I recently had the opportunity to interview East High Social Studies teacher Mr. Chuck Morgan about new technologies and knowledge he has brought to the social studies department. He recently received a very exciting fellowship and brought a few students to a seminar that has been improving the classroom experience. East is very excited about the new material that Mr. Morgan is bringing to school.

Mr. Morgan is one of 50 teachers across the entire country to receive the American Geography Society Geography Teacher Fellowship. He heard about this fellowship at an AP Geography institute this summer. The topic of the fellowship is sustainability on the planet in the environment, which is an important issue today. Mr. Morgan plans to apply his learnings in his AP Human Geography classes, specifically to environmentalism, agriculture, and urban development sustainability teachings.

Not only did Mr. Morgan receive an amazing fellowship, he took 8 students to a Global Imaging Technology (GIS) seminar on September 27 this year. This was something he had done by himself for the past 3 summers, and he decided it would be a good experience for some students this year. At the seminar they learned how to use the GIS to make storyboards and presentations. A city planner also attended the seminar and showed how he was using the same technologies that Mr. Morgan and his students were. After the seminar, the students came back and taught the material to other students in the classroom and “actually did a better job”, Mr. Morgan says. He attributes this to the opinion that “kids seems to catch up on technology a lot better”.

Overall there are a lot of new and exciting things happening in the social studies department to better learning experiences for all students. East is very fortunate to have teachers like Mr. Morgan who are so dedicated to teaching and creating special opportunities to bring the classroom beyond the walls of East High.