#BetterTogether: Building Community, Raising Student Voice — One Circle at a Time

Megan DuVarney Forbes is a historian and middle school teacher in Southern California. She received her master’s degree in U.S. history from California State University, Fullerton, where she specialized in Caribbean civil rights history. Forbes is a frequent presenter on teaching social justice through history and literature. She creates history content for teachers on her blog “Too Cool for Middle School,” and shares what she’s reading, teaching and learning on her YouTube channel of the same name. Forbes is releasing a book on influential people in U.S. history for students soon.

Karalee Nakatsuka is a ThingLink, BrainPOP, and Flocabulary Certified Educator, Flipgrid Certified Educator, Ambassador & GridGuide, Wakelet Ambassador & Community Member, and Level 1 Google Certified Educator. She has taught U.S. History in the Arcadia Unified School District for since 1990 and is the Gilder Lehrman 2019 California History Teacher of the Year and a National Finalist. She is passionate about utilizing technology and the power of place to engage and excite students, building community in the classroom, learning and growing as an educator, sharing and collaborating.