The Oakland Unified School
District (CA) will work with
the University of California
Berkeley, Department of History;
the University of California
History-Social Science Project;
the Oakland Museum of California;
and the University of California
Berkeley’s Interactive
University, to engage 5th, 8th,
and 11th grade teachers (those
responsible for teaching American
history in California) in intensive,
content rich, staff development.
The project aims to increase
teachers’ knowledge of
traditional American history
and to improve their ability
to translate this knowledge
into instruction that advances
student understanding and knowledge
of American history as measured
on state of California, district,
and classroom assessments. This
will be accomplished through
a program designed to achieve
the following goals:
1. Measurable improvement
in teacher knowledge and understanding
of traditional American History
2. Measurable improvement
in teacher knowledge and understanding
of how to use historical inquiry
and historical thinking to
deepen student knowledge and
understanding of traditional
American History
3. Measurable improvement
in teacher knowledge of how
to integrate reading, writing,
and history in lessons designed
to improve student academic
and historical literacy skills
4. Opportunities for teachers
to develop and analyze lessons
that translate increased content
and pedagogical knowledge
into effective classroom history
instruction
5. Support the induction of
new teachers, as they take
on the responsibility of teaching
American history.
The grant will cover, over
the course of its three years,
three major themes –1)
biography, 2) the Constitution,
and 3) foreign policy, or, for
5th grade, enhancing critical
reading of historical fiction.
Teachers will attend monthly
meetings, as well as week long
summer institutes. They will
develop an American history
lesson around an instructional
question they want to research
and will share what they learn
at a regional teaching American
history conference, sponsored
by this project, to be held
at the end of the second and
third year of the grant. |
