offered by

The Westfield Public Schools in collaboration with Westfield State College, working with the Public School Districts of Chicopee, Gateway Regional, Hampshire Regional, Southwick-Tolland and Palmer, and

in partnership with the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield, Massachusetts

October 1, 2007 to September 30, 2008

© Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education

American Promises:

Teaching American History

About the Program

American Promises is a high quality, effective professional development program in traditional American history.  Content is organized around the fundamental themes expressed in America’s founding documents.   This program is aligned with the Massachusetts State Curriculum Frameworks.  Major components are day-long seminars, after school workshops, student programs, and the American Centuries web site.

The school districts of Westfield, Chicopee, Palmer, Southwick-Tolland, Hampshire Regional and Gateway Regional

 are dedicated to providing high quality professional development in order to improve student learning.

The Center for Teacher Education and Research at Westfield State College

 provides professional development opportunities to educators in Western Massachusetts including summer institutes, online professional development, and onsite courses and workshops.

The Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association promotes an understanding of national and regional history through its museum, library and education programs.

The United States Department of Education ensures equal access to education and promotes educational excellence throughout the nation.

Teaching American History Program

Contacts:

The Center for Teacher Education and Research at Westfield State College

TAH Program Director:  Priscilla Miller, CENTER, Westfield State College, 577 Western Ave. Westfield, MA 01086, 413-572-8065 pmiller@wsc.ma.edu, Fax: 413-572-8187

TAH Program Coordinator: Kathy Wicks, CENTER, Westfield State College, 577 Western Ave. Westfield, MA 01086, 413-572-8150, kwicks@wsc.ma.edu, Fax: 413-572-8187

For general information, please visit the CENTER’s Teaching American History Web site:  http://www.wsc.ma.edu/tah

The Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA)

PVMA TAH Coordinator: Darlene Marshall, 413-774-7476 ext. 32   dmarshall@deerfield.history.museum, Fax: 413-774-2654

The Westfield Public Schools in collaboration with Westfield State College, working with the Public School Districts of Chicopee, Gateway Regional, Hampshire Regional, Southwick-Tolland and Palmer, and

in partnership with the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield, Massachusetts

Invite local educators to join

American Promises:

A Teaching American History Program

For K-12 Educators

Teaching American History is a national program to increase teacher knowledge of American History to enable students to become better informed and more involved citizens. Each year, American Promises examines significant issues, episodes and people from the colonial period into the twentieth century in the context of the ideals contained in our Nation’s founding documents: 1) The Promises of the American Revolution: Colonies to Nation; 2) Testing the Promises: The Civil War, Industrialization, and Immigration; and 3) Claiming the Promises: Two World Wars, More Immigration, A New Deal and Civil Rights.  Professional development includes seminars with nationally recognized scholars of American History, meetings with individual teachers, workshops, as well as in-class history presentations and an immersion weekend.  An advisory board guides this federally funded, content-rich program of professional development.

Benefits for Students

• Fun and challenging experiences learning about American History, including a History Lab in the classroom.
• Local history connected to American History

• Engaging, local primary resources – letters, newspapers, photographs and artifacts
• Student-centered, inquiry-based learning activities that build critical thinking skills
• Alignment with  Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks

• Family pass for Memorial Hall and Indian House Children’s Museum
•  

Benefits for Teachers and Librarians

• Free, high quality training experiences; work with professors and museum professionals
• Professional development points and academic credits available
• Assistance in developing history and interdisciplinary curricula
• A Teachers’ Center for American History (multimedia lending library, traveling history kits, workshops)
• Content-focused use of technology, featuring the premier American Centuries website (www.americancenturies.mass.edu)
• Honoraria and free classroom materials

There are a limited number of slots for teachers.  If you are interested in learning more, please contact your district representative:                                   

Westfield – Steve Hagen        572-6550                                                             Hampshire Regional – Tony Ryan         527-7200

Chicopee – Denise Ruszala    594-3458                                             Southwick-Tolland – Allison LeClair   569-5951                                                                                                         Gateway Regional – Janice Doppler     685-1007                                     Palmer – Neil Metcalf    283-2651

If you do not have a district representative, please contact Kathy Wicks, Coordinator, Teaching American History, at      413-572-8150 or at kwicks@wsc.ma.edu

Funded entirely by a $999,650.00 grant from the U.S. Department of Education

REQUIREMENTS AND BENEFITS FOR PARTICIPANTS

in American Promises

Join us and improve teaching and learning in American History.  The participant requirements below are for year three (October 1, 2007 – September 30, 2008) of this three-year Teaching American History project.

Three levels of participation are offered.

1)      Attend 8 seminars–An Immersion Weekend in October, one in January, one in April, and four in July (see seminar schedule).   Please note: The expectation is that full participants will attend all eight seminars. In extenuating circumstances, full participants may choose to substitute workshops for up to two seminars (3 two-hour workshops = 1 full-day seminar).

