Second NYC Teachers Conference

Teaching NYC History in K-12
2003 Conference

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Ric Burns, director of New York: A Documentary Film, returns for the keynote address.

Program

SESSION A 9:15 - 10:45

The Jazz Age of New York City: The Melting Pot of Culture Through Music and Dance
Elementary School, Middle School, High School

Revels-Bay Music will lead a demonstration and a hands-on workshop on the history of New York City by tracing the roots of jazz music from West Africa, to the Moorish Empire in Spain, through the Caribbean and into Harlem. The performing artists will use tap dance and drums, along with other elements of rhythm patterns and songs to demonstrate the multicultural influences and connections of jazz to New York history and the wider community. Audience participation is encouraged.

Traci Mann, Dance
Napolean Revels-Bay, Artistic Director, Percussion, Revels-Bay Music



Oral History As Drama: Exploring New York History As It's Happening
Middle School, High School

The American Place Theatre draws from its rich history of bringing language to life on the stage to present strategies for activating oral histories in the classroom. This workshop will focus on the use of drama as a tool for exploring issues around immigration and its impact on the life and character of New York City. The workshop will use a variety of drama exercises and activities for identifying sources of oral histories, how to draw them from one's own family history and community, and how to implement them in the classroom.

David Kener, Executive Director, American Place Theatre
Adi Ortner, Arts Education Associate, American Place Theatre
Peter Ruocco, Director of Education, American Place Theatre



Project-Based Learning and the Integrating of Culture and History into the Teaching of New York City
Elementary School, Middle School, High School

This presentation, led by UFT Teacher Center staff developers, will provide teachers with a chance to explore the various methods of integrating the teaching of New York City history into all grade levels and content areas, with an emphasis on project-based learning. This session will provide suggestions and examples of student-based projects that can be implemented on all grade levels and content areas. There will be time for questions and discussion about helpful strategies for teachers who are excited about integrating New York City into their curriculum, but feel constrained by time, their administration, or specific student populations. In addition, participants will become familiar with the various cultural and historical institutions, the educational outreach they provide, including trip planning strategies. This session includes a multi-media presentation with small group activities.

Denise DeVito, Professional Developer, UFT Teacher Center at Hillcrest High School
Gary Eiferman, Professional Developer, UFT Teacher Center at Washington Irving High School

 
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History of 1 Sickle St.
A Microcosm of Immigration (1930-60)
High School


In the study of ecology, students are often asked to map out a square one yard by one yard, catalog all the living things in that area, and then hypothesize the relationships among these items. In a similar way, students in United States II classes have made an in-depth study of 1 Sickles Street, Washington Heights, using original sources and online resources to determine the pattern of immigration between 1930 and 1960. Students compared baseline and similar data from 1960 to determine immigration trends; this was supplemented with interviews of longtime occupants of 1 Sickles Street and other community residents. In this workshop, the teachers from West Manhattan Outreach will first present this study along with student work. Original sources will be available for participants, to work in groups to see what conclusions they can reach regarding who lived at 1 Sickle Street in 1930 and how it compares to data from immigration trends in the United States. Participants will discuss the impact of students working with original source materials and using detective skills that are used by historians.

Stephen Fink, Social Studies Coordinator, West Manhattan Outreach
Cye Lambert, Teacher, West Manhattan Outreach


Mapsites.net: Putting Student Writing On the Map
Middle School, High School


Mapsites.net, a publishing program that uses interactive maps of New York, allows teachers to turn their classrooms into collaborative writing workshops. A web site that uses visually exciting satellite photography of the very neighborhood in which the users' schools are located, Mapsites.net can be used to stimulate a wide variety of student writing - ranging from personal essays and creative writing exercises to more academic material, such as history or social studies papers. Tom Beller, creator of the program, will introduce the site. Andrew Meyers of Fieldstone School will discuss its use in teaching Urban History, and Sarah Passino of the Urban Peace Academy will discuss using it to teach English. Students from each school will discuss their experiences using the site. Presentations will include a live demonstration of the program and discussion of student work written in the context of Mapsites.net. 

Tom Beller, President, Mapsites.net
Andrew Meyers, Teacher, Fieldston School
Sarah Passino, Teacher, Urban Peace Academy
Students from Fieldston School and Urban Peace Academy


Integrating Community-Based Research and the Arts into the Study of New York City History
Elementary School, Middle School, High School

Drawing on the arts education programs of City Lore as a model, this workshop will explore ways to integrate community-based research in the study of New York City history. It also will explore ideas and strategies for using New York City as a focus for examining historical themes and events in American history. The workshop will provide examples of student research and artwork from City Lore's school programs in music, dance, visual arts, and theater. Hands-on activities using strategies and techniques for investigating the city's culture and students' own backgrounds will be examined.

