Morris Neville

I am a Social Studies teacher, recently retired with over 35 years of teaching at the same school in the San Fernando Valley, CA – ever heard of “Valley Girls?” – That’s who I taught! I wrote my own curriculum for 11th grade US history and AP history. My AP students had a very high rate of success on their AP exams. Two social studies elective classes were also taught, implemented and written by me – “Civil War and Civil Rights” and “The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Both classes were year-long classes, and were accepted by the California State University and University of California systems for credit and fulfillment of necessary social studies and elective requirements. It was my good fortune to be selected to a number of summer NEH workshops and seminars in the last 10 years – most dealt with civil rights, US history and integrating music into curriculum. I also serve on the Education Committee at the relatively new Grammy Museum in LA. I regularly present one-hour programs for the museum on a variety of subjects ranging from a specific topic like the “Day the Music Died” (dealing with the deaths of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Richie Valens) to broader topics such as the “Music of the Civil Rights Movement.” These are power point presentations that incorporate music and video clips into the presentation. Road trips have allowed me to travel to most of the 50 states, visiting historical sites. Power point presentations for each traditional unit from colonization to the 1970’s have been created by integrating information from my travels, summer studies, personal experiences and collaboration with other educators. The power points are geared for the 11th grade US history class but are also appropriate for an AP class. With minor modifications, the presentations could be used in an honors or gifted middle school US history class. They can be for lecture presentation, small group and/or independent study, discussion, preview and review of unit information and make “easy” sub lessons. The presentations contain maps, illustrations, photographs, and political cartoons that make the material interesting for all learning modalities. With some adaptation, the lessons could be used in full inclusion classrooms. Also available will be my Grammy Museum presentations that are appropriate for middle school through high school classes. These are also power presentations that extensively list appropriate music. My classroom bulletin boards changed with every new unit. These materials are laminated and ready for use in your classroom.

I used a multi-media style of teaching - power point, music, video are all part of my daily teaching style. I encourage the students to ask questions and very much emphasize why and how questions rather than who and when questions.

Member of the Education Advisory Board at the Grammy Museum in LA.

Degree and credential from California State University at Northridge. Masters in education from Grand Canyon University.

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