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Global History Club (Ongoing)

In this ongoing class, students will learn major historical events that took place during that week in Global History. Students will practice public speaking, debate, research, reading, & writing skills with games, trivia, prizes & more!
Erik, Professor, J.D, MS, BS
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:
(1,161)
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Class

What's included

1 live meeting
55 mins in-class hours per week
Homework
Students should come to class with a brief historical topic, question or event to share and practice public speaking and presentation skills.
Assessment
1. History Trivia: We start and end each class with Trivia and Games 2. Student Presentations 3. Student Discussions and Debates

Class Experience

US Grade 4 - 7
Welcome to the first .... Comedian's History of the World! If you love history, you will love History Club!  Dozens of  historical topics each week! Trivia Games! Rap Songs! Jeopardy! Prizes! Debates! Public Speaking! and More! But also lots of comedy, lots of jokes and lots of fun.

Each class covers major Global topics that occurred during that week in history. So topics are always relevant, endless, and students have the opportunity to participate in numerous historical contests, events, and tournaments celebrating these historical events. Students learn and practice research, writing, reading and public speaking skills each class!  Since each class covers the different historical topics of that week, students can join the class at anytime! 

While studying the various historical topics - we have a lot of fun with history! From trivia and Jeopardy Games to our classroom magazine to the world's first "Comedian's History of the World!"  This class will be like no history class you have ever taken! 

But most importantly, everyone should be a Historian. Historian George Santayana stated, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Indeed, history is one of the most critical subjects for all youth and adults. It is our past. It is our present. It is our future. The more we learn about it, the more we can make the world a better place. And that is the ultimate goal of this class - to empower every student with the skills and passion of history... to make history....

January Sample Topics (each class will include up to 10 historical topics that occurred that week in Global History)

⇢ Week of January 3rd: Mongolian Empire, King Tut,  Louis Braille, Joan of Arc, Newton, Panama, Fidel Castro, Japan/Russia

⇢ Week of January 10th: British Empire, United Nations, King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I, El Salvador

⇢ Week of January 17th: Russian Empire, Zulus, Ivan the Terrible, James Cook, Iran

⇢ Week of January 24th: Qing Dynasty, Vladmir Lenin, French Revolution, Winston Churchill, Antartica, Gandhi

Sample Class Structure
1. Weekly Historical Debate and Speech Topic (5-10 minutes)
2. This Week in History: Interactive Lecture and Discussion (40 minutes)
3.  Historical Games (10 minutes)
4. Concluding Remarks and Contest Results!

Learning Goals

1. Students will improve their understanding of Global History. Each week, dozens of topics will be addressed and constantly reviewed throughout the class. 

2. Independent Reading
Each week during the school year, students receive a reading on current and historical events, geography, vocabulary and more. 

3. Vocabulary
Our reading has vocabulary lists, activities and assessments. Students can create their own dictionary of unfamiliar words; they can add to their log each day with each edition.

4.  Public Speaking and Debate Skills
Each Week students will submit a weekly speech/debate topic. There will be an opportunity to ask and answer questions, debate and vote.
learning goal

Other Details

External Resources
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
  • Kahoot
Sources
Each student will receive a weekly Current and Historical Events reading.
Joined September, 2020
4.9
1161reviews
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Profile
Teacher expertise and credentials
Bachelor's Degree in History from University of California, Berkeley
I have been teaching US and Global History for over twenty years as a History, Social Studies and Civics teacher at the middle school, high school and college levels. History has been my passion since middle school when I grabbed any book about US History, Global History, and Military History.  

I have been involved in speech and debate as a student and educator my entire life.  I learned more in my Speech and Debate Club than all my high school, college and law school classes combined. I joined the Speech and Debate Team at my middle school because I was very shy of public speaking. I have been hooked in speech and debate since! 

I received my B.A. from U.C Berkeley, Jurist Doctorate from Hastings College of Law, and Masters Degree in Education at Pace University.  In 2002 I was accepted to Teach for America and I have been teaching since. I have been a public school teacher for ten years with the New York City Department of Education and taught speech and debate classes for about ten years with thousands of NYC students. My debaters have gone on to win city, state and national champion titles. I currently serve as Professor at Baruch College in the Communications Studies Department. I teach Debate and Argumentation classes as well as Political Rhetoric. 

As a teacher I helped to co-found the Big Apple Debate League which is now the NY Debate League. In 2011, I founded our city's Debate League with the mission that every middle school and high school should have a debate team. I served as Founder and Executive Director from 2011-2019 building the league into the largest citywide debate league in the nation, serving thousands of students every year.  In 2020, I left the nonprofit world, and I returned to my passion as a full time teacher! 

I have received numerous awards in education including the United States Supreme Court Summer Institute for Teachers Fellowship, Fund for Teachers Fellowship, Plank Foundation Fellowship, and Teach for America Innovation Award Finalist.

I love teaching. My grandparents, parents and my brother are all educators. There is nothing more fun than sharing your passion with others. 

My philosophy of teaching is learning should be fun and challenging.  I always begin my classes with current events trivia.  My lectures are interactive with movie clips, songs, puzzles and other engaging tools.  We always practice our public speaking and debate skills. All my classes end with a fun and competitive speech and debate practice or tournament.  My mission is all students should have access to speech and debate.

Press. Below are some news articles about me and my debaters! I owe everything to my own debate teacher and coach and so everyday my mission is to support future debaters! 

1. First Lady Michelle Obama Honors Erik and the Great Debaters
https://www.donorschoose.org/blog/first-lady-michelle-obama-honors-erik-fogel-and-the-great-debaters/

2. Bronx debate team one of 12 school groups nationally to get visit with Michelle Obama
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/skilled-young-orators-heading-white-house-article-1.1203407

3. New York City Teacher Creates After School Debate League Lauded by the White House
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/11/prweb10156172.htm

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Live Group Class
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$15

weekly
1x per week
55 min

Live video meetings
Ages: 9-14
10-18 learners per class

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