If so, you have about a month to submit your application. The deadline is April 30, 2015.
With that in mind, Chris Cameron of the African-American Intellectual History blog has provided some useful advice. Here is a small taste:
If so, you have about a month to submit your application. The deadline is April 30, 2015.
So concludes David Austin Walsh of the History News Network in his promotional piece for Matt Pinsker’s new online course “Understanding Lincoln.” Here is a taste:
Take “Understanding Lincoln,” a new online course co-sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute Dickinson College. The course, led by Lincoln scholar Matthew Pinsker, will offer a hybrid approach – a smaller seminar section with a hundred-student enrollment cap, direct access to Professor Pinkser and Gilder Lehrman staff, and the opportunity to interact with other students in digital forums.
For-credit students will pay $450 and receive three graduate credits at Dickinson, which can be used as transfer credit at other institutions.
For those interested in enrichment, a free section featuring lectures and readings will also be available, along with a certificate of completion for those who finish the course.
Course registration is currently open, and closes on Friday, July 19 at 11:59 Eastern. “Understanding Lincoln will run from July 22 to November 19.
The class is primarily designed for K-12 educators to enhance their knowledge of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. The Gilder Lehrman website emphasizes that the course will focus on teaching Lincoln “within the guidelines of the Common Core State Standards.”
Pinsker said that the course is the culmination of the House Divided project, an online effort to create resources for K-12 teachers on the Civil War era. He has partnered with Gilder Lehrman for several years on the initiative, and an online course was the next logical step.
A pilot course for a closed group last year met with great success. One participant wrote in a testimonial that the class “introduced me to scholarship…and links that will not only test me as a teacher, but will make me grow as an educator.”
A major component of the upcoming “Understanding Lincoln” class will be what Pinsker calls “class-sourcing.”
“The course won’t just be about transmitting information to students,” he said. “It will be about students building something with teachers.”
Read more here.
On June 17 and 19 I will be leading a summer seminar for school teachers entitled “Religion and the American Founding.” The seminar is sponsored by the Messiah College Center for Public Humanities and its “Teacher as Scholars” program. Teachers at levels will receive Pennsylvania Act 48 professional development credit or a certificate of participation that can be used for professional development in another state.
I am really looking forward to these two days. The seminar is filling up, but I am told that there are still a few seats available.
You can learn more about the seminar and the Teachers as Scholars program, including how to register, here.
I hope to see you in June!
I love this idea. The AHA is developing a new membership status to encourage more secondary teachers to join the ranks of the organization. As someone who has spent a lot of time with history teachers and future history teachers as a history professor, former AP exam grader (seven years), and a workshop historian with Gilder-Lehrman and Messiah College’s “Teacher as Scholars” program (in addition to my own short stint as an AP U.S. History teacher), I can attest to two things:
1. History teachers are starving for professional development opportunities.
2. Academic historians can learn A LOT from history teachers about how to teach. Some of my most rewarding experiences as a historian came while spending a week sitting at a table in a overly air-conditioned Trinity University gym grading AP exams with teachers. We need to rub shoulders, share conversation, and learn from the expertise that K-12 teachers bring to the profession.
Read all about the new AHA program here. Some of the benefits they are considering include:
From Lara Harmon at Teachinghistory.org
Are you a history teacher or school administrator who wants to take your history department faculty on the road this summer? If the answer it yes, TeachingHistory.org has put together a very informative website called “Visiting History: A Professional Development Guide. It includes helpful tips on planning your trip, creating a useful learning experience, and connecting your historical trip to the classroom
And while you’re at it, why not consider inviting a historian to come along. If I ever get my idea for a center on American history and a civil society off the ground, I would like to recruit historians who are willing to work with school teachers both inside and outside the classroom. Stay tuned.
Teachinghistory.org has a nice list of summer opportunities for history teachers: