Obtaining Unalienable Rights (OUR) is the third Teaching American History Program grant awarded to the Tuscaloosa City Schools in Alabama.  Designed to bring public schools together with institutions that have expertise in American history, this professional development program for teachers in grades 4-12 expands its partnership with several new additions.  We warmly welcome the Hale County School System, American Village in Montevallo, McLure Education Library, Moundville Archeological Park, and the Safe House and Black History Museum in Greensboro, who join long time partners Tuscaloosa City and Tuscaloosa County school systems, The University of Alabama History Department, College of Education, and Alabama Consortium for Educational Renewal, and the Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, OUR’s goals are to increase teacher and student understanding, knowledge, and appreciation of U.S. history. 

OUR begins in January 2010 and will continue for three to five years.  The format includes single day workshops with TCI Academy, afternoon/evening Speakers’ Forums, peer coaching study teams, independent study, online discussions, and a one week summer institute taught by The University of Alabama history and education professors.  Teachers receive primary and secondary source materials which promote historical literacy, lesson plans, stipends, release time and substitutes, and use of traveling history trunks.

What content will be studied?  American history is the story of the ongoing pursuit for equality and liberty.  This quest is complex and will be studied from multiple perspectives and at many different points in time.  The periods of history to be studied will depend upon specific gaps in teacher knowledge.   Presentations include use of primary source documents, artifacts, and media, and correspond to the Alabama Course of Study for Social Studies.

Year 1: The Constitution, Legislation, and the Courts

Year 2: Influential People and Movements

Year 3: Immigrants and Immigration

Year 4: Popular Media & Historiography*

Year 5: America and the World*

* Years 4 and 5 are conditional upon available funding.

 

Making a Nation: Laying Claim to Democracy (TAHP II) is the second professional development grant for Social Studies teachers awarded by the United States Department of Education to the Tuscaloosa City Schools in partnership with the Tuscaloosa County Schools, the University of Alabama History Department, College of Education, University Museums, University of Alabama Consortium for Educational Renewal, and the Westervelt-Warner Museum. TAHP II, for teachers in grades 4-12, welcomes the collaboration of a new partner, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

TAHP II uses a five-pronged approach of intensive summer institutes at the graduate level, scholar-led field studies, team study/peer coaching during the academic year, single day content-oriented workshops, and an infusion of content materials and resources to increase teacher content knowledge and student learning of American history. It is also a research study, measuring the impact of the program on teacher’s content knowledge and teaching practices and on students’ attitudes, comprehension of informational text, and the ability to analyze primary sources and historical data.

Making a Nation focuses on significant individuals who developed and expanded the American ideals of liberty and democracy, examining how they did so, and how previously excluded groups claimed the privileges of these concepts for themselves. As our nation expanded so did our concept of citizenship. Topics will include the meaning of citizenship, as reflected in basic American historical documents, accessing the political realm, reform, social movements, in the larger context of immigration, industrialization, and urbanization.

Lead Educational Agency: Tuscaloosa City Schools
Southern History as U.S. History: Civil War to Civil Rights and Beyond

The Teaching American History Grant Program
Our program, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, is a research study of the effect of increased content knowledge in the area of American History and on skills necessary to teach it to teachers and their students.

Program Goals

• To increase teachers' and students' knowledge of American History content
• To increase teachers' use of primary materials, local history resources, and technology in history instruction
• To increase students' understanding of and skill level in American History
• To study the effect of increased content knowledge of American History on teachers and students

Program Activities

• Two-week summer institutes in 2004, 2005, 2006 taught by The University of Alabama faculty
• Development of lesson plans and activities
• Collaboration and networking with The University of Alabama History and Education faculty and staff and American History teachers in the 5th, 6th, 10th, and 11th grades in the Tuscaloosa City and County School Systems
• Four all day workshops during each of the academic years of the program
• Special museum field visits

Program Benefits

• $500 stipend or payment of grad course tuition, release time, paid subs, classroom assistance, free materials.
• Scholarships for those eligible and seeking Highly Qualified status
• Content knowledge and "best practices" teaching strategies for teachers working towards National Board Certification or taking the Praxis exam
• History kits with items such as maps, atlases, books, CDs, videos, primary sources, and lesson plans
• Collaborative relationships with The University of Alabama History and Education faculty and staff
• Teams at each grade level with UA History and Education faculty members and graduate assistants
• Networking, demonstrations, staff support, and coaching through May, 2007in and out of the classroom
• Technology training and support for digital research, webquests, and creation of PowerPoint presentations and student projects