Observing evidence of the New York City's history first-hand helps young people open their eyes and see their surroundings in a more informed and engaged way. By investigating their own neighborhoods and city, young people learn to see themselves in history and to build personal bridges to the past. At the same time, they learn the skills of documentation, interviewing, analysis, interpretation, and presentation.

Amanda Dargan, Director of Education, City Lore
Georga Zavala, Education Associate and Teaching Artist, City Lore


Geological History of Staten Island
Middle School


Staten Island's geological history is unique in its makeup, from its serpentinite bedrock to its deposits of glacial debris from the Wisconsin glacier. The Greenbelt Environmental Education Center will lead a hands-on workshop and introduce the basics of geology through engaging experiments with rocks and mineral samples and the viewing of several fascinating videos. Participants will develop an understanding of the layers of the Earth, discover how the different rocks and minerals were formed, and compare Staten Island geology to the other boroughs. Participants will be able to replicate the same experiments in their own area and discover its geological history. Educational materials will be distributed.

Puiyan Ng, Educator, Greenbelt Environmental Education Center
Maria Rossi, Educator, Greenbelt Environmental Education Center


Building Literacy Through New York City History 
Elementary School

With pressure on elementary teachers to prepare students for the English Language Arts tests, the teaching of history is often compromised. Teachers from Harlem and Crown Heights - who are part of the partnership "Gateway to the City: Using New York City Resources to Teach History" - worked with staff from Hofstra University and the Brooklyn Historical Society to develop curriculum units that integrate literacy skills with historical content. In this session, moderated by literacy specialist Dr. Sally Smith, "Gateway" teachers showcase their integrated history/literacy lessons and lead participants through sample activities. The use of primary source documents and historical fiction in the elementary classroom will be highlighted. This project is the result of a Teaching American History Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Sherryann Jackson-Brewer, Teacher, PS 398, Brooklyn
Jessica Mitchell, Teacher, PS 46 Manhattan
Nicole Rogers, Teacher, PS 398, Brooklyn
Dr. Sally Smith, Hofstra University
Christal Terry, Teacher, PS 46 Manhattan


'TAHG' YOU'RE IT: Federal Funding Brings New York City Resources To Teachers
Elementary School, Middle School, High School

In October 2001, five New York City school districts received the first round of prestigious three-year grants from the U.S. Department of Education. These "Teaching American History Grants" (TAHG) were funded under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act with to support programs that "raise student achievement by improving teachers' knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of American history." District partnerships were formed with local universities, libraries, museums, and non-profit history groups. In this session, cultural and academic representatives from three of the TAHG projects will discuss the nuts and bolts of setting up their partnerships and the issues involved in implementation and assessment.

Robert Forloney, Learning Programs Coordinator, Museum of the City of New York
Lynda Kennedy, Head of Teacher Outreach, Brooklyn Historical Society
Mikal Muharrar, Project Director for Teaching History Initiative, New-York Historical Society
Dr. Alan Singer, Professor, Hofstra University



Folk Songs and New York Stories

A10
Folk Songs and New York Stories
Elementary School


Folk songs and stories are natural tools for learning about our civilization. Moreover, by reaching us through compact sensorial, emotional, dramatic, and rhythmic avenues, they are perfect for the elementary classroom. As a historical resource they are both art and information, difficult to understand at first, but fun to research! Folk songs offer students a memorable way to look at past events and eras and appreciate their own diverse cultural history. The Noble Maritime Collection will present an interactive performance and workshop using popular folksongs to present historical events and attitudes. Performer Bob Conroy will lead us in song with his guitar. Master Storyteller Ben Jacobs will demonstrate how a story can "spring" from song and visa versa. Then, the Noble Maritime Collection's Education Director and a kindergarten teacher from PS 35 will discuss how the museum has used both oral history and songwriting to create memorable connections between students and seniors in the community. Finally, participants will divide into small groups, create their own folksong verses, and perform them with gusto.

Maureen Campbell, Teacher, PS 35, Staten Island
Bob Conroy, Performer, Stout
Ben Jacobs, Master Storyteller
Diane Matyas, Director of Education, The Noble Maritime Collection


A11
The Lost Museum and Virtual New York: On line Web Resources for the Classroom
Middle School, High School


Two web-based programs--"The Lost Museum" and "Virtual New York City"--combine outstanding scholarship and innovative approaches to presenting the past to draw students into sophisticated and critical investigations of New York's history. "The Lost Museum," a 3-D re-creation and archive of P. T. Barnum's American Museum (http://www.lostmuseum.cuny.edu) offers a unique entree into the history of New York in the 1850s and 1860s by inviting students to solve the mystery of the museum's destruction in July 1865 while investigating larger issues about mid-nineteenth century society and culture. "Virtual New York City" (http://www.vny.cuny.edu), builds on the collection of the Old York Library (now housed at The Graduate Center) to present comprehensive accounts of significant events in the city's history and the ways they shaped New York's development. Focusing on the ways disasters have affected New York and its diverse peoples, "Virtual New York" contains incomparable online resources on the 1863 Draft Riots and the Blizzard of 1888. This session includes a demonstration of these resources and a discussion on ways that new technologies can tackle issues of documentation, visualization, narrative, and learning.

