April 21, 2025 • 54 mins
Dr. Monica Ketchum-Cardenas, president of the Arizona Council for History Education, shares an array of resources and opportunities available to Arizona history and civics teachers that many educators don't know exist.
• ACHE membership costs only $25 annually and includes free conference access plus National Council for History Education membership
• The organization offers classroom grants up to $500 for curriculum materials and resources
• ACHE provides scholarships for teachers to attend the national conference with registration and travel funding
• This year's conference theme "Conflict and Cooperation" explores how Americans have navigated challenging historical periods
• Teachers can become civic leaders through community involvement without running for office
• Social media comparisons like "What would Common Sense look like on TikTok?" make history relevant to students
• Practical classroom assignments like designing awareness campaigns help students understand civic engagement
• Arizona's diverse landscape and independent-minded population provide rich opportunity for exploring local history
Join the Arizona Council for History Education through the link in our show notes to access these resources and attend the September conference featuring keynote speaker Dr. Stephen Knott.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am very excited to chat with our guest today,
mostly because I think there areso many things that are
available to Arizona teachersArizona teachers don't really
know about.
I met Monica through theArizona Council for History
Education.
I am now on the board ofdirectors, but one of my first
(00:22):
experiences was the conferencelast year.
I got to present and I got tobe a part of directors.
But one of my first experienceswas the conference last year.
I got to present and I got tobe a part of it and it was so
I'm as somebody who goes to alot of conferences.
It was so well run and I left,even though I'm not in the
classroom.
I left with so many ideas andconnections and it just felt.
(00:44):
I felt good, I was there.
That experience so good, infact, that I wanted to be a part
of the board of directors.
So I wanted to introduce Monica.
Monica is the current president.
So actually, monica, I will letyou introduce yourself and let
our listeners know kind ofanything you want to tell us
about you.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Hi, my name is Dr Monica Ketchum-Cardenas and I'm
a professor of history andsociology at Arizona Western
College down in Yuma so thesouthwest corner we call it the
west coast of Arizona and I'vebeen participating in the AIC
(01:24):
conferences for probably about10 or 11 years and, just like
you, it was going to an AICstands for Arizona Council for
History Education, and it wasthrough going to a conference
that I started to become moreand more involved and I was
(01:47):
approached because I was theonly person coming from Yuma and
I was presenting on a regularbasis, and they said hey, do you
want to join our board?
And I said I was really excitedto come on board because I am
passionate about supportingteachers.
(02:09):
Even though I've never taughtin the history in the K-12
classroom.
I really believe that that's aplace where we need to focus our
support, not only in Arizonabut nationwide, and I loved that
.
(02:30):
You know one of the guidingprinciples, if you will, for AIC
and the National Council forHistory and Education, nche it
really is to provide resourcesand provide support for
classroom teachers and that'ssomething that, like you said,
(02:51):
you just don't get that in a lotof conferences.
A lot of times it's more likethis is what I'm writing a book
on or an article on, and peopleare just sharing what they've
done research on in you know,and getting feedback, but we're
really student and teacherfocused in terms of our
(03:16):
organization.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And I love that.
And one of the things that Ireally liked is, you know, going
to a meeting.
We were talking about thenational conference.
This year it was in St Louis,missouri, and AIC has
scholarships and they can send acouple of teachers to that.
You got to go to the conference.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe NCHE conference and what
(03:42):
kind of opportunities teacherswho are members have.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, the National Council for History Education
has an annual conference andthey hold it in a different
historical city every singleyear and of course we know this
year the theme was all historyis local.
And so when I say historicalcity, every city has a history,
(04:12):
every town has a history, and sothis year was really
interesting because I thought Idon't know what I was thinking
about St Louis but I was reallygobsmacked really by all of the
history that is in St Louis thatI didn't even connect to St
(04:32):
Louis.
So, in addition to theconference, you have excursions
to historical places andopportunities to network
historical places andopportunities to network.
And, being in Arizona, a lot oftimes we feel, you know, we're
all the way out in the West, inthe Wild West, and that we don't
(04:52):
always have the sameconnections and opportunities
that people on the East Coast,particularly if you're like in
the New England and New York andVirginia area.
There's all kinds ofopportunities for teachers there
, and so one of the things thatwe think is really important for
AIC is to provide opportunitiesfor our teachers to also attend
(05:19):
the conference.
And so each year conference,and so each year, as long as
I've remembered we have we sendfour people to the conference
and so this can be a combinationof board members, it can be
regular members.
We always try to have at leasttwo of our members go, sometimes
(05:40):
more, and we provide theconference registration and then
travel funding because we knowthat you know it's not cheap to
fly out of different parts ofArizona and then the hotel and
things like that.
So I think you know this issomething that that we're really
(06:04):
committed to, so that, you know, in In universities sometimes
there is more funding for peopleto travel, although we know
that that there's been a lot ofissues trying to get travel
funding.
More recently, especially sinceCOVID, things have kind of been
dialed back.
(06:24):
But that doesn't exist in theK-12 system in Arizona.
It's really difficult.
You have to go and get you knowindividual grants and things
like that, and so we like to,you know, offer that as an
opportunity for our teachers,and our conference, our local
(06:47):
conference, is also just abenefit of membership, and so we
make sure that our teachers inArizona, if you join the Arizona
Council for History Education,it's like $25 a year and you're
also a member of the NationalCouncil for History Education
(07:10):
and so you have all of thosebenefits.
Plus, we have a conference everyyear that you can attend.
And then you know we have othergrants.
We have classroom grants.
So you can apply for aclassroom grant up to $500
because we know we need moreresources in the classroom and
(07:32):
so if there's some kind ofcurriculum that you want to
purchase for your classroom, ifthere's materials that you need
for a lesson, then those arethings that you can apply for
these grants and it's not acomplicated application process
(07:53):
and we love to reach out andhelp teachers in the classroom
so that we can support theteaching of history and make
sure that young peoplethroughout Arizona have access
to quality history education.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I mean, and I think one of my favorite things about
being on the board is when wewere having the discussion about
sending people and it was veryclassroom teacher focused, like
we want to make sure that atleast somebody going is a
classroom teacher and gets thatsupport, and I, I mean, I love
(08:37):
going to our meetings because itdoes feel like that.
You know, we are both in highered.
I was in K-12 for a while and Ithink sometimes, especially
teachers of history and civicsfeel like they're left to their
own devices.
It's very lonely and now thatmy eyes have been opened to all
these things it's like there areso many people out there that
(08:57):
want to help.
And you mentioned theconference.
So the local conference thatACHE is putting on is in
September.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat and why a teacher should
go?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Sure, just going back to NCHE, I mean I know you were
just blown away by the numberof elementary school teachers
and early career teachers whowere there.
I mean there was just this,really, you know, great vibe
throughout the conference,because these are people that
(09:34):
are just thirsty for knowledgeand they also need a lot of
support.
And so I was just reallyexcited to see so many, like I
said, early career and you know,k through eight teachers in
there, because you know theyseem to have the least amount of
(09:54):
support in the classroom,because when you are teaching
elementary school, you're alsojuggling everything else in
addition to history and civics,right.
And then, with our Arizonalocal conference, we also
(10:15):
encourage pre-service teachersto attend, and so that gets
people to be able to networkeven before they're in the
classroom and learn about all ofthe resources that we have
available for students.
We also have exhibitors therethat are from the various
(10:37):
organizations in in Arizona thatare there to provide resources,
arizona that are there toprovide resources.
And yeah, I mean it's somethingthat we're really committed to,
(10:59):
because we really do believethat if we don't have a, a
history focused, a classroomfocused conference in Arizona,
that you know our classroomteachers are just not going to
have the support that they, thatthey deserve.
And even if they, they may nottake away everything from the
(11:21):
conference.
I mean they may go and say,well, you know I teach world
history, so maybe the keynote,you know it's not something that
I can use, but we findworld-class keynote speakers.
So even if it's not a topicthat somebody is, you know,
really going to be using,they're just inspired.
(11:46):
They go away inspired.
And we do like to have what oneof our former board members, one
of the founders of AIC, used tosay we try and have some
shovel-ready lessons right thatthe not the attendees can come
(12:06):
in and take away lesson plans,take away ideas that they can
just turn around and implementin in their classrooms.
And and that's, I mean it isour signature event.
We do, you know, we provideother support throughout the
year.
We provide other supportthroughout the year.
(12:32):
But I think I think if somebodyis a pre-service teacher, if
somebody is a classroom teacher,if somebody is early career or
just kind of facing burnoutwhich I think a lot of us
recently it's it's a way to cometogether and and and really be
inspired.
And we hold it in September.
