Photos: Isaias Torres, Patricia Gonzalez, Jorge Haynes
A major goal of the Lincoln and Mexico Project (LAMP) is helping educators facilitate discussions about the history of relations between the USA and Mexico. To achieve this, LAMP offers supplemental classroom materials to high schools, colleges, and universities based on the book Abraham Lincoln and Mexico by historian/ educator Michael Hogan.
We’re delighted that current and retired educators from all three levels are helping guide our education effort as members of the LAMP International Advisory Council. And we’re proud to profile three of them in this blogpost.
Isaias Torres has taught United States history for eight years. After graduating Rice University with a double major in History and Religious Studies, Isaias worked in the Houston public school system for four years. He also completed his master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Houston. While teaching and studying in Houston, Isaias completed an in-depth study of westward settlement as part of the Teaching American History grant from the Department of Education. Isaias has taught abroad at the American Overseas School of Rome and the American School of Guadalajara. In both institutions, he has had great success with his AP US History students. After years of teaching US history, Isaias continues to enjoy the challenge of teaching students to understand the nuance of history as well as learn about social justice matters.
One of eleven children, Patricia Gonzalez was born in Los Angeles, CA and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico up to the age of seven. As Director of the Inclusion & Dialogue Center at Emory and Henry College, Patricia helps students find a voice and also helps them gain a sense of belonging in the EHC community. Most recently, Patricia graduated from Teachers College, Columbia University, with a Master of Arts in Higher and Postsecondary Education and Administration. Her interest in education began when she realized that her high school along with other public schools in South Los Angeles needed to become better and safer environments for students to study and live in. Her passion for education furthered developed when she served as a Servant Leader Intern (teacher) to middle school students in South LA with CDF Freedom Schools in 2012.
Jorge Haynes is a retired Senior Director for External Relations in the California State University Chancellor’s Office at Long Beach, which oversees the nation’s largest public university system with 23 campuses and a 2016 enrollment of 478,638 students. He’s still active as a board member of two other education entities in California, including the Families in Schools organization based in Los Angeles. A native of Laredo, Texas, now retired to his home state, he’s agreed to help LAMP connect with education and civic leaders from California across the Southwest to Texas. He earned his B.A. in Political Science and Government from CSU-Sacramento.
If you’re an educator interested examining the classroom materials without obligation, just send a request to lamp@lincolnandmexicoproject.org and we’ll send you a complimentary package that includes the eBook version of Abraham Lincoln and Mexico, the script for a three-act play based on the book, and a complete set of lesson plans to guide discussions of the book and the play. And if you know other educators who might be interested, we hope you’ll alert them to this offer. Thank you.
Lincoln and Mexico Project 