Pennee Bender, Associate Director, American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning 
Josh Brown, Executive Director, American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning 
Ellen Noonan, Multimedia Producer, American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning



Utilizing Historic House Museums as Primary Sources

A12
Utilizing Historic House Museums as Primary Sources
Elementary School, Middle School, High School

Students can visit a modest farmhouse or a stately mansion, an urban row house or a working farm, a humble cottage or a recreated village. They can walk around the homes of poets Edgar Allen Poe, pioneering photographer Alice Austen and founding father Rufus King. Historic house museums are unique environments for learning that can be connected to particular themes - such as family, community, or local, state, and national history. Education programs at Historic House Trust sites in all five boroughs are designed to reinforce school instruction for students in a wide range of grades. They provide the opportunity for site-based learning in which students employ fieldwork methods to collect and use information, and deepen their understanding of various concepts - such as change, culture and environment. This session begins with an overview of education programs in various Historic House Trust museums. Participants will then have the opportunity to join in three rotating workshops focusing on primary source exercises such as analyzing documents, deciphering artifacts, and evaluating archaeological evidence. Teaching materials will be distributed to all participants.

Monica Abend, Education Coordinator, Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House Museum 
Pat Ernest, Education Coordinator, Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum 
Michael Grillo, Education Coordinator, Van Cortlandt House 
Billy Holliday, Education Coordinator, Lefferts Historic House 
Alyssa Loorya, Vice President, Hendrick I. Lott House 
Joyce Mendelsohn, Education Consultant, Historic House Trust 
Loren Silber, Education Coordinator, Morris-Jumel Mansion 


SESSION B 11:00-12:30


B1
The General Slocum Tragedy: A Local History Partnership
Elementary School, Middle School, High School

Before 9/11, the General Slocum Tragedy was marked as the largest single loss of life in the New York City history. This presentation will discuss the maritime fire, the sinking of the excursion boat on June 15, 1904, in New York harbor and the partnership that was created between the General Slocum Association and an intermediate school in Ridgewood, Queens. A tragedy in local area history can be the springboard to a social studies project. The film, The Slocum Is On Fire! by Christian Baudissin will be shown.

Ken Leib, President, General Slocum Association
Patricia Urevith, Teacher, IS 93, and President of the Association of Teachers of Social Studies/UFT


B2
Civil War Tapestry, The New York Draft Riots
Middle School, High School

In this participatory workshop, Kathleen Gaffney, playwright, director, and President of Artsgenesis, will share techniques for engaging middle and high school students in the excitement of New York City history. This "multiple intelligences based, interdisciplinary curriculum model" integrates primary sources, playwriting, acting, and movement with history and communication arts. Participants will practice creative and dynamic approaches for teaching history and will gain "first hand" knowledge of the New York Draft Riots of 1863, as the people and their struggles are stunningly brought to life.

Kathleen Gaffney, Artsgenesis President and Artistic Director
Kary Krinzman, Program Manager, Artsgenesis, Inc.


B3
Exit Projects 'Work' in the Middle School New York City History Curriculum
Middle School

The research-based "exit" project has given middle school students an exciting opportunity for in-depth cooperative learning experiences. Middle school teachers from Harlem and Crown Heights - who are part of the "Gateway to the City: Using New York City Resources to Teach History" partnership - worked with staff from Hofstra University and the Brooklyn Historical Society to develop curriculum units for the exit projects. The programs build students' research skills, enhance their ability to work cooperatively in groups, while at the same time build content knowledge. In this session, "Gateway" teachers showcase their project-based units on "New York City during the Industrial Revolution" and give practical "how to" advice on issues such as dividing students into successful groups, assigning roles within groups, assessing individual students and groups, and guiding students' research. This project is the result of a Teaching American History Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Steve Gilman, Teacher, IS 195, Manhattan
Rhonda Morman, Teacher, MS 61, Brooklyn



History, First Hand: New York and American History Courses for Teachers

B4
History, First Hand: New York and American History Courses for Teachers
Elementary School, Middle School

History, First Hand (HFH), a partnership between Community School District One on New York's Lower East Side, the Gotham Center, and City Lore provides teachers, grades 3 to 8, with a new way of teaching history. This panel presentation focuses on one aspect of HFH: the development and implementation of four courses for teachers focusing on American history, with a special emphasis on the history of New York City. These courses provide opportunities for integrating New York City themes into the core subject areas; they familiarize teachers with new strategies for their classrooms; and focus on the full range of primary resources available for historical research.

