Project eHIKES: A Kansas TAH Project

US Department of Education TAH Project Directors MeetingSeptember 2006

Master of Arts in History:

• Successes

• Challenges

Initial Planning

• Parsons USD #503 – grantee district• http://www.vikingnet.net

• Assistant Superintendent• Responsible for curriculum

• Planning Meeting with Teachers• Meeting Dates for 2004-2006

• Fall and Spring Colloquia• 2-week Summer Institutes

Southeast Kansas Education Service Center-Greenbush

• Role:• Project Leadership

• Infrastructure

• Logistics

• Paperwork

No Child Left Behind

• “Highly Qualified Teachers”

• Defined by the States• Kansas change of definition

• non-EDU courses • “content-related” courses

PSU Department of History

• Discussions of degree tracks• Thesis• 3-seminars and comprehensive exams

• MA Candidates who had not completed program was an issue

Proposed Solution

• Explore 3rd option – final project to replace comps

• 3 seminars still required• Initial teacher to finish this track not part

of grant

University Collaboration

• Department of History• College of Arts & Sciences

• College of Education• Office of Continuing & Graduate

Studies

• Challenges of Thinking Outside the Box

Rethinking Admission Standards

• More than half of the teachers had earned a social studies teaching degree at PSU

• Elementary and middle school teachers more likely to have elementary certification• Possibility of only one history course

Admission Standards for Non-Majors

• Earn As & Bs in first 9 hours

• Earn A or B in required Historical Research and Historiography Course

Faculty Roles

• PSU Faculty

• Guest Historians

Teacher Leadership Team

• Role of Teacher Leadership Team

• Their Backgrounds

• Leadership Throughout Grant

Yearly Themes

• Introduction to Primary Sources

• Legal and Constitutional History

• Social History

February 2004

• Introduction to Grant

• Guest Historian• Federalist Papers

• Contact Hours • counted as part of summer hours

July 2004

• Agricultural History

• Local History

• Populism• Kansas• William Jennings Bryan

• Documentary Photography• Included Hands-on

July 2004

• Introduction to Primary Sources

• Teacher Blogs

• Article Review Assignments

• Lesson Plan Assignments

• Teacher Presentations

Fall 2004 Online Course

• Historical Research & Historiography

• Required research course

• Taught by graduate director

Attrition

• 3 teachers left before end of first fall semester

• Technology challenging for some• Online courses• Regular email reading/responding

Changes in Professional Development Expectations

• Transition from sit-and-get professional development to teacher active involvement throughout.

November 2004

• In-person hands-on archival research

• National Archives and Records Administration Central Plains Region-Kansas City (session tomorrow)

• Major success given the challenge of any of our MA candidates conducting primary research.

Professional Meetings – 2004/2005

• Memberships in OAH, NCSS, NCHE

• NCSS – Baltimore• 3 teachers

• OAH – San Jose• 3 teachers

• Treating Teachers as Fellow Professionals

• Professional Memberships

• Professional Meetings & Conferences

Spring 2005 Online Course

• Historical Cognition• Laid foundation for future offerings• Inclusion in pre-service methods class• Wineburg, Historical Thinking And Other

Unnatural Acts

• Teacher Inclusion of Historical Cognition Units and/or incorporated throughout teaching and learning

February 2005

• Introduction to Legal & Constitutional History

• Also began work on summer individual research topics at National Archives with archivists

• Voted on summer presentation topics

July 2005

• Legal & Constitutional History

• Supreme Court Cases

• John Brown• Kansas

July 2005

• African-American History

• Harlem Renaissance• Langston Hughes

• Birth of a Nation• Discussion of movies as teaching tools

July 2005

• Research sessions at NARA-KC

• Tours

• Liberty Memorial• Nation’s only museum dedicated to WWI

• 18th & Vine District – KC MO• Jazz Museum• Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

• NARA Connection

Summer 2005 Assignments

• Article Reviews• Continued to use J-STOR

• Online journal databases

• Lesson Plans

• Teacher Presentations

• Teacher Blogs

Fall 2005 Online Course

• Kansas History• Seminar class

• Most teachers not required to take course to earn state licensure but most beginning teachers required to teach it.

November 2005

• Oral History

• Oral History as a Primary Source

Professional Meetings – 2005/2006

• NCSS – Kansas City• More than half attended• 3 presented their work with primary

sources

• OAH – Washington, DC• 3 attended

• 2 returnees, 1 new

Spring 2006 Online Course

• 20th Century America

• Built on Historical Cognition Class

February 2006

• Film as History

• OAH Distinguished Lectureship Bureau

July 2006

• West• Women

• Little House on the Prairie

• 9/11• Middle East• 60s Music• Hands-On

Project Orientation of Year 3

• 3D Exhibits

• PowerPoints

• Teacher Blogs

Conclusions

• Laid foundation for more teacher-friendly MA in History

• Intense Involvement with teachers – multi-faceted/multi-directional learning

• Better relationships with student teacher placements

Benefits for Teachers

• All considered “Highly Qualified Teachers” by the State of Kansas

• MA is biggest move on pay scale

• Integrate primary sources throughout their teaching

• Excited & engaged about American history

Importance of Individuality

• Traditional MA programs usually don’t fit all teachers

• Academic rigor does not have to be sacrificed for program flexibility

• Time (Particularly teacher time)• Outside the semester paradigm

Our Most Important Success