Free Teacher Training: What is Good Government?: A Historical and Philosophical Examination of the American Political System

Hawaii Friends of Civic and Law-Related Education, the Judiciary History Center, and the Department of Education are pleased to announce What is Good Government?: A Historical and Philosophical Examination of the American Political System. This free training will be conducted on July 19 and 20, 2010 at Aliiolani Hale, home of Hawaii's Supreme Court since 1874. Free transportation and lodging is available for up to ten neighbor island teachers. This is an excellent opportunity for teachers of grades 5 and 8 Social Studies, Participation in Democracy, or U.S. History and Government. We the People is a nationally acclaimed program that helps students understand the history, principles, and application of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Participants will receive free classroom sets of We the People textbooks and instruction in constitutional history and theory, the Bill of Rights, citizenship, congressional hearings, standards-based lessons, and formative and summative assessment strategies. The workshop will be conducted by Robert Leming, the Director of the Center for Civic Education and Dr. Tom Vontz, Ph.D., Professor of Education at Kansas State University. Three PD credits are available. Those wishing to obtain PD credits must attend additional workshops on December 4, 2010 and May 7, 2011 and complete a PD portfolio. To apply for PD credits, you must sign up on the PDE3 website. Please click on this link to register for this workshop.

For more information please contact Sandra Cashman at cashmans001@hawaii.rr.com, or Education Specialist Keahe Davis of the Hawaii Judiciary History Center at keahe@jhchawaii.net or phone (808) 539-4999.

Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University Summer Institutes

The Ashbrook Center is offering thirty-two free summer institutes that will assist teachers in deepening and broadening both their understanding and appreciation of American history. The focus of the institutes will be the substantive study of American history. The discussions will revolve around original historical documents and their use in the classroom.

These institutes are offered at no charge, and each teacher will receive a $500 stipend for participating. All meals and housing at Ashland University will be provided.

Each institute will be a rigorous, six-day, graduate-level program that begins on a Sunday afternoon and concludes on a Friday afternoon.

To learn more go to this link.

TeachUSHistory.org

TeachUSHistory.org is a website composed of historic primary sources, media presentations, lesson plans, and background materials to help teachers teach various aspects of American history quickly and easily. The site is designed to be literally one stop shopping where in a matter of minutes educators can find resources and strategies and implement them with their students in their own classroom.

The site is composed of facsimiles of materials from the collections of the American Antiquarian Society and Old Sturbridge Village. It was developed collaboratively over time with a series of grant-funded projects that employed various scholars, educators, and institutions.

Topics include the American Revolution, DeTocqueville Visit to the United States, Indian Removal, Nineteenth Century Immigration, Temperance Reform in the Early Nineteenth Century, Dred Scott Decision, the Kansas-Nebraska Act and Bleeding Kansas, the Second Great Awakening and the Age of Reform, War of 1812 and the Hartford Convention, and Westward Expansion.

Each section includes an overview, approaches, lesson plans and resources. To learn how to use this site for your classroom click here.

National Humanities Center: Fall 2010 Live, Online Professional Development Seminars

The National Humanities Center has announced its Fall 2010 schedule of live and online professional development seminars for literature and history educators. The cost is $35 per seminar.

Click here for a direct link to register for the online seminars.

The National Humanities Center, located in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park, is the country's only independent institute for advanced study in all branches of the humanities. Since 1984, it has been offering rigorous, content-based professional development programs for high school teachers.

Reading Assignments: Seminar texts are provided free online at the National Humanities Center's Toolbox Library and TeacherServe® websites. Prior to each seminar, reading assignments will be made available to participants.

Recertification Credit: The National Humanities Center programs are eligible for recertification credit. Each seminar will include ninety minutes of instruction plus approximately two hours of preparation. Because the seminars are conducted online, they may qualify for technology credit in districts that award it. The Center will supply documentation of participation.

Technical Requirements: The seminars are conducted online using conferencing software. To participate, you need a computer, an internet connection, speakers, and a microphone.

Common-Place publishes 'Hard Times,' its latest edition

If you want to understand today’s economic woes, you could do a lot worse than explore hard times in early America.

That’s the message in “Hard Times,” the latest edition of Common-place, guest edited by historian Michael Zakim.

Meet William Duer, the Bernard Madoff of the 1790s, to learn how one reformed drunkard manipulated the antebellum market for suffering, and to discover the surprising consequences of nineteenth-century bank failures.

Hoover Institution: American Education in 2030

The Hoover Institution at Stanford University has assembled a group of experts to offer their predictions on the future of American education.

American Education in 2030 is one of Hoover Institution's working groups and task forces:

"In these essays, members of the Hoover Institution's Task Force on K-12 education, joined by several keen-eyed observers, blend prediction with prescription to paint a vivid picture of American primary and secondary education in 2030. What follows is necessarily speculative, and readers may judge portions to be wishful thinking or politically naïve. But none of it is fanciful-we're not writing fiction here-and all of it, in the authors' views, is desirable. That is to say, the changes outlined here would yield a more responsive, efficient, effective, nimble, and productive K-12 education system than we have today."

