Washington History Day

Register Now for Fall Teacher Workshops!

Fall 2007 National History Day teacher workshop registration is now open! If you are looking for an effective, seamless way to integrate CBAs into your curriculum; are interested in facilitating interdisciplinary learning with real-life experience; and want to use primary source research but aren't sure about online resources, our teacher workshops are tailor-made for you. The workshops provide educators the tools to successfully implement History Day in the classroom, including sessions on CBAs, project preparation, source analysis, research resources and more.

For educators new to Washington History Day, our teacher workshops are a great way to learn not only the basics of the program, but also the key elements in creating a History Day project and how History Day meets Washington State Classroom Based Assessment requirements.

Earn clock hours and enjoy lunch while learning new techniques and connecting with other teachers. Choose your workshop and click to register:

Spokane, Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, September 29, 2007
Tacoma, Washington State History Museum, September 29, 2007
Seattle, University of Washington, October 6, 2007
Vancouver, Pleasant Valley Middle School, October 20, 2007

Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, University of Washington

The Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project is based at the University of Washington and is a "collaboration involving community groups, UW faculty, and both undergraduate and graduate students."  They showcase a diverse collection of both primary and secondary resources, including photos, oral histories, and research reports. 

Teresa Frizell, Teacher Outreach Coordinator at the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, has requested that her group's website be posted on Washington History Day's website.  Look for it there in the very near future!

MOHAI Teacher Workshop

On October 21, 2006, MOHAI and NARA will present a teacher workshop at MOHAI focusing on using photographs in the classroom. 

For more information on these events and others planned during the "Picturing the Century: One Hundred Years of Photography from the National Archives" exhibit, please visit the MOHAI website.

Triumph and Tragedy Topics

Several recent History Day Discussion List posts have dealt with the appropriateness of certain Triumph and Tragedy topics, namely 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.  The NHD website addresses this directly in the Sample Topics guide.  According to the national office:

"Although both events fall into the theme of Triumph and Tragedy, they are too recent to understand the impact on coming generations.  The general rule of thumb is don't choose a topic less than twenty-five years or until one generation has passed.  Time gives historical perspective."

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Furthering the discussion about this year's theme, Crystal Johnson of the Chicago Metro History Education Center, has this to say:

"Some topics clearly rise to the level of being labeled a triumph or tragedy.  No one could argue that the Holocaust or slavery were not tragedies.  But what about the topics that might be interesting and historically significant, but where the "line" may be less clear.  For example, a colleague relayed the story of a converation with tow archivists about the theme.  One archivist proposed the rise of large movie-houses and megaplexes and the end of smaller community theaters as a possible topic; the other responded along the lines of 'That's no tragedy...what's the big deal?'  Clearly, it is a historically significant topic that reflects broader social change in communities and larger economic trends (if well done), and certainly small business owners and other suffered while big business won...

The great thing about this theme is that it should encourage students to analyze deeply change over time, historical significance, and a number of interesting question about power relationships (who has power? how to they exercize and keep it? how do they try to prevent others from having it? how can victimized people still have agency?).  But I am concerned that students will jump to hyperbole, throwing in "triumph and tragedy" references where they may not be approprated.  Students are already prone to making ahistorical generalizations like 'the best,' 'the worst,' 'the most important...ever,' so how can we best ensure that students approach the words of the theme thoughtfully?

Finally, how do we get students to move beyond history as merely a story of heroes and villians?  Students are often prone to idolizing the 'good guys' and demonizing the 'bad guys' - focusing more on the good/bad question than investigating more deeply what larger historical trends are at work."

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Keep these tips in mind when choosing your topic!

Legislators Back to School Program

From the WSCSS listserv:

"A recent study shows that students who have studied civics or government are much more likely to believe they are personally responsible for making things better for society.  Having a state legislator visit the classroom helps bring the study of government, laws, and Washington State history to life and ties in with the CBAs.  The Legislators Back to School Program, a national program, is designed to educate student about representative democracy and what it's like to be a state legislator.  It's also an excellent way to let student know that their ideas count.  More information about how to participate is available here or please contact either of the coordinators."

Joan Elgee
House Coordinator
(360) 786-7993
elgee.joan@leg.wa.gov

Judi Best
Senate Coordinator
(360) 786-7451
best.judi@leg.wa.gov

2006 Teacher Workshops

Experienced and prospective teachers alike will benefit from the annual History Day teacher workshops, offered at four sites statewide.  The workshops provide educators the tools to successfully implement History Day in the classroom, including sessions on project preparation, source analysis, research resources and more.

Now in its 25th year in Washington State, History Day is a proven, innovative education program for grades 6-12 that teaches research, writing, presentation and critical thinking skills. Students conduct extensive research and synthesize their findings in an exhibit, documentary, performance or paper.

