Ancient Plagues: A History of Disease & Pandemics

Welcome to Ancient Plagues! This course will be a mixture of lectures, discussions, short videos, and activities.  I will assign a few easy, but entertaining readings or short assignments each week so students have some background.  The topic overview can be seen below.  We will begin classes with a short discussion to warm up and then move into a relaxed lecture open to questions and discussions at any time.  I will try to work activity into each class session as well.  Each class will have power points to go along with them with engaging photos.

This class is meant to be challenging!  I will be asking your children to employ critical, high-level thinking to understand some of these ideas.  I support them along the way, asking smaller questions to help them with this, and reminding them that it is meant to be challenging.  There will be easier questions as well, but if you are uncomfortable with your child having to do difficult thinking, or for there to be some silent time while students think these questions through, this may not be appropriate for your learner.  I always find that my students are able to rise to the occasion with some support, and come out the other side proud of the thinking they are able to do!

Class 1: Introduction, Prehistoric Plagues, & Plague of Athens
Class 2: Bubonic Plague & The Black Death
Class 3: Ancient America & The Great Dying
Class 4: Historic Plagues & Understanding Infection
Class 5: Annual Influenza & The 1918 Pandemic
Class 6: Current Threats/Resurgences & The Future of Health

Topics May Include:
1. How do we know about plagues in history? - A discussion of the source material
2. Prehistoric Plagues
3. Classical Era Plagues (Athenian Plague, Antonine Plague, Justinian Plague)
4. The Black Death
5. Plagues of the Colombian Exchange (Tuberculosis, Smallpox, Cocoliltzi Plagues)
6. Major Historic Plagues (London Plague, Dancing Plague, Broadstreet Cholera Outbreak, Typhoid in NYC)
7. The 1918 Influenza (As described by ancient DNA methods)
8. Historical Figures Fighting Plagues (Lister, Snow, & others)
9. How do we fight plagues today?
10. Antimicrobial resistance and the future

**PLEASE reach out to me if you are having financial difficulties and cannot afford my classes. Message me the amount you can realistically pay for the class and I will try to make it work!!  While I can't promise I can always provide scholarships, in most cases, I can!**