The first course, "New York Challenged," focused on adversities that the city has faced throughout its history, including the Draft Riots and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. The second course, "New York at Work and Play, 1940s-1950s," dealt with the ways in which labor and leisure played defining roles in the city's past. The third course, now underway in Spring 2003, lays out all of New York City's history over the semester. In this session, moderated by Marci Reaven from City Lore, History First Hand partners will showcase the course content and strategies, and lead participants through sample activities. Resource materials will be distributed. This project is the result of a Teaching American History Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

David Bellel, Coordinator, History First Hand, Community School District One
Janet Chasin, Director of Literacy, Community School District One
Dr. Richard Greenwald, History Professor
Maggie Martinez DeLuca, Curriculum Specialist
Marci Reaven, Director, City Lore



Architecture and Preservation in the Classroom

B5
Architecture and Preservation in the Classroom
Elementary School, Middle School


The built environment is a "living" visual record of the past. Each New York City neighborhood has its own unique character and history that can be explored by children. Several neighborhood preservation organizations work with students and teachers in local schools to utilize these valuable sources. Partnerships throughout the city have developed in a variety of neighborhoods with Friends of the Upper East Side, Landmark West!, Historic Districts Council and Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. This panel of preservationists, architecture educators, administrators, and teachers will compare their school programs, their strategies for teaching architecture and preservation, how they link to learning standards and the successes and challenges of working with schools. As part of the presentation, a middle school teacher from IS 303 in Brooklyn will demonstrate her " Life Around a Landmark -Coney Island" curriculum developed with the Brooklyn Historical Society. Her students played the role of social scientists in search of the historical riches of the Coney Island community through pictorial essays and interviews with local residents and historians. They researched and identified structures potentially eligible for landmark status within the city, state and nation.

This discussion presents a wonderful opportunity for teachers to learn about resources in their neighborhoods, as well as for other cultural institutions to share ideas about accessing the classroom though the study of local architecture and neighborhood history.

Mary Ann Arisman, Trustee, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
Jane Cowan, Architectural Educator, Preservation Consultant
Franny Eberhart, Preservation Consultant, Historic Districts Council
Sandra Kasem, Teacher, IS 303, Brooklyn
Rena Sichel Rosen, Education Coordinator, Landmark West!



Utilizing Theatre Arts to Teach Local History

B6
Utilizing Theatre Arts to Teach Local History
Elementary School


The Broadway Theater Institute collaborated with an elementary school, PS 58, in Brooklyn to create original theater performances based on social studies and local history themes, most recently immigration and Ellis Island. This "Making Connections" theater arts curriculum encourages teachers to use materials other than textbooks (literature, primary sources, visits to historic sites) in order to infuse life into social studies. This session features a panel with PS 58's retired school principal, a classroom teacher, and teaching artist and arts administrator from the Institute. They will discuss and demonstrate the project components including research and development, residencies with theater teaching artists, staff development for teachers, student assessment, and dissemination to other schools. The teaching artist will lead sample theater activities as part of the presentation.

Helen Marie Guditis, President, Broadway Theater Insitute
Catherine Kelly, Teacher, Retired, PS 58, Brooklyn
Linda Leff, Principal, Retired, PS 58, Brooklyn
Larry Raiken, Teaching Artist, Broadway Theater Institute


B7
The Great Staten Island History Scavenger Hunt: Using Historic Sites as Interactive Learning Labs
Elementary School, Middle School


For the Social Studies teacher, historic sites present a marvelous opportunity to bring history to life in a way that textbooks alone cannot do. But class trips to these sites can be difficult to organize and often force teachers to choose between a wealth of experiences. The scavenger hunt-outside of school hours--has the potential to empower individual students, provide hands-on experiences, allow for interactive learning between child and parent or sibling, and allow teachers to use a broader range of historic sites in the classroom than would otherwise be possible.

This panel will follow up on an experiment that was conducted on Staten Island during April 2003. Students at PS 36 participated in an historical scavenger hunt, The Great Staten Island History Scavenger Hunt, in which they were challenged to visit all four participating sites after school hours and report back to the class what they found at each site. They made a record of what they knew before they visited the site (their thesis), the experience/experiment, and what they learned at the site (their conclusion). Members of the panel from the historic sites will present the rationale behind the activities and the objects chosen for the experiment. The teachers at PS 36 will present a summary of their experiences and will be joined by students who participated in the hunt. This panel will investigate the strengths and weaknesses of using this approach to making history live.

