All posts by Carlos Cortés, Teri Gerent

ADR ADVISOR Carlos E. Cortés is a retired history professor who has been a diversity speaker, educator, trainer, and consultant for forty-five years. His books include: The Children Are Watching: How the Media Teach about Diversity (2000); his memoir, Rose Hill: An Intermarriage before Its Time (2012); and a book of poetry, Fourth Quarter: Reflections of a Cranky Old Man (2016). He served as cultural consultant for shows ranging from “Dora the Explorer” to “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and edited the four-volume Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia (2013). Teri Gerent is a retired high school history teacher and School of Education lecturer at California State University, San Marcos. In 2011 she received the California Council for the Social Studies Senior High Outstanding Teacher Award for her pioneering efforts in teaching history through rock ‘n roll. She is currently completing a manuscript on that odyssey, with lesson plans that can be used by teachers and workshop presenters.

Diversity and Speech No. 35: Rockin’ Diversity – by Carlos E. Cortés and Teri Gerent

Carlos:  Tell me, Teri.  How did you come up with the idea of teaching history through rock and roll music?

Teri: I’ve always loved music.  From the time I became a history teacher in 1998, I thought of music whenever we reached the twentieth century.  Then it hit me.  Why not help students reconsider U.S. history by structuring a course around music?  It worked.  

Carlos:  Well, if music works for teaching high school students, why not for diversity workshops, too?    

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