PFI
is gearing up for the first workshop of the 2007 season. We begin with a
distance learning version of the Earth and Environmental Science for Middle and
High School Teachers on February 24th. (Note that this date is two weeks later
than that published in our Fall newsletter in order to allow completion of our
registration upgrade.) Modeled on our popular summer workshop, the distance
learning workshop covers the same basic information, but does so in an online,
computer-based format. Participants meet at Brevard
College
on the 24th to receive basic instructions on the course format and
website, identification and login information, and lessons, activities, and
take-aways in hard copy. The course then runs for 8 weeks, with new postings
each week, and ends on April 20th. Approximately 15 people are
already registered for the course, but we are able to host up to 24. Register
at our new website, www.pisgahforestinstitute.org
.
The new registration and website appear to be working
smoothly as we register the first wave of participants for both the distance
learning and summer workshops. Registration for all workshops is now open.
Participants should find the registration process to be a little easier than in
the past, but the biggest changes are behind the scenes. With both the website
and its registration pages upgraded, PFI
staff members are able to better track numbers of participants in each
workshop, more quickly respond to queries regarding the workshops, and store,
retrieve, and manipulate workshop data. The new registration system is better
integrated with the participant database, which improves our ability to manage
the data. In order to fully utilize the
new website, Ryan McCormack, curriculum coordinator for PFI,
is enrolled in an online tutorial for Dreamweaver, the website software. Kevin
Fischer, operations manager for PFI,
is enrolled in a course for Microsoft Access, the software we use to manage all
our databases.
Kevin was also certified this past fall as a qualified
compost professional by the Carolinas Composting Council. He participated in the week-long Carolinas
Composting Council’s Compost
School
held in Raleigh.
PFI
hopes to work with the faculty and administration of Brevard
College
to set up composting on our campus, and then use the information learned as a
model for teaching a workshop on composting at other school campuses. Because
minimizing environmental impact by composting of biodegradable wastes is a
personal interest to both Kevin and Jennifer (as well as previous PFI
employee Jessica Sharp), we hope to build a long-term, sustainable relationship
with Brevard
College
and its cafeteria management company to create a workable system that can be
demonstrated for other public and private schools.
With the beginning of a new semester at Brevard
College,
several new student interns have joined PFI.
Austin Brodfuhrer, a junior majoring in Environmental Studies, worked during
the fall semester and will stay for the spring semester as well. With a special
interest in photography, he has already worked to catalogue digital images from
last summer’s workshops and acquire more. He will continue to use his
photographic skills to assist us in creating materials for marketing, advertising,
notebooks, and general office functions.
Hayley Lawrimore, a senior in Environmental Studies, joined us this
spring. Because her interest is in environmental education, she will be
involved in most every aspect of workshop preparation, from preparing lessons
and activities to locating supplies and take-aways. Ryan Fiffick, a freshman,
has a special interest in astronomy and will be working to develop an Astronomy
workshop for the fall of 2007. Devin Gentry, a senior majoring in Environmental
Studies with a minor in Geology, will be focusing on the geological concepts of
each workshop. We are excited about working with all these Brevard
College
students, who we hope will be as productive and helpful as those student
interns who came before them.
PFI's website is located at www.brevard.edu/pfi.
KceeI is anxiously awaiting the arrival of its 2007
brochures. They are currently at the
printers and should be in our hands by the end of this month. We hope to increase the amount of brochures
that we mail this year in the hopes of reaching a broader spectrum of
teachers. KceeI is also going to send
about 200 of its brochures to each of the other institutes, Pisgah Forest Institute and the Pacific Forest Institute,
and they will do the same. This is a
great way to cross-sell the programs that all three institutes offer.
Online registration began this week for two KceeI courses, Alternative Forest Products (March 10)
and Amphibians and Reptiles (April
11). A letter was sent out to all past
participants informing them of this and letting them know that registration for
the five other KceeI courses will open on February 5. The five other courses are: Watershed Explorers (June 17-22), Astronomy (June 17-22), Forests and Society (July 15-20), Geology of Northeastern PA (July
22-27), and Exotic and Invasive Species
(July 22-25). KceeI lets past participants
have priority to early registration before the brochure is released. We feel that this is a great way for word to
spread about our courses. We also send
multiple copies of the brochure to each past participant in hopes that they
will be passed around to other teachers in their schools.