Lee Conti, Director, Conference House Museum
Emily Gear, Curator/Director, Garibaldi-Meucci Museum
Diane Matyas, Director of Education, Noble Maritime Museum 
Elizabeth Sommer, Director of Research and Interpretation, Historic Richmond Town
Kathleen Statelman, Principal, PS 36, Staten Island
Students from PS 36, Staten Island


B8
Demystifying the Primary Resource
Elementary School, Middle School


In recent years, the use of primary resources and artifacts has become more integral to the teaching of local history -- particularly as they appear on standardized tests in the form of DBQs, or Document-based Questions. Classroom teachers are faced with an overwhelming number of sources when seeking to integrate these types of materials into their curriculum. This hands-on workshop includes working with documents and artifacts from the collections of the South Street Seaport Museum. Each participant will design a questioning strategy based on the artifact they examine that they feel is appropriate for the needs of their classroom. The session will address how to identify primary sources worthy of extended study as well as how to structure the classroom lessons.

Hilary Eddy, School and Docent Program Coordinator, South Street Seaport Museum


Enlivening American History and New York City Through Primary Resources

B9
Enlivening American History and New York City Through Primary Resources
Middle School, High School

Primary resources bring history to life for high school students. Presenters will demonstrate that when students are engaged in the process of historical inquiry using primary sources, they are better able to evaluate how history can be viewed from multiple perspectives. Their understanding of the meaning of the American past deepens, and their appreciation of the origins of our Nation increases. History teachers from the Alternative High Schools and staff from New-York Historical Society and Queens College/CUNY worked together in last year's summer institutes to develop teaching materials and lessons using primary sources. The presenters will show, using three sets of materials (on an American Revolution topic, a nineteenth century topic, and a twentieth century topic), how students can be inspired to ask insightful questions that require the ability to interpret, draw comparisons, and make hypotheses. Presenters will show how materials were constructed and organized around a "vital unifying theme" (i.e., New York City immigration) and give reports on how these materials are working in their classrooms. Hands-on activities will also be part of this session. This project is the result of a Teaching American History Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Avram Barlowe, Teacher, Urban Acadamy Lab High School
Bayard Faithfull, Teacher, Beacon High School
Mikal Muharrar, Project Director, New-York Historical Society
Ron Schneider, Project Coordinator, New York City Department of Education, Office of the Superintendent, Alternative Schools and Programs
Pam Simon, Teacher, Robert F. Wagner Jr. Institute for Arts and Technology 
Jack Zevin, Professor of Secondary Education, Queens College, CUNY



Stories, Sources, and Oral Histories: Two Approaches for the Local History Classroom

B10
Stories, Sources, and Oral Histories: Two Approaches for the Local History Classroom
Elementary School 


This interactive workshop, led by teaching artists from Early Stages, features two different approaches for engaging early childhood and elementary students in local history. The first approach involves the program "Place Names: Tales of Olde New York" led by teaching artist Jonathan Kruk. From Staten To Manhattan, Breucklen to Brooklyn, place names tell tales and teach children about New York and American heritage. This presentation will provide a variety of sources for stories, historic facts, and activities that can be used in all classrooms. Dressed in colonial garb, Jonathan Kruk will serve as guide to daily life as teachers see how their students can gain insight into the conditions of daily life from the clothes worn and deduce values by learning what objects people inherited. Participants will listen to stories revealing young New York's nurturing what we call multi-culturalism, religious tolerance and women's rights.

The "So Much to Tell" project, the featured second approach, is an intergenerational oral history project developed by teaching artist Malika Lee Whitney with Early Stages, Inc. Through a collection of personal narratives, multicultural stories, proverbs, games, recipes, remedies and music, teachers work with students to create narratives connecting their personal histories to those in their community. This project encourages awareness of the connection between individual history and the history of one's own community and city.

Jonathan Kruk, Storyteller, Teaching Artist, Early Stages, Inc.
Malika Lee Whitney, Storyteller, Teaching Artist, Early Stages, Inc.
Jackie Pine, Co-Executive Director, Early Stages, Inc.



Slavery and New York City - Complicity and Resistance

B11
Slavery and New York City - Complicity and Resistance
Middle School, High School


New York City was both a center for abolitionist advocates and for the financing of slavery and the slave trade. This presentation and workshop examines New York City's complex history related to slavery. Middle and high school teachers in the "Gateway to the City" project present their classroom lessons around these issues. The "Gateway to the City" project is a partnership between the offices of Brooklyn and Manhattan High Schools, Community School Districts 5 and 17, the New York City Department of Education/Office of Social Studies, the Brooklyn Historical Society and Hofstra University. Teacher materials will be distributed. This project is the result of a Teaching American History Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Michael Pezone, Law, Government and Community Service Magnet High School, Queens
Dr. Alan Singer, Professor, Hofstra University
Adam Stevens, Paul Robeson High School, Brooklyn


Creating an Integrated Curriculum Using the Theme of the American Revolution 

B12
Creating an Integrated Curriculum Using the Theme of the American Revolution 
Elementary School, Middle School, High School

This presentation will discuss how to develop an effective, integrated curriculum using the Backward Design paradigm and local history themes. Dr. Harriet Pitts from City College of New York and her graduate students will demonstrate how the American Revolution theme was integrated into their early childhood, elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. This session is based on the City College of New York course titled "Negotiating Standards, Children's Inquiry, Use of Multicultural Materials Using Backward Design" in collaboration with the New-York Historical Society. Student work will be displayed during the session and participants will have the opportunity for one-one discussions with each graduate student. A curriculum guide with all the projects will be distributed.