(12:52):
We used to have it in August,which was a little bit, you know
, a little bit hotter, but wehave it so that by the time
people settle into their classesthey're like, okay, it's
another year, and then you justkind of have this injection of
excitement and new ideas and Ifeel that it can really, you
(13:15):
know, inspire people to keep,you know, pushing forward
throughout the rest of thesemester, the rest of the term,
because they get that just, Iguess the only way I can
describe it is like an injectionof history, right, and also
(13:36):
just the networking, right.
They're like, okay, I knowsomebody at another school,
another school.
So if you're in a smallerschool where you might be the
only person who teaches historyor civics, history and civics,
right, you might be, you know,feeling like you're just in this
little silo and nobody, youknow, understands and there's no
(13:57):
one to bounce ideas off.
Well, now you're in a room withpeople who are from throughout,
typically the greater Phoenixarea, although we have people
coming, you know, sometimes fromFlagstaff and Tucson.
But you know, you, you reallyfeel like now I have a community
(14:17):
of teachers and, you knowlifelong learners, right, who,
who can bounce ideas off of eachother, who can sometimes
commiserate with each other but,you know, might partner up and
develop you know curriculumtogether and things like that.
So I think that's one of thethings that makes our conference
(14:39):
, you know, special andimportant for history educators
to attend each year.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I mean last year, and I can't believe this because
I've been a history and civicsteacher for over two decades and
last year was my first yearattending and I loved the
keynote.
I have his book and I lovedthat.
Every time I walked into a roomor a session it felt very
(15:09):
welcoming, right.
I think that sometimes,especially if you are somebody
who's going by yourself, you'relike I don't like, it's hard it.
This conference was just verylike hey, come sit over here and
you know, look at what's goingon.
And I will say I'm very excitedfor our keynote speaker this
year.
It is Dr Stephen Knott.
He has written a lot of books,most recently a book on JFK, but
(15:33):
our theme this year is conflictand cooperation and what we're
really looking at is, in timesof struggle, what has the United
States done, world Arizona, youknow, looking at, because it
feels right now sometimes hardto teach history and civics, but
(15:53):
this isn't the first time.
It's happened right, and sowe're really trying to spotlight
.
There have been lots of timesin our nation's history and our
state's history where there hasbeen a lot of conflict, what had
to go into cooperating to kindof move forward.
So I, I mean I'm I am stokedfor this conference and I feel
(16:15):
like it's not an expensiveconference.
Members are free, correct?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yes, we don't.
We don't charge for theconference we conference.
It's a benefit of membership.
So just join the ArizonaCouncil for History Education
and you are in.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I will make sure to put that link in our show notes
so that anybody that wants tohas the ability.
So one of the things that youand I have talked about before
is how teachers can be leadersin their communities.
I think sometimes teachersthink, well, I can only be a
leader if I'm a department chair, or I can only be a leader you
(16:57):
know X, y and Z and you actuallyhave experience being a leader
in your community.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat for us?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Sure, I grew up in a very politically active family
and I come from a mixed marriage.
My mother was Democrat and myfather was Republican, and so we
never subscribed to the ideathat you don't talk about
politics.
But I learned from a very earlyage that we have to have
(17:34):
political discourse and thateveryone, you know, I mean it
goes back to the old adage thatyou know, politics are personal
right, goes back to the oldadage that you know, you know
politics are personal right, andeverybody has the opportunity
to effect change in theircommunity, to engage in their
(17:54):
community in different ways.
And so, you know, I was alwayspretty shy growing up, but I was
around all of these discussionsand then even, you know, as a
teacher, I'm always telling mystudents, you know I'm, you know
you, you have to vote right,you have to be engaged.
(18:16):
If that's the minimum, that'sthe minimum is voting.
And sometimes students will say, well, it's just, you know, my
vote doesn't really count.
But I've seen numbers of timeswhen I'm on a city council or
you mean a supervisor, a countysupervisor seat, it's been a
(18:38):
handful of votes between theperson who wins the election and
the one who doesn't right, andso so when I turned, when I
turned 18, there's a couple offriends of mine the most
exciting thing about turning 18was registering to vote right.
(18:59):
We were always kind of, you know, hooked into politics and for a
long time I thought thatpolitics was really just those
elected officials and thatwasn't really where I wanted to
necessarily go.
But I became involved invarious community and that's
(19:20):
where my political impact hascome from.
So I had a business in Calexico, california, and so I joined
the Chamber of Commerce and Iwas elected to the Board of
Directors and then I was electedto the executive board.
I served as president for acouple of years and I realized
(19:44):
that being the president or thetreasurer or whatever on a city
chamber of commerce board ispolitical right You're
advocating.
I had to go to city councilmeetings and things like that.
And then I've also been involvedin a lot of organizations that
(20:08):
are related to raising awarenessabout, or raising funds for,
domestic violence, shelters,women's shelters, for domestic
violence, shelters, women'sshelters, and I am a member of
Seroptimus International andthrough that I've gone to.
(20:30):
I was just a couple of weeks agoI was at the Commission on the
Status of Women, I was adelegate to the UN, and so my
path towards you know, beinginvolved in Arizona.
They might say I'm not reallypolitical right, but find
(21:07):
something that you're passionateabout and it makes being
politically active and engagingin the civic space something
that eventually will becomenatural right.
So I've helped to organizecoalitions that were, you know,
(21:32):
very so like a human traffickingcoalition that was
interdisciplinary, where you'rebringing together law
enforcement, district attorneys.
I mean, when I'm talking aboutlaw enforcement, we're talking
like police, sheriffs, fbi,homeland Security bringing all
(21:55):
of these different peopletogether in a room and being
able to put aside yourdifferences and focus on the
mission and the problem at thesame time getting different
people's perspectives.
And I think that I think that'ssomething that has, you know,
(22:16):
experiences like that, I think,have served me well in terms of
just my personal life and in theworld that we're living in now,
because we are seeing thatpolitics is very polarized right
now, and it's not the firsttime and it won't be the last
time that we've had, you know,this polarization in that,
(22:37):
although what many people see inthe news is the two extremes
(23:06):
and people yelling at each otherand just you know the hate that
comes out of it that when weall sit in a room together, that
we are often able to put asideour differences and work towards
a common solution.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Right, and so so I you know that's kind of you know
my, I don't know my, myperspective, I guess on on being
um active in the community, um,I appreciate that, because I
(23:44):
think it like giving that locallook and and you're right Like
people think sometimes politicsmeans I have to run for office
and I have to do this andeverything you're talking about.
It's what you wanted to do andthis is how you want to be
involved, and it does, I think,bring more hope when you're
(24:04):
watching the national news andyou're seeing all this division.
But you're like well, mypersonal experience and I love
that you grew up in apolitically divided household
One of the things I wish therewere more of is civil discourse
and not shying away, but becauseyou know the conversation
you're going to have is going tobe a conversation.
(24:26):
You're going to learn from itand I think part of the reason
that people shy away frompolitical conversations now is
because that's what they see isthe yelling back and forth and
this divisiveness.
But when you really come downto a local level, like you said,
when we're all sitting at atable tackling a problem, we're
not looking at well, you're aRepublican or you're a Democrat
(24:47):
we're looking at.
This is the problem.
How can we solve this for ourcommunity?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Yeah, great point.
I think that when we you know ifyou're a teacher, a lot of
times, like you said, you thinkthe only way I can be political
is if I run for.
I'm at the high school, somaybe I run for the elementary
school board mindset that peoplehave is that it has to be an
elected office.
But there's so many differentways that that we can.
(25:23):
We can be involved.
I often tell my students thatyou know when, when they you
know kind of hem and haw aboutvoting, because I'm like how
many of you guys are going tovote and and they'll be like
it's not going to make adifference.
But I say, well, you know, Imean I have a problem with the
Electoral College because it'snot the 1700s, right.
(25:44):
But I say, well, think about,you got to vote down the ballot.
Because in fact I say you needto vote up the ballot start at
the local level, because thepresident of the United States
is not going to fix the potholein front of your house.
And I mean these are the thingsthat you call your city council
(26:06):
or you call the countysupervisors about.
You know things that arepresent in your local community.
So look at who those people arewho are running for school
board, who are running forcounty supervisor, who are
running for judge, and you know,start there and then work up.
(26:29):
And then I also, you know I donot like canvassing.
I've canvassed for a couple ofpoliticians and it always
happened on a Saturday or Sundaymorning and people are not
happy to see you knocking ontheir door at eight o'clock in
the morning and so, um, I, Ijust do not like doing that and
I'm, you know, it's just not mybag and I've told people in the
(26:52):
past like, okay, I'll doanything for you except Canvas,
because I just don't like it.
But for some people they loveit.
You know you're getting outthere in the morning, you're
spreading the, you know the word, and yeah.
So I say there's so many waysthat you can get involved.
And even if you don't want toget involved that way, if you
(27:15):
have you know if you're keepingup with what's going on in
politics, if there's, if there'sa ballot initiative that you're
not very happy about, or ifthere's a piece of legislation
that you don't support, write toyour congressman or person,
write to your senator, write toyour state senator, right to the
(27:40):
governor.
And you know, I know a lot ofit's.
It can be.
Really, you have contact and youmay.
You might have a form letterfrom different organizations.
You can call them and they maynot agree with you, but if they
get enough people calling, thenthat is going to have an impact
(28:00):
and I mean for me.
I get you know, I get the, wereceived your letter.
We received your letter and I'mlike, well, I'm not going to do
anything with it, but but if Ican be a little thorn in in my
representative side who does notshare my political beliefs,
(28:21):
then more power to me, right,and I think that you know when
you have, you know when you haverepresentatives and senators,
they're there to represent thepeople.
When you have a countysupervisor, they're there to
represent their constituents andthey don't always get an
accurate pulse of what theirconstituents you know really
(28:45):
want, because you can hold atown hall meeting but not
everybody is going to haveaccess to go to that town hall
meeting.
It might be at a bad time, theremight be transportation issues,
especially when we look at ourhuge, you know, districts that
we have in Arizona.
And so sending that letter andvoicing your opinion, it doesn't
(29:12):
hurt, right, and it's one waythat each of us can get elected
if you do a letter writingcampaign or something like that.
So I always, I always doencourage my students to to do
that and I don't know, just justgetting getting people active,
(29:37):
active and reading up on theissues, because if we don't
right, if we don't do anything,then nothing's going to change.
And if we do do something,maybe nothing's going to change
but we can say we tried right.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
I would rather do something and have you know than
not do something.
Right, because if there's abunch of people who are like,
well, my vote doesn't count,well, there's a political
cartoon that says, like, my votedoesn't count, but it shows
like a bunch of people Like thethings we do count.
They may not count in thismoment, but they do eventually
(30:19):
count, whether you're talking toyour neighbors or you're doing
a letter writing campaign or youknow you're focusing on these
state and local elections.
Those are national elections,are important as well.
But you're right, the peoplewho are going to fix so our, our
neighborhood has a cow problem,because cows just are like I.
(30:39):
There are times I look over andI can see a bunch of them
coming down the street.
The national government's notgoing to fix that for me, it's
going to be my town council.
So how then would you encourage?
You know, the hope is that theylearn civic knowledge in K-12.
And this is something I knowteachers are trying to do.
(31:01):
Teachers can only do so muchbecause there's only so many
hours in the day.
There's so much that isrequired of teachers.
What can teachers do?
You know, whether it's at K-12or whether they're teaching at
the college level to getstudents to be involved.
You know whether they'reteaching at the college level to
get students to be involved.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
You know, besides telling kids, like go register
to vote and go do this canvas orwhatever else.
Well, I think having projectsor assignments that are related
to political issues or socialissues.
(31:41):
I have an assignment this isn'tin a history class, but it's in
one of my other classes where Ihave students design either an
awareness campaign or some kindof fundraiser for a cause that
they're interested in and talkabout what they're going to,
what they're going to be doingabout it.
(32:02):
So it could be hunger in YumaCounty, and so what are they
going to do to support the localfood bank?
So they'll create a campaignand learn about how they can
leverage their networks in orderto try and bring about positive
(32:27):
change.
So things have changed overtime.
It used to be that you had totake out an ad in the newspaper
or you had to print up a bunchof flyers and mail them out, but
now we have social media right,so they could design a social
media campaign right and justgetting them thinking about the
(32:51):
myriad ways that they can becomeengaged for positive social
change.
And some of them have donethings that were political.
I had one that had a plan toreduce the length of the lines
going from through the San LuisPort of Entry into Mexico,
(33:13):
because there's so manycommuters that in the afternoon
and you'd have, you know, thelines just backed up and people
are idling and there's, you know, pollution from cars and things
like that.
So I had a student who said,okay, first of all, I have this
plan, I'm going to take it tothe city council about this,
that and the other, and itreally makes them think about,
(33:36):
like just a small issue in theircommunity that they might be
able to, you know, light a fireunder those public officials to
actually take action.
And so I think, designing someand it doesn't have to be a big
project, but designingassignments that have students
(33:58):
think about the impact thattheir civic involvement could
have.
Even if you're teaching, youknow early US history and you're
like, oh well, that isn'tnecessarily relevant to today.
Well, relevant to today, well,you could look at issues that
(34:25):
were happening in the 1800s oreven in.
You know, yeah, just saylooking at the 1800s or
something, and then ask thatfollow-up question what might
you do today?
Or what's an issue that'ssimilar to this that you know we
need to change today and havestudents kind of think
critically about what they mightdo, go back to what they might
(34:45):
do back then, or what they mightdo if, in you know, the 1820s,
we had social media, right,things like that, what, how
would, how would common sense,you know, have been, you know,
distributed today?
Right, it would have beendistributed on TikTok, right it
(35:07):
would have been, it would havebeen just like soundbites,
rather than publishing all ofcommon sense, right, and
thinking about one of the thingsthat, going back to common
sense, I'll have students, youknow, look at it and say, you
know, not everything that ThomasPaine is going to resonate with
everyone.
But if you were living at thistime and thinking about, like
(35:29):
your family and maybe what youknow, maybe your family's, you
know merchants or they'refarmers or whatever you know
what, which of these pointswould have kind of pushed you
towards becoming a revolutionaryright?
Because you know, when peopleare reading it, they're like,
(35:51):
well, you know, that doesn'tmake any sense, it's not
relevant to me, right, butthere's going to be one or two
things that people are going tosay, oh, that's right.
And so just kind of sometimestaking some of those older
documents, or, you know, theDeclaration of Independence, and
(36:12):
then, if you're looking at,like more recent US history,
thinking about the civil rightsmovement, and the same thing
like designing, you know,designing a civil rights
campaign within today's society.
It gets students thinking abouthow civic activism has changed
(36:36):
over time, but the issues areoften the same, right?
It's like how do we get theword out, how do I get involved?
And so those are some of thekinds of things that I think
that we, as educators, can do,either in K-12 or higher.
Education is really kind of,you know, make it relevant for
(37:00):
our students.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
I will literally be thinking about what common sense
by Thomas Paine on TikTok wouldlook like for the remainder of
the day.
But you're right, you can'ttake the entirety of that
brochure and put it on TikTok.
But you know, if your familywere farmers or if your family
were you know merchants in town,like what parts of this?
And it really gets studentslooking, because I think
(37:26):
sometimes, especially withhistory, kids think, well, why
do I need to learn that?
It's already happened and it'slike there's actually a lot we
could learn and a lot of thesethings happen multiple times,
are very cyclical.
It just looks different because, like you said, now we have
social media, now we have waysto get things out to the world.
(37:50):
Where you brought up thedeclaration, we're coming up on
America 250, right, how long didit take King George to get that
things?
I think thing students don'trealize like things move a whole
lot slower as opposed to thesequick things.
Because what if King George waslike slipping through his
TikTok and saw that one of hiscolonies is like yeah, we're
(38:14):
good, we're done, like have been?
Oh, now I see these kinds ofthings make me want to go back
into the classroom, so bad.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
And thinking about AI too, and thinking about, like
Paul Revere's Boston Massacre,right?
Is that like the first deepfake, right, because it's
propaganda.
And so you're like, okay, youcan, you can kind of think about
things like that, and then itgets them kind of, you know,
intrigued, right, and I meanyou're not going to capture all
(38:45):
of them, but I, you know, they,they always, you know, they
always say that you know, if youdon't learn history, you're not
going to be a, a, you know goodmember of society.
Right, you need to know historyin order to really fully
(39:06):
participate in society, becauseif you don't, then it's like
you're not going to really havea point of reference.
Why is this important?
And so so I think that we haveto find, you know, new creative
ways to reach out to, to ourstudents.
I used to do a.
I used to have them do tweetson different topics and they
(39:30):
would just bring them into theclassroom and write them up on
the whiteboard and I mean, someof them were just hilarious when
they're talking about theBoston Tea Party or whatever, or
voting rights and things likethat.
So I think, if you get a littlecreative and say, hey, what
(39:51):
would this have looked liketoday and get them thinking
about that.
It might kind of spark someinterest.
And who knows, we may beteaching the next senator.
And who knows, we may beteaching the next senator, the
next president, you know, thenext, you know.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Any of them.
I think people think like, oh,tweets, that sounds really fun
and it's like it is.
It also requires a lot ofcritical thinking, like to take
something you want to say andyou got 140 characters or I
don't know what it is now, butit really makes them think and
it it makes it relevant to them,right, like we're talking about
(40:30):
TikTok.
And I will be honest, when Itaught, I did not understand
Twitter, and so finally, one dayI just said to my seniors can
somebody help me with this?
Like I want to understand howto use this, and it became one
of the best things I used in myAP government class because
that's what they were using atthe time, and I dove into that
world.
It was kind of scary for me,but it ended up being really fun
(40:53):
.
Now, speaking of socials, onething that I learned about you
is that you have a YouTubechannel reading books.
Can you tell us about that?
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, so I have a soft spot in my heart for
children's books especiallyawesome especially kind of
quirky children's books.
So when during COVID, during thelockdown, I just I had this
whole collection of children'sbooks and I started reading them
(41:30):
and and sending them to ourchild development learning lab,
because all the kids were now athome during the lockdown, at
home during the lockdown, and soI said here, if you guys, if
you think that this will, youknow, help your, your students,
(41:54):
then you're welcome to use them.
And then I started to look andthese were some old school books
, right, and my all timefavorite book is the Three Billy
Goats Gruff.
So that's like my I, you know,I like collect Three Billy Goats
Gruff.
And so I I started to look forother books that were newer and,
(42:16):
you know, a little, maybe morerelevant than than the old fairy
tales and things like that.
And I just started reading themand they're all one take.
It's like very low productionvalue, but but yeah, so I called
it story time with Ms Moni,because I've known as Moni or
(42:38):
Moni, and and I I just started,you know, sharing it.
And then I have another one, asub, a sub one, that's all on,
on punk rock, kids books and so,and so I have like a few books
(43:00):
that are, like, you know, theABCs for punk rock and and
things like that.
So I have a couple of differentuh channels and those are more
for uh, those ones are more formy, uh, my friends, because
we're all into punk rock and soI'm like, hey, share this with
your kids or your grandkids, umso.
So yeah, I've got those um kindof you know little little
(43:24):
YouTube channel with that kindof stuff.
I've got it.
I've got a Facebook page thatthe same thing, sorry, sorry,
storytime with Miss Moni.
That where I was posting stufffor a while, but I'm just so bad
about posting on Facebook andstuff and so, but, but every
once in a while I'll post, postthings and stuff and so, but,
but every once in a while I'llpost, post things and, and a lot
(43:45):
of them I found.
I found some great books.
A couple of them are history,kids, kids, history books, and
some are are just really aboutbelonging and so so I think I
have a pretty good collectionthere.
(44:05):
So, whether you like the threebilly goats gruff, or whether
you want to, you know, wantSteve Caballero's skating
skating story or something likethat, I've got, I've got kind of
something for everyone.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
And that also is a way to serve your community.
Right Like this is.
There's so many different waysand I will don't worry listeners
, I will link all of these foryou.
I love that you have a punkrock one that is, it's a very
specific niche, but it's needed.
Right Like these are the thingsthat it makes reading fun and
(44:41):
it makes it accessible and andit doesn't have to be, and I
love that.
I mean you say low productionvalue.
I say authentic right, becauseI think what it shows is we
don't have to have these likemassive production studios, like
reading kids' books, Cause Ialways read to my students,
whether they were eighth gradersor seniors.
(45:01):
I think it is such a valuablething.
Maybe I'll start doing it withmy college kids, but this is a
way to serve your community andI love that during pandemic,
during a lockdown, you stillfound a way to serve your
community and again in a waythat worked for you and that you
(45:22):
were passionate about.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
And again in a way that worked for you and that you
were passionate about.
Yeah, it and it is.
You know it is.
It is a good outlet as well, alittle creative outlet.
And I had taught, I had taughta class team taught a class for
the honors.
Our honors program called thepolitics of punk, and so one of
the things we did is we had themcreate a set list and create a
(45:50):
poster for a festival or aconcert that was related to some
kind of political issue thathad to be current.
Not, you know, it wasn't rockagainst Reagan or you know some
of the some of the stuff goingon in the 80s, but it had to be
something that was current, andso that was.
I also kind of shared it withmy students that were in that
(46:12):
class so they could see some ofthe punk rock ABCs and things
like that.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
Is that class available to audit, because I
would love to just sit and learnin that class at some point.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
That class.
It was a one credit honorsclass, and so we only taught it
once, and it was in spring of2020.
So we went for, you know, eightweeks, nine weeks, and then we
had to go virtual.
But I'd love to teach it again,but, yeah, I haven't had the
(46:47):
chance to.
Speaker 1 (46:48):
That sounds like an amazing class.
My last question for you iswe're both Arizona girls.
I was.
I'm not a native, I will say,but I've lived here since I was
six, so I kind of feel like anative.
What is your favorite thingabout the great state of Arizona
?
Speaker 2 (47:08):
There's like so much.
I think that one of the thingsthat people their, their, their
image of Arizona is that it'sjust a desert, right, it's the
saguaro right.
So, it's just a desert, right,it's the saguaro right.
So, and I think you know,that's just such a limiting
(47:29):
vision of what Arizona is about.
It is just such a diverse statewhen it comes to you know the
mountains, the climate.
I mean we really do have likejust you know, you can drive for
a few hours and go from youknow the deserts outside of Yuma
(47:51):
to you know pine forests, right, we have so many fantastic
natural wonders in this state.
There's so much history in thisstate, and so I'm, you know,
I'm also a transplant.
(48:14):
I grew up in the Californiadesert, so I'm from about an
hour and a half west of Arizonaand a little tiny border town
that people don't even thinkexists, and and so my but I.
But we went to Yuma.
When I was a kid, the FreedomTrain came to Yuma, and so I got
(48:39):
to see the Freedom Train when Iwas about like seven or
something like that FreedomTrain when I was about like
seven or something like that.
But that's one of the things Ilove, just driving around
Arizona and, yeah, interactingwith the people and the people
in Arizona also, I mean, I thinkwhat really encapsulates the
(49:01):
idea of the Arizonan isencapsulates the idea of the
Arizonan is.
I have a former politicalscience professor here at
Arizona Western.
He runs the Freedom Library inYuma, and I was doing something
for the centennial and he said,I said, hey, tell me what you
(49:24):
know, I'm collecting things thatare your favorite part of
Arizona, or what you thinkrepresents Arizona, and so some
people are like desert, theriver, right, things like that.
And he just said freedom.
And that really stuck with mebecause you really do see that
(49:44):
the people in in Arizona arefree thinkers, right, um, and
and you have, um, you know,we're we're not necessarily, um,
you know, defined by boxes,right, and so, um, that idea of
independence and in, you know,and when we think about, like
you know, politics, right, um,we, we always have a lot of
(50:05):
independence.
And you know, and when we thinkabout, like you know, politics,
right, we always have a lot ofindependence in Arizona, and so
that's another thing.
You know, just I love the factthat we have, just, you know,
just, a lot of people that arecaring, just a lot, of, a lot of
(50:28):
people that are caring, that,that love the state and and that
that really, you know, embracethose ideas of of freedom and
independence, you know, andthat's American right.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
I love that you say too, like people think Arizona
and they think cactus and desertand it's like, well, I went to
school at NAU.
It is a forest and and we havethe Grand Canyon and we have
Horseshoe Bend and I meanthere's so many.
I was actually in Tubac acouple weeks ago, which is a
little bit north of Nogales, andit's Ibn Sinoida, you know, up
(50:57):
in Sholo, like they're.
So our state is so diverse andthe people genuinely are,
they're proud to be Arizonans.
But that, like when I say proudto be Arizonans, there's not
just one definition of anArizonan and I think that's why
I love it so much is we haveranchers and we have farmers.
I mean I live next to a dairyfarm and I live in Gilbert, but
(51:19):
we also have our big cities andwe have our state universities
and we we love our history andwe celebrate our history and we
learn from our history and Ithink that is I wish more people
understood that about our state, because you said it kind of at
the beginning where you know alot of people think history is,
you know, east coast and that'syou know where all of this stuff
(51:41):
happened, and it's like, butonce you start digging into the
West, especially our state.
It's so interesting.
So thank you for sharing thatand thank you for I mean
everything.
I have so many notes writtendown from this.
I appreciate your time, monicaand listeners.
I will be putting the link toACHE so if you want to become a
(52:02):
member, the conferenceinformation will be on the
website as well.
I will put her YouTube channeland, monica, thank you so much
for taking time out of your dayto talk to us and to let
listeners know a little bitabout you and also about Yuma.
I think sometimes people think,well, yuma is just on the way
to San Diego, but Yuma itselfhas so much history and it's
(52:26):
such a cool place.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah, we're working on a Yumahistory app.