The seminars open with morning presentations by scholars. Break-out sessions follow (one in the morning and two after lunch).   They include work with museum staff on primary sources related to the day’s theme, small group discussion with professors, and strategies for classroom integration.

2) Attend 6 after school workshops, one of which will be the Classroom Activity Workshop

3) Develop a plan of 8 - 10 hours of professional development from the following choices:

v     Work with Historians-in-Residence in your classroom – this could include demonstrating strategies for teaching with artifacts or primary documents, co-teaching, or work in reviewing classroom material to find areas where local resources can be integrated.  It may be a ‘one-time’ event or a many day project or unit.

v     Attend content-specific workshops at Westfield State College.

v     Work with project staff to find historic documents from PVMA and other local historical societies to support your teaching (either new or existing units).

v     Receive content-related technology training on use of websites, especially the American Centuries website, www.americancenturies.mass.edu.

v     Arrange training or provide support to other educators.

4) Participate in a History Lab Program conducted in your classroom.  This is an interactive program for teachers led by a PVMA historian in your classroom. This program replaces the History to Go Program.*Participants without their own classroom may share this program with a teacher in their school. Participants with more than one class must choose one class period to receive this program.

5) Create written documentation of learning:

             A short classroom activity (1-2 45 minute classroom periods) based on primary sources, which may include objects and documents featured in the digital collection of PVMA’s American Centuries website (www.americancenturies.mass.edu).   After review by staff, participants may be invited to post their activity in the “Classroom Activities” section of the American Centuries Website.

6) Be available as a resource for your colleagues to access Teaching American History Resources; inform and promote use of Teaching American History resources in your school.

7) Actively participate in evaluation of the project (includes completing seminar, workshop, and program evaluation forms, evaluator-led focus groups and classroom observation.)

1) Attend a minimum of 4 seminars - In extenuating circumstances, half participants may choose to substitute workshops for one seminar (3 two-hour workshops = 1 full day seminar).

2) Attend a minimum of 3 after school workshops, one of which will be the Classroom Activity Workshop 

3) Five hours of additional training to be decided and scheduled by participant (as described in #3 under full participation).

4) Participate in a History Lab Program conducted in your classroom (as described in #4 under full participation). This program replaces the History to Go Program.

5) Written Documentation of learning - a short classroom activity based on objects and documents featured in the digital collection of PVMA’s American Centuries website (as described in #5 under full participation.)

6) Actively participate in evaluation of the project. (includes completing seminar, workshop, and program evaluation forms, evaluator-led focus groups and classroom observation.)

Partial (quarter) participation is designed around developing specific content area.

1) Attend a minimum of 1 seminar (see seminar schedule).

2) Attend a minimum of 3 after school workshops, one of which will be the Classroom Activity Workshop 

3) Participate in a History Lab Program conducted in your classroom (as described in #4 under full participation). This program replaces the History to Go Program.

4) Written documentation of learning - a short classroom activity based on objects and documents featured in the digital collection of PVMA’s American Centuries website (as described in #5 under full participation)

5) Actively participate in evaluation of the project. (includes completing seminar, workshop, and program evaluation forms, evaluator-led focus groups and classroom observation.)

****************************************************

Benefits for Participants

v     A PVMA museum teacher will come to your classroom to lead a hands-on activity that incorporates primary sources (History Lab replacing the History to Go)   

v     Free teacher materials

v     Deerfield Teachers’ Center resources (multimedia lending library, traveling history kits, workshops)

v     Free professional development and academic study

v     Professional development points (pdps)

v     For full participants, three graduate credits are available from Westfield State College.

v     Curriculum development support

v     Free Memorial Hall Museum passes for students, teachers, and their families

v     Honoraria

American Promises

SEMINAR SCHEDULE                

October 2007 - July 2008

Four seminars in winter/spring and four in the summer will move us through the Westfield Teaching American History program’s third year of study on the theme of American Promises over three centuries. All seminars will be held at Westfield State College, with the exception of the Immersion Weekend in Deerfield September 30 – October 1, 2007. Seminars run from 8:30 am – 3:30 pm.   A morning lecture is followed by 3 breakout sessions, including opportunity for dialogue with the scholar and workshops that use primary sources to further explore the day’s theme led by staff from the Deerfield Teachers’ Center.

Seminar # 1:   Sunday, September 30 2007   

            “PVMA’S EASTERN EUROPEAN FESTIVAL” – Special Teacher Edition

Presentations by Scholars and Performers

Seminar # 2:   Monday, October 1, 2007  

            “Immigrants in the Nation: the Promise of Citizenship”

Presenting Scholar: Prof. Barry O’Connell, Amherst College

Seminar #3:    Thursday, January 17, 2008 (Snow date: January 31, 2008)

            “Material Culture of the Connecticut River Valley, 17^th and 18^th Centuries”

Presenting Scholar: Prof. Kevin Sweeney, Amherst College

Seminar #4:    Thursday, April 10, 2008

            “Who Won the American Revolution?”

