Joshua Block

Humanities Teacher at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. Passionately believes that education is a tool to help people understand and transform their individual and collective realities.

Spring 2014 Final Portfolios

My 10th graders recently submitted their final portfolios. As I read the portfolios a sense of accomplishment and pride is tangible. For others the portfolios are a poignant moment of reflection as they realize they achieved less than what they are capable of. Overall I appreciate the thoughtfulness, insights, and honesty as we wrap up […]Read Post ›

Completed Immigrant Oral History Projects!

We completed our oral history projects! Read this earlier post to learn more about the process. Click on the image below to see the different completed projects.

Colonialism Museum Exhibit

As one of our final projects of the academic year my World History students created proposals for a Colonialism Exhibit in a (fictional) Museum of Global History. The unit began when we read Things Fall Apart, a selection of quotes about Colonialism, and excerpts from Aime Cesaire. We then viewed sections from the film Gandhi and […]Read Post ›

#Teachingis Adapting

[Cross-posted on Edutopia] Recently the Center for Teaching Quality launched a #Teachingis campaign for teachers to tweet different visions and realities of teaching. The responses were varied and poignant. As we know, teaching is ever changing and virtually indescribable in its complexity. Reading the tweets of “what #Teachingis” helped me think more deeply about the multilayered identities that we […]Read Post ›

Immigration Oral History Project

My 12th grade Globalization students are in the finishing stages of an oral history project in collaboration with the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians. The staff and the clients at the Welcoming Center have been incredibly generous with their time and my students are committed to telling the stories of immigrants, refugees, and GED students with […]Read Post ›