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COMMUNITY RESOURCES

Picturing America Comes To Austin Public Libraries

gbhzdfbPicturing America, an exhibit at the Austin Public Library through May 2009, tells the story of our nation through art. This program is occurring nationwide in 26,000 schools and libraries who were all successful 2008 grant applicants for the new project.

By bringing high quality reproductions of our country’s finest works of art to Spicewood Springs Branch located in north Austin, and at the downtown John Henry Faulk Central Library, the Austin Public Library offers unique insights into the character, ideals, and aspirations that have shaped America.

Picturing America is the product of the National Endowment for the Humanities and comes to the Austin Public Library with a comprehensive teacher resource book providing a wide range of ideas and background information to support librarians, homeschoolers, and educators in using this exhibit. Educator resources, including lesson plans, are available through the Picturing America Website. PicturingAmerica

The exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information please call 512-974-7400 or visit www.cityofaustin.org/library


CLICK HERE to download flyer.

Professional Development

2008-09 U.S. History Series Continues at E.S.C. Region XIII

Designed to go along with the Teaching American History grant project "The Relevant Constitution" and to align with the TEKS, this series of workshops is open to anyone interested in attending.
RegionXIII
Email Carol Curtiss, Region XIII Social Studies Specialist and TAH Grant Coordinator, for information on how to attend for free - and even receive a stipend and other benefits. Each workshop includes a speaker who is a content expert and strategies or activities for using primary source materials to teach the content.

The U.S. History Series began with,

The Gilded Age - Course #FA0814214

Dr. H.W. Brands, noted historian and professor from UT-Austin was the guest lecturer.

The day's program also included ideas for teaching the Gilded Age and materials.
Click here to register, using the course number(s) provided. To download flyer, click here.

Additional courses in the series will be:


Instructional Resources

 

the Gilder Lehrman Institute of american history

TRAVIS AND LBJ TEACHERS ATTENDED 2008 GILDER LEHRMAN SEMINARS
Murphy at Harvard
This summer, Travis High School social studies teacher Hart Murphy (left) traveled to Harvard University to attend a one-week competitive application seminar entitled "Key Moments in American Freedom,” led by Orlando Patterson, John Cowles Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. The seminar, sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, explored transformations in the concept of liberty throughout different eras in American history.

Melanie Kirchhof from LBJ High School traveled to Columbia University to attend the seminar titled "America Between the Wars" led by Alan Brinkley and Michael Flamm. It explored the period between the end of the "Great War" and the beginning of the "Good War," during which the United States experienced dramatic political, economic, social, and cultural change.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute’s summer seminars are designed to strengthen educators' commitment to high quality history teaching. These week-long seminars provide intellectual stimulation and a collaborative context for developing practical resources and strategies to take back to the classroom.

This year, more than 900 participants from 49 states and 6 foreign countries will take part in one of thirty-two different seminars held in the United States and England. In each seminar, educators work with primary source documents provided by the professors and the Gilder Lehrman Collection. The documents are used by all of the attendees to produce materials that can be brought into their classrooms.
Gilder_Lehrman


2009 SUMMER SEMINARS ANNOUNCED

REGISTER NOW !

The Gilder-Lehrman Institute is pleased to announce the 2009 Summer Seminar schedule. There are forty seminars available this year.
For more information and to apply online, click here.


QUARTERLY ONLINE JOURNAL

The Gilder Lehrman Institute provides a quarterly online journal called History Now, for history teachers and students.

T_Roosevelt

The most recent Issue Seventeen focuses on Theodore Roosevelt & the Progressive Era.

- View stimulating Lessons Plans related to this issue's focus

- Enjoy an interactive segment that examines Theodore Roosevelt's home life

History_NowPREVIOUS ISSUES of History Now:

Issue One, September 2004: Elections

Issue Two, December 2004: Primary Sources on Slavery

Issue Three, March 2005: Immigration

Issue Four, June 2005: American National Holidays

Issue Five, September 2005: Abolition

Issue Six, December 2005: Lincoln

Issue Seven, March 2006: Women's Suffrage

Issue Eight, June 2006: The Civil Rights Movement

Issue Nine, September 2006: The American West

Issue Ten, December 2006: Nineteenth Century Technology

Issue Eleven, March 2007: American Cities

Issue Twelve, June 2007: The Age Of Exploration

Issue Thirteen, September 2007: The Constitution

Issue Fourteen, December 2007: World War II

Issue Fifteen, April 2008: The Supreme Court

includes "15 Court Cases Every High School Student Should Know"


NEW at Gilder-Lehrman : Presidential Debates in History

lincoln
Lincoln, Douglas, and Their Historic Debates
The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of seven joint discussions between Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, and Stephen A. Douglas, a Democrat, held during the summer and fall of 1858 in Illinois. This online exhibition travels through each debate and explains the issues behind this historic contest.

