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The Teaching American History Project ~ Mendocino completed its final year on December 21, 2009. The focus of this project was to deliver a three-year program of quality professional development in the content and teaching of traditional American History to forty-five 8th and/or 11th grade teachers. The Mendocino County Office of Education was the LEA and the collaborative partners were Sonoma State University (IHE) and the school districts within Mendocino, Lake and northern Sonoma Counties. The Grace Hudson Museum in Mendocino County was the historical partner in this collaboration.
The project goals and objectives were to:
1) increase traditional American History content knowledge of U.S. History Teachers;
2) improve the quality of curriculum and instruction of traditional American history as a separate academic subject;
3) raise achievement of the students learning traditional American history in the districts by improving quality instruction, curriculum and content literacy skills
4) increase teacher's knowledge and use of technology, including development of a website that supports online communication and dissemination of project efforts beyond the life of the grant; and
5) develop a teacher leaders network capable of sustaining and disseminating project efforts.
During this 2-year cohort, enrollment increased from 26 participants in Year One to 40 participants in Year Two. Thirty-seven participants completed the program since Year One. The average attendance rate for all activities in Year One was 83 percent and in Years Two and Three was 92 percent each year. The participants who served under this grant were employed in public, private, charter or alternative schools and represented 8 counties (Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma, Marin, Napa, Santa Cruz, Solano and Monterey), 21 school districts and 29 schools. Originally, the project was written to serve teachers in Lake, Mendocino and northern Sonoma Counties; however, the number of represented districts increased due in part to many student teachers entering teaching positions in other counties and/or veteran teachers changing assignments.
To meet the project goals and objectives, each year the grant's work was organized around a specific theme. Year One explored the roots of the Founding Democratic Principles and the ways in which they served as an underpinning for American rights and society since the foundation of the republic. Year Two focused on the development and role of Democratic Institutions in American history. Year Three concentrated on America in Global Context with the emergence of the United States as a continental and global power. These content themes provided participants with a perspective into the historical events, people, significant issues and turning points connected across time.
Intensive summer institutes were the primary activity of this project. All institutes included an academic content strand in the morning and an instructional quality strand in the afternoon. The academic content was developed by SSU American History Professors: Dr. Michelle Jolly and Dr. Steve Estes, in consultation with Miriam Hutchins, SSU Professional Development Director. Nancy Case-Rico, SSU Project Literacy Specialist, taught Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) and English Language Learner (ELL) strategies. Three teacher leaders, Eric Wycoll, Janai Meschery, and Nancy Harby, supported this effort.
This project had a strong regional focus to encourage teachers to become familiar with local resources and to work closely with our collaborative partners (historical associations and museums) in identifying resources that illustrate local participation in the larger national historical movements. Each year, field trips were scheduled so that participants could become familiar with local resources that could be integrated into teaching U.S. History.
During the grant period, participants were encouraged to attend lectures and seminars by historians and to attend statewide conferences sponsored by a professional organization that promoted history.
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