KC Kourtz

K.C. Kourtz is the Associate Director of Online Learning at Facing History and Ourselves. She loves working with educators, strong coffee, and hanging out with her toddler, and her Boston Terrier.

Recent Posts

How to: Use a Flipped Classroom Exercise for Teaching Art As Resistance/Propaganda

Posted by KC Kourtz on March 7, 2014

A few months ago we published our first in a series of blog posts on using the flipped classroom approach with Facing History themes and resources. (To learn more about the flipped classroom model, see this helpful article on the New York Times Opinionator blog.) We were happy to read so many positive responses from educators who have tried this method in or are planning to soon. While it is still too soon for us to know the long-term impact of the flipped classroom approach on students and on educators’ teaching practices, we do know one thing: flipped classroom exercises create opportunities for personalized learning, help teachers use classroom time more efficiently, and allow us to incorporate technology into homework as well as classroom lessons.

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Topics: Art, Antisemitism, Video, EdTech, Assessment, Online Learning, Flipped Classroom, Facing Technology

Digital Learning Day and Facing History

Posted by KC Kourtz on January 28, 2014

Digital Learning Day (February 5, 2014) is an annual day designated to highlight the effective use of technology to improve education for all students. Here at Facing History, and in this blog in particular, we are excited to be in conversation with educators about how technology amplifies, as well as complicates, our notions of identity, history, and community. To this end, we are proud to support educators every day in their thoughtful use of technology in the classroom, and Digital Learning Day is a perfect opportunity to highlight this work.

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Topics: Professional Development, Safe Schools, Civil Rights, EdTech, Holocaust Education, Webinars, Online Learning, Facing Technology

How To: Flipped Classroom Exercise for Teaching Holocaust & Rescue

Posted by KC Kourtz on November 22, 2013

There has been a great deal written recently about the value of a using a "flipped" classroom approach to teaching. (For context, see this helpful article on the New York Times Opinionator blog.) While the method is still too new for us to know the long-term impact on students and on our teaching practice, we do know one thing: the "flipped classroom" approach creates opportunities for personalized learning, helps teachers use classroom time more efficiently, and allows us to incorporate technology into homework as well as classroom exercises.

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Topics: Holocaust Education, Assessment, Flipped Classroom, Facing Technology

The Importance of Not Knowing

Posted by KC Kourtz on May 29, 2013

This week we are featuring a blog post from our "sister" blog, the  Learn + Teach + Share. This was originally posted there on May 29, 2013.

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Topics: Antisemitism, Choosing to Participate, Critical Thinking, Facing Technology

Glogging with Facing History and Ourselves

Posted by KC Kourtz on May 9, 2013

This post, by educator Michael Grover, appeared originally on our sister blog, Facing Canada.

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Topics: Professional Development, Social Media, Media Skills, DMIN, Online Learning, Critical Thinking, Facing Technology

Tech and the (Facing History) Classroom

Posted by KC Kourtz on March 18, 2013

This week a colleague of mine, Mary Hendra, shared with me an interesting article from FacultyFocus.com. In it, author Joan Flaherty discusses the gap she perceives between herself, a non-digital “native,” and her students, members of the so-called “millennial generation,” a group that has grown up with digital technology.

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Topics: Professional Development, Antisemitism, Social Media, School Culture, Media Skills, DMIN, Online Learning, Critical Thinking, Facing Technology

Nobody is Perfick

Posted by KC Kourtz on January 30, 2013

In what should come as a surprise to absolutely no one who knows me at all, I'm a little bit "Type A." This is to say that I have always set irrationally high standards for myself and when I don't always meet those I tend to be just a wee bit unforgiving (see: K.C. in 1st grade, apologizing in writing to my parents for earning a "check mark" and not the superlative "plus" in Handwriting. Pretty sure I wrote something to the effect of "I will practice my letters in my room until they are perfect"). The teacher later gave me a book called Nobody is Perfick which I assume was an attempt to get me to breathe now and then. Clearly I felt compelled to correct the spelling on the cover. I was a weird kid.

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Topics: Professional Development, DMIN, Facing Technology

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Welcome to Facing Today, a Facing History blog. Facing History and Ourselves combats racism and antisemitism by using history to teach tolerance in classrooms around the globe.

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