This is an encore. We interview Lev Moscow who, for the last 14 years, has taught history and economics at The Beacon School in New York City. Lev reflects that advisory, done well, can serve as a venue for students to explore questions of ethics, purpose and happiness. He talks about balancing the history curriculum to include non-European perspectives. Getting students to read more than a few sentences is perhaps today’s teachers’ greatest challenge and Lev explains his approach.

Lev refers to John Dewey, Tony Judt, and these resources:

Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:41:41

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Lev also hosts a podcast that aims to make economics accessible. It is called A Correction Podcast and you can listen to it on acorrectionpodcast.com.

Overview

00:00-01:38 Intros

01:39-08:05 Advisories

08:06-11:28 Electronic technology in classrooms

11:29-12:41 Relationships in advisories

12:42-18:14 Technology as changing the ecology of a situation; getting students to read deeply in a technological age

18:15-19:56 Students’ experiences in college as compared to high school

19:57-22:12 Homework: overwork, stress and teen suicides; two school systems– high pressure and low pressure 

22:13-24:44 Homework and writing projects: historiographies/argumentative essays; 

24:45-28:39 Nightly homework and deep questions: SRQ (summarize, respond/reflect; question); differentiating between superficial and quality questions

28:40-36:18 Ethics and morality

36:19-40:55 Decentering Europe in teaching history

40:56 Outro

Transcription of the episode

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