NDL Staff | CCT Staff |
Funded by a private anonymous donor, the Library of Congress'
National Digital Library is sponsoring The American Memory Fellows Program, the third in a series of institutes to help schools make
powerful educational use of the American Memory collections. The first American Memory Fellows program, in 1997, was supported by the Kellogg Foundation. Helping facilitate the institute is the EDC Center for Children and Technology, a non-profit education development
firm.
The American Memory collections are digitized primary source documents in American history and culture now available on the World Wide Web. The more than 50 collections now online include:
BROADSIDES FROM THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA
MATHEW BRADY'S CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS AFRICAN AMERICAN PAMPHLETS FROM THE TURN OF THE CENTURY EARLY FILMS AND PHOTOGRAPHS OF URBAN AMERICA ORAL HISTORIES FROM THE DEPRESSION ERA |
These rich primary resources offer great potential for strengthening
humanities instruction, by helping students actively engage in
the study of history, develop critical thinking skills, and connect
history to their own lives.
The American Memory Fellows Program will gather teams of middle and high school humanities teachers and library/media specialists from across the country to learn about these unique resources and to create exemplary teaching units that can be shared with other educators. Fellows will enjoy a lively professional development experience with outstanding colleagues and will shape the way the Library's unique primary source collections are used in schools across the country.
American Memory Fellows Will
Learn strategies for integrating web-based archival material
into classroom teaching and learning;
Work with colleagues
to create and publish an online lesson based on primary
documents from the collections;
Learn from Library staff and scholars about the historical
and cultural issues surrounding the primary source collections.
American Memory Fellows Are Required
To
Attend a 6-day summer institute in Washington DC, from July 18
to July 23, 1999;
Create, test and revise a teaching unit based on the collections
to be used with students in the 1999-2000 academic year;
Participate in weekly
online discussions (up to 4 hours per week) during an Orientation
Seminar in Spring 1999, and test their lesson with students during the 1999-2000 school year, sharing the results online with colleagues;
Disseminate their expertise with the American Memory materials in one or more professional forums during the spring or summer of 2000.
American Memory Fellows Will Receive
Professional development
in the use of web-based archival resources and the creation of
model teaching materials;
Opportunities to publish high-quality work online, as
part of the American Memory Learning Page.