Chris Langley

I have spent most of my adult life in education, first teaching in the Peace Corps in Iran and for the last twenty-six years in a small rural school where I can see Mt. Whitney out my window. I am presently teaching middle school. I have a language arts-history class of 6-7th grade students, a sixth grade math class, and multi-age groups in a writing class, drama, and AVID, a study skills, motivational class. I fully came to understand the power of primary sources working at UCLA as a Fellow in their California History-Social Studies Project. Being a "severely" rural school with an innovative culture, we began exploring the potential of online resources several years ago. People ask what you do in a small town. I am president of the Lone Pine Film Festival. (More than 250 films have been made here since 1920). Spent a day with Mel Gibson and Richard Donner while they worked on Maverick and got to work with Gregory Peck this past festival. I am president of the local Lion's Club and am involved in several of their service projects. I have two wonderful sons and have taught them both. In fact I was my older son's sixth grade teacher, Sunday school teacher and scout master the same year. We took Saturdays off. I am excited about traveling east this summer as I grew up in New York, graduated from Dartmouth.

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Sandy Langley

I have lived and taught in this tiny, rural community for twenty six years. After graduation from Sonoma State University, I began my teaching career in Peace Corps, in Iran. From there, I taught for three years in a mining camp in Northern California. In my tenure here in Lone Pine, I have taught all levels from Kindergarten to Twelfth Grade. I currently teach a 6/7 multi-age Language Arts/Social Studies Core Block, an 8th grade American History/Language Arts Core Block, AVID class, and elective; including such subjects as Children's Literature and Drama.

I am a Native Californian. My father's family is from Sonoma County, and we are into the fifth generation there, but my mother's family is from Oklahoma, which accounts for my Creek ancestry. I grew up in a small town on California's Mendocino Coast. I like to say that I have never lived anywhere that isn't scenic. We have raised two fine sons, one of whom is a First Grade Teacher in Sonoma County, as is his wife. Our other son is a musician.

When my husband read of the American Memory Institute and the requirements, he said, "That's us. They just don't know it yet." We are History and Geography Fellows at UCLA and have spent the last two years building a small but good collection of primary sources for our students to work with. We have been working with the internet at our school for the last three years. I am excited about meeting teachers with the same interests and learning how to better use internet resources.

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