| Houston History Teacher Selected for Library of Congress Program Jacqueline Mathers Selected for Library of Congress Program
Mrs. Jacqueline Mathers, Houston High School History teacher, has been selected to participate in the Teaching with Primary Sources program which is sponsored by the Library of Congress and the National Archives. “The Teaching with Primary Sources Program works with colleges and other educational organizations to deliver professional development programs that help teachers use the Library of Congress's rich reservoir of digitized primary source materials to design challenging, high-quality instruction.” (source) Using primary documents (documents from the time) is one of Mrs. Mathers’ passions and was the subject of her master's thesis. According to Jacqueline, “It allows students to arrive at their own conclusions using the documents that the makers of their history books use and allows them to take more ownership of their learning, fosters greater critical thinking and analytical thought, and brings the history class to life, eliminating the often omniscient voice of the historian and allowing students to have an intellectual debate with the material. “ Area teachers applied for the program by answering a series of questions, essentially writing an essay, on why primary document use is important in the social studies classroom. A select few were chosen and qualified for the honor of working with actual tangible documents to create lesson plans that could be used throughout the country and be featured on the Library of Congress and National Archives websites.  As a selected member of this program, Jacqueline will be attending the Fostering Historical Thinking and Imagination through Primary Source Instruction workshop facilitated by Jim Schul, Ph.D. The workshop is designed to instruct teachers on how to navigate the Library of Congress website and how to teach historical inquiry through written documents, political cartoons, audio clips and desktop documentary making. The program also will facilitate the design of lesson plans and provide teachers with a web-based resource. Participants from across the area will also benefit from the opportunity to network with one another and share best practices. (source)Congratulations Mrs. Mathers - our students are fortunate to have an awesome teacher like you who goes the extra mile for your students! |
Back |