Miller uses alternative lecture strategies

History teacher brings unique perspectives

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William Phelan

History teacher Scott Miller says his passion for history extends beyond the classroom

Deanna Afremov and William Phelan

According to history teacher Scott Miller, his passion for history extends beyond the classroom.

“I’m a huge World War II buff. Not just military, but also social, and I love reading about it,” Miller said.

Miller said on lecture days, he prepares for classes by attempting to find ways to make his lectures both informative and engaging for students.

“What I try to do is find the best stories and the ones that are the most interesting that can make history come alive to students. And it doesn’t happen every time, there’s no doubt about that, but that’s the fun part: finding those things, the deeper pieces of the story than just in the textbook,” Miller said.

Senior Eben Manegbe said Miller teaches AP United States history in an interesting and unique way.

“I liked Mr. Miller’s lectures because they helped make his class engaging, and were more like stories,” Manegbe said.

Miller said over time he improved at delivering information and finding interesting sources for his lecture

“By now I’ve kind of done it enough where I remember (the stories) very easily, but I used to watch hours of videos and take notes on them and kind of go through them,” Miller said. “Over the years I’ve been able to watch a enough videos, read enough books where I find what I think are kind of the more interesting aspects of it and the little weird pieces of it that make it different than just a textbook,” Miller said.

Junior William Nicholls, a current student in Miller’s AP United States history class, said he enjoys Miller’s approach to teaching.

“I like how he is a lecture-based teacher and tries to prepare you for your future, rather than just for individual tests or projects,” Nicholls said.

Miller said he has always had an interest for history.

“I’d like to say I was a straight A student in high school, but that’s not the case. But I probably helped set some curves in high school history classes just because I’ve always had that ability to remember details and just a natural interest in history versus other subjects,” Miller said.

According to Miller, his hope is to create a strong history base that students can come back to later in life.

“What I would love to do is to lay a foundation there where students, whether it be this year or in college or when they’re 25 years old say, ‘I want to back and learn about this period. I remember something from high school about this period,’ and then really laying a foundation for them to be curious,” Miller said.