When I began this second year of my induction, my goal was to complete at least two Professional Education programs. My initial idea was to complete some of the programs offered by the Riverside County District, and participate in at least one Lake Elsinore District specific training. However, I was offered the opportunity to participate in the National History Day Program, sponsored by the Library of Congress.
Each year, National History Day frames students’ research within a historical theme. The theme is chosen for broad application to world, national, or state history and its relevance to ancient history or to the more recent past. This year I was able to participate in two NHD programs, the 2021 program Inspiring Student Research, and the 2022 program Debate & Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences.
The 2021 program focused on the use of primary source documents and the process of analyzing documents to support student research and formulate argumentative essays. The 2022 program furthered the understanding of primary documents, with the focus of effort on specific periods of time, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and how the bill was debated before it became a law.
The program was an incredible opportunity to use the Library of Congress' wealth of documents to support student research. The program managers did a terrific job working through the material to give teachers a better understanding of how to use the documents, the NHD process for analyzing them, and how that analysis adds to a better understanding of the period being covered.
The program was led by Professors from a number of institutions from some of the most respected institutions for Higher Learning in the nation, and a staff from the Library that were incredibly skilled at resourcing documents. Over a half million students from middle school and high schools around the country participate in the program, and this was an excellent opportunity to participate in a program that could benefit myself as a teacher and my students.
Through participation in the NHD program, I got an incredible opportunity to work with teachers from around the country. I was able to compare notes and work with other Social Studies teachers, participate in discussion groups and get feedback from others about the essential elements of research at a high school level. It was a fantastic opportunity, and I hope to participate in other opportunities that come up in the future.