Hi, My name is Tyler Lowe, and I am a graduate student at Appalachian State University. I am 26 years old and earning this degree to educate, shape, and expand young minds on the importance of history in a twenty-first-century world. My areas of historical interest are feminist history, social unrest in the 20th century, the French Revolution, and Queer history.
As a young boy, history always interested and fascinated me. One of my earliest memories of this interest came from a stage production of “The Lost Colony of Roanoke,” which I saw with my father when I was nine. I vividly remember the explosive output of the stage muskets, the intricate costumes of the actors, and even the way the foreboding music felt against my adolescent ears. Yet, despite the glamour and quality of the production, the legacy of the Lost Colony was a formative experience for my interest in studying the past. As the play concluded and my family returned home, I visited my local public library the next day to read all I could on the subject: at that moment, my love for history began in full force.
I graduated Magna Cum Laude from Appalachian State University with a BA in history in 2019. As a graduate student studying social studies education, these reflections allow me to understand how to move forward. During my tenure as an undergraduate, I learned skills and techniques that allowed me to expand and refine my interest in history, transforming it into a lifelong passion. Yet, this journey into higher education would have been impossible without the teachings and support of my former educators. Hearing their enthusiasm in the classroom, the passion on their faces, and the genuine care they seemed to have for the students only solidified my conviction to become an educator.
All students have the talent, ability, and intelligence to succeed academically. As an educator, my job is to support, care for, and challenge students to expand their knowledge and apply it to a real-world setting. Through the study of history, students will learn how to navigate, understand, and contextualize source material effectively. As an out, and proud gay man, incorporating histories that represent every demographic in my classroom remains of the utmost importance. I am committed to providing an inclusive, accessible curriculum that will challenge students to contextualize, interpret, and research histories that impact them. Feminist history, queer history, and Black history represent the vanguard of how scholars and educators alike should diversify their understandings. By incorporating these perspectives into a classroom, students feel validated and interested in the subject material. I hope to provide a safe, empathetic, and exciting classroom environment through these teaching philosophies.
