Sep 9, 2011 2 min read

The Waynesburg University Teaching with Primary Sources Program will offer a free, six-week online professional development series for teachers and librarians from Thursday, Sept. 22 to Thursday, Oct. 27. The weekly sessions will be held from 6 to 8 p.m.

The workshop will feature primary sources related to the 2012 National History Day Theme, “Revolution, Reaction, and Reform.” Participants will prepare to coach their own students in finding and interpreting Library of Congress primary sources related to this year’s theme.

The workshop series will be team taught by Dr. David Hicks, Virginia Polytechnic Institute; Dr. John Lee, North Carolina State University; and Dr. Ann Canning, Waynesburg University.

Participants will gain skills and experience searching the Library’s Web site for primary sources and utilizing them to support inquiry learning. Developed by Hicks at Virginia Tech University, the SCIM-C (Summarize, Contextualize, Infer, Monitor, and Corroborate) inquiry process will be applied to theme based primary sources available online at http://loc.gov. The SCIM-C model provides framework support for students as they engage in the thinking process used by historians attempting to answer historical questions.

Each week will require two hours of individual reading and project development plus two hours of live real-time audio chat with colleagues and a facilitator. This workshop is designed for teachers and librarians grades 6-12.

Participants will earn up to 24 PA Act 48 activity hours. Space is limited. Graduates of TPS Level 1 are welcome to apply; others are asked to complete the six online modules (http://www.loc.gov/teachers/professionaldevelopment/selfdirected/) before attending. Those who complete the modules will receive six additional PA Act 48 activity hours.

To register online visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NationalHistoryDayResourcesLibraryofCongress.

For more information, contact Sue Wise, associate director of the TPS Program at Waynesburg University, at swise@waynesburg.edu or 724-852-3377.

Teaching with Primary Sources is funded through the Library of Congress and is administered through Waynesburg University. The Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Program was initiated at Waynesburg University in 2004 as a pilot, and was officially launched by the Library of Congress in 2006.

Waynesburg University TPS continues to serve educators throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania. The university’s Teaching with Primary Sources program is a professional development provider for in-service and pre-service educators. The TPS program works with schools, universities, libraries and foundations to help teachers use the Library’s vast collection of digitized primary sources to enrich their classroom instruction.