Additional Online Exhibtions

TRAVELING EXHIBITS

Since 1997, the Gilder Lehrman Institute has developed traveling panel exhibitions for display at schools, libraries, and historic sites. Composed of interlocking panels with graphic reproductions of rare documents, images, and interpretive text, these exhibitions circulate nationwide, providing an introduction to critical topics in American history for students, teachers, and the public. Traveling exhibitions are free of charge (shipping included).

MODULES

Be sure to check out Gilder Lehrman's Modules on Major Topics in American History. The modules cover more than twenty topics that correspond to the major periods in American history and take into consideration the history standards, both required and advanced, to which high school students are held.

Each module includes:
1a succinct historical overview
2learning tools including lesson plans, quizzes, and activities
3recommended documents, films, and historic images

 

The Bill of Rights Institute

Bill_of_Rights_InstA Message from The Bill of Rights Institute:

A few reminders from the Bill of Rights Institute ...


Our Being an American Essay Contest, a national competition for high school students, has begun. A student from McCallum High School in Austin ISD was among the winners last year. Have you shared this year's theme with your students?

Our Student Website - "Do You Have the Right" contains new interactive components.

Our newest curriculum, Being an American: Exploring the Ideals that Unite Us, Second Edition, contains an entirely new lesson on the Declaration of Independence, as well as a new on-line lesson.

Our newest eLesson, Presidents and the Constitution, has just been released and we hope you'll agree this topic makes a fine addition to our eLesson series.

Conflict Resolution & United States History

conflict_resolutionConflict Resolution and United States History is a two-volume curriculum package supplement for U.S. history teachers.

It includes 20 case studies of conflicts in American history from the colonial period through the twentieth century. Each volume also includes a CD with primary source documents, overheads, student handout, maps and illustration, as well as a DVD showing middle and high school students role-playing historical figures using conflict resolution skills. Each case study provides a detailed historical background, short biographies of key historical figures, an examination of the issues and perspectives, and an analysis of the consequences, along with questions for discussion and a list of additional resources. It is written for the teacher and you only need one copy per teacher.

STREET LAW INC. LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE

street law logoStreet Law, Inc. has resources to help educators who teach in a variety of settings and subject areas to bring the study of law, democracy, and human rights into their classrooms. Celebrating their 35th Anniversary, they've launched a great new website, putting their resources right at your fingertips. Click here to visit site.

LRE logoEach state has an LRE coordinator to provide teachers and educators with support, resources, and information on available curricula and professional development opportunities. Texas' Director of Law-Related Education is Jan Miller. Jan and her office staff are always ready and able to provide resources and support to our classroom teachers. Contact them at their website: www.texaslre.org

 

ADL presents,"50 Years After Little Rock"

Do You Have the Right
Have you seen The Bill of Rights Institute's Student Website? Featuring audio, video, links, study help, and interactive activities, DoYouHavetheRight.org, provides the kind of interactive, multimedia pages students enjoy.

Little_RockFifty Years after Little Rock, where are we now?

How do the lessons of Brown vs. Board of Education and the Little Rock crisis still resonate in today's legislative landscape?

What does the recent Supreme Court ruling really mean to today's and tomorrow's-public school students?

WoDThis ADL resources provide educators with curriculum lessons and educational resources to assist students in better understanding the school integration landscape,exploring difficult questions about the state of school integration today, and understanding the connection between Brown v. Board of Education, the Little Rock crisis, and the Supreme Court decision on the voluntary school integration plans.

 

11th grade TAKS RESOURCES

Statewide Social Studies TAKS Results for Spring 2008:
On the Exit Level exam, 95% met the Standard across the state
and 36% were Commended.

TAKSThe Texas Education Agency provides the following:

Jeopardy TAKS Review from Texas LRE:

UT System TeleCampus TRACKIn cooperation with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and with funding support from Houston Endowment and the Meadows Foundation, the UT System developed a free online diagnostic and assistance program for the exit-level TAKS test that high school students must pass in order to graduate.The pilot program - called TRACK (TAKS Readiness and Core Knowledge) - is hosted by the UT System TeleCampus and has received more than 5 million hits to the website. Close to 60,000 students have logged on to take the TAKS-like practice tests in math, science, English language arts, and social studies, and about 50,000 have utilized the online learning materials to assist them in their review of the TAKS subject areas where they need the most assistance.

Other District's website resources:flshcrds11

and finally,

we found the Flash Cards (at right) on Houston ISD's Curriculum site to be well done!

Video Resources

HotChalk's
LessonPlansPage now has over 3,500 free lesson plans!

