Program for educators plans spring semester
The Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program at Waynesburg University has a variety of events planned for the spring semester for K-12 teachers in the southwestern Pennsylvania area.
From Feb. 16 to March 22, 2016, the TPS program will be holding a six-week long course called Coaches Academy for Teachers. This online course will teach K-12 teachers about the development of leadership skills and knowledge and how to use digitized primary sources from the Library of Congress.
During the six weeks, teachers will learn by going through sample activities and peer discussions.
From April 6 to May 11, TPS will hold the online course Using Primary Sources to Address STEM Across the Curriculum. The main focus for this course will be about the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math subjects in a school’s curriculum. For this course, teachers will learn how to find free online primary sources and how to use them effectively.
TPS is a nationwide program for schools, libraries, non-profit organizations and foundations. The program started in 2006 and has 28 members across 17 states. TPS collaborates with the Library of Congress and K-12 teachers across the nation.
Barb Kirby, the project director for the TPS program, has been with the program since 2003 and has experienced its rapid growth.
“When I first started in the program, there were about 10 million primary sources, now you can’t even count how many there are,” said Kirby. “Now anyone can go on their computer and look for a topic and be amazed at how many sources pop up.”
Kirby, who has been at Waynesburg University since 1993, has been a part of many projects on campus and is happy to be the director for TPS.
“The university was approached by the idea of having a TPS program and I was basically assigned to it, but I love it and we have a great staff,” said Kirby.
According to tps.waynesburg.edu, TPS’ mission is to build awareness for the Library of Congress’ resources and provide content that promotes the effective educational use of the resources as well as offer access to and promote the sustained use of the resources.TPS gives teachers the hope that when they teach, the students can ask their own questions and develop their own answers instead of the teacher having all of the answers. Even though this style is not unique or different, Kirby believes that TPS is unique in its own way.
“What makes us unique is that we drive these lessons using primary sources,” said Kirby.
TPS has shown to impact educators greatly who are a part of the program. According to tps.waynesburg.edu, 97 percent of teachers in the program planned to use primary sources in their teachings. Also, about four to 10 months after the end of the teacher’s participation in the program, 79 percent of teachers reported an increase in use of primary sources and a better understanding of how to find primary sources and use them.
The events coming up for this program will look to help these teachers and improve these numbers.
For more information about the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program, go to tps.waynesburg.edu.