Last year The University of Arizona history department joined with the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) on a three-year project to help middle school teachers teach American history.
Twenty-three social studies teachers currently are participating in the “Teaching American History Grant” (TAH). The U.S. Education Department’s Office of Innovation and Improvement awarded the $991,574 grant to TUSD to focus on improving teachers’ content knowledge of American history; improving their pedagogical skills using research-based strategies and methods; and integrating technology into classrooms.
The grant partners include the UA history department, the Arizona Historical Society, Arizona School Services Through Educational Technology, Kids Voting Arizona and Teachers’ Curriculum Institute.
The UA history department offers summer institutes in U.S. history for TUSD teachers. Department faculty teach at the institutes, which are designed to broaden teachers’ knowledge of history while assisting them in developing lesson plans and materials for their courses.
In addition, doctoral students in U.S history act as mentors for teachers in the project. History graduate students Salvador Acosta, Sigma Colon and Katrina Jagodinsky meet bi-weekly with the lead teachers to plan lessons and work on content knowledge.
“The United States history faculty and graduate students who have participated in the TAH project have found the experience rewarding and interesting,” said Karen Anderson, professor in the UA history department and co-principal investigator on the grant. “It has broadened our understanding of public education and has given us a gratifying partnership with TUSD and the lead teachers in the project.”
Yancey Wells, a teacher from Naylor Middle School who attends the UA summer institutes, said the opportunity gives him a chance to speak one-on-one with history professors.
Derek Hamilton, a teacher from Maxwell Middle School, said, “Within all of us, there is a desire to do things better. And this gives you the tools to do that. It ignites the reasons you’re a teacher.”