Hello. I’m glad you found my blog. My name is Risa Gluskin and I taught high school history and student success at York Mills Collegiate Institute in Toronto, Ontario, Canada until June 2026. I was the department head (ACL) of Canadian and World Studies for 14 years before that.
Risa skating, March 2019
If you want to contact me, you can use the contact box on this website or risa@cabal.org
A few thing you should know about my experiences:
- I was trained by The Historical Thinking Project in 2012 and subsequently became a blogger and workshop presenter for them.
- therefore, you’ll see a lot of historical thinking concept related stuff on my blog – I believe in it very deeply and was using it before it became part of the history curriculum in Ontario
- I have collaborated on two e-learning courses for the Ministry of Education – CHY4U and CHW3M.
- ironically, I am not a huge fan of the e-learning format
- however, I think having the content available to all students online is great
- I was the editor of OHASSTA’s blog/magazine, Rapport, for two years. [Ontario History and Social Science Teachers Association]
- I was the treasurer and vice president of THHSSSC (Toronto History Humanities and Social Science Subject Council). Sadly, this organization has reached the end of its impressive run, and I am still distributing our funds to schools (as of July 2026).
- Most recently I co-wrote (with Scott Pollock) a piece for the Champlain Society’s Educational Committee on Jewish farming communities on the Canadian prairies (as per my family’s heritage).
- I am a vegan.
- I do not use social media (I read twitter (X), don’t USE it).
- I read almost exclusively non-fiction.
- I got a smart phone in August 2025.
- I retired from teaching in June, 2026.
- I am married to the amazing Val Dodge – tech guy, not a history teacher (but he’s the treasurer of the East York Historical Society!). He has his own blog, Dodgeville, which he doesn’t use very much anymore. But there’s some great stuff there.
In addition to hosting materials for my world history courses, my blog is also where I communicate my personal interests. If you scroll through, you’ll see that I love animals (especially cats and horses), figure skating, and photography. I also enjoy briefly reviewing the books – mostly history related – that I read.
The links I provide may not all be functioning at this time as my TDSB account is no longer functioning. It will take me some time to get things back in working order.
My project for 2023/24, when I was on leave, was “For Teachers of World History” in which I hoped to provide some tips and insights into teaching of grade 11 and 12 world history courses. I never quite finished it, but it provided a few insights, I hope. Please click on the “For Teachers of World History” tab above.
Thanks for checking in,
Ms. G / Risa
(updated July 2026)
Note: I have two cats: Shadow and Richard. You’ll see them all over this website. You will not see them together in photos as theirs is not a perfect world in which they love each other dearly. They just co-exist. We call it “together but apart.”
Life is all about the highlights and shadows. Photo taken at Peterborough lock, Sept. 2023
