Elk River teacher and veteran explains educating students about war as it's happening

The growing conflicts in the Middle East continue to evolve almost every hour, making it hard for anybody to keep up with — let alone kids.

Some of the burden of helping children make sense of those wars and other fraught international relations falls onto teachers. But how do you teach history as it's unfolding?

Scott Glew is a social studies teacher at Sauk Middle School in Elk River and an Iraq war veteran. Glew was also named a Bush Fellow in 2017 and has served on the board of directors for the Minnesota councils for social studies and history education.

Glew told Morning Edition the most important thing in the classroom is to emphasize the humanity of war.

“We need to be talking more than just about battles and strategies, more than just the economic impact, but really how what's going on in Iran right now is impacting people,” Glew said. “Most of the people there, they're just regular people who are going to feel the consequences more than anybody else.”

Glew spoke to MPR News in February 2024 about the same topic, as the world marked two years since Russia invaded Ukraine. Recognizing that many of his current students are consuming news via social media feeds, which “are really difficult to turn off,” Glew has changed his approach in 2026 in one key way.

“I'm really trying to find that balance with them and encouraging them to find the balance of both paying attention and also taking a step back and taking care of themselves,” Glew said, while still ensuring students have a “deep understanding of the consequences of war.”

Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player button above.

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