Program Description:
Teaching American History in the Heartland is a Teaching American History Grant funded by the US Department of Education that provides intensive professional development opportunities through Summer 2011 focusing on US history for middle and high school in the Andover school district. All activities integrate the Kansas State Standards and numerous opportunities to work toward being "highly qualified" are provided to teachers through the professional development and graduate credit options made available throughout the project.

Services we offer:
Three spring and summer institutes include historians and educational specialists presenting materials along with teacher collaboration and implementation time. One online class is offered in the fall of 2009 and another will be offered in fall 2010 through Pittsburg State University. The upcoming spring seminars will allow teachers the opportunity to more closely explore major historical works and meet once a month.

Grant partner Gilder Lehrman also provides the teachers with a variety of primary source materials, including those on their website, and access to nationally-ranked speakers. Another partner is the National Archives and Records Administration that will allow teachers access to infinite resources related to Kansas, the region, and the nation.

How does this benefit schools:
Teachers participating in this project learn more about American history as a content field along with content-specific teaching strategies to implement their enhanced knowledge into their classrooms.  Continual feedback and evaluation by teachers will be utilized to best meet the needs of teachers participating in the program. Because of grant funding, the teachers will have to opportunity to work with nationally-ranked historians to learn more history and learn how to apply this enhanced content knowledge in history to their classroom. The teachers will also get help in aligning all the activities with the Kansas State Standards.

Contact Information:
Jim Rodman, Program Director
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Julie Sneed, Project Assistant
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