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On June 25th and 26th, 2015, the TPS Western Region<\/a>, Northwest Regional Education Service District (NWRESD<\/a>), and the Library of Congress collaborated together to offer a workshop for 16 teachers and librarians in Hillsboro, Oregon. Leading the discussion was retired K-12 teacher and current educational consultant and adjunct professor at the University of Portland School of Education, Peter Pappas<\/a>, and Professional Development Coordinator for NWRESD and Library of Congress American Memory Fellow, Marta Turner. Their goal was to create instructional strategies and innovative lesson plans for teachers surrounding the theme of \u201cThe Student as Historian\u201d and produce an iBook for virtually anyone interested in primary sources that could be downloaded for free.<\/p>\nThe idea for teaching students how to be the historian came to Pappas when he walked into an art classroom next door to his. \u201cI realized that if Tom taught art the way I taught history, then his students would be sitting in rows watching him paint….Just as Tom was teaching his students how to think and behave like artists, I needed to figure out how to get my students to be the historian.\u201d For Pappas, it isn\u2019t about just teaching students facts, it\u2019s about improving the quality of teaching and fostering innovation in his students.<\/p>\n
In the spirit of \u201cflipped instruction,\u201d teachers were asked to orient themselves with the Library of Congress collections in an online pre-course in order to \u201cleverage on-site time for collaboration\u201d and designing lessons, said Pappas. Pappas and Turner\u2019s hope was to use free services so that teachers might potentially use the tools from the workshop for their own classroom in the future. They used Versal which is a learning management system\u00a0tool and \u201cprovides for easy import of a variety of other web tools with a simple drag and drop,\u201d including Disqus forums, YouTube videos, and collaborative Google Docs. Gauging from the level of discussion and comments within the pre-course<\/a>, it was a huge success.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen students are involved as local historians, their studies go beyond textbook abstractions into detailed examinations of topics,\u201d mentions Turner. Students can \u201ccreate their own [collection] of primary sources [which] moves students from dull abstractions to deep learning,\u201d and, \u201ccreates an intelligent and informed citizenry,\u201d where \u201cstudents become more involved in the community and more interested in the world around them.\u201d<\/p>\n And while history is the focus, newer forms of technology can be integrated in the classroom as both a learning strategy as well as real world preparation using 21st century skills. Both Pappas and Turner agree that utilizing the vast amount of free online learning and collaboration tools allows for \u201cstudents to become producers,\u201d and \u201ccontribute to the body of knowledge on the Internet.\u201d Connecting students with primary sources through the use of educationally relevant technology is really all about engaging students on their level and allowing them to learn from the source in their own way. \u201cWe both recommend using Google Apps for classroom collaboration, website development, and information sharing.\u201d<\/p>\n After the professional development workshop, Pappas pulled together all of the lesson plans and resources that were created by the 16 teachers into one easy-to-use and informative iBook and PDF. From creating an iBook in the past, \u201cRecruiting Rosie<\/a>\u201d, it reinforced to Pappas, \u201cthe human dimension of primary sources and reminds me that new technology has turned us all into documentarians that produce the primary sources for tomorrow historians,\u201d a fact that he always reminds his own students of.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Marta Turner: <\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI had the experience of working with Gerard Gawalt and examining primary sources from the George Washington collection<\/a>. Washington wrote down several rules or aspirations he wanted to follow. He commented in his journal that he knew he was to do something great in his life, but he didn\u2019t know yet what he had been reserved for. Look what happened!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/tpswesternregion\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/476\/2021\/05\/IMG_0494-300x225-1.jpeg\")
To compliment their introduction to online learning in Versal, during the workshop, teachers collaborated using Google Slides as well as participated in a Google Hangout<\/a> with Dr. Adam Franklin-Lyons, associate professor of history at Marlboro College. The purpose of the Hangout was to help teachers understand how historians think and use primary sources in their research.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/tpswesternregion\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/476\/2021\/05\/IMG_0483-225x300-1.jpeg\")
This idea is mirrored in the ITSE standards as well, which requires teachers to implement and experiment with technology in the classroom. If students are expected to use technology in the classroom, then \u201cteachers need to learn how to lead in this area,\u201d says Turner. Students often adapt faster than teachers, but once teachers realize that technology can be used to not only enhance the learning experience but also to organize and streamline their lesson plans and save them time and money, then the edtech integration has done what it is supposed to do.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/tpswesternregion\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/476\/2021\/05\/cover225x225.jpeg\")
\u201cThe Student as Historian\u201d includes 13 different primary source lesson plans taken from Library of Congress resources and is available as an iBook<\/a> through iTunes as well as a PDF<\/a>.<\/h4>\nAs for their favorite primary source?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Peter Pappas: <\/strong><\/p>\n