Each month, our Teaching Cleveland newsletter will spotlight one of the amazing educators with whom we have had both the personal and professional pleasure to work. There is no one better to kick off this column than Joe Lobozzo, a social studies teacher at Lakewood High School since 2001.
For the last eight years, Joe has focused on teaching AP US History and Human RIghts and Conflict, an elective with the support of Facing History and Ourselves. Joe is convinced that his experiences with Teaching Cleveland have made both of these classes better. Read Joe’s own words about the impact and influence that Teaching Cleveland has had on his students and him. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Joe, and sharing other educators’ experiences with Teaching Cleveland!
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If I am being honest, I was first drawn by the people more than the product.
When I signed up for the TCI Summer Institute years ago, the idea of learning more Cleveland history and integrating it into my teaching was…well it was fine. But it was secondary to the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with people who I had so highly respected for so long. I had met Greg Deegan and seen him speak at a Facing History benefit dinner, and I knew that if there was a project he was working on, I needed to be a part of it.
By the end of the institute, we had spanned Cleveland’s history, from industrial might to decline, and then to resurgence, and we had traversed its physical space, from the iconic St. Coleman’s church on the near-west side to the Maltz Museum in Beachwood, and I saw the true power of knowing one’s local history. I realized it is the missing link. It allows us to re-examine the sweeping topics of United States history: expansion and depression, American wars, the movement of people, racist policy and racial conflict, and connects those things directly to our very own family history.
I began teaching history at Lakewood High School in the fall of 2001. For the last 12 years, I have taught Advanced Placement US History and a Facing History and Ourselves elective called Human Rights and Conflict. And there is no doubt that what I have learned through Teaching Cleveland has made both of those classes profoundly better. But my most cherished memories associated with this organization will always be from the Teaching Cleveland Student Challenge (TCSC).
TCSC is so immersive, so well-planned, so collaborative and so authentic that I wish every school in greater Cleveland could take part. Arin, Jen, Pam, Patti and Greg engage students (and teachers) at the absolute highest level. (I picture a particularly riveted group of students reciting Langston Hughes’ One WayTicket with Patti and contemplating what it would be like to “pick up” one’s life in the 1920s.) But what makes TCSC unique is it’s culminating call to action. First, students work with peers from different schools to bring difficult topics into the open and to solve real problems. Drifting from table to table and listening to these conversations is like a salve. It reminds me we will all soon be in good hands.
But maybe most importantly, the TCSC staff brings in historians, civic leaders, developers and activists and encourages students to build connections and relationships to help them on their own journey toward activism. The connections this organization has in the community are truly remarkable.
There were so many inspiring moments in the TCSC, so many incredible conversations on the van ride home from the sessions, but most gratifying is watching my students present their projects. Through TCSC, Lakewood High School students have taken a leadership role in finding ways to advocate for and connect with our immigrant and refugee population.
I highly recommend Teaching Cleveland to any teacher who wants to inspire and be inspired. Few opportunities have had such an effect on my teaching and on those students lucky enough to represent Lakewood at TCSC. With Teaching Cleveland, it is the people and the product.
