Updated Sept. 1, 2026
Hello, I’m Risa Gluskin. You probably know that since you’ve found this website.
In 2023/24, after 25 years of teaching, I took a year off to rest, relax, and share my experience. I get a lot of requests through this blog to share my materials, so it seemed natural to me to expand on that. Now that I am retired (as of summer 2026), I will try to add more lessons. See #6 below.
I used this blog to link to materials designed to help you teach world history at the high school level. Please go to the “For Teachers of World History” tab. Below you’ll find a running list of posts and the topics they covered. There are a lot of links for you!!!
Watch this short intro.
Topics
- need to practice (Sept. 12, 2023) – featuring Black Death simulation
- need to step back and look at your work from a distance + video (Sept. 19, 2023) – featuring Code Noir lessons
- pick the right tool for the job (Oct. 17, 2023) – featuring Athens vs. Sparta, Indus Valley, best/worst Roman Emperor, CHW3M Culminating Activity
- be self-critical to a point + video (Oct. 3, 2023) – featuring Global Gathering (CHY4U Unit 1 Culminating Activity), women in the French Revolution, History of LGBTQ2+ Rights Around the World
- educate yourself (Nov. 6, 2023) with video to follow
- write with confidence (Sept. 1, 2026) created for my grade 12 students who were stronger speakers than writers
Art and/of Teaching (Sept. 2023)
We’ve all heard the expression, “the art of teaching.” What about art and teaching? By that I don’t mean teaching art history. In a nutshell, this is the core of my approach to sharing what I have learned these past 25 years about teaching the fascinating and fun subject of world history.
I’ve long considered myself uncreative and unartistic (mandatory grade 7 art was my worst mark ever, lower than math). However, during the pandemic I started to learn how to paint. I’ve continued on and off over the last three six years. I’m still progressing slowly, but I enjoy it. I started by watching YouTube videos of other people teaching me how to paint. Then I progressed to painting photos of my other art works. Now I sometimes paint my own photos. It’s a journey full of ups and downs. Just like teaching.
This painting hobby (and its accompanying skill development) has helped me to recognize that I am somewhat creative. Teaching and planning courses are creative acts.
Since I wanted my year off to be meaningful, I decided to frame my “sharing” through an examination of the parallels between learning to paint and learning to teach. The first post is just the introduction. Hopefully there will be some helpful materials for history teachers.
Parallels
Thank you for starting this journey with me. I will address, ponder, and explore the above topics throughout the year.
