|
The Organization of American Historians (OAH) is holding its 100th annual meeting in downtown Minneapolis this spring, from March 29-April 1, 2007. This marks the first time in decades that this national convention will be held in the Twin Cities. The OAH convention provides a unique and exciting opportunity for Saint Paul Public School social studies teachers to participate in a national conference dedicated entirely to the study of American history. The conference brings together thousands of K-12 and university history educators and scholars to share information, ideas, and research in progress about American history.
In addition to the panels, sessions, and workshops offered during the OAH meeting, a joint OAH and U.S. Department of Education-sponsored Teaching American History (TAH) symposium will take place immediately before the OAH meeting, on March 28 and 29.
Through the HITS program, SPPS social studies teachers can take advantage of this remarkable opportunity and be a part of the OAH & TAH conferences. By registering for the “HITS at the OAH” program, SPPS teachers will receive:
- a substitute for one day: either Thursday, March 29 or Friday, March 30;
- a personal OAH History Educator Membership (which includes one year’s subscription to the quarterly OAH Magazine of History, a publication focused on K-12 history education);
- symposium and conference registration fees; and
- reimbursement for up to two full days of parking at the conference site.
As part of this opportunity, participating teachers will be responsible for:
- attending the Thursday, March 29, TAH symposium sessions and the lunchtime keynote address by acclaimed historical cognition expert, Dr. Sam Wineburg of Stanford University, and attending at least two additional OAH conference sessions on any one or more days of the conference (of which at least one will be teaching-related and one scholarship-related; please see the list of sample conference sessions below);
OR
attending the OAH conference on Friday, March 30, and visiting any four OAH conference sessions on Friday and/or any other day of the conference, of which at least one will be teaching-related and one scholarship-related;
- exploring the publishers’ exhibit hall, where publishers present the latest in textbooks, audio-visual teaching aids, and scholarly publications;
- completing a brief worksheet (supplied by Jody Rohweller to registered teachers) for each session or event attended and for the publishers’ exhibit; and
- participating in a discussion of conference experiences, sessions attended, and the applications of both to SPPS classroom teaching on Wednesday, April 11, 2007, from 3:30-5pm at 1001 Johnson Parkway.
The “HITS at the OAH” program will meet many goals, including:
- providing teachers with the opportunity to learn more about, and hear the latest scholarly research on, specific topics of their choice in American history;
- providing teachers with more concrete sense of how academic historians work and how historical knowledge is produced;
- enabling teachers to hear Dr. Sam Wineburg’s keynote address on Thursday at the TAH symposium lunch;
- offering teachers the opportunity to hear about other TAH grant programs, and to meet, chat informally, and share ideas with teachers from other places; and
- offering teachers the opportunity to review a wide range of history teaching resources in the publishers’ exhibit area (and to purchase books and other materials at a discount).
The lists below outline just a few of the dozens of sessions you’ll be able to choose from at the OAH. (For additional session information, visit http://www.oah.org/meetings/2007/index.html.)
Sessions on teaching American history:Activating Students’ Historical Curiosity
- Teaching and Learning Across Borders: First Nations [American Indian] History in Classrooms, in Museums, and on the Web
- Teaching Abraham Lincoln
- Teaching Primary Documents: Women and Religion
- AP Roundtable: The 2006 AP Exam, an Overview of Themes and Questions
- Historical Cognition: Students and Teachers Doing History
- National History Day and Higher Education Outreach
- The Curriculum Standards Movement and K-12 History Education
- When Historians and Teachers Collaborate: Teaching American History Grant Partnerships
Sessions on various topics in American history:
- Thirty Years of Political Change and Continuity in the Hmong American Community
- Designed to Sell: Grocery Stores and Customers 1880-1960
- Minnesota Labor Radicalism
- Defining the Suburbs: American Towns, Counties, and Exurbs from 1870 to 2000
- Apocalypse Not: Hollywood and the Vietnam War
- The U.S. and the Middle East
- Evangelical Religion in America (plenary session)
- Interpreting Women’s Battles for Civil Liberties
- Indian Slavery in Colonial America
- Slavery and Freedom in the Antebellum Midwest
- The Life and Work of Meridel LeSueur
- Progressive-era Politics and Big-Ten Universities
- Affirmative Action in Post-war America
- Rethinking the Greatest Generation: World War II in American Memory
- Switching Currents: Energy Transitions in American History
- New Directions in Business History
- New Directions in Civil Rights Scholarship
- Faith and Reason in the Age of Revolution
Register for “HITS at the OAH” through PDExpress today!*
Contact Jody Rohweller (jody.rohweller@spps.org or 651/793-5524) for more information.
* Please do not register for this conference through the OAH Web site. Register through PDExpress. The HITS program will register all SPPS teachers. |
