About the Project (2004 - 2007)

TeachingAmericanHistory.us is a Teaching American History Grant awarded to the Oakland Unified School District in Oakland, California by the US Department of Education in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley and the Oakland Museum. For information about the project contact Stan Pesick or Shelly Weintraub, Project Directors. For more information about the grant follow this link to the Dept of Education website.     

Announcing a Professional Development Opportunity for OUSD American History Teachers – Grades 5, 8, and 11. We are pleased to announce that Oakland Unified has been awarded a second three-year Teaching American History Grant. The purpose of the grant is to improve both teacher content knowledge and instruction in American History. We are recruiting teachers of American History, grades 5, 8, and 11, to participate in the grant’s professional development program for the entire three years.

Content - Each year of the grant’s program will have a specific content focus.

Year 1 – 5th, 8th, and 11th grades

Biography – How can studying the lives of individuals illuminate and shape our understanding of American history?

Year 2

• 5th Grade – The Road to the Constitution
  
• 8th and 11th Grades – The Constitution: Conflict and Interpretation

Year 3

• 5th Grade – Using Historical Fiction in the History Classroom
  
• 8th and 11th Grades – Foreign Policy: The History of America’s Changing Role in World Affairs

Benefits of Participating in the Project

• $1,000 yearly stipend
  
• Hear from and work with nationally recognized historians and scholars
  
• Earn 4 units of credit each year from U.C. Berkeley Extension (paid for by grant)
  
• Opportunities to collaborate with colleagues on the design, teaching, and analysis of classroom lessons by taking part in “lesson study”
  
• New teachers - fulfill, in agreement with OUSD BTSA program, credentialing standard on increasing core academic content knowledge
  
• Tuition paid to attend the University of California History-Social Science Project’s “Improving Student’s Literacy Through History” summer institute (either summer 2005 or 2006)
  
• Books and journal subscription for individual professional library

Commitments and Responsibilities

• Attend monthly after school meetings (see calendar of events for specific dates and times)
  
• Attend two full day sessions (November and May) during school year (substitutes provided by grant)
  
• Attend one-week summer institutes at U.C. Berkeley
  
• Develop, teach, and analyze lessons in American History
  
• Attend “Improving Student’s Literacy Through History” summer institute (either summer 2005 or 2006)

Partners

• Oakland Unified School District
• University of California History-Social Science Project
• UC Berkeley’s Interactive University Project
• Oakland Museum of California

  The Teaching American history Grant program is funded under Title IIC, US Department of Education. To learn more about the Teaching American History Grant Program and other participating schools go to http://www.ed.gov/programs/teachinghistory or click on the link to Abstracts of Funded Projects.

For more information about the second Teaching American History Grant , contact:

Shelly Weintraub
[email protected]

or

Stan Pesick
[email protected]

Visit our website
teachingamericanhistory.us