West Point - Thanks to a Federal Grant secured by Ulster BOCES, 30 elementary school teachers from the region have been able to take advantage of a number of professional development opportunities studying "Teaching American History." Social Studies Content Specialist Sherman Farber, who organizes the workshops and administers the grant, notes that while Ulster BOCES is the lead agency, this Grant program is a cooperative venture with Dutchess BOCES, Orange-Ulster BOCES, SUNY New Paltz, the New York Historical Society, the Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) Presidential Library and Museum, among others.
Participants have completed week one of the Summer Institute, which included a lecture and tour of West Point Military Academy designed to immerse teachers in the rich history and create insight and excitement that can help teachers transform their history lessons. Week two, set to begin July 12, will include similar visits to FDR Library and Museum, as well as Gilded Age Landmarks in New York City.
"We are in our seventh year of grant funding, and are anxiously awaiting notification whether our funding will be extended to continue this powerful work for another three-year round," says Jane Bullowa, Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services at Ulster BOCES.
Noting that this grant is the largest Federal Grant funded through the U.S. Department of Education, Farber explains that $400 million a year is awarded and that 120 new grants are distributed each year under the program, which was the brainchild of recently deceased Senator Robert Byrd. Its purpose is to enhance the American History content knowledge of social studies teachers in the hopes that the augmented knowledge and techniques will result in more engaging instruction for students. "I’m hoping that we can continue this program for our teachers well into the future," says Farber.
Teacher Diane Long from the George Washington Elementary School in Kingston claims that taking part in these workshops has been "one of the best things that has ever happened to me, as a teacher and as an individual." Ms. Long, who has participated in the program since its inception three years ago, once as a lead teacher, explains, "What we learn here, we bring back to the classroom where we refine how we teach, improve how children learn, so that we can do it all that much better for our students. It fundamentally alters the way you think and the way you teach."
Fellow George Washington Elementary School teacher Donna Nageli agrees that the professional development training has had a profound impact on her. "It changed my whole style of teaching. Instead of following the ‘old school’- having students memorize history facts and dates - my teaching is now very ‘inquiry based,’ where I rely on primary historical source material (such as documents, paintings, music, photographs) to engage my students." Touting the skills she learned through the grant, second-year teacher Nageli notes, "Most methods courses don’t really prepare you for what you will actually do in a classroom. But after attending these sessions, I now look for the big picture. I want my students to understand both sides of the history they are learning and form their own opinions based upon historical facts."
Karen Hadley, one of this year’s lead teachers from Woodstock Elementary School in the Onteora Central School District, shares her thoughts on the value of this training. "Through this Institute, I have learned so many stories and teaching techniques that I can adapt and use in my fifth grade classroom," she says. "By helping the students discover directly about how does it feel, how does it smell, what does it look like, how would you have felt if you had been there, the better children can connect. We can always hang the facts and dates off that personal framework. But by virtually experiencing the history they are learning for themselves, the students will never forget it."