It's all student, studentprojects and little podcasts,
and and again.
It's like you know, I thinkpeople don't always realize how
much history is in our ownbackyard.
And once you start digging Imean really in Arizona you don't
(52:52):
have to dig very far, you suredon't?
History is everywhere.
Speaker 1 (52:57):
History is everywhere and history is local.
That last year's NCHE theme,history is local, like this, is
where the fun stuff is.
All history is local.
Yep, thank you so much, monica.
Thank you.
I am very excited to chat with our guest today,
mostly because I think there areso many things that are
available to Arizona teachersArizona teachers don't really
know about.
I met Monica through theArizona Council for History
Education.
I am now on the board ofdirectors, but one of my first
(00:22):
experiences was the conferencelast year.
I got to present and I got tobe a part of directors.
But one of my first experienceswas the conference last year.
I got to present and I got tobe a part of it and it was so
I'm as somebody who goes to alot of conferences.
It was so well run and I left,even though I'm not in the
classroom.
I left with so many ideas andconnections and it just felt.
(00:44):
I felt good, I was there.
That experience so good, infact, that I wanted to be a part
of the board of directors.
So I wanted to introduce Monica.
Monica is the current president.
So actually, monica, I will letyou introduce yourself and let
our listeners know kind ofanything you want to tell us
about you.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Hi, my name is Dr Monica Ketchum-Cardenas and I'm
a professor of history andsociology at Arizona Western
College down in Yuma so thesouthwest corner we call it the
west coast of Arizona and I'vebeen participating in the AIC
(01:24):
conferences for probably about10 or 11 years and, just like
you, it was going to an AICstands for Arizona Council for
History Education, and it wasthrough going to a conference
that I started to become moreand more involved and I was
(01:47):
approached because I was theonly person coming from Yuma and
I was presenting on a regularbasis, and they said hey, do you
want to join our board?
And I said I was really excitedto come on board because I am
passionate about supportingteachers.
(02:09):
Even though I've never taughtin the history in the K-12
classroom.
I really believe that that's aplace where we need to focus our
support, not only in Arizonabut nationwide, and I loved that
.
(02:30):
You know one of the guidingprinciples, if you will, for AIC
and the National Council forHistory and Education, nche it
really is to provide resourcesand provide support for
classroom teachers and that'ssomething that, like you said,
(02:51):
you just don't get that in a lotof conferences.
A lot of times it's more likethis is what I'm writing a book
on or an article on, and peopleare just sharing what they've
done research on in you know,and getting feedback, but we're
really student and teacherfocused in terms of our
(03:16):
organization.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
And I love that.
And one of the things that Ireally liked is, you know, going
to a meeting.
We were talking about thenational conference.
This year it was in St Louis,missouri, and AIC has
scholarships and they can send acouple of teachers to that.
You got to go to the conference.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe NCHE conference and what
(03:42):
kind of opportunities teacherswho are members have.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, the National Council for History Education
has an annual conference andthey hold it in a different
historical city every singleyear and of course we know this
year the theme was all historyis local.
And so when I say historicalcity, every city has a history,
(04:12):
every town has a history, and sothis year was really
interesting because I thought Idon't know what I was thinking
about St Louis but I was reallygobsmacked really by all of the
history that is in St Louis thatI didn't even connect to St
(04:32):
Louis.
So, in addition to theconference, you have excursions
to historical places andopportunities to network
historical places andopportunities to network.
And, being in Arizona, a lot oftimes we feel, you know, we're
all the way out in the West, inthe Wild West, and that we don't
(04:52):
always have the sameconnections and opportunities
that people on the East Coast,particularly if you're like in
the New England and New York andVirginia area.
There's all kinds ofopportunities for teachers there
, and so one of the things thatwe think is really important for
AIC is to provide opportunitiesfor our teachers to also attend
(05:19):
the conference.
And so each year conference,and so each year, as long as
I've remembered we have we sendfour people to the conference
and so this can be a combinationof board members, it can be
regular members.
We always try to have at leasttwo of our members go, sometimes
(05:40):
more, and we provide theconference registration and then
travel funding because we knowthat you know it's not cheap to
fly out of different parts ofArizona and then the hotel and
things like that.
So I think you know this issomething that that we're really
(06:04):
committed to, so that, you know, in In universities sometimes
there is more funding for peopleto travel, although we know
that that there's been a lot ofissues trying to get travel
funding.
More recently, especially sinceCOVID, things have kind of been
dialed back.
(06:24):
But that doesn't exist in theK-12 system in Arizona.
It's really difficult.
You have to go and get you knowindividual grants and things
like that, and so we like to,you know, offer that as an
opportunity for our teachers,and our conference, our local
(06:47):
conference, is also just abenefit of membership, and so we
make sure that our teachers inArizona, if you join the Arizona
Council for History Education,it's like $25 a year and you're
also a member of the NationalCouncil for History Education
(07:10):
and so you have all of thosebenefits.
Plus, we have a conference everyyear that you can attend.
And then you know we have othergrants.
We have classroom grants.
So you can apply for aclassroom grant up to $500
because we know we need moreresources in the classroom and
(07:32):
so if there's some kind ofcurriculum that you want to
purchase for your classroom, ifthere's materials that you need
for a lesson, then those arethings that you can apply for
these grants and it's not acomplicated application process
(07:53):
and we love to reach out andhelp teachers in the classroom
so that we can support theteaching of history and make
sure that young peoplethroughout Arizona have access
to quality history education.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I mean, and I think one of my favorite things about
being on the board is when wewere having the discussion about
sending people and it was veryclassroom teacher focused, like
we want to make sure that atleast somebody going is a
classroom teacher and gets thatsupport, and I, I mean, I love
(08:37):
going to our meetings because itdoes feel like that.
You know, we are both in highered.
I was in K-12 for a while and Ithink sometimes, especially
teachers of history and civicsfeel like they're left to their
own devices.
It's very lonely and now thatmy eyes have been opened to all
these things it's like there areso many people out there that
(08:57):
want to help.
And you mentioned theconference.
So the local conference thatACHE is putting on is in
September.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat and why a teacher should
go?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Sure, just going back to NCHE, I mean I know you were
just blown away by the numberof elementary school teachers
and early career teachers whowere there.
I mean there was just this,really, you know, great vibe
throughout the conference,because these are people that
(09:34):
are just thirsty for knowledgeand they also need a lot of
support.
And so I was just reallyexcited to see so many, like I
said, early career and you know,k through eight teachers in
there, because you know theyseem to have the least amount of
(09:54):
support in the classroom,because when you are teaching
elementary school, you're alsojuggling everything else in
addition to history and civics,right.
And then, with our Arizonalocal conference, we also
(10:15):
encourage pre-service teachersto attend, and so that gets
people to be able to networkeven before they're in the
classroom and learn about all ofthe resources that we have
available for students.
We also have exhibitors therethat are from the various
(10:37):
organizations in in Arizona thatare there to provide resources,
arizona that are there toprovide resources.
And yeah, I mean it's somethingthat we're really committed to,
(10:59):
because we really do believethat if we don't have a, a
history focused, a classroomfocused conference in Arizona,
that you know our classroomteachers are just not going to
have the support that they, thatthey deserve.
And even if they, they may nottake away everything from the
(11:21):
conference.
I mean they may go and say,well, you know I teach world
history, so maybe the keynote,you know it's not something that
I can use, but we findworld-class keynote speakers.
So even if it's not a topicthat somebody is, you know,
really going to be using,they're just inspired.
(11:46):
They go away inspired.
And we do like to have what oneof our former board members, one
of the founders of AIC, used tosay we try and have some
shovel-ready lessons right thatthe not the attendees can come
(12:06):
in and take away lesson plans,take away ideas that they can
just turn around and implementin in their classrooms.
And and that's, I mean it isour signature event.
We do, you know, we provideother support throughout the
year.
We provide other supportthroughout the year.
(12:32):
But I think I think if somebodyis a pre-service teacher, if
somebody is a classroom teacher,if somebody is early career or
just kind of facing burnoutwhich I think a lot of us
recently it's it's a way to cometogether and and and really be
inspired.
And we hold it in September.
(12:52):
We used to have it in August,which was a little bit, you know
, a little bit hotter, but wehave it so that by the time
people settle into their classesthey're like, okay, it's
another year, and then you justkind of have this injection of
excitement and new ideas and Ifeel that it can really, you
(13:15):
know, inspire people to keep,you know, pushing forward
throughout the rest of thesemester, the rest of the term,
because they get that just, Iguess the only way I can
describe it is like an injectionof history, right, and also
(13:36):
just the networking, right.
They're like, okay, I knowsomebody at another school,
another school.