For educators new to Washington History Day, our teacher workshops are a great way to learn not only the basics of the program , but also the key elements in creating a History Day project and how History Day meets Washington state Classroom Based Assessment requirements.

Earn clock hours and enjoy lunch while learning new techniques and connecting with other teachers.  The workshops are completely free, and you are not required to show proof of certification to register.

Dates, Locations, and Contacts

September 23, 2006: Spokane, Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture
Contact: Kris Major, krism@northwestmuseum.org

September 30, 2006: Tacoma, Washington State History Museum
Contact: Rachel Lilley, rlilley@wshs.wa.gov

October 7, 2006: Seattle, University of Washington
Contact: Randy Schnabel, randyschnabel@mac.com

October 7, 2006: Vancouver, Wy'east Middle School
Contact: Mary Wheeler, info@ccrh.org

Using Primary Documents in the Classroom

Here's another great site that deals not only with how students can use primary documents in their projects, but how educators can introduce them in the classroom.

FREE Workshop for Teachers!

On August 3rd at 1:30 PM there will be a free workshop and tour of the National Archives and Records Administration in Seattle. 

Specifically for elementary and social studies teachers, this workshop is designed to introduce teachers to methods of researching primary sources and using them in the classroom. 

Running time for the workshop will be about 2 1/2 hours, and you'll get to take home several actual documents (also free!) to use in the classroom.  Class size is limited to 25, so make sure to register soon!  To register, contact Carol Buswell at (206) 336-5115, or by email at seattle.archives@nara.gov. 

More World History Resources!

The following World History resources were provided by Dr. Whitney Howard of Plymouth State University in Plymouth, New Hampshire:

1. The World History Network Includes 32 teaching lessons and units, 16 syllabi, and 13 websites on teaching.
2. Center for History and New Media at George Mason Includes sites for world history primary source documents and website reviews and describes online primary source archives. This site also evaluates resources and provides classroom suggestions. You can browse by time period or do an advanced search.
3. H-World This is an on-line discussion group and archives for World History teachers. By joining the list, you can search for themes on discussion logs or ask historians about specific events, source materials, or secondary literature.
4. World History Archives This site presents documents that support the study of World History from a working-class and non-Eurocentric perspective. You can search for a document by typing one or more terms in the Google search field or by selective a region in the geographic menu.

Check out these sites, and let us know what you think!

World History Resources

NHD Curriculum Director Ann Claunch recently asked the History Day community to suggest world history resources for students and teachers. Here's a sampling; add yours to the list!

1) A few years ago at a NHD Summer Institute on the Cold War, we were introduced to the Cold War International History Project, which has a great collection of online resources.  There may be a more direct URL, but the one I have bookmarked is: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.home. I just looked up their collection of documents on the 1953 East German uprising and it looks like a great topic for Triumph and Tragedy.

I haven't found a good online collection related to it, but I'm hoping to see a History Day performance on the Bells of Balangiga someday.  I had never heard of it before, but I think it would be a fantastic and dramatic topic for the right student - particularly for any student with an interest in the history of the Philippines or the Spanish-American war.  The church bells were used to signal an uprising against the American troops there and prompted severe reprisals.  The bells were taken back to Wyoming where they are displayed on an air force base.  The story is full of drama, sadness, and conviction from all sides - and it would be very original research for the right student or set of students.

2) George Mason University's History News Network (HNN) features articles by historians writing about current events. We are the largest website of its kind on the Internet, attracting some 300,000 unique visitors a month. Please tell your teachers about HNN. Every week we feature articles about world news that teachers can use to build interest in their subject. Our URL:  http://HNN.us. To sign up for our free newsletter: http://hnn.us/articles/821.html

3) While not specifically on world history, I have found the eyewitness to history site an interesting site that's conducive to browsing by time frame (Middle Ages, 17th century, World War II, etc.).   The one page articles on various topics give the reader some background on the situation and then provide eyewitness accounts of the incident. Not all topics would be useful for NHD, but there are so many topics covered, that students would easily find something of interest. 

Hopefully they would decide to follow through with more reading on the topic of choice. The site covers subjects like the sinking of the Titanic, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, and many others. As previously mentioned, the articles are brief, but I think the site is intriguing and students might be able to use it as a springboard to more research. http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com

4) I don't know if there are any WEBSITES that get kids excited about World History - it's pretty exciting anyway!  (Kids often get ideas from something they read or saw on a movie, something in their family background or in the background of someone they know, or an historical issue that's a background to some contemporary event.)  But if you want websites, one that is fabulous for anything about the Holocaust is the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum website: www.ushmm.org.  Besides the general stuff, there is a fabulous photo archives with tens of thousands of primary source photos, sections with artifacts and maps, and the library/archives part that gives my students ideas of books they can order through Interlibrary Loan.