The “Professional Development School Network For Learning and Teaching American History” completed its third year of a Teaching American History Grant which was extended for a fourth year by the U.S. Department of Education in August of 2004. Dr. Michael Gardner, principal of Lincoln-Way East High School and recipient of the grant, worked with Dr. Frederick D. Drake of the Illinois State University History and Social Sciences Education Program over the past three years to administer and conduct the project.
The PDS Network for Learning and Teaching American History brought together American history teachers from ten Illinois high schools (rural, small city and town, suburban, and urban), newly hired teachers of American history from similar districts across the state of Illinois , and faculty members from the Department of History at Illinois State . In addition, the McLean County Museum of History in Bloomington , Illinois is a member of the Learning and Teaching of American History Network.
Each academic year of the grant consists of six colloquia, two seminars, and a summer institute. Teachers discuss monographs with history professors at colloquia held at the McLean County Museum of History, continue the discussion of content with ideas on teaching during seminars held at one of the PDS sites, and attend a one-week summer institute held at Illinois State University. During the one-week summer institute teachers create research kits comprised of core documents (1st -, 2nd -, and 3rd -Order documents) they use with their students during the next school year. The research kits are related to the monographs they have discussed with Illinois State University history professors. ISU history professors lead discussions of the monographs, participate in seminars, and the summer institutes. This session reports what teachers have said they and their students have learned about historical knowledge and thinking during the three years of the grant.
Year four of the grant consisted of an October 28, 2004 colloquium (recently completed) and a Teaching American History Conference, that was held on February 25-26, 2005. This conference included other Illinois grant recipients as well as the Professional Development School Network For Learning and Teaching American History. Dr. Gordon Wood, professor of history at Brown University , was the featured speaker at the conference. Teachers who have participated in Illinois grants presented at concurrent sessions what they and their students have learned as a result of the grant experiences. The Teaching American History Conference was open to the public and the conference was announced to history and social science teachers in elementary, middle, and secondary schools as well as universities in the state.
Respectfully,
Dr. Frederick D. Drake, Associate Professor of History, Illinois State Universtiy
Dr. Michael Gardner, Principal, Lincoln-Way East High School
Book Reviews (years 1 & 2)
Research Team Kits (year 2)
Lesson Plans (years 1 & 2)
Research Team Kits (year 3)
