The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools

U-High history teacher appointed to board of National Council for History Education

The National Council for History Education (NCHE) has appointed U-High history teacher Paul Horton to their board of directors. No stranger to the organization, he has worked as state director and served on its board for a decade. 

In addition to developing new directions in curriculum to advance history education nationally, Horton will assist with national conference planning, recruitment, and fundraising. He also hopes to work with professional historians like Doug Brinkley (Tulane) and Joanne Freeman (Yale) to help bridge the gap between the academic study of history and K–12 history education.

At Lab, he says, “I will continue to publish my lesson plans on Living in Dialogue, a website used by history teachers.” At the NCHE national conference this weekend, Horton will be presenting on new conceptions of the Renaissance as a global process rather than an event that took place in Florence, or exclusively in Europe. 

“I believe that this type of activity is what John Dewey and Francis Parker had in mind for Lab teachers. We are supposed to develop new curricula and methods and share them more broadly as part of the process of creating a more democratic community, state, and nation.”