The United States Capitol Historical Society: “Congress Shall Make No Law . . ” Rep. James Madison and the Passage of the Bill of Rights

The United States Capitol Historical Society has issued an invitation to tune in Sunday, April 11 at 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. at Monday, April 12 at 12:45 a.m. and 6:45 p.m. on C-SPAN 3 to see “Congress Shall Make No Law . . ” Rep. James Madison and the Passage of the Bill of Rights.

Constitutional scholar Linda Monk discussed the achievement of the First Congress in passing the Bill of Rights. She examined Representative James Madison's fight to have the legislation pass to provide a bulwark for American liberties. “Congress Shall Make No Law…” Rep. James Madison and the Passage of the Bill of Rights was a program of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. It was held at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, March 31, 2010, on the Capitol Visitor Center.

The program will be available online at this link after it has been broadcast.

Canada and the American Curriculum

On behalf of the Center for the Study of Canada in affiliation with the U.S. Department of Education-designated National Resource Centers on Canada, I am pleased to invite you to participate in the upcoming “Canada and the American Curriculum” National Conference to be held at the Embassy of Canada, Washington, D.C., May 24-25, 2010. It is our honor to have the Ambassador of Canada to the United States of America, the Honorable Gary Doer, as host for this innovative and strategic conference.

The conference is being organized by the Center for the Study of Canada, State University of New York College at Plattsburgh. Partners include the Canadian-American Center, University of Maine; the Center for Canadian-American Studies, Western Washington University; the Canadian Studies Center, University of Washington; and the Embassy of Canada.

The long-standing relationship between the U.S. and Canada is vital to both nations’ political, economic and social welfare, yet the singular importance of Canada to the United States is a subject rarely considered in American classrooms. For example, thirty-five American states have Canada as their number one export market and more than eight million American jobs depend on trade with Canada. Three hundred thousand people cross the Canada-U.S. border daily as well as approximately $1.5 billion in goods and services. Canada and the U.S. share the world’s largest and most comprehensive trading relationship, and though our historic, geographic and human interactions are deeply intertwined, Canada is often overlooked in national directives and state curriculum standards in addition to classroom textbooks that follow their lead.

The thematic panels and objectives of our conference are to:
· Heighten the importance of Canada in the American K-12 curriculum;

· Profile and distribute the newly completed K-12 National Directory on Canada – a state-by-state examination of the role/place of Canada in the American K-12 curriculum;

· Analyze and discuss the current role/place of Canada in curriculum standards at the national level; and

· Network amongst key representatives from leading education organizations and develop opportunities for future collaboration on education initiatives that prioritize teaching Canada.


PARTICIPANTS
Participants in our conference will include a variety of stakeholders from various constituencies including: state-level departments of education; national standards associations; the U.S. Department of Education; social studies councils; geography alliances; councils for history education; textbook and resource specialists as well as Canadian Studies programs at American colleges and universities.

OFFICIAL VENUE
The official venue for the “Canada in the American Curriculum” National Conference is the Embassy of Canada. Attendees are required to complete a registration form in advance and are expected to provide appropriate identification on arrival for security purposes. The Embassy of Canada is located at: 501 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001.

Travel and accommodation are to be arranged independently by attendees; however, we are pleased to assist with any recommendations and answer questions. There is no registration fee to participate in this conference.

PROGRAM
The “Canada in the American Curriculum” National Conference program includes an opening evening reception to be held Monday, May 24, 2010 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. A full day of conference programming will take place on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 beginning at 8:00 am and concluding by 5:00 pm. Participants will be provided with breakfast, lunch as well as breaks mid-morning and afternoon on Tuesday.

A detailed draft of the Conference program will be forwarded to you no later than the week of May 3, 2010. It will include full information on the timetable, panel themes, and keynote speakers.

FUNDING
Individuals planning to attend this conference are eligible to apply for travel support from the conference organizers to support their participation. Awards will be prioritized according to the following criteria:
1) Level of involvement in standards developed at the national, state or local level;

2) Role at the conference, such as speaker or organizational representative;

3) Goals and/or anticipated outcomes as a result of conference attendance; and

4) Total expenses to be personally accrued as a result of participation.


For further details, please refer to the attached Application for Travel Support.

CONFIRMATION
To confirm your participation in our conference, please contact Amy Sotherden, Outreach Coordinator, directly by telephone at (518) 564-2385 or e-mail: amy.sotherden@plattsburgh.edu no later than Monday, May 3, 2010.

Thank you for your consideration of this invitation. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

I look forward to your response and to your valued participation and support of heightening the status of teaching Canada in K-12 curriculum across the United States.