KceeI’s current priorities are preparing for the 2007
courses. This includes locking in
facilitators, scheduling campus resources, working with food service, ordering
materials, and reserving buses for field trips.
KceeI has also been busy exploring different avenues for the continued
success of the program. A number of
scenarios have been developed and are being explored as potential ways to
support the restructuring of the program.
KceeI continues to remain hopeful and confident in the future of the
institute.
On Tuesday, January 9, a session of the Environmental Forum
- Community Connections to Our Watershed program was held at Keystone College.
There were almost 100 high school students that participated in this
event. Three different sessions were
organized throughout campus and three groups of about 30 each rotated among
them. At the Water Resource Center, Tim Eichner, Assistant Director of
KceeI, held a session on GPS applications. Dr. Robert Cook, Keystone College Professor and
hydrogeologist, held a session on well-water and Angela Lambert, DCNR
Environmental Education Specialist at the Lackawanna State Park, conducted the
other session on acid mine drainage.
Nora Dillon, Operations Coordinator for KceeI,
continues to research new educational materials for the courses. One new resource that KceeI is excited to
offer the 2007 Forests and Society
course is a book called Breaking New
Ground. It is an autobiography of
Gifford Pinchot, the father of forestry in America.
This book will be an excellent accompaniment with the tour of Grey Towers, home of Gifford Pinchot, which is
part of the field trip for this course.
Just a reminder…
KceeI’s
website is located at www.KceeI.keystone.edu
Pacific Forest Institute
We held a December 11th staff meeting at William
Jessup University (WJU) that also included field representative Brian Jensen of
Congressman Doolittle’s office; Lisa Perry California Forest Product’s
Commission (CFPC) and WJU Vice President Kay Llovio.
The meeting included the following important issues:
- Review
of the 2006 programs with an agreement that the sessions had gone very
well. At the same time we will make some adjustments based on the good
ideas from our ERC
retreat and “lessons-learned” at each of the two summer sessions.
- Key
elements to improve the PFI
marketing plan. Basic to this will be the assistance by Lisa Perry through
Talk About Trees (TAT). This CFPC sponsored program is provided to
classrooms throughout California
and will provide excellent contacts to many teachers by enclosure of PFI
brochures with the TAT information
- Review
of the three one-day Saturday sessions that will be provided at WJU in
February and March.
- Finalization
of our two summer sessions; June 24-29 and July 15-20, 2007.
- The
possibility that one, or two nights/days of the program will be at Lake
Tahoe.
- The
potential of obtaining a keynote speaker for the first day of each
session.
- The
final details for the 2007 PFI
brochures.
- Final
review of the 2007 budget and narratives.
Now, PFI
staff will be working on preparation for the 2007 programs that promise to be
outstanding.
For updated
information on the Pacific Forest Institute, please visit our website at:
http://www.jessup.edu/academics/pacificforestinstitute.
Please visit www.ercbroadband.org for more
information.
Western
North Carolina
PROPEL Workshop Series
“Empower,” the fifth workshop in the PROPEL professional
development series, provides school librarians and media specialist with the
opportunity to collect primary sources around a specific topic to create a
pathfinder and instructional activity with a classroom teacher.
The Empower workshop begins with the activity “Presidents as
Expert Leaders.” This activity serves as
a model throughout the different components of the day. The morning session of Empower consists of a
discussion about pathfinders and their use with primary sources. Participants then direct their attention to a
review of the Big6 model to help plan a primary source-based activity using
“Presidents as Expert Leaders” as the example.
Next, participants are guided through how to locate primary sources for
a specific activity.
In the afternoon session, participants create a pathfinder
of primary source items that will be used to develop an activity that media
specialist will collaborate on with a classroom teacher from their school. Participants collect the primary source items
in a MS Word document table that has the required fields of item name, credit
line, collection, permanent URL, suggested instructional use, and a thumbnail
image. Participants also plan and begin
creating an exhibit board for the last workshop of the series, Launch. The exhibit board will display the printed
copies of the primary sources collected for the pathfinder. The boards will contain the instructional
activity that is created as a summation of the pathfinder items.
