Districts implementing $1 million grant to improve achievement

By Tanner Kent

MANKATO — Here’s what a $1 million federal grant to improve the teaching of American history will buy:

A collaboration that includes four local colleges, several county historical societies and dozens of school districts;

A series of workshops over the next three years related to three different historical themes;

A week-long, expenses-paid summer educational trip that, over the course of three years, will take teachers to Washington, D.C., Civil War sites in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and to the Twin Cities to visit Fort Snelling and Sibley House;

Several so-called “immersion” experiences in which teachers visit local museums and historical sites to access original artifacts and primary sources;

And three years of Professional Learning Community meetings so teachers can discuss ways to implement new projects and methods in their classroom.

“As teachers, we’re never done learning and trying to improve,” said Scott Urban, a high school history and government teacher in Mankato Area Public Schools. “With this grant opportunity, it’s every teacher of history that can benefit.”

This summer, the South Central Service Cooperative received a nearly $1 million Teaching American History grant. The grants were started about 10 years ago by U.S. Sen Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., as a way to create staff development programs that will help history teachers boost student achievement.

The local program kicked off this week with teachers gathering Thursday at the Treaty Site History Center in St. Peter. About 25 teachers from across the region participated (there is room for about 35 teachers to join the program, but many events are open to all area teachers).

At the Treaty Site, teachers were given an introduction to the scope and goals of the grant and, in the afternoon, were allowed to access the museum.

“It allows us the chance to be professional historians,” said Bob Ihrig, a history teacher at Mankato West High School.

In January, the Blue Earth County Historical Society will host teachers for a training day on the effects of World War I on local German communities.

In the spring, Minnesota State University will host a workshop in which immigrants will share their perceptions of America before arriving.

In the summer, SCSC’s North Mankato facility will host a week-long summer teaching institute to help instructors implement new ideas.

“The goal is not only for participants to increase their content knowledge,” said Brian Fors, dean of South Central College’s liberal arts department and the academic director for the grant.

“We also want to help develop a number of different strategies for getting that content into the classroom.”

Collaborators on the grant with SCSC included: The Minnesota Historical Society, Minnesota State University, Gustavus Adolphus College, Bethany Lutheran College and South Central College.