Dr. Harriet Pitts, Professor, City College of New York
Brendan O'Hagen, Research Associate, American Revolution New Media Project, New-York Historical Society
Graduate Students:
Renatha Adams, Nancy Aromando, Yesenia Caban, Alma R. Carrol-Walker, Janice Carter, Aricia Centeno, Robert Evans, Kelly Hanna, Carol Horn, Andrew Landers, Delores Lyons, Alex Porrata, Odean Reynolds, Edgardo Rivera, Annette Saxton, Solangel Trinidad, Nicole Waldron, Christine Williams


SESSION C 2:00-3:30


C1
Teaching Immigration with Documents, K-16
Elementary School, Middle School, High School

Primary sources allow students to act as historians: to analyze events and individuals for themselves, to compare opposing perspectives. History is not the past, it is the interpretation of the past. Students reading documents form their own interpretations and can better understand how historians arrived at their conclusions. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History will lead a panel presentation focusing on sharing materials and demonstrating the importance of incorporating primary source documents at all levels of teaching. Panelists will include historians and educators from Lehman College, the Department of Education and Gilder Lehrman. The panel will also discuss the many professional development opportunities available for teachers offered by the Institute including the Gilder Lehrman Collection and summer seminars with prominent historians held throughout the country.

Abigail Burns, Webmaster, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Monique Darrishaw, Administrator for Social Studies, Office of Social Studies and Multicultural Initiatives, New York City Department of Education
Dr. Leslie Herrmann, Executive Director, Gilder Lehrman Insititute of American History
Michael Serber, Education Coordinator, Gilder Lehrman Insititute of American History
Duane Tananbaum, Chair, History Department, Lehman College, CUNY


C2
Teaching Shakespeare in New York
Middle School, High School

Shakespeare and New York City have a rich history together - from the Astor Place riots, where people protested the appearance of a particular actor in Macbeth, to a benefit performance of Julius Caesar by Edwin and John Wilkes Booth (just prior to the latter's assassination of Abraham Lincoln), to a small club in the West Village where African Americans performed in Shakespeare's plays in the early 1800s. In this hands-on workshop with Theatre For A New Audience, teachers will compare characters from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar with various leaders of Tammany Hall as well as past and present mayors of New York City. Through acting exercises using Shakespeare's text, participants will better understand various concepts and themes - status within our society, betrayal, the struggle for power, and others. Through this process participants will gain the tools necessary to teach aspects of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and the history of New York.

Joseph Giardina, Education Director, Theatre for a New Audience
Leland Patton, Education Associate, Theatre for a New Audience



A Walk Through the Lower East Side: Teachers As Researchers

C3
A Walk Through the Lower East Side: Teachers As Researchers
Elementary School


The partnership of PS 20 in Manhattan and Henry Street Settlement will present a panel discussion that focuses on the NEH project Walk through the Lower East Side, a model for integrating community, architecture, history and humanities with the arts, social studies and literacy studies. This project enabled teachers to work directly with scholars of New York City history, architecture, literature, women's studies, sociology and folklore. Teachers explored research methods and primary source materials and developed their own "humanities research projects" based on personal interests, project themes, and researched. The classroom teachers will discuss their personal humanities research projects, the impact of working with scholars, and how they translated the research into classroom projects. The presentation focuses on how they have incorporated this interdisciplinary process into the teaching and learning at PS 20. The teacher and classroom project topics included rebuilding after 9-11, firehouses, Henry Street Settlement, architectural landmarks, oral histories, school histories, tenements, businesses, traffic and taxi history, Essex Street Market, to name a few. Examples of children's work will be presented. 

