Tennessee

• East Tennessee State University

  Addressing Social Studies Marginalization in Elementary Grades by Teaching with Primary Sources

  This project was designed by East Tennessee State University to address social studies marginalization in the elementary grades by embedding Library of Congress skills and resources into teacher preparation coursework and associated clinical practices. Teacher candidates learned to scaffold historical thinking skills through visual literacy practices for K-5 learners to appropriately interpret and evaluate primary sources, including those enriched in the geography, history, culture, and peoples of the local Appalachian region. Further, this project cultivated mutually beneficial partnerships with local elementary schools, leveraging the field experience as a parallel professional development opportunity grounded in teaching with primary sources for teacher candidates, mentor teachers, and university faculty.

  Contact: Matthew Hensley

• East Tennessee Historical Society

  A Look at History: Revising Content, Strategies, and Teacher Professional Development

  The East Tennessee Historical Society collaborates with Middle Tennessee State University and Knox County Schools to identify a pilot cohort of 8th grade social studies teachers from Appalachian urban and rural schools. The key goals of the project are to identify student gaps and needs; to revise resources to meet C3 Framework inquiry design and assess for effective classroom instruction; and to design a responsive model of professional development delivery that will be used in future trainings. The project is a combination of in-person and Zoom sessions.

  Contact: Lisa Oakley

• University of Memphis

  Teaching Memphis School History Project

  The Teaching Memphis School History Project at The University of Memphis supports the professional development needs of pre-service and in-service teachers. The participants work with local school desegregation activists to collectively develop an inquiry-based, context-specific, and culturally relevant curriculum that supports children’s historical knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Ultimately, this program provides a model for how other communities might collectively develop lessons about school desegregation and its role in the Civil Rights Movement through the experiences and voices of the people most affected by it—the students.

  Contact: Anna Falkner

• Tennessee History Day

  Educators' Guide to Teaching with Primary Sources and Tennessee History Day

  The Tennessee Historical Society and Tennessee History Day have been awarded a grant for the creation of a guidebook and workshop series to assist educators in successfully incorporating Library resources and tools with the National History Day framework into their classroom setting. Through the guidebook and workshop series, Tennessee History Day will assist educators in increasing the number and diversity of Library resources used in their classroom instruction, demonstrate activities designed to teach analytical and interpretive skills, overview the structure of the National History Day program, and give guidance on how to assist students in creating higher quality projects using Library resources. The guidebook will be available as a hard copy and in a digital format. Workshops will be a mixture of online and in-person.

  Contact: Nikki Ward

• University of Tennessee

  Forming School/University Partnerships to Learn and Teach with Primary Sources

  This 18-month project supported the University of Tennessee’s Social Sciences Education program, which partnered pre-service teachers with practicing teachers in Knox County. Working with social studies teachers, teacher candidates identified areas of the curriculum that lacked robust primary sources and developed lesson plans. Teacher candidates worked with practicing teachers in delivering the lessons to gain authentic experience as students used primary sources. Social studies teachers and teacher candidates learned about teaching with primary sources and effective mentorship practices, which extended into the academic year while mentors and mentees collected data and reflected on their collaboration and instruction using primary sources.

  Contact: Anthony Pellegrino