Sincerely,

Amy Sotherden on behalf of
Christopher Kirkey, Ph.D.
Director, Center for the Study of Canada
State University of New York College at Plattsburgh
Direct Tel: (518) 564-2394
E-mail: christopher.kirkey@plattsburgh.edu
Web: www.plattsburgh.edu/cesca

History Education Council of Hawaii Web Site

The History Education Council of Hawaii's web site is currently in revision. Our web site designer Heather Wimberly of Green Rose Design has it temporarily hosted at this address.

BuildTheDream.org: 42nd Anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's Death

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity"

Those words were spoken by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and this month marks the 42nd anniversary of his death.

Word comes to us from Lowell Dempsey of BuildTheDream.org of efforts underway to commemorate the life and work of Dr. King by creating a memorial in our nation's capital. The Washington, DC, Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial will honor his life and contributions to the world through non violent social change.

Lowell Dempsey has put together this blogger-friendly micro-site to help get the message out featuring videos, photos, banners, and even a web toolbar that, when used, donates money to the creation of the memorial: http://mlkmemorialnews.org

After years of fund raising, the memorial is now $14 million away from its $120 million goal. This will be more than a monument to a great humanitarian. The National Memorial will be a place for visitors from around the world to share the spirit of love, freedom, and peace.

The Foundation Center: Finding Funders and Gaining Knowledge

Established in 1956 and today supported by close to 550 foundations, the Foundation Center is a national nonprofit service organization recognized as the nation’s leading authority on organized philanthropy, connecting nonprofits and the grantmakers supporting them to tools they can use and information they can trust. Its audiences include grantseekers, grantmakers, researchers, policymakers, the media, and the general public.

The Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. grantmakers and their grants; issues a wide variety of print, electronic, and online information resources; conducts and publishes research on trends in foundation growth, giving, and practice; and offers an array of free and affordable educational programs. To learn more about the Foundation Center click here.

We urge Hawaii history educators, historians and even students to avail themselves of the Foundation Center's array of resources.

To find funders go to this link. We also recommend the webinars featured on the web site by clicking this link.

To help you master the world of foundation fundraising, proposal writing, and all that goes into getting the grants you need, The Foundation Center offers short training courses that are free of charge and full-day training courses at reasonable rates. Courses are offered in in its five library/learning centers and in selected other locations across the country. Click here to learn more.

Free Online Conference: Problem Solving with Smithsonian Experts

LearningTimes, a leading producer of online communities and online conferences for education and training, has extended an invitation for participants to register for a free online conference sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution.

The Smithsonian Online Conference: Problem Solving with Smithsonian Experts is a free series of interactive workshops taking place throughout April 2010. Register now at this link.

For a list of featured experts go to this link, and for program details click here.

The live online events will be of special interest to educators, entire classrooms of engaged students, and to the general public. Throughout the month, Smithsonian historians, scientists, researchers and other experts share their questions, their methods, and their unique way of thinking in an interactive format that welcomes you to contribute your own ideas.

The sessions span the arts, history, science, and culture, and are organized around four key themes. All events take place live online ˜ you participate and interact directly from your computer in real time. Each session will be recorded and posted after it takes place for on-demand access.

Schedule and Themes

Day One: Understanding the American Experience

Tuesday, 13 April 2010

Day Two: Valuing World Cultures

Wednesday, 14 April 2010

Day Three: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe

Wednesday, 28 April 2010

Day Four: Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet

Thursday, 29 April 2010

To review the complete program and to register please visit this link.

Write to si@learningtimes.net with any questions.

Webcast for Students: What Students Need to Know About War, and Why

On February 25, 2009, the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Wachman Center presented two 45-minute webcasts with one of the world’s most distinguished historians of war and enabled students from the online and live audiences to “interrogate” our guest as well.

How important is technology in war? How important is morale? What were some of the great errors on the battlefield? Who were the greatest commanders? Why were the 13 American colonies able to defeat the British, the world’s greatest power, in America’s Revolutionary War? Why did the U.S. play such a crucial role in World War II?

Alan Luxenberg, director of FPRI’s Wachman Center interviewed Jeremy Black, professor of history at Exeter University (United Kingdom) and a Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Prof. Black is author of many books, including Great Military Campaigns and Their Leaders (Thames and Hudson, 2008); America as a Military Power 1775–1882 (Praeger, 2002); War: An Illustrated World History (Sutton, 2003). and World War Two: A Military History (Routledge, 2003).

Go to this link for the webcasts.

Maritime Heritage Conference, Baltimore, September 15-19, 2010

Held every three years, the Maritime Heritage Conference brings together individuals from the numerous naval, military, and maritime history, education and preservation communities to share information and exchange ideas about issues affecting the broader community.

