A Wiser Way to Learn
Welcome to The Nest!
We want to spend our first two posts sharing a bit about who we are and why we give a hoot about history teaching and learning.
Let’s take a rest from these owl puns, as they are getting a bit fowl. Officially done now.
Our founder, Marcus Klotz, aims to inspire a deep love and knowledge of the past to create a citizenry capable of understanding the present and shaping the future. This passion for making high school curricula even more engaging, effective, and accessible for students and teachers began over a decade ago.
As a high school student, Marcus became intrigued with studying history; a subject that, for better or worse (or really worse), continues to live up to its adage of repeating itself. His fascination with history continued at the University of Virginia, when he enrolled in the “Vietnam War through American Film” summer course. But what struck him most was the pedagogical approach - a tenured professor choosing to step away from the traditional “sage on the stage” model, and instead, implement 21st century instructional strategies. Thoughtfully curated historical sources and engaging class activities, ranging from (MK insert examples here) created a student-centered learning environment not only for history fanatics, but for every student. On a personal note, this particularly resonated with Marcus, a student with learning differences, who faced challenges related to sustained engagement in the classroom.
Marcus believed Professor Selverstone’s approach could extend to, and resonate with, high school classrooms across the country, where learning can go beyond one-sided discourse and textbook reading response questions. Professor-created multimedia-based history modules can offer accessible “bite-sized” gamified content for Gen. Z consumption, fuel intellectual curiosity, and provide exposure and engagement with post-secondary educational resources.
Alexander Hamilton would agree: Monroe Hall is “The Room Where It Happen[ed]”. History Owls was hatched.
Stay tuned,
