Author will bring history to life

The Messenger 11.21.07

Joy Hakim, author of science and social studies books for K-12 teachers, will speak at the Professional Development Center in Dyersburg from 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The event is sponsored by the Vertical Immersion Project: Teaching Traditional American History, funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
The VIP is a collaborative effort between Dyersburg City Schools and the University of Tennessee at Martin. There is no admission fee and the public is invited to attend.
Hakim, a graduate of Smith College, earned a master’s degree in education and received an honorary doctorate from Goucher College, Baltimore, Md.
She has had dual careers: as a teacher and a writer, which she sees as two sides of the same coin. She was a classroom teacher in Syracuse, N.Y., Omaha, Neb., and Virginia Beach, Va. She taught American literature at Tidewater Community College and a writing course for English teachers at University of Virginia as an adjunct professor.
She has been a reporter for Norfolk, Va.’s Ledger Star and an editorial writer and associate editor for The Virginian-Pilot. She’s done a lot of freelance writing, including articles for The Wall Street Journal, The American Educator and Education Week.
Hakim is the author of a 10-volume story-based US history: “A History of US,” published by Oxford University Press. “A History of US” was followed by “Freedom: A History of US,” companion to a PBS series that spawned classroom videos and a teacher/student Web site.
Hakim is now writing narrative science for readers of all ages. In “The Story of Science,” she takes readers from Sumeria to supernovae sightings. The first three volumes, “Aristotle Leads the Way,” “Newton at the Center” and “Einstein Adds A New Dimension,” have been published by Smithsonian Books in collaboration with the NSTA (National Science Teachers Association). A team at Johns Hopkins is doing coordinated teaching materials. Hakim is now working on books on earth, life and environmental sciences.
For more information about the local program, contact Danny Walden at the Professional Development Center at (731) 286-3611 or Dr. Bonnie Daniel at UT Martin at (731) 881-7015.

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