Will This Be on the Test?: Reflections from a History Teacher

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Jim Gregory, a thirty-year veteran of teaching high school history, shares the insights, experiences and the formative influences from his upbringing in rural Arroyo Grande, California and from his time in the classroom. Gregory addresses local and national history, teaching and learning, immigration and war and the richness of a life spent in a place marked by multicultural influences and a rich history. Gregory's mix of humor and passion reveals stories about field workers, war heroes, horsewomen, wildlife--including the beaver colony he encountered as a boy while trout fishing--and new takes on Hollywood classics, immigrant cuisine, American literature and on the tragedy of American combat. Common threads in the collection include the joy Gregory derived in teaching teenagers and his choice of subjects--Americans, both famous and relatively unknown, who evince courage, integrity and compassion for others. Finally , the book demonstrates Gregory's lifelong love for language, for writing and for telling good stories well.