1. Independent Reading
Recommended Current Events Reading! Students should be reading or watching the news weekly or daily. 

2. Games, Trivia, Contests, Prizes and More!
Each week in class we will have games, trivia and contests on recent current events. And what is a game without Prizes! 

I have been teaching current events classes for ten years as a New York City School Teacher and another ten years as a full time debate teacher and director. With degrees in Political Science, Law, Social Studies, and United States History - current events has been my lifelong passion! 

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://tinyurl.com/29u2cfpw

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

提供的家庭作業
Current Events Reading: Students will be expected to read or watch 10-15 minutes daily on current events. 
2 - 4 每週課外時間
提供的評估
1.  Student Presentations on Current Events
2.  Current Events Trivia: We start and end each class with Current Events Trivia
3.  Current Event Games on Domestic and International News Topics
提供的成績

I would recommend my Beginners Speech & Debate Camp Level #1 before enrolling in this class: https://outschool.com/classes/middle-school-speech-and-debate-camp-edkFYUzZ?usid=j2iJky1O&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link

Students are also recommended to read their own news sources ie CNN10, The Week Junior, CNN, New York Times or other publications. And please let me know if you would like further recommendations. During class I will also be using news clips from news channels, talk shows, late night comedy news shows such as Saturday Night Live, and other news sources.  So we will be using a wide variety of domestic, international, serious, and silly sources for an hour jam packed with current events!