I have been an educator for over 20 years, beginning in 2001. I have been teaching in the same school district, not the same school, for all of those 20 years here in sunny Southern California!
When I first started teaching, I started in 5th grade. I was teaching 5th grade self-contained on a middle school campus because our local elementary schools were completely full and impacted. It was an interesting experience for our young 5th graders to be on a middle school campus. Being on a middle school campus opened me up to all kinds of learning experiences and interests that actually are at the core of what I do today!
After 7 years in 5th grade, I like so many of us un education, was pink slipped. Due to low seniority and increased class size, the number of available jobs slimmed significantly. For me, this was my changing point! I was able to get a position back at my school site, but the only position available was a 6th grade position for ELA and Social Studies! I fell in LOVE with teaching social studies! In California, 6th grade is all about ancient civilizations and teaching everything from Egypt to Rome quickly became my passion!
I then pursued getting my single subject credential in history so that I could solely focus on teaching history at the middle school level. I was able to do this within a few years, and was able to get a full history position teaching both 7th and 8th grade history. In California, 7th grade is world history and 8th grade is American history.
My history passion then began influencing creating history resources. Our textbooks at the time were very minimal in terms of including history and stories from multiple perspectives. Most of our history books also taught history from a colonized perspective and I knew that I wanted my students to have more history than that-More accurate history.
That is when I started creating my own history resources that did exactly that. In 2009, I established my store, History from the Middle, to begin creating those resources that I needed in the classroom, and I knew other history teachers did too. I wanted to make sure that I was giving my students the history they were not getting in their textbooks-I wanted to bring activities into the classroom that were inclusive, told the “untold stories”, and were academically rigorous.
My goal with History from the Middle is to continue helping and working with teachers that want to ensure their students are taught authentic history. I’ve had the honor and the privilege over the years to work with thousands of educators across the world to do just that. It is my goal to continue creating relevant and inclusive historical resources and putting them into the hands of teachers everywhere as they work with their students on ensuring they get the complete story-The accurate history.