This year Baltimore's historic inner harbor will be the site of the 2010 conference, at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore, overlooking USS Constellation in her home berth. Hosts include National Maritime Historical Society, Historic Ships in Baltimore, Maryland Historical Society and the Naval Historical Foundation. The annual meeting of the Historic Naval Ships Association and several other maritime organizational forums will run concurrently with this conference.

CALL FOR PAPERS: The conference theme, "Maritime Nexus," envisions the marine environment- the Earth's oceans, seas, and freshwater great lakes and rivers-as a global meeting place.

Merchant sailors, navy men and women, fishers, and others all share this space. Most of their work is done out of sight of land, invisible to all but the seagull and the albatross. Goods imported and exported find their way to and from the marketplace in ways seemingly mysterious to ordinary citizens. The navies that protect these goods and the nations they represent are also often "out of sight and out of mind." Fishermen perform their valuable, often dangerous, work beyond the horizon, and the products of their labor are brought to market overland, by trucks.

In their introduction to The Way of the Ship (2008), authors Alex Roland, W. Jeffrey Bolster, and Alexander Keyssar expressed it this way: "Never in the nation's history has shipping been so invisible..." Shipping has so far receded from public consciousness in the United States that it is now difficult to recall that the country began as a group of maritime provinces hugging the Atlantic Coast of North America and depending on ships for their way of life, for life itself." This is also true in other countries. It is time to take on the task of reinterpreting the seagoing world to those who can no longer even imagine it, despite the hundreds of histories, novels and films that have done so in the past.

The purpose of this conference will be to stimulate thinking on how history can reawaken the general public's consciousness of what the maritime world means (and meant) to us all.

Given this context, the organizers of the 9th Maritime Heritage Conference see an opportunity for individuals from all segments of the maritime heritage communities to come together to discuss topics of interest, learn from their peers, and consider how to connect our fellow citizens with their seagoing heritage. Conference topics include, but are not limited to:

International Trade
Whaling
Oceanic Immigration
Underwater Archeology
Maritime Law
Shipbuilding
Naval History
War of 1812
Small Craft
Lighthouses & Lifesaving Stations
Mercantile & Naval Ports
Historic Ships and Preservation
Sail Training
Sailors' Life Ashore
African-American Maritime History
Maritime Museums and Organizations
Maritime Literature
Native Maritime Cultures
Maritime Art and Music
Maritime Education
Marine Sanctuaries and Protected Areas
and other topics related to global maritime heritage.

The deadline for submitting proposals is 1 June 2010.

Paper proposals should include an abstract not exceeding 250 words and a one-page vita. Panel proposals are also encouraged and should contain an abstract and vita for each panelist.

Please mail proposals to: Dr. David F. Winkler, c/o Naval Historical Foundation, 1306 Dahlgren Avenue SE, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC 20374-5055. Send inquiries and electronic proposals to dwinkler@navyhistory.org.

It's April at Honolulu's Mission Houses Museum

Historic Bites – Bringing History to Life: Tuesday, April 6, Noon

The first historic house museums in the United States opened to the public in the mid-nineteenth century. Join Senior Curator, Elizabeth Nosek as she discusses the history of these national treasures both on the mainland and here in Hawai‘i.

Keiki Talk Story – Hawaiian Stories by Tammy Yee: Saturday, April 10, 10 am

Join us along with Hawai‘i’s own children’s author and illustrator, Tammy Yee, whose books have locally-based themes. Her book “A is for Aloha” was selected by the Hawai‘i Center for the Book to represent Hawai‘i at the 2006 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.

158th HMCS Annual Meeting of the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society

April 17, 2010, 10:00 am Business Meeting, 11 am Roll Call

Everyone is welcome to the traditional meeting of the descendants of the missionaries. Tales, songs, and a roll-call will celebrate the arrival of the first Pioneer Company in 1820. Stay on for lunch, a special lecture, family activities, and our annual open house. See attachment for printable RSVP form.

Pioneer Day: Ships & Trips: Pioneer Day: Ships & Trips – Saturday, April 17, Noon to 3 p.m.

A community day celebrating the 190th anniversary

of the arrival of the Pioneer Company aboard the brig Thaddeus.

Special lecture by historic architect Spencer Leineweber, “First Contact: Making a House a Home” and "First Houses” in the HMCS Library Reading Room at 1:30 p.m.

On the lawn, enter a “Rain Gutter Regatta,” take family photographs in period costumes and more. Please reserve your sailboat ($4 each) by calling Ally McKay at 447-3920.

Mission Houses Museum is located at 553 South King Street, Honolulu, HI 96813. Call the museum at 808-447-3910

New York Times Magazine: Building a Better Teacher

Building a Better Teacher was featured last month in the New York Times Magazine. The author, Elizabeth Green, is a Spencer fellow in education reporting at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the editor of GothamSchools.org.