Introduction

 Merri Weir only came into teaching 10 years ago but history and education have been a part of who she is her entire life. Tied to this is her passion for social justice and human rights. She has been able to create lessons and units tied to the State Standards through organizations such as Facing History and Ourselves, the Choices Program, Teaching Tolerance and the Shoah Foundation. Although leaders and famous people are important to teach she believes the stories of everyday people have a greater impact on her students learning. She is also a member of the Human Rights Education (HRE) team that is working with universities to train new (and continuing) teachers how they can include HRE into their lessons and the State to put human rights education into the state standards. She currently teaches US History, and AP US History and has also taught Geography and World History.

Starting life in Biloxi, MS she soon started her love of travel at an early age when she moved to Germany where he dad was stationed. After other moves, she spent her educational years in Texas then spent her 20s in Chicago, her 30s in Hong Kong and now her 40s in Los Angeles. She is a graduate of DePaul University and considers herself a citizen of the world. She believes in the Buddhist belief that everyone in the world is connected by a red string and that it can never be broken or tangled and that we all should strive for harmony.