NAU is helping shape the future of teaching history in northern Arizona schools in collaboration with the Flagstaff Unified School District.<\/p>\n
With support of nearly $1 million from the U.S. Department of Education, the Teaching American History program will offer fourth through 12th grade teachers new methods of and perspectives on teaching history. The competitive grant awarded $115.3 million to 124 school districts nationwide in support of the core academic subject.<\/p>\n
In consortium with 14 northern Arizona school districts including FUSD, NAU will deliver training and mentoring for history teachers that qualifies as continuing education or master\u2019s degree credit. The participating school districts serve approximately 24,000 students, many of whom are in geographically isolated areas including Native American communities.<\/p>\n
A recent survey of the region\u2019s history teachers revealed that 45 percent do not have history degrees, and 17 percent were not considered by district standards as \u201chighly qualified\u201d to teach history. Priority will be given to new teachers, those with little history background and those teaching in struggling schools.<\/p>\n
Aimed at enhancing educators\u2019 ability to engage students in learning and increasing history-related skills, the program will offer teachers continuing education courses centered on viewing history through a \u201clocal-to-global\u201d lens. Courses offered through NAU will include hands-on workshops, field study research, online discussions and content seminars.<\/p>\n
Five history themes to be emphasized in the courses are Learning History by Doing History, From Colonies to the Nation State, Transforming the Moving \u201cWest,\u201d Progressive Era to World War II, and Cold War to 9\/11.<\/p>\n
Charles Connell<\/strong>, chair of the history department at NAU, said the project has the potential to enhance the knowledge and skills of up to 100 teachers over the three-year life of the project.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will have an impact upon countless students who enroll in the courses of these teachers and\u2014we hope\u2014encourage more of them to study history further with a greater understanding of how the local and global are connected over time,\u201d Connell said.<\/p>\n Courses in the Teaching American History program will begin in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"