best professional development experience I've had. They are both rich in content and in pedagogy," she says.
Miriam believes the Facing History approach prompts inquiry that connects decision-making in the past to current issues relevant to all students. "This year I am teaching some of the most at-risk kids in the school in my two Facing History classes. Every one of the students is there because they failed English the previous year. Most of them failed because of truancy and behavior issues. You name a problem; it is in my classroom.
"There have been both successes and failures-but the kids who come to school have been engaged in the program. They've done reader's theater with Night. They've looked critically at artwork, identified symbolism, read pieces of literature, and written essays about propaganda."
Conversations about moral responsibility in history often spark lively debate among students about personal accountability in their own lives. Miriam has heard students make remarks such as, "This is the most amazing class . . .every day is something different. . ."
"I love the Facing History philosophy, ‘teaching is a moral enterprise.' I've always believed this and Facing History has given me the framework to teach moral reasoning and decision-making. Facing History has allowed me to be more daring in my teaching, and to try new approaches in the classroom," explains Miriam.
Lowell High School Lowell, MA Large urban high school with close to 4,000 students. Lowell serves a very diverse student population, including students from the second largest Southeast Asian community in the U.S. More than 40 different languages are spoken by students in the school In fall 2005, The Academy of Social Justice, a small learning community within the school will start, and use Facing History as a guiding philosophy.