Mindy Gluck, PS 20 Manhattan Classroom Teacher
Dr. Lenny Golubchick, Principal, PS20 Manhattan
Maggie Martinez-DeLuca, Staff Developer and Curriculum Specialist for PS 20, and Professor at Bank Street College of Education
Isabel Torres, PS 20 Manhattan, Classroom Teacher


C4
A City of Neighborhoods: Bridging School and Community for High School Students
Elementary School, Middle School and High School


Museum educators from the Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum will lead a hands-on workshop exploring "City of Neighborhoods," a community-based design and advocacy program for teachers. Recently, the program has expanded to serve a new audience - New York City high school students. Community leaders, architects and planners work together with high school students to extend the classroom into the community and apply design education strategies in a neighborhood context. This year, the project will feature Lower Manhattan, focusing on waterfront revitalization and youth advocacy. The program uses primary resources such as buildings and historic photographs, and educational strategies such as walking tours and interviews with community members to explore a neighborhood's past, analyze its present and plan for its future. This session will include a video and slide presentation along with hands-on activities that will engage participants in the sensory awareness and historical analysis of neighborhoods.

Monica Hampton, Program Coordinator for Schools, National Design Museum
Elizabeth Werbe, Program Assistant for Schools, National Design Museum


C5
Learning about Networth: The Frick Collection, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, and Socioeconomic Class in the Gilded Age
Middle School


As the gap continues to widen between children growing up with every economic advantage and those whose parents struggle to make ends meet, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and the Frick Collection have begun a collaboration based on the concept that the net worth of a human being cannot and must not be measured on an economic scale. Although these two sites feature distinct aspects of New York City's history, their collaboration offers an innovative supplement to middle school teachers wishing to address the sensitive issue of socioeconomic class. The goal of the collaboration is to help educators present students with a more historically accurate and inclusive look into the economic realities faced by real people who lived during the "Gilded Age." In this session, a panel of museum educators will discuss how the collaboration between two different museums was conceived, implemented and evaluated as well as examining this innovative method for teaching about socioeconomic class in middle schools.

Lynda Kennedy, Manager of Teacher Outreach, Brooklyn Historical Society
Maria Velez, Education Assistant, Lower East Side Tenement Museum
Meredith Watson, Education Liaison, The Frick Collection



Teaching New Amsterdam: Integrating Museum and Classroom Learning

C6
Teaching New Amsterdam: Integrating Museum and Classroom Learning
Middle School


The 1600s were a time of exploration, travel and trade. The Dutch West India Company laid claim to New Amsterdam, quickly establishing the city as the staple port of the colony. With this settlement also came cultural contact and conflict. The New York State Social Studies Standards mandate the study of this history. This workshop will bring together museum educators from the New-York Historical Society and classroom teachers from the Corlears School and Brooklyn Friends School to present strategies for incorporating primary source material into the teaching of New Amsterdam. Specifically, this workshop will model teaching from primary sources including maps, documents and artifacts, with the goal of strengthening the scaffolding between the classroom and the museum experience. Discussions will also explore how teachers can create their own touch collection for object study, some pitfalls to avoid when using primary sources and ways in which to assess understanding. Teaching materials will be provided.

Elizabeth Byrne, Manager of School Programs, New-York Historical Society
Seth Flicker, Teacher, Brooklyn Friends School
Bonnie Levine, Teacher, Corlears School


C7
Hudson River Park: Outdoor Classrooms for New York City Schools
Elementary School, Middle School, High School


Hudson River Park runs for 5 miles along the Hudson River in Manhattan from Battery Park to 59th Street. It serves many schools in the New York region including 40 neighborhood schools within a ten-minute walk of the waterfront and is used daily for the study of social studies, history, physical education, technology, mathematics and languages. In this panel presentation, park administrators, educators, and teachers will discuss the nearly 350 historic topics that the Park emphasizes in the Tribeca, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Midtown West and Clinton communities. Topics include Native Americans, the Colonial period, the waterfront, the American Revolution, industry, harbor architecture, transportation, the environment, and social development. The presentation will highlight the value of the hands-on exploration of historic sites, the current programs that are offered throughout the Park by staff and tenants partners, and plans for improving interpretative elements.

Robert Balachandran, President, Hudson River Park Trust
Kerry J. Dawson, Director of Education, Hudson River Park Trust
Eva Rannestad, Teacher, New York City Lab School

C8
Happy Birthday, Dear School: Celebrating 100 Years of History at PS 145
Elementary School


In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Public School 145, The Brooklyn Historical Society created an after-school program for fourth grade students. Through guided research, students explored the history of PS 145, both the physical plant and the experience of students there over the past century, using evidence of the past found in walking tours, school archives, and the Society's own archival collection. Student work culminated in a centennial exhibit for PS 145, which the students created with assistance from the Brooklyn Historical Society. In addition, BHS staff provided two staff development sessions to all fourth grade teachers, so that the research and work of students participating in afterschool could be shared with the entire grade.
This presentation will address process, research methods, and outcomes. Student work will be shown. A discussion of research methods and how to implement a similar program in schools across the city will also be included.