To find lesson plans that match your criteria, begin by selecting a subject, recent additions, or seasonal lessons, or search for specific topics.


Visit the parent site, HotChalk.com for free online teacher tools and thousands of additional teacher resources.

HotChalk

Network Providing Commercial-Free History Programs

History channelThe History Channel Classroom is an hour long, commercial-free, copyright cleared programming block that airs Monday through Friday from 5-6 am CT.

To select from a list of Classroom Study Guides, click here.

 

Web Resources

HTM Historical Thinking Matters is a great website focusing on key topics in U.S. history, that is designed to teach students how to critically read primary sources and how to critique and construct historical narratives. Resources for educators offer classroom materials and strategies, examples of student and teacher work, and supplementary sources. A project of the Center for History and New Media, George Mason University, and School of Education, Stanford University.

Smithsonian HIstory ExplorerSmithsonian’s History Explorer was developed by the National Museum of American History in partnership with the Verizon Foundation to offer hundreds of free, innovative online resources for teaching and learning American history.

National History Ed Clearinghouse

The Center for History and New Media has just publicly launched a massive, multi-year project and website: the National History Education Clearinghouse.

With major funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the Clearinghouse is designed to help K-12 history teachers access resources and materials to improve U.S. history education in the classroom. The project builds on and disseminates the valuable lessons learned by more than 800 Teaching American History projects, which the Dept. of Ed’s Office of Innovation and Improvement underwrote to raise student achievement by improving teachers’ knowledge and understanding of traditional U.S. history.

YellowPages_US The Yellow Pages: We DO American Studies - This directory highlights the most outstanding educational websites for use by teachers and students of American Studies. The sites assembled represent a vast array of educational materials and make superior use of web technology.

They are grouped into the five categories:

  • Comprehensive Sites
  • Topic-Specific Sites
  • Course-Specific Sites
  • Online Atlases
  • Museum Sites


    "To help us think, talk and teach about the rights and responsibilities of citizens in our democracy, we invite you to explore 100 milestone documents of American history. These documents reflect our diversity and our unity, our past and our future, and mostly our commitment as a nation to continue to strive to 'form a more perfect union.'"

    Download "Our Documents" Teacher Sourcebook

     

    The Presidential Timeline was designed and developed by the Learning Technology Center in The University of Texas at Austin College of Education, in conjunction with the nation's 12 Presidential Libraries. Educational activities for the Presidential Timeline focus on using original documents, photographs, audio and video to provide students with an in depth understanding of historical events related to the presidents.

    The National Archives Digital Classroom includes information for educators related to teaching with primary sources, lesson plans, information for students, and information on teacher workshops at the National Archives and Records Administration.  Be certain to investigate ARC to learn more about using the National Archives' historical documents to enrich a classroom activity, a homework assignment, or a research project.

    Historical TextA collection of primary documents grouped by topic and by time period.

     

    A.P. Briefs

    CollegeBoard.comAP United States History Course Home Page

    AP Courses and Exams Under Review

    While the current content of the AP Exams represents the rigor and scope of material typically found in college courses nationwide, and thus accurately gauges the readiness of high school students to receive placement into higher-level college courses, the College Board sees opportunities for continuous improvement of the AP Exams. Accordingly, the College Board has worked closely with educators from colleges, universities, and secondary schools to implement a new model for regularly reviewing the AP Exams to ensure that they continue to measure the highest standards in teaching and learning, while providing greater flexibility and support for teachers seeking to deepen their students' learning experiences even further. At this time, the review is complete for the AP courses in science and history, and all AP subject areas will regularly and iteratively move through this process of review and improvement as well.

    The review of the AP Exams in science and history has resulted in a recommendation to improve these exams, reducing the breadth of content covered and reducing the emphasis on memorization of facts, and instead requiring a greater depth of study among a smaller number of topics, emphasizing inquiry and scientific reasoning. Accordingly, changes will occur in the AP Exams in science and history beginning at the earliest with the May 2011 exams. Between now and then there is much work to do to ensure that we share and discuss the improvements with the AP teaching community and higher education faculty; develop and offer new resources; conduct professional development courses, workshops, and institutes; and distribute practice exams. The College Board will notify textbook publishers so that they might offer supplemental resources. The need to ensure that all AP teachers have adequate time to understand and incorporate the improvements into their own curriculum necessitates that we not embed these changes in an actual AP Exam until, at the earliest, May 2011.

    The AP History Course/Exam Review project is identifying the following, which it will share with the AP community by fall 2008:

    The College Board will use these findings to create an overall AP course experience with the following goals:

    This approach was presented at the AP Annual Conference in July 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you have questions about the course and exam review process, please view the following presentation