The Conversation will examine the critical events in 1965 that challenged MLK, Jr. to decide whether to defy a federal order and march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.

Joshua Hall will use the Case Method manner of discussion that he uses in his Lee High School classrooms (all levels). All are encouraged and welcome to register to join this session as a “student” or as an “observer”. 

The Case Method Institute was founded by Dr. David A. Moss at Harvard University. Through his book, Democracy: A Case Study, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017, Dr. Moss hopes to bring case method teaching to high schools and colleges across the USA. 

Participants may prepare by reading a chapter of Dr. Moss’s book, Chapter 16 (on reserve at the Stockbridge Library) or by reading the teaching text offered exclusively for this Conversation.

Observers are welcome: To Register for in-person or zoom/on-line participation as a “student” or as an “observer” please email BerkshireLWV@gmail.com to register.

Hall has worked as an educator for the Lee Public Schools in the Social Studies Department and also as an adjunct professor for Elms College. As a teacher of United States and global history, Hall strives to bring the past to the future in a way that is clear and relevant for his students. Having attended The Case Study Institute through the Harvard Business College in 2022, Mr. Hall has taught Dr. Moss’s Case Study Method in his classroom. He has found that this has broadened both his students’ and’ his own understanding of the events in the history of the United States. When not in the classroom, Hall works as the Assistant Curator and Genealogist for the Stockbridge Library Museum & Archives.

Case Method Project website is here: https://www.hbs.edu/case-method-project/Pages/default.aspx

Case method teaching has been the core pedagogy at Harvard Business School (HBS) for decades, favored by students and teachers alike. Building on this record of success, HBS Professor David Moss in 2013 introduced a case method course called History of American Democracy, developed mainly for undergraduates. The course quickly became one of the highest-rated classes at Harvard College. Students described the teaching method as highly engaging and credited it with helping them to learn and retain course material more effectively. Many also reported that taking the course had inspired them to become more civically engaged. As one Harvard student put it, “If this class didn’t make every student in it a better citizen, I don’t know what class would.”