So if you're in a smallerschool where you might be the
only person who teaches historyor civics, history and civics,
right, you might be, you know,feeling like you're just in this
little silo and nobody, youknow, understands and there's no
(13:57):
one to bounce ideas off.
Well, now you're in a room withpeople who are from throughout,
typically the greater Phoenixarea, although we have people
coming, you know, sometimes fromFlagstaff and Tucson.
But you know, you, you reallyfeel like now I have a community
(14:17):
of teachers and, you knowlifelong learners, right, who,
who can bounce ideas off of eachother, who can sometimes
commiserate with each other but,you know, might partner up and
develop you know curriculumtogether and things like that.
So I think that's one of thethings that makes our conference
(14:39):
, you know, special andimportant for history educators
to attend each year.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I mean last year, and I can't believe this because
I've been a history and civicsteacher for over two decades and
last year was my first yearattending and I loved the
keynote.
I have his book and I lovedthat.
Every time I walked into a roomor a session it felt very
(15:09):
welcoming, right.
I think that sometimes,especially if you are somebody
who's going by yourself, you'relike I don't like, it's hard it.
This conference was just verylike hey, come sit over here and
you know, look at what's goingon.
And I will say I'm very excitedfor our keynote speaker this
year.
It is Dr Stephen Knott.
He has written a lot of books,most recently a book on JFK, but
(15:33):
our theme this year is conflictand cooperation and what we're
really looking at is, in timesof struggle, what has the United
States done, world Arizona, youknow, looking at, because it
feels right now sometimes hardto teach history and civics, but
(15:53):
this isn't the first time.
It's happened right, and sowe're really trying to spotlight
.
There have been lots of timesin our nation's history and our
state's history where there hasbeen a lot of conflict, what had
to go into cooperating to kindof move forward.
So I, I mean I'm I am stokedfor this conference and I feel
(16:15):
like it's not an expensiveconference.
Members are free, correct?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yes, we don't.
We don't charge for theconference we conference.
It's a benefit of membership.
So just join the ArizonaCouncil for History Education
and you are in.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I will make sure to put that link in our show notes
so that anybody that wants tohas the ability.
So one of the things that youand I have talked about before
is how teachers can be leadersin their communities.
I think sometimes teachersthink, well, I can only be a
leader if I'm a department chair, or I can only be a leader you
(16:57):
know X, y and Z and you actuallyhave experience being a leader
in your community.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat for us?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Sure, I grew up in a very politically active family
and I come from a mixed marriage.
My mother was Democrat and myfather was Republican, and so we
never subscribed to the ideathat you don't talk about
politics.
But I learned from a very earlyage that we have to have
(17:34):
political discourse and thateveryone, you know, I mean it
goes back to the old adage thatyou know, politics are personal
right, goes back to the oldadage that you know, you know
politics are personal right, andeverybody has the opportunity
to effect change in theircommunity, to engage in their
(17:54):
community in different ways.
And so, you know, I was alwayspretty shy growing up, but I was
around all of these discussionsand then even, you know, as a
teacher, I'm always telling mystudents, you know I'm, you know
you, you have to vote right,you have to be engaged.
(18:16):
If that's the minimum, that'sthe minimum is voting.
And sometimes students will say, well, it's just, you know, my
vote doesn't really count.
But I've seen numbers of timeswhen I'm on a city council or
you mean a supervisor, a countysupervisor seat, it's been a
(18:38):
handful of votes between theperson who wins the election and
the one who doesn't right, andso so when I turned, when I
turned 18, there's a couple offriends of mine the most
exciting thing about turning 18was registering to vote right.
(18:59):
We were always kind of, you know, hooked into politics and for a
long time I thought thatpolitics was really just those
elected officials and thatwasn't really where I wanted to
necessarily go.
But I became involved invarious community and that's
(19:20):
where my political impact hascome from.
So I had a business in Calexico, california, and so I joined
the Chamber of Commerce and Iwas elected to the Board of
Directors and then I was electedto the executive board.
I served as president for acouple of years and I realized
(19:44):
that being the president or thetreasurer or whatever on a city
chamber of commerce board ispolitical right You're
advocating.
I had to go to city councilmeetings and things like that.
And then I've also been involvedin a lot of organizations that
(20:08):
are related to raising awarenessabout, or raising funds for,
domestic violence, shelters,women's shelters, for domestic
violence, shelters, women'sshelters, and I am a member of
Seroptimus International andthrough that I've gone to.
(20:30):
I was just a couple of weeks agoI was at the Commission on the
Status of Women, I was adelegate to the UN, and so my
path towards you know, beinginvolved in Arizona.
They might say I'm not reallypolitical right, but find
(21:07):
something that you're passionateabout and it makes being
politically active and engagingin the civic space something
that eventually will becomenatural right.
So I've helped to organizecoalitions that were, you know,
(21:32):
very so like a human traffickingcoalition that was
interdisciplinary, where you'rebringing together law
enforcement, district attorneys.
I mean, when I'm talking aboutlaw enforcement, we're talking
like police, sheriffs, fbi,homeland Security bringing all
(21:55):
of these different peopletogether in a room and being
able to put aside yourdifferences and focus on the
mission and the problem at thesame time getting different
people's perspectives.
And I think that I think that'ssomething that has, you know,
(22:16):
experiences like that, I think,have served me well in terms of
just my personal life and in theworld that we're living in now,
because we are seeing thatpolitics is very polarized right
now, and it's not the firsttime and it won't be the last
time that we've had, you know,this polarization in that,
(22:37):
although what many people see inthe news is the two extremes
(23:06):
and people yelling at each otherand just you know the hate that
comes out of it that when weall sit in a room together, that
we are often able to put asideour differences and work towards
a common solution.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Right, and so so I you know that's kind of you know
my, I don't know my, myperspective, I guess on on being
um active in the community, um,I appreciate that, because I
(23:44):
think it like giving that locallook and and you're right Like
people think sometimes politicsmeans I have to run for office
and I have to do this andeverything you're talking about.
It's what you wanted to do andthis is how you want to be
involved, and it does, I think,bring more hope when you're
(24:04):
watching the national news andyou're seeing all this division.
But you're like well, mypersonal experience and I love
that you grew up in apolitically divided household
One of the things I wish therewere more of is civil discourse
and not shying away, but becauseyou know the conversation
you're going to have is going tobe a conversation.
(24:26):
You're going to learn from itand I think part of the reason
that people shy away frompolitical conversations now is
because that's what they see isthe yelling back and forth and
this divisiveness.
But when you really come downto a local level, like you said,
when we're all sitting at atable tackling a problem, we're
not looking at well, you're aRepublican or you're a Democrat
(24:47):
we're looking at.
This is the problem.
How can we solve this for ourcommunity?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Yeah, great point.
I think that when we you know ifyou're a teacher, a lot of
times, like you said, you thinkthe only way I can be political
is if I run for.
I'm at the high school, somaybe I run for the elementary
school board mindset that peoplehave is that it has to be an
elected office.
But there's so many differentways that that we can.
(25:23):
We can be involved.
I often tell my students thatyou know when, when they you
know kind of hem and haw aboutvoting, because I'm like how
many of you guys are going tovote and and they'll be like
it's not going to make adifference.
But I say, well, you know, Imean I have a problem with the
Electoral College because it'snot the 1700s, right.
(25:44):
But I say, well, think about,you got to vote down the ballot.
Because in fact I say you needto vote up the ballot start at
the local level, because thepresident of the United States
is not going to fix the potholein front of your house.
And I mean these are the thingsthat you call your city council
(26:06):
or you call the countysupervisors about.
You know things that arepresent in your local community.
So look at who those people arewho are running for school
board, who are running forcounty supervisor, who are
running for judge, and you know,start there and then work up.
(26:29):
And then I also, you know I donot like canvassing.
I've canvassed for a couple ofpoliticians and it always
happened on a Saturday or Sundaymorning and people are not
happy to see you knocking ontheir door at eight o'clock in
the morning and so, um, I, Ijust do not like doing that and
I'm, you know, it's just not mybag and I've told people in the
(26:52):
past like, okay, I'll doanything for you except Canvas,
because I just don't like it.
But for some people they loveit.
You know you're getting outthere in the morning, you're
spreading the, you know the word, and yeah.
So I say there's so many waysthat you can get involved.
And even if you don't want toget involved that way, if you
(27:15):
have you know if you're keepingup with what's going on in
politics, if there's, if there'sa ballot initiative that you're
not very happy about, or ifthere's a piece of legislation
that you don't support, write toyour congressman or person,
write to your senator, write toyour state senator, right to the
(27:40):
governor.
And you know, I know a lot ofit's.
It can be.
Really, you have contact and youmay.
You might have a form letterfrom different organizations.
