Teacher has a winning way with history

Masconomet Regional High School teacher David Mitchell (right), 2009 Preserve America History Teacher of the Year award winner, with James Basker of the Lehrman Institute and Laura Bush.

TOPSFIELD - Does anybody look back fondly on high school US history class?

The time-honored multiple-choice and essay tests, lackluster lectures, a litany of names and dates learned by rote, and stories of heroes and scoundrels told secondhand by the authors of time-worn textbooks. Sound familiar?

For some students, history class still is a necessary evil - memorizing dusty old stories out of step with the rhythms of adolescence, resulting in that familiar refrain: Why do we have to learn this stuff? And what possibly could it have to do with my life?

But at Masconomet Regional High School, students in David Mitchell's class are learning history in a different way, and liking it.

Mitchell challenges his students to decipher primary sources such as copies of letters in the original handwriting. They analyze political cartoons, poetry, and period music, and study old photographs for clues to the past. All of this, in addition to traditional textbooks, brings history to life and occasionally reveals back stories of the events, leaders, and everyday people that have shaped the nation.

"When students struggle with a historical document, they can see that much of history was not a foregone conclusion," Mitchell said. "We've addressed the question of whether there should have been an American Revolution. The reality was that [only] 50 percent of the population was in favor of revolution."

Mitchell, 38, is a new breed of teacher whose experience teaching in Los Angeles with Teach for America and in a "challenging neighborhood" in West Baltimore helped inform his work.

His work at Masco earned him the 2008 national Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History "Preserve America History Teacher of the Year Award," which he received from First Lady Laura Bush at an October ceremony in New York City.

Typically modest, and always the teacher, Mitchell saw the ceremony as a valuable lesson for the two Masco students in attendance who spoke on his behalf.

"It was a wonderful experience," he said. "Two students had to speak, and they had a genuine interest in meeting Mrs. Bush. They also had to learn about speechwriting."

Reaching into a loose-leaf notebook jammed with copies of documents in plastic sleeves, Mitchell produced a copy of a handwritten draft of a speech prepared by President Dwight D. Eisenhower the night before D-day.

"My favorite document," Mitchell said, smiling. "It was written by President Eisenhower in case D-day failed."

The speech written before the 1944-allied invasion of Normandy reveals the uncertainty Eisenhower must have felt on the eve of D-day.

"I'm not trying to debunk the heroism of our past leaders," Mitchell said. "But it's not enough to champion the already known successes of great figures; it is equally important for students to see the challenges they faced."

Like so many great teachers, Mitchell traces his style to the influences of teachers he has had.

Teachers like Karen Lozzi, who taught him American history at Whitman-Hanson High School, and Reverend Anthony Kuzniewski, an American history professor at Holy Cross.

"I drew from her that you can use history to solve current issues," Mitchell said of Lozzi. "She is a caring, loving woman, and she still teaches at Whitman-Hanson."

He credits Kuzniewski with instilling in him the Jesuit philosophy of, " 'being good men and women for others,' which sounds good, but he showed us how to do it on a day-to-day basis."

In that spirit, Mitchell, who lives in Wakefield, coaches soccer after school at Bishop Fenwick High School in Peabody, and often returns to Masco working into the night to make up for the time he has been at practice.

But Mitchell is reluctant to embrace the star status that one might associate with his award, even though he beat out history teachers from the 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and the US Territories in the Pacific.

"It is typical for faculty at Masco to put in long days. I'm no different than any other teacher," he said.

Pointing to a stack of ungraded election-night student projects tacked to his wall, Mitchell said, "because I'm such a slacker, I haven't graded them yet."

However, students and colleagues such as Masco social studies department chairwoman Patricia Puglisi disagree with the slacker part.

"What sets Dave apart is his work outside the Masco classroom, working in New Orleans during a February vacation, working in the inner city of Baltimore during a summer vacation, and organizing a fund-raising event to help save a voting rights museum in Selma, Alabama," Puglisi said.

In a speech she delivered at the national award ceremony, senior Molly Byman said: "Mr. Mitchell taught us how to question. He prepared us not only to be knowledgeable adults, but also to be progressive and innovative leaders."