Presenting Scholar: Prof. Robert A. Gross, University of Connecticut

Seminar # 5:   Tuesday, July 15, 2008

            “Ante-Bellum Social Movements”

Presenting Scholar: Prof. Susan Tracy, Hampshire College

Seminar # 6:   Wednesday, July 16, 2008

“Slavery v. States' Rights: What Caused the American Civil War?”

Presenting Scholar: Prof. Charles Dew, Williams College  

Seminar # 7:   Thursday, July 17, 2008

            “War, Technology, and American Industrialization 1815-1890)”

Presenting Scholar: Prof. Merritt Roe Smith, M.I.T.

Seminar #8:    Friday, July 18, 2008

“Giving Children and Children's Culture a Place in American History”

Presenting Scholar: Prof. Howard Chudacoff, Brown University

Tentative Dates for Workshops and Seminars

October 2007 – August 2008

Each year we offer a slate of seminars, breakout sessions, workshops and book groups. These offerings are intended to provide participants with an enhanced understanding of American history. All programs address themes identified in the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Frameworks. Please be aware that while some of the content and the activities in these teacher development programs are designed to translate easily into the classroom, other programs are intended for the teacher's own edification.

October 2007

November 2007

December 2007

January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

July 2008

August 2008

DRAFT    DRAFT    DRAFT    DRAFT    DRAFT    DRAFT   

Westfield Teaching American History

Proposed Workshops – WTAH – 2007 – 2008

31 Workshops in Total:

27 PVMA Workshops, including:

            3 two-part workshops (6 sessions)

            2 three-part workshops (6 sessions)

            15 stand-alone workshops

                        PLUS

4 workshops given by guest presenters

Stand-Alone Workshops:

African American Presence in New England

Children at Work: Child Labor in Massachusetts

Sit-Ins, Boycotts, and Bombs: Civil Rights for Older Students

Civil Rights for the Youngest Learners (K-2)

Cold War

Digital Deerfield

Disease in American History

Homefront During WWII

Never Done: A History of Women’s Work in America

Keeping Thanksgiving

New Americans Make New Holidays

Sojourner Truth in Northampton

Speak Up! Elocution, Recitation, and Public Speaking (Grades 7-12)

Western Massachusetts in the Great Depression

Online Activity Workshop

Two-Part Workshops:

The Americanization of Ben Franklin Book Group (Part 1 of 2)

The Americanization of Ben Franklin Book Group (Part 2 of 2)

Captivated (Part 1 of 2)

Captivated (Part 2 of 2)

Immigration Book Discussion Group (Part 1 of 2)

Immigration Book Discussion Group (Part 2 of 2)

Three-Part Workshops:

Souls of Black Folk Book Discussion Group (Part 1 of 3)

Souls of Black Folk Book Discussion Group (Part 2 of 3)

Souls of Black Folk Book Discussion Group (Part 3 of 3)

Timeline of Democracy - (Part 1 of 3)

Timeline of Democracy – (Part 2 of 3)

Timeline of Democracy – (Part 3 of 3)

Guest Presenters:

Booking Through Biographies: Famous Facts and Faces, Jeremy Brunaccioni

We anticipate offering several, stand-alone workshops on immigration.  They will potentially focus on:

1) Irish Immigration

2) Eastern European Immigration

3) Puerto Rican Migration

American Promises:

Teaching American History

For K-12 educators

A program for local educators presented by the

Westfield Public Schools in collaboration with Westfield State College, working with the Public School Districts of Chicopee, Gateway Regional, Hampshire Regional, Southwick-Tolland and Palmer, and

in partnership with the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield, Massachusetts

Funded by the U. S. Department of Education

APPLICATION FORM 2007-2008

First Priority given to returning participants whose applications are received no later than August 1, 2007.  New applicants must apply by August 15, 2007, priority given to participating district applications.

Name_____________________________________________________________________________School District______________________________________________________________________

School_____________________________________________________________________________

School Address_____________________________________________________________________

Subject Area (if applicable)________________________________Grade level___________________

Home Address _____________________________________________________________________

Home Phone_____________________ Email_____________________________________________

I would like to be a participant in the American Promises Program 2007-08 at the:

_______Full Participation level

_______Half Participation level

_______Partial Participation level

I have read and agree to the ‘Requirements and Benefits for Participants’ in American Promises:  Teaching American History.

_________________________________________                          _________________________

Signature                                                                                              Date

If you have questions contact your district representative:

Westfield – Steve Hagen        572-6550                                                             Hampshire Regional – Tony Ryan         527-7200

Chicopee – Denise Ruszala    594-3458                                             Southwick-Tolland – Allison LeClair   569-5951 x181                                                                                                           Gateway Regional –  Janice Doppler    685-1003

Palmer – Neil Metcalf    283-2651

Please mail or fax to:  Kathy Wicks, The CENTER, 577 Western Avenue, Westfield, MA  01086. 

Fax (413) 572-8187