Nick Berardo Rogue 545

Name- Nick Berardo Content Area- Social Studies Location- NJ   USA Current School- Central Grade Level- Middle School Teaching Since- 2016 Twitter- @ Website-

During my student teaching at CMS, I noticed that most of my students were major Star Wars fans. Thankfully, I was welcomed into the class without a problem - we have been able to bond over Star Wars since day 1. Teaching 6th grade ancient history allowed me to integrate the movies into the classroom effortlessly, especially when covering dynasties and empires, specifically the Maurya and Gupta Indian empires. As an intro to learning about the Maurya, I connected the history of Chandragupta to the story of the rise of the Galactic Empire, and most of the students really got a kick out of it. They continue to connect what they learn back to any aspect of Star Wars. Then, during state testing, I was able to show A New Hope to the classes and they compared the Galactic Empire directly to the Indian empires.

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