Before tens of thousands of Egyptian protesters made history this week by breaking President Hosni Mubarak's decades-long grip on power, many of Michele Pellam's students at Boston's Brighton High School only associated the North African nation with pharaohs, pyramids, and mummies. Now, in class discussions fed by news of the uprising on the other side of the globe, her pupils are getting a deeper look at the complex political tensions of modern-day Egyptian society.
Ms. Pellam, a history teacher, is one of many K-12 teachers nationwide who saw a teachable moment in the protests that have swept through Egypt, Tunisia, and other North African and Middle Eastern nations in recent weeks. In Boston; Cambridge, Mass.; and Falls Church, Va., among other places, teachers are weaving discussions of the uprisings into social studies and history lessons in an effort to expand students' understanding.
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