“Launch,” the sixth and final session of the PROPEL workshop
series, is a time of celebration. PROPEL
participants invite their principals and curriculum specialists to this “graduation”
of sorts. The school librarians and
media specialist bring their completed exhibit boards and instructional
activities. The invited guests view the
gallery of exhibits and the participants explain their collaborative instructional
activities. Keynote speaker, Gail
Buckner, Director of Media Services and Instructional Technology for Buncombe
County Schools, addresses the audience about changing the culture of learning
in schools and school districts. Using
illustrated children’s literature to explain the point, she keeps the audience
laughing while delivering a message of positive change, and that change begins in
the place where all students are touched:
the school media center or library.
At the completion of Launch, all participants are awarded
3.0 CEUs and certification as a Primary Source Specialist. With this added level of expertise in the
school, AAM
hopes to demonstrate, through PROPEL, that:
- School
libraries and media centers are an extension of the classroom;
- School
librarians and media specialists are a vital link for teachers in
curriculum integration; and
- Teaching
and learning become inquiry-based and constructive.
The PROPEL workshop series is being offered once again to Western
North Carolina media specialists and school
librarians for the spring semester.
Introducing Primary Sources – An Online
Professional Development Tool
Introducing Primary Sources is completed and in the piloting
stage. Brian
Bartlett, Montreat College’s AAM
Program Technical Support Specialist, and Bonnie
Jensen, AAM
Online Education’s Instructional Designer, introduced the tool to the Launch
workshop participants in the PROPEL series at Montreat College and Brevard
College. They are pleased to report the positive response from the media
specialists.
The lesson is now being piloted with educators and library
professionals. This online lesson will provide media specialists a tool to use
with classroom teachers when introducing the why and how of incorporating
primary source materials in the classroom.
The beta version of Introducing Primary Sources is available
online at http://www.aamonline.org/primary.htm.
More information about PROPEL is available at www.aamprogram.org and at www.aamlearning.org. Also, the Western
North Carolina partner AAM
program Web sites are:
http://www.mhc.edu/aamind/
http://aam.montreat.edu/
http://aam.wcu.edu
http://www.brevard.edu/aam/
Barat
Education Foundation
Barat Foundation has been busy with workshops and project
implementation. Since the last update,
several new projects have been launched, summarized below.
|
 Abraham Lincoln & Me Activity
Book
(K-3)
Capture students' imaginations with this fun-filled, cross-discipline
activity book that helps them learn about Abraham Lincoln and make
connections between this famous president and themselves.
|
|
|
 Presidential Portraits (4-6)
Engage students using digital photos. They'll learn some new and interesting
facts about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, as well as themselves,
when they consider what it means to be presidential.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Print
Advertising Across the Centuries (6-12)
Advertisements showcase products and the latest technology while reflecting
life and society as we know it, or wish it to be. Using illustrations and
their own imaginations, students analyze and compare and contrast historical,
contemporary, and hypothetical print advertisements of the future.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 The Star Spangled Banner: The Story &
the Song
(K-3, 4-6 )
Primary-source, multimedia presentations and hands-on, engaging coloring
activities will help younger students to learn the lyrics to our national
anthem while also broadening their understanding of key events in our
nation's history.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Additionally, Barat AAM
staff have learned that online learning is not loved by teachers, but they do
find it worthwhile when they stick with it.
Given their love of classroom learning, this is not unexpected, but it
is a cultural issue that must be carefully considered as the program moves
forward. To date, about 1,000 teachers have
dabbled in the online learning, and more than 300 teachers complete all
requirements of their modules.
The first five students have completed the entire Barat
Program and received three Master’s Credits.
These teachers have learned how to use the LOC online resources and have
completed significant projects with their students. Their teacher plan and student work was
submitted back to the Foundation, and staff are excited by what is happening in
the classroom.
