Teach History Now

Engaging teachers through content, resources and instructional strategies that embrace controversy, complexity and rigor.

What we do

• Work alongside teachers to create classrooms that meaningfully connect past and present

• Ignite a passion for complex historical analysis

• Curate high quality resources across a range of media with an eye to practicality, complexity, and relevance for K-12 classrooms

• Facilitate honest dialogue

WHY WE DO IT

It would be unthinkable to begin math instruction at sixth or seventh grade. Yet in many schools, that’s how we teach history. Teach History Now addresses historical learning loss through customized professional development. Our vision is to inspire teachers, and ultimately their students, through the disciplined study of a subject that informs every major issue of our time.

How we do it

A racial reckoning, political polarization, and a historic presidential election has catapulted history from the dustbin to the national spotlight. What we teach has become a political minefield, with teachers and students the clear losers. Schools are under pressure to steer clear of content that engenders controversy — yet controversy is at the heart of what matters most. It is our responsibility as educators to lean in.

1. Content that embraces controversy

To this end, Teach History Now models strategies that foster agency, inquiry, analysis, and dialogue on controversial issues. Most of us K-12 educators haven’t studied the full spectrum of perspectives that comprise US history, let alone world history. China, Russia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iran, and the border dominate our newsfeeds, and COVID-19 offers compelling evidence that the challenges of our time will require global solutions. We must cross borders to address climate change, drought, migration, trade, and poverty. We work alongside teachers to engage in content while modeling lesson ideas and strategies that encourage civil discourse, mutual respect, and understanding. 

2. Customized professional learning:

We leverage teacher expertise and agency to craft a professional learning program designed specifically for your PLC, team, school site, or district. Scholars, artists, poets, authors, social entrepreneurs, diplomats, community leaders — lived experience — are integral to our programming. Be prepared to be challenged, engaged, and leave inspired with knowledge and practical resources that you won’t find in conventional texts or traditional PD. We facilitate authentic collaboration to expand cultural capacity and build the confidence and competence required to teach in these polarized times.  

3. Instructional strategies with an eye to the practical:  

If students are to understand congressional procedure, they’ll need practice — why not let students tackle immigration reform? Imagine if teachers shared Abraham Lincoln’s words alongside his actions to explore a more complex investigation of his legacy? Imagine:

• Mohammed Mossadeq was a part of the equation when we examined US-Iranian relations.

• Students were able to study the Haitian, Bolivarian, Mexican or Chinese revolutions alongside the American and French.

• We made it routine for maps to tell stories across centuries (imperialism in Africa) or even millennia (Jewish and Arab settlements).

• Photography, poetry, music, literature, and podcasts were a fully integrated mainstay in our lessons?

We view backward mapping as foundational, and we see simulations, Socratic seminars, fishbowls, and mock trials as opportunities for students to “practice” history while examining a spectrum of stakeholder perspectives. This is how we make history alive, meaningful, relatable, and engaging to all students.