Rosa Escoto, Principal, PS 145, Brooklyn
Jaime Joyce, Education Coordinator/Curriculum Developer, The Brooklyn Historical Society

C9
Teacher As Historian
Middle School


Teacher As Historian is a professional development model designed to improve the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of American History for middle school teachers in Community School District 30 in Queens. It is a partnership with the Library of America, the National Council of History Education, St. John's University and WNYE-FM. In this session, representatives from each institution will discuss the project's three components: a master teachers program in history; a series of teacher workshops, institutes and a support network; and dissemination of curricula and best practices. The presenters will discuss the publication of curriculum modules, the production of radio programs, and launching a website. This project is the result of a Teaching American History Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Irwin Gonshak, Radio Producer, Teachers and Writers Collaborative
Dr. Gus Hatzidimitriou, Project Director, Community School District 30
Bill Kasuli, Arts Coordinator, Community School District 30
Dr. Peter Sheehy, Library of America
Yvonne Simon, Vice President, South Street Seaport Museum

C10
Reading the City: An Expedition Through Queens with Middle School Students
Middle School


This session investigates how to help young people become aware of their environment and develop a role and a voice in their communities. In this workshop and presentation, a middle school teacher presents her year-long "learning expedition" developed for her middle school classes at the Renaissance Charter School. The guiding question was "What makes a good neighborhood?" Students acted as urban anthropologists, ethnographers, and city planners, investigating three different neighborhoods in their borough of Queens. The first investigation focused on the definition and importance of a neighborhood (Long Island City); the second part dealt with the distinct elements of a community (Flushing) and how it develops over time; the third part required students to conduct both "action research" and a needs assessment of their own school's neighborhood (Jackson Heights). The culminating project was a public proposal for change reflected in writing projects that complement the themes of urban development, community action, and diversity. In addition, there will be a special presentation by Jack Eichenbaum, Professor of Geography, who will demonstrate innovative methods and highlight primary sources used to interpret the local urban landscape. Teachers will be encouraged to lead their own interpretive walks in their school neighborhoods.

Jack Eichenbaum, Adjunct Professor of Geography, Hunter College, CUNY
Marianne Rossant, Teacher, The Renaissance Charter School, Queens

C11
Continuity and Change in the East Harlem Community, 1930-1955
Middle School, High School


A scholar and a teacher in the "Fellowship in American History" partnership will present outcomes of the project's studies of the phenomenon of Vito Marcantonio as a force in the East Harlem community and in the United States Congress. Continuity and change during the period of Marcantonio's leadership and before, as evidenced in the political and ethnic history of that period, will be examined. Significant people and events of this period will be documented through student projects that utilize and analyze primary sources to understand individuals and the processes of community evolution. Examples and video clips of his speeches will be shared at the presentation. This project is the result of a Teaching American History Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Andrew Higginbotham, Teacher, The Women's Leadership School , Manhattan
Sema Brainin, Professor, Hunter College CUNY



The Lenape

C12
The Lenape
Elementary School


The Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences will lead a workshop that offers elementary teacher activities and techniques to implement a cultural study of the Lenape Indians of New York and New Jersey into various content areas. Activities include mapping where the Lenape lived, storytelling, playing jackrabbit and rock games, classification of stones, rocks and minerals, and making pinch pots, to name a few. A short film about the woodland Native Americans will be shown along with a demonstration of mini-museum in a suitcase available for classroom use. Teaching materials will be distributed.

Maria Fiorelli, Vice President of Education, Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences

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Credits and Thanks

Teaching NYC History K-12 Program Committee
Cynthia Copeland, New-York Historical Society 
Kerry J. Dawson, Hudson River Park Trust
Franny Eberhart, Historic Districts Council
Kim Estes-Fradis, NYC Department of Environmental Protection
Kate Fermoile, Brooklyn Historical Society
Seth Flicker, Brooklyn Friends
Lynda Kennedy, Brooklyn Historical Society
L.J. Krizner, New-York Historical Society
Susan Lowes, ILT, Columbia University
Joyce Mendelsohn, Historic House Trust
Brenda Parnes, NYS Archives
Hannah Smith, Learning By Design: NY
Thomas Thurston, ILT, Columbia University
Sherry Tu, Liberty High School

Consultants 
Jonathan Hooper, Web Design
Abe Rein, Web Design
Phil Acosta, Web Design

Sponsors
The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Booth Ferris Foundation
Old York Foundation
U.S. Department of Education

Special Thanks to
Wendy and Douglas Kreeger, Old York Foundation
Hildy Simmons, J.P. Morgan Chase
Jacqueline Elias, J.P. Morgan Chase 
Alex Stein, U.S. Department of Education

Gotham Center Staff
Mike Wallace, Director
Suzanne Wasserman, Associate Director
Julie Maurer, Education Director
Ryan Swihart, Graduate Assistant
Carrie Pitzulo, Graduate Assistant
Rebecca Uchill, Conference Coordinator
Leah Silverstein, Conference Assistant