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Dear Deborah,
It began 15 years ago when my former professor, Howard Zinn, introduced me to Teaching for Change and Rethinking Schools. Together, we launched the Zinn Education Project.
Our goal? Students should learn empowering people’s history instead of mind-numbing fictionalized history from textbooks.
This month we met thousands of teachers in Nashville at the annual National Council for the Social Studies conference. Here is what I heard:
Students love Zinn Education Project lessons. Teachers come to us, recounting stories of how students are rethinking U.S. history and connecting this learning to today. They credit lessons from ZEP.
People wanted to know: “How do you do so much with so little?” One teacher said, “You must have a multimillion dollar budget and a huge staff.” No. We have only three full-time staff.
Teachers want more lessons, online classes, and study groups. I heard a steady stream of requests for lessons and classes on more U.S. history topics. Why? Teachers want to abandon their textbooks and rely on the engaging, critical ZEP lessons for their entire U.S. history curriculum.
So, the good news: Our impact is much bigger than our size. We are “punching above our weight.” But, we can’t do more unless we grow.
If you want more students to learn people’s history (like I learned from Professor Zinn) then drop everything and make a donation today. We have a large network of teachers and the capacity to reach them — we just need your support.
Sincerely,
Bill Holtzman
Zinn Education Project co-founder
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