School Outreach

Along with its community-based initiatives, the REES outreach program serves primary and secondary school students and teachers in the Pittsburgh region and beyond through school visits, the Model United Nations program, an instructional resource library, and professional development seminars for teachers. Many of these services are provided free of charge to K-12 schools through REES's National Resource Center grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

REES has developed a series of high school curriculum guides to Central European countries that have joined or may join the European Union. The completed guides may be downloaded from the Outreach World Website. In addition, REES has developed a workshop for high school teachers on using Russian literature to teach students about the turbulent 20th century history of Russia.

This resource section is based on a workshop for high school teachers led by REES Assistant Director Gina Peirce on October 9, 2006 at Gateway Senior High School in Monroeville, PA. The workshop was part of a countywide professional development day organized by the Allegheny Intermediate Unit for K-12 teachers throughout Allegheny County, PA.

Participants were introduced to several works of Russian literature that can be used in the high school classroom to illustrate the effects exerted on the lives of ordinary Russians by major historical events of the 20^th century, from the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to the Stalinist terror and the extensive “gulag” (prison camp) system. Excerpts of works by Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Zoshchenko, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn were discussed. The Power Point presentation used at this workshop, including complete bibliographical information, may be downloaded here.