What History Stands to Teach Us
History isn't simply learning what happened in the past, but how what happened affected individuals. Understanding our shared collective history helps us contextualize the present: from current events to our own lives. To discuss history – and its role and our understanding of it – Jonathan Burdick, public school history teacher, founder of the public history project Rust & Dirt, and contributing writer at the Erie Reader, will discuss what drew him to history as a discipline, how he teaches and writes about it, and why and how he launched a public history project.
Jonathan Burdick is a public school teacher at Union City Area Middle/High School. After graduating from Edinboro University in 2009 with a degree in Secondary Education, he continued his studies earning an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction (Edinboro University of Pennsylvania) and an M.A. in History (Slippery Rock University). He is also a contributing writer to the Erie Reader and founder of the public history project Rust & Dirt. He resides in Millcreek with his wife and two children.