You can call them and they maynot agree with you, but if they
get enough people calling, thenthat is going to have an impact
(28:00):
and I mean for me.
I get you know, I get the, wereceived your letter.
We received your letter and I'mlike, well, I'm not going to do
anything with it, but but if Ican be a little thorn in in my
representative side who does notshare my political beliefs,
(28:21):
then more power to me, right,and I think that you know when
you have, you know when you haverepresentatives and senators,
they're there to represent thepeople.
When you have a countysupervisor, they're there to
represent their constituents andthey don't always get an
accurate pulse of what theirconstituents you know really
(28:45):
want, because you can hold atown hall meeting but not
everybody is going to haveaccess to go to that town hall
meeting.
It might be at a bad time, theremight be transportation issues,
especially when we look at ourhuge, you know, districts that
we have in Arizona.
And so sending that letter andvoicing your opinion, it doesn't
(29:12):
hurt, right, and it's one waythat each of us can get elected
if you do a letter writingcampaign or something like that.
So I always, I always doencourage my students to to do
that and I don't know, just justgetting getting people active,
(29:37):
active and reading up on theissues, because if we don't
right, if we don't do anything,then nothing's going to change.
And if we do do something,maybe nothing's going to change
but we can say we tried right.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
I would rather do something and have you know than
not do something.
Right, because if there's abunch of people who are like,
well, my vote doesn't count,well, there's a political
cartoon that says, like, my votedoesn't count, but it shows
like a bunch of people Like thethings we do count.
They may not count in thismoment, but they do eventually
(30:19):
count, whether you're talking toyour neighbors or you're doing
a letter writing campaign or youknow you're focusing on these
state and local elections.
Those are national elections,are important as well.
But you're right, the peoplewho are going to fix so our, our
neighborhood has a cow problem,because cows just are like I.
(30:39):
There are times I look over andI can see a bunch of them
coming down the street.
The national government's notgoing to fix that for me, it's
going to be my town council.
So how then would you encourage?
You know, the hope is that theylearn civic knowledge in K-12.
And this is something I knowteachers are trying to do.
(31:01):
Teachers can only do so muchbecause there's only so many
hours in the day.
There's so much that isrequired of teachers.
What can teachers do?
You know, whether it's at K-12or whether they're teaching at
the college level to getstudents to be involved.
You know whether they'reteaching at the college level to
get students to be involved.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
You know, besides telling kids, like go register
to vote and go do this canvas orwhatever else.
Well, I think having projectsor assignments that are related
to political issues or socialissues.
(31:41):
I have an assignment this isn'tin a history class, but it's in
one of my other classes where Ihave students design either an
awareness campaign or some kindof fundraiser for a cause that
they're interested in and talkabout what they're going to,
what they're going to be doingabout it.
(32:02):
So it could be hunger in YumaCounty, and so what are they
going to do to support the localfood bank?
So they'll create a campaignand learn about how they can
leverage their networks in orderto try and bring about positive
(32:27):
change.
So things have changed overtime.
It used to be that you had totake out an ad in the newspaper
or you had to print up a bunchof flyers and mail them out, but
now we have social media right,so they could design a social
media campaign right and justgetting them thinking about the
(32:51):
myriad ways that they can becomeengaged for positive social
change.
And some of them have donethings that were political.
I had one that had a plan toreduce the length of the lines
going from through the San LuisPort of Entry into Mexico,
(33:13):
because there's so manycommuters that in the afternoon
and you'd have, you know, thelines just backed up and people
are idling and there's, you know, pollution from cars and things
like that.
So I had a student who said,okay, first of all, I have this
plan, I'm going to take it tothe city council about this,
that and the other, and itreally makes them think about,
(33:36):
like just a small issue in theircommunity that they might be
able to, you know, light a fireunder those public officials to
actually take action.
And so I think, designing someand it doesn't have to be a big
project, but designingassignments that have students
(33:58):
think about the impact thattheir civic involvement could
have.
Even if you're teaching, youknow early US history and you're
like, oh well, that isn'tnecessarily relevant to today.
Well, relevant to today, well,you could look at issues that
(34:25):
were happening in the 1800s oreven in.
You know, yeah, just saylooking at the 1800s or
something, and then ask thatfollow-up question what might
you do today?
Or what's an issue that'ssimilar to this that you know we
need to change today and havestudents kind of think
critically about what they mightdo, go back to what they might
(34:45):
do back then, or what they mightdo if, in you know, the 1820s,
we had social media, right,things like that, what, how
would, how would common sense,you know, have been, you know,
distributed today?
Right, it would have beendistributed on TikTok, right it
(35:07):
would have been, it would havebeen just like soundbites,
rather than publishing all ofcommon sense, right, and
thinking about one of the thingsthat, going back to common
sense, I'll have students, youknow, look at it and say, you
know, not everything that ThomasPaine is going to resonate with
everyone.
But if you were living at thistime and thinking about, like
(35:29):
your family and maybe what youknow, maybe your family's, you
know merchants or they'refarmers or whatever you know
what, which of these pointswould have kind of pushed you
towards becoming a revolutionaryright?
Because you know, when peopleare reading it, they're like,
(35:51):
well, you know, that doesn'tmake any sense, it's not
relevant to me, right, butthere's going to be one or two
things that people are going tosay, oh, that's right.
And so just kind of sometimestaking some of those older
documents, or, you know, theDeclaration of Independence, and
(36:12):
then, if you're looking at,like more recent US history,
thinking about the civil rightsmovement, and the same thing
like designing, you know,designing a civil rights
campaign within today's society.
It gets students thinking abouthow civic activism has changed
(36:36):
over time, but the issues areoften the same, right?
It's like how do we get theword out, how do I get involved?
And so those are some of thekinds of things that I think
that we, as educators, can do,either in K-12 or higher.
Education is really kind of,you know, make it relevant for
(37:00):
our students.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
I will literally be thinking about what common sense
by Thomas Paine on TikTok wouldlook like for the remainder of
the day.
But you're right, you can'ttake the entirety of that
brochure and put it on TikTok.
But you know, if your familywere farmers or if your family
were you know merchants in town,like what parts of this?
And it really gets studentslooking, because I think
(37:26):
sometimes, especially withhistory, kids think, well, why
do I need to learn that?
It's already happened and it'slike there's actually a lot we
could learn and a lot of thesethings happen multiple times,
are very cyclical.
It just looks different because, like you said, now we have
social media, now we have waysto get things out to the world.
(37:50):
Where you brought up thedeclaration, we're coming up on
America 250, right, how long didit take King George to get that
things?
I think thing students don'trealize like things move a whole
lot slower as opposed to thesequick things.
Because what if King George waslike slipping through his
TikTok and saw that one of hiscolonies is like yeah, we're
(38:14):
good, we're done, like have been?
Oh, now I see these kinds ofthings make me want to go back
into the classroom, so bad.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
And thinking about AI too, and thinking about, like
Paul Revere's Boston Massacre,right?
Is that like the first deepfake, right, because it's
propaganda.
And so you're like, okay, youcan, you can kind of think about
things like that, and then itgets them kind of, you know,
intrigued, right, and I meanyou're not going to capture all
(38:45):
of them, but I, you know, they,they always, you know, they
always say that you know, if youdon't learn history, you're not
going to be a, a, you know goodmember of society.
Right, you need to know historyin order to really fully
(39:06):
participate in society, becauseif you don't, then it's like
you're not going to really havea point of reference.
Why is this important?
And so so I think that we haveto find, you know, new creative
ways to reach out to, to ourstudents.
I used to do a.
I used to have them do tweetson different topics and they
(39:30):
would just bring them into theclassroom and write them up on
the whiteboard and I mean, someof them were just hilarious when
they're talking about theBoston Tea Party or whatever, or
voting rights and things likethat.
So I think, if you get a littlecreative and say, hey, what
(39:51):
would this have looked liketoday and get them thinking
about that.
It might kind of spark someinterest.
And who knows, we may beteaching the next senator.
And who knows, we may beteaching the next senator, the
next president, you know, thenext, you know.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Any of them.
I think people think like, oh,tweets, that sounds really fun
and it's like it is.
It also requires a lot ofcritical thinking, like to take
something you want to say andyou got 140 characters or I
don't know what it is now, butit really makes them think and
it it makes it relevant to them,right, like we're talking about
(40:30):
TikTok.
And I will be honest, when Itaught, I did not understand
Twitter, and so finally, one dayI just said to my seniors can
somebody help me with this?
Like I want to understand howto use this, and it became one
of the best things I used in myAP government class because
that's what they were using atthe time, and I dove into that
world.
It was kind of scary for me,but it ended up being really fun
(40:53):
.
Now, speaking of socials, onething that I learned about you
is that you have a YouTubechannel reading books.
