VB Teachers SAIL

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VB Teachers SAIL into History
By Dushani Sparks, MCD Student Intern
Did you know that VBCPS has received a million dollar grant? Well, almost a million! The federal Teaching American History (TAH) Grant is $997,954 to be exact, and will be used to fund a multi-year initiative, SAIL: Shaping America’s Identity and Legacy. Over the next five years, SAIL will provide 100 fourth- and fifth-grade teachers with instruction and training on the teaching of social studies. And the Department of Curriculum and Instruction is recruiting teachers now to participate!

Pictured are grant writers Mary Ann Matika (left) and Sue Crosland (right).

The ultimate goal of the grant and the teacher training is, of course, to broaden students’ knowledge. At the same time, however, a secondary goal is to increase their understanding of and appreciation for Virginia and U.S. history.

“So much of Virginia history is American history,” said Mary Ann Matika, curriculum coordinator for elementary social studies. “Our purpose in designing the grant was to help support the teaching of Virginia history to elementary-age students by placing it in the context of American history.”

Participating teachers will receive approximately seven semester hours of instructional workshops during the academic year and will qualify for a $1,135 yearly stipend. The focus of the workshops will be on enhancing teachers’ instructional skills by encouraging them to use primary sources to construct and critique historical narratives and arguments as well as analyze and interpret facts and draw reasoned conclusions. They will also work in Professional Learning Communities to write learning plans and performance tasks. “Teachers will, in fact, learn to think like historians,” said Matika.

SAIL participants will also explore concepts and themes in traditional American history through the lens of “ordinary” individuals who made significant historical contributions. Teachers will then be better equipped to help students appreciate the historical contributions of average citizens. “When we teach only facts, we don’t gain that perspective,” said Sue Crosland, elementary curriculum coordinator. “It’s all about a higher level of critical thinking.”

In addition, teachers will participate in five “History Days” during which SAIL project leaders and historians from partnering institutions including the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, Chrysler Museum, Pamplin Historical Park, the Library of Virginia and the Virginia Historical Society will conduct a series of lectures and activities. At the end of the school year, teachers will attend a two-week Summer Academy with the first week spent in a classroom setting and the second, traveling to historical sites and museums.

An online component to SAIL allows teachers to collaborate by sharing examples of student work, developing learning plans, and discussing project activities. They will also have the opportunity to participate in an independent study project using historical resources. Book options for the first year include Jamestown: The Buried Truth (W. Kelso), America Firsthand: From Settlement to Reconstruction (Marcus, Burner, & Marcus), Miracle at Philadelphia (C. Bowen), and Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson (P. Finkelman).

Virginia Beach Schools is one of only six grant recipients in Virginia and 123 nationwide. For more information about the TAH Grant, contact Mary Ann Matika at 263-1145 or e-mail MaryAnn.Matika@vbschools.com.