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Wednesday, June 01, 2011

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Voices in Education: Matt White

Matt White is a social studies teacher at Rosa Parks Middle School, Olney. He was interviewed at the school May 26. I noticed that you did not put your age in the question box. Is that because you do not want the students to know how old you are? Yes, Im one of the young ones. How long have you been teaching? Three years, all at Rosa Parks. Why did you pick the middle school level? I did my teaching at Montgomery Blair High School and I thought Id be in the high school, but there was an opening here. Now that Im here I love it. The school has a great community, the kids are nice and the parents are very supportive. What do you teach? Seventh-grade world studies, its world history. The first quarter is Europe and the Middle Ages. Second is cultures of Africa. Third is Latin America and the fourth quarter we take the whole thing and pull it together. Do you have a favorite? More News
Peggy McEwan/The Gazette Matthew White, a social studies teacher at Rosa Parks Middle School in Olney.

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I love unit three. It has the Aztecs and the Incas; human sacrifice, mummies ... all the scary stuff the kids like. I like it too. You were a judge in the Montgomery County History Day competition, which Beth Hickey, interim director of the Montgomery County Historical Society explained as, like a science fair but for history, and I know you participated in the competition as a student. Did you go to a Montgomery
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No, I went to school in Calvert County. I participated in History Day from sixth grade through 12th. It is statewide and national too. Coming up are the nationals at the University of Maryland, College Park, June 12-16. I have a group of kids, five boys, all eighth-graders that have advanced to the nationals. They created a video. Their topic is the Barbary Wars. They did a great job of showing that the conflict with the Barbary Pirates had a great influence in our country. Do you encourage your students to be part of the History Day competition?

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I do. I run an after-school history club and we work on their projects. How many students join the club? This year I had 22. Its about even with male and female. Every year the History Day competition has a theme. [This year the theme was: Debate and Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures and Consequences.] I help [the students] decide on a topic, make connections to the theme and show that their topic is important in history. What was your favorite topic as a student? When I was growing up what really hooked me on history was the Civil War ... my first trip to Gettysburg. Your whole family is involved in History Day. We cant escape History Day. Its a big part of what we do. When I was planning my projects and my sister was doing hers, we would plan our family vacation around our History Day projects. My dad is a [competition] judge and my mother helps out at the state level. I love it. Really the one thing that brought me to this profession was History Day. Tell me about your students. Do kids like studying the past or are they just looking forward? Like any subject, some are really into it and some arent. I try to make history as authentic as possible: framing arguments, analyzing evidence. In a sense its like being a detective. History is looking at evidence of the past. I try to emphasize that history is not set in stone as much as we think it is. Every day we come to different conclusions about what happened in history. Which person from history would you like to meet and speak with? Id say Id have to go back and talk to Abraham Lincoln, try to get into his head and see what he was thinking about trying to hold a country together. What do you hope your students will take away from your class? Seeing that history is so much more than facts, names, dates. Its about being citizens that can defend their arguments, knowing why it was important and who we are today and what lessons we can learn from the past. Would you like to go into politics? Sometimes I feel like being a teacher is like being in politics. With [the students] different ideas, they really are little lobbyists and I have to find the middle ground. Voices in Education is a twice-monthly feature that highlights the men and women who are involved with the education of Montgomery Countys children. To suggest someone you would like to see featured email Peggy McEwan at pmcewan@gazette.net.

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Voices in Education: Matt White

Age: Would not disclose. Job Title: Seventh-grade social studies teacher, Rosa Parks Middle School Hometown: Huntingtown, MD Education Data: B.A. History, University of Maryland and M.Ed. Curriculum and Instruction, University of Maryland Family: Would not disclose. Hobby: Playing saxophone Lesson to live by: Make sure you love what you do.

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