New Mexico Humanities Council
Contact: Ellen Dornan – Program Officer and National History Day Coordinator New Mexico Humanities Council logo
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.nmhumanities.org/
Grant awarded September 12, 2019
New Mexico Humanities Council (NMHC) is the state affiliate sponsor for National History Day (NHD). NMHC works closely with the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, universities, and municipal libraries to support teachers and students in discovering, accessing, evaluating, and interpreting primary sources. This project will provide teacher professional development to expand the viewpoints of the way Native history is researched and taught through the use of primary source materials. NMHC will develop free online professional development modules, host face-to-face workshops, and distribute classroom materials for social studies teachers in New Mexico and Arizona and NHD teachers nationwide.
University of New Mexico
Contact: Dr. Cheryl Torrez – Associate ProfessorUniversity of New Mexico
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.unm.edu/
Grant awarded August 8, 2016
The University of New Mexico (UNM) has been working closely with the Zuni Public School District (ZPSD) to integrate the Zuni language, culture, and history into the PK-12 curriculum. For the past three years, the UNM School of Education has made a concerted effort to increase the number of Zuni teachers by enrolling eligible candidates in their educational degree programs. The rurality of the Zuni Pueblo makes it nearly impossible for students, educators, and community members to access commonplace and museum based primary sources. This TPS regional grant provided equity of access to the digital primary sources available in the Library of Congress. Through the grant, two 2-day workshops and a 1-day follow-up workshop were held directly at the Zuni Pueblo, presented by master teachers from the TPS Western Region. The direct beneficiaries were elementary teachers, middle-high school teachers, Zuni language instructors/education assistants, and Zuni pottery educators.
Of particular importance to the Pueblo communities are various art forms that are embedded with Indigenous information, knowledge, and meaning. As part of their professional development, participants developed primary source-based lesson plans which will be translated into Zuni and shared within the ZPSD, Zuni Public Library, and the Zuni Museum and Heritage Center. The grant also reached community members from the Cultural Advisory Committee, the Director of the Zuni Museum, and the Director of A:shiwi College and Career Readiness Center.
One the key lessons learned was the importance of TPS instructors being flexible and meeting participants “where they are” in their learning and experience. As Cheryl described, “For example, since many of the participants were unfamiliar with primary sources and the Library of Congress, our workshop facilitator was able to step back and reframe the workshop to meet the needs of participants… Every participant that I’ve spoken to since our final workshop has indicated that they continue to draw upon their learning as they teach.”
University of New Mexico
Contact: Dr. Jonathan Brinkerhoff – Department of Teacher Education University of New Mexico
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://coe.unm.edu
Grant awarded September 18, 2009 and December 3, 2009
The funding from the initial grant was used to organize and implement a two-day workshop for methods instructors, teachers, and technology coordinators in New Mexico. Seventeen educators and technology coordinators were trained by Peggy O’Neill-Jones on October 15-16, 2009. A second grant was awarded to supplement the first by providing a second TPS workshop in February, 2010. The scope was broadened to include more content area teachers and social studies methods instructors, and a greater level of coordination with the state-wide social studies network and other UNM faculty. A total of 44 educators were trained on February 4-5, 2010 by Peggy O’Neill-Jones and Mary Johnson, LOC American Memory Fellow and TPS-Colorado Alumnus.