Teaching with Primary Sources
The Piedmont Public Schools, in collaboration with Oklahoma Historical Society and the Oklahoma City Zoo, provided professional development workshops to middle school and high school teachers on the use of local and Library of Congress primary sources. Connecting with local organizations gave participants access to experts who helped them discover the vast collection of primary sources available to enrich their classrooms. Using a train-the-trainer model, participants trained other teachers within their schools, sharing their new knowledge with their peers.
Contact: Tara Hixon
Zoom Into Primary Sources (ZIPS)
The purpose of this project awarded to Oklahoma City Zoo and Oklahoma Department of Education was to introduce teachers to the resources of the Library of Congress, particularly those related to animals, conservation, geography, and history. The project conducted a four-day institute for 30 teachers. Teachers worked in teams of two or three, which included one teacher and one librarian from a single school in order to encourage collaboration in primary source activities and lesson plans.
Contact: Amy Stephens
OK Teaching with Primary Sources
This project is a joint effort by the Oklahoma State Department of Education, the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, and the Oklahoma Historical Society. Professional development was provided for ten teams consisting of one in-service teacher and one school librarian during a four-day workshop. Participants were introduced to the integration of primary sources, the Library of Congress digital resources, and Oklahoma historical records repositories resources. The project fostered collaboration as teams worked together to create lesson plans using primary sources. Following the workshop, participants were expected to provide professional development to introduce Library of Congress digital resources to their peers at the school and district levels.
Contact: Elaine Regier
Oklahoma Teaching with Primary Sources (OK-TPS) Project
This project awarded to the Oklahoma Department of Libraries trained ten teams of in-service teachers and school librarians from across Oklahoma. The teams were introduced to the integration of teaching primary sources using the Library of Congress digital resources and Oklahoma historical records repositories’ resources. The teams created lessons using these primary sources, which were also stored on a website. Participants were expected to provide professional development training to introduce the Library of Congress digital resources to their peers at the school and district level. They were also encouraged to present at statewide conferences. Finally, this project provided additional training on the use of the Library of Congress digital resources through various conferences and workshops by focusing on individual topics, such as Westward Expansion.
Contact: Jan Davis