Patricia Wyskowski

Patricia Wyskowski likes hearing students continue a class discussion on their way out the door. She teaches AP Human Geography and AP/Honors U.S. History I at Bayonne High School, the same school she attended. When a conversation carries into the hallway, she knows students have found something they want to keep exploring.

She gives them a historian’s work: examine a source, investigate its origins, and look beyond the first explanation. “When was it created? What was happening at the time?” she asks. Students consider what a source can tell them and what else they need to know.

Preparing for constitutional hearings gives students another reason to investigate together. They study individual rights and limits on government, connect constitutional questions to current events, and discuss their conclusions. Wyskowski asks them to examine the Declaration of Independence’s promises alongside the practice of slavery and the efforts that have expanded freedom.

Discussions  can be personal. Some students have shared accounts of religious or political persecution their families faced before coming to the United States. Wyskowski helps them connect constitutional protections to their own lives and consider their responsibilities as citizens. She also wants them to recognize bias and assess a source’s credibility, especially as they approach voting age.