Several UNM history professors have made programmatic adjustments and provided historical expertise for the Teaching American History Program, an Albuquerque Public Schools initiative. The program is made possible by a U.S. Department of Education grant – the Teaching American History Program. Martha Fenstermacher, TAH grant project director, secured the nearly $1 million grant. Fenstermacher earned a master’s in American Studies from UNM in 1986.
Photo: Barbara Sanders
Some APS participating teachers have worked on master’s degrees in history from UNM.
Associate Professor of History Elizabeth Hutchison said, “The TAH program has been a tremendous benefit to the UNM history department, which has always enrolled mostly secondary teachers in the MA.” Hutchison said that it was difficult for the teachers to complete their master’s degrees because of scheduling conflicts, which the department addressed.
Hutchison added, “TAH students are a committed group of students, whose experience as teachers makes them keenly insightful into, and enthusiastic about, historical study at the graduate level. Though few of them will be able to develop MA thesis projects because of severe time constraints, I'm confident that the MA program has allowed them fresh exposure to historical materials and methods that will shape their course designs in years to come. As a mom of APS elementary students, I can think of few better ways for the History Department to contribute to the greater Albuquerque community.”
The TAH teachers also have had the opportunity take part in five-day summer travel and study sponsored by the American Institute for History Education. Sites they visited include Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta/Savannah. “Traveling to D.C. gives New Mexico teachers access to sites on the east coast,” Fenstermacher said.
Barbara Sanders is a TAH teacher from Wilson Middle School. She said that social studies is under fire because of intense focus on math and reading. “What is overlooked is that we teach literacy through history. The students read journals, letters and maps – things that support standards-based assessments,” she said.
“The grant impacts on students across the city. Teachers from every cluster [high school and its feeder schools] are involved in grant activities and share their work and knowledge with peers,” Fenstermacher said. They recently shared what they’ve learned in a Social Studies Fair presented at Montgomery Complex.
“Teachers from elementary through high school came to the fair to learn how to use hands-on materials. The participating teachers showcased their strategies and how they implement use of primary resource materials in the classroom,” Fenstermacher said. She added that although the grant’s focus is on American history, many of the strategies are readily adaptable to world and New Mexico history. The teachers set up and shared with their colleagues how they teach content. UNM College of Education Associate Professor Lynn Oshima attended the fair. She said, “Science teachers can recreate experiments, but there is only one Gettysburg. History and social studies teachers are finding ways to jazz it up – make history real. Programs like this improve the quality of teaching.”
Fenstermacher said that students see history come to life when presented with primary resource materials. “In a lesson about the Civil War they might see a letter from President Lincoln to his wife about money she can spend in New York. He might learn about son Tad’s goat loose in the garden. They learn something about the person behind the office,” she said.
History Professor Virginia Scharff said, “I have been involved with these grants from the beginning, and I think they’re great. It's been a pleasure and an honor to talk to the ‘crème de la crème’ of history teachers, people who are so motivated to get more content and pursue more sophisticated analyses that they seek out these opportunities for intellectual and professional development. Speaking for myself, but I think also for all of us who've participated from UNM, I'm eager to see K-12 teachers do an excellent, professional job of teaching history to their students, and I think this program furthers that goal.”
Last fall, UNM History Professors Frank Szasz and Margaret Connell-Szasz conducted a workshop for the TAH teachers on 20th century history.
“We met at the old National Atomic Museum for Friday all day and Saturday morning, with the teachers touring the Museum in the afternoon. I distributed several handouts – such as Victorian puzzles – that could fit a number of levels. I know that Margaret has had several of the teachers in her graduate seminar, and she spoke well of them. It is a challenge to make history relevant at any level and the focus was on local and regional themes, so as to entice the students into an increased awareness of the past that they encountered every day.”
He added, “The UNM history department has taken the position that we have a duty to serve the needs of New Mexico public school teachers. These programs are means to that end.”
Posted by scarr at October 31, 2009 10:00 AM