Can you tell us about that?
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, so I have a soft spot in my heart for
children's books especiallyawesome especially kind of
quirky children's books.
So when during COVID, during thelockdown, I just I had this
whole collection of children'sbooks and I started reading them
(41:30):
and and sending them to ourchild development learning lab,
because all the kids were now athome during the lockdown, at
home during the lockdown, and soI said here, if you guys, if
you think that this will, youknow, help your, your students,
(41:54):
then you're welcome to use them.
And then I started to look andthese were some old school books
, right, and my all timefavorite book is the Three Billy
Goats Gruff.
So that's like my I, you know,I like collect Three Billy Goats
Gruff.
And so I I started to look forother books that were newer and,
(42:16):
you know, a little, maybe morerelevant than than the old fairy
tales and things like that.
And I just started reading themand they're all one take.
It's like very low productionvalue, but but yeah, so I called
it story time with Ms Moni,because I've known as Moni or
(42:38):
Moni, and and I I just started,you know, sharing it.
And then I have another one, asub, a sub one, that's all on,
on punk rock, kids books and so,and so I have like a few books
(43:00):
that are, like, you know, theABCs for punk rock and and
things like that.
So I have a couple of differentuh channels and those are more
for uh, those ones are more formy, uh, my friends, because
we're all into punk rock and soI'm like, hey, share this with
your kids or your grandkids, umso.
So yeah, I've got those um kindof you know little little
(43:24):
YouTube channel with that kindof stuff.
I've got it.
I've got a Facebook page thatthe same thing, sorry, sorry,
storytime with Miss Moni.
That where I was posting stufffor a while, but I'm just so bad
about posting on Facebook andstuff and so, but, but every
once in a while I'll post, postthings and stuff and so, but,
but every once in a while I'llpost, post things and, and a lot
(43:45):
of them I found.
I found some great books.
A couple of them are history,kids, kids, history books, and
some are are just really aboutbelonging and so so I think I
have a pretty good collectionthere.
(44:05):
So, whether you like the threebilly goats gruff, or whether
you want to, you know, wantSteve Caballero's skating
skating story or something likethat, I've got, I've got kind of
something for everyone.
Speaker 1 (44:21):
And that also is a way to serve your community.
Right Like this is.
There's so many different waysand I will don't worry listeners
, I will link all of these foryou.
I love that you have a punkrock one that is, it's a very
specific niche, but it's needed.
Right Like these are the thingsthat it makes reading fun and
(44:41):
it makes it accessible and andit doesn't have to be, and I
love that.
I mean you say low productionvalue.
I say authentic right, becauseI think what it shows is we
don't have to have these likemassive production studios, like
reading kids' books, Cause Ialways read to my students,
whether they were eighth gradersor seniors.
(45:01):
I think it is such a valuablething.
Maybe I'll start doing it withmy college kids, but this is a
way to serve your community andI love that during pandemic,
during a lockdown, you stillfound a way to serve your
community and again in a waythat worked for you and that you
(45:22):
were passionate about.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
And again in a way that worked for you and that you
were passionate about.
Yeah, it and it is.
You know it is.
It is a good outlet as well, alittle creative outlet.
And I had taught, I had taughta class team taught a class for
the honors.
Our honors program called thepolitics of punk, and so one of
the things we did is we had themcreate a set list and create a
(45:50):
poster for a festival or aconcert that was related to some
kind of political issue thathad to be current.
Not, you know, it wasn't rockagainst Reagan or you know some
of the some of the stuff goingon in the 80s, but it had to be
something that was current, andso that was.
I also kind of shared it withmy students that were in that
(46:12):
class so they could see some ofthe punk rock ABCs and things
like that.
Speaker 1 (46:18):
Is that class available to audit, because I
would love to just sit and learnin that class at some point.
Speaker 2 (46:23):
That class.
It was a one credit honorsclass, and so we only taught it
once, and it was in spring of2020.
So we went for, you know, eightweeks, nine weeks, and then we
had to go virtual.
But I'd love to teach it again,but, yeah, I haven't had the
(46:47):
chance to.
Speaker 1 (46:48):
That sounds like an amazing class.
My last question for you iswe're both Arizona girls.
I was.
I'm not a native, I will say,but I've lived here since I was
six, so I kind of feel like anative.
What is your favorite thingabout the great state of Arizona
?
Speaker 2 (47:08):
There's like so much.
I think that one of the thingsthat people their, their, their
image of Arizona is that it'sjust a desert, right, it's the
saguaro right.
So, it's just a desert, right,it's the saguaro right.
So, and I think you know,that's just such a limiting
(47:29):
vision of what Arizona is about.
It is just such a diverse statewhen it comes to you know the
mountains, the climate.
I mean we really do have likejust you know, you can drive for
a few hours and go from youknow the deserts outside of Yuma
(47:51):
to you know pine forests, right, we have so many fantastic
natural wonders in this state.
There's so much history in thisstate, and so I'm, you know,
I'm also a transplant.
(48:14):
I grew up in the Californiadesert, so I'm from about an
hour and a half west of Arizonaand a little tiny border town
that people don't even thinkexists, and and so my but I.
But we went to Yuma.
When I was a kid, the FreedomTrain came to Yuma, and so I got
(48:39):
to see the Freedom Train when Iwas about like seven or
something like that FreedomTrain when I was about like
seven or something like that.
But that's one of the things Ilove, just driving around
Arizona and, yeah, interactingwith the people and the people
in Arizona also, I mean, I thinkwhat really encapsulates the
(49:01):
idea of the Arizonan isencapsulates the idea of the
Arizonan is.
I have a former politicalscience professor here at
Arizona Western.
He runs the Freedom Library inYuma, and I was doing something
for the centennial and he said,I said, hey, tell me what you
(49:24):
know, I'm collecting things thatare your favorite part of
Arizona, or what you thinkrepresents Arizona, and so some
people are like desert, theriver, right, things like that.
And he just said freedom.
And that really stuck with mebecause you really do see that
(49:44):
the people in in Arizona arefree thinkers, right, um, and
and you have, um, you know,we're we're not necessarily, um,
you know, defined by boxes,right, and so, um, that idea of
independence and in, you know,and when we think about, like
you know, politics, right, um,we, we always have a lot of
(50:05):
independence.
And you know, and when we thinkabout, like you know, politics,
right, we always have a lot ofindependence in Arizona, and so
that's another thing.
You know, just I love the factthat we have, just, you know,
just, a lot of people that arecaring, just a lot, of, a lot of
(50:28):
people that are caring, that,that love the state and and that
that really, you know, embracethose ideas of of freedom and
independence, you know, andthat's American right.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
I love that you say too, like people think Arizona
and they think cactus and desertand it's like, well, I went to
school at NAU.
It is a forest and and we havethe Grand Canyon and we have
Horseshoe Bend and I meanthere's so many.
I was actually in Tubac acouple weeks ago, which is a
little bit north of Nogales, andit's Ibn Sinoida, you know, up
(50:57):
in Sholo, like they're.
So our state is so diverse andthe people genuinely are,
they're proud to be Arizonans.
But that, like when I say proudto be Arizonans, there's not
just one definition of anArizonan and I think that's why
I love it so much is we haveranchers and we have farmers.
I mean I live next to a dairyfarm and I live in Gilbert, but
(51:19):
we also have our big cities andwe have our state universities
and we we love our history andwe celebrate our history and we
learn from our history and Ithink that is I wish more people
understood that about our state, because you said it kind of at
the beginning where you know alot of people think history is,
you know, east coast and that'syou know where all of this stuff
(51:41):
happened, and it's like, butonce you start digging into the
West, especially our state.
It's so interesting.
So thank you for sharing thatand thank you for I mean
everything.
I have so many notes writtendown from this.
I appreciate your time, monicaand listeners.
I will be putting the link toACHE so if you want to become a
(52:02):
member, the conferenceinformation will be on the
website as well.
I will put her YouTube channeland, monica, thank you so much
for taking time out of your dayto talk to us and to let
listeners know a little bitabout you and also about Yuma.
I think sometimes people think,well, yuma is just on the way
to San Diego, but Yuma itselfhas so much history and it's
(52:26):
such a cool place.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah, we're working on a Yumahistory app.
It's all student, studentprojects and little podcasts,
and and again.
It's like you know, I thinkpeople don't always realize how
much history is in our ownbackyard.
And once you start digging Imean really in Arizona you don't
(52:52):
have to dig very far, you suredon't?
History is everywhere.
Speaker 1 (52:57):
History is everywhere and history is local.
That last year's NCHE theme,history is local, like this, is
where the fun stuff is.
All history is local.
Yep, thank you so much, monica.
Thank you.
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