Barat staff are currently enhancing the workshops to meet
the goals of the new Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program and preparing
for a full compliment of workshops this summer.
Barat’s AAM
program Web site is located at: www.americanmemory.org.
DePaul University
DePaul
University
transitioned to the TPS program in October.
The program is progressive and includes two levels of professional development:
a foundation level (minimum time
commitment nine hours) and advanced level (time commitment 12 hours). Any participant who completes both levels of
training or has completed a minimum of 21 hours of professional development is
eligible to apply for the Ambassador Program.
Participants in the Ambassador Program are provided a laptop for use
during the program. The participants
keep the laptop upon completion of the program requirements.
DePaul continues to reach out to schools for onsite professional
development sessions. Several schools
from the Chicago Public Schools (CPS)
were added to the program and two suburban high school districts are working on
dates to secure their participation in the program.
Several syllabi were generated from the AAM
Phase III
faculty development program and are now on DePaul’s AAM/TPS
Web site. Student work from the faculty
development program will be scanned for placement on the Web site.
DePaul’s AAM
program Web site is located at: http://aam.depaul.edu/.
Fayetteville Technical Community College & Wingate University
December 18 marked the final in-class session for the 2006-07
Congressional Scholars (CS) of the Wingate
University
cohort. The teachers will begin their
mentor projects in the spring of 2007.
Each teacher will mentor at least one teacher in his/her school or
district in order to pass along the information gleaned during the fall of
2006: the use of primary resources in
the classroom through the aid of American Memory and how to best employ
technology in the curriculum and pedagogical techniques. The CS instructors anticipate an effective
and exciting semester of mentoring for the teachers in the cohort.
FTCC’s AAM
program Web site is located at: http://www.faytechcc.edu/scholars/.
Wingate’s AAM
program Web site is located at:
http://www.aamprogram.org/introduction/aam_partners_detail.aspx?id=9
Illinois State University
Things continue to go well for the AAM
program at Illinois
State
University.
The fall graduate level semester course entitled “Teaching with Primary Sources”
was just completed. Participates join the many others who find the Library of
Congress Web site a fantastic resource for teaching and learning.
The ISU-AAM
staff is working on a joint project entitled “Forever Young: Abraham Lincoln’s
Journey to Emancipation.” This traveling exhibit is sponsored by the National
Endowment for the Humanities. Project partners include ISU’s Milner Library,
local public libraries, the ISU History Department, David
Davis
Mansion,
and the local Children’s Discovery
Museum.
Staff will identify learning experiences and primary sources related to Lincoln’s
journey and make them available from the ISU-AAM
Web site.
ISU’s AAM
program Web site is located at: http://www.mlb.ilstu.edu/aam.
Loyola University
Loyola AAM
staff have been quite busy these past few weeks with many changes, including
the addition of new team members. In November,
Kris Maldre accepted the position as Assistant Director. Mousumi Mukherjee joined the team in January
and will be the partner’s Administrative Assistant.
Kris and Mousumi are extraordinary additions to both the
Loyola team and the program.
Kris’ experiences range from a social sciences secondary
teacher to outreach specialist in the academic and nonprofit arena. She has also worked with teachers and
students in primary source education at the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison. She was a leader in “History Day” training
and instruction as well. Further, Loyola
is excited about Kris’ considerable technology background and knowledge.
Mousumi comes to the program with a background in English
and comparative literature. In addition
to working with the program, Mousumi also teaches Hindi and Urdu classes
part-time at Loyola University Chicago.
She also continues her own education with graduate courses in the
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program at Loyola. Mousumi has much to offer the Loyola team and
the program.
Along with staff additions, further groundwork for the
upcoming AAM/TPS
transition is being laid. Area maps,
contact networks, resource projects, and instructional concept designs have
been discussed and drawn up. For
example, one project Loyola is working on is a resource packet for teachers
which will include Chicago-based primary sources from the Library of Congress Web
site. The packets will serve to help
teachers who would like to search the LOC Web site for resources, but do not
have the time to search. As such, these
resources will be excellent timesavers for teachers looking for primary source-based
items to use in the classroom without delay.
