Do you feel that your social studies and history curriculum is static, boring, and too Western-centric? Do you think your students might welcome lessons that cover the appalling, brutal, and still incredibly relevant nature of the Chinese Communist Party? Do you feel that your unit on the Cold War, history of communism, or history of the 20th century is limited due to its exclusion of the Chinese story? Do you want to prepare your students with a basic understanding of modern Chinese history given the reality of today’s global economy?
Do your students know that Chairman Mao was responsible for more than 5 times the death toll (via executions, policy induced famine, torture, war, nuclear testing, political purging, etc…) that Adolf Hitler is associated with? Do your students know that the China is by far the most populous country in the world? Can your students explain the extreme cultural differences between Tibetan Chinese, Uyghur Chinese, and Han Chinese people? Chances are that your textbook does not adequately cover the turbulent history of arguably the soon-to-be most influential country in the world.
The Laogai Research Foundation has recently employed Cole Mitchell, a history graduate student who has a background in teaching high school government, world history, and world geography. Cole’s passion lies in creating innovative lesson plans that pique the interest of students. If you are interested in working with Cole to develop lesson plans for your classes that align with state standards and classroom learning objectives, please don’t hesitate to contact him. He can be reached at the contact information below:
Cole Mitchell
Laogai Research Foundation
1734 20th St. NW
Washington, DC 20009
Cole@Laogai.org
(360) 481-0699