This packet is only one of many projects in development with the Loyola
program. On a similar line, Loyola’s TPS Strategic Plan is being finalized and
should be approved very soon.
Loyola’s AAM
Web site is located at: http://www.luc.edu/schools/education/aam/index.shtml.
Metropolitan State College of Denver
Librarian Days 2007
On February 23 and 24, AAM-Colorado,
in conjunction with the Auraria Library and the Denver Newspaper Agency, will
host the third annual Librarian Days, “Educating the Digital Learner: 21st
Century Learning, Literacy and Thinking.” This two-day event offers educators
from across the state of Colorado
the opportunity to learn about the Library of Congress’ American Memory Web
site and instructional applications for using digital resources in the
classroom.
Instructional professionals throughout Colorado
are invited to attend a full day of presentations free of charge on Friday and
bring a teacher of their choice. AAM-Colorado
will provide a continental breakfast, lunch, and parking. Substitute
reimbursement is also available to the first 100 educational teams. Senator
Wayne Allard
is tentatively scheduled to speak.
On Saturday, all educators are welcome to sign up for one or
two half-day workshops also free of charge. There will be a drawing and raffle
on both days. For the past two years, Librarian Days has been widely acclaimed
and highly successful. Staff look forward to another exciting and informative
event.
Colorado
Council for the Social Studies
Dr. Laura McCall, MSCD Professor of History, Susan Joseph,
Visiting Professor of Education, and AAM-Colorado
Director Peggy O’Neill-Jones are scheduled to present “Discovering, Inquiring
and Applying Digitized Primary Resources in the Classroom” at the Colorado
Council for the Social Studies conference on March 9 at the Hyatt Regency Tech
Center in Denver.
Rocky Mountain PBS Presents “Teaching
with Media and Primary Sources” Workshops
AAM-Colorado
will team up with Rocky Mountain PBS to present three free one-day workshops
designed to introduce the LOC American Memory Web site and the Rocky Mount PBS
TeacherLine to all K-12 Colorado educators. Analyzing primary sources such as
text, documents, images, audio and video, and using secondary source video from
Rocky Mountain PBS will be demonstrated and discussed. The workshops will be
held on January 23, February 13, and February 27.
Partnership with Jefferson
County
School District
AAM-Colorado
and Jefferson County School District, the largest district in the state, plan
to implement a program “to improve teachers’ appreciation for and knowledge of
traditional American history through intensive, ongoing professional
development” after the district received a three-year, $950,198 Teaching
American History grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Read more at http://www.mscd.edu/~collcom/artman/publish/aamco_twv3062106.shtml.
AAM-Colorado
Fellows
AAM-Colorado
Fellows continue their activities on behalf of the program. Michelle Pearson hosted
a special on-location AAM-Colorado
Workshop for Adams District 12 in November and will make a presentation on
“Social Networking,” as well as teach a workshop called “Lincoln’s Letters”
during the upcoming Librarian Days Event in February; Donna Levene taught a Workshop
for Loveland’s Thompson School District and will present the “Library of
Congress American Memory” at Librarian Days; Mary Johnson will host the
“Historic Newspaper Project” during Friday’s Librarian Days presentations and
hold a workshop on “Mastering American Memory…and More” on Saturday; and Cindy
Stout is busy preparing our collaboration with the Jefferson County School
District’s Teaching American History Grant project partnership.
Spring Workshops Begin
Starting mid-January AAM-Colorado
American Memory Workshops begin for the spring semester. All
Colorado K-12 instructional professionals are invited to register now for
face-to-face or online workshop series free of charge.
MSCD’s AAM
program Web site is located at: http://aamcolorado.mscd.edu.
Online
Education
AAM
Online Education Office – Year in Review
During 2006, the AAM
Online Education office has created and piloted two new lessons, “Benjamin
Franklin: Writer, Inventor, & Statesman” and “Maps In Our Lives” in the home
school computer labs. These lessons are centered on the Library of Congress exhibits
by the same titles. Parents and students in the AAM
home school labs learned about these topics and presented their findings in
PhotoStory, a free movie maker program from Microsoft. These lessons are in the
process of being placed on the AAM
Home
School
and