PACETAH

As we prepare for the final national conference for this school year, I have to reflect on the differences and similarities of all the conferences.    Each conference is unique, and offers a wealth of information, experiences, and networking for our teachers.   For me, the most exciting thing about all national conferences is the opportunity to meet teachers from different states.  The issues and challenges all are so different, yet so much the same!  The NCHE, in my opinion, provides the most teacher-friendly materials and strategies teachers can use on Monday when you get back to your classroom.

How exciting to head back to the Big Apple for an excellent conference!  I must admit the accommodations were a tad more comfortable that those last summer!  The location was perfect.  The conference hotel  was located at W. 53rd and Avenue of the Americas.  There were several subway stops in close proximity, so it was easy to hit our sessions, then hit the streets of New York, then back for more sessions and the exhibit hall.  The off-site sessions included such sites as the New York Public Library.  WOW!  It is an amazing place!!

This fall, five teachers attended the National Council for Social Studies annual conference, held in San Diego, California.  Even though I was unable to attend, I know they were well taken care of!  Thanks to Diane Reid, a history buff herself, for taking my place on this trip.  I know the attendees have lots of good stuff to share!

This year’s Teaching American History grant participants have a unique opportunity.  We are so pleased to be able to participate in a 5-day American History Institute in New York City!  This year’s theme for the Gilder Lehrman Institute is 19th and 20th Century Immigration and Urbanization.  What better place to analyze the immigrant experience than in the original American melting pot?  

Well, we have another national conference under our belt!  I was so fortunate to be able to take Dr. Shaffer and 3 of our grant members to Williamsburg last week to the NCHE annual conference.  As always, the sessions were really good!  This year, the conference planners sacrificed some sessions so that we would have ample time to explore the area that is so rich in history.  Our group was fortunate to have our own personal guide in the person of Dr. Shaffer, who spent quality time in the area when he earned his Ph.D. a few years ago. 

It was so exciting to hear Dr. Shaffer’s anecdotes as we strolled through the historic area, and to actually sit in the original lecture hall at Wren Hall at The College of William and Mary.  We also saw the home of Presidents John Tyler and William Henry Harrison, as well as Shirley Plantation, the oldest plantation in America!  In Richmond we got some small flavor of the South at its greatest, and at Virginia Beach we walked along the Atlantic coast.  As a Texan used to the Gulf, it was quite an experience for me to look out onto the water and see nothing BUT water - no lights, no oil rigs, nothing!

This school year has been a busy one.  Teachers have gained lots of insight about many different things!  Our first excursion was back to Washington D.C. for the annual conference for the National Council for Social Studies.  Our contingent of 10, including Dr. George Mann of WTAMU, managed to see almost everything worth seeing in the nation’s capital.  Before we complete this TAH grant, we will be experts in mass transit systems!

In January, some of our group was able to dodge one of our snow/ice storms when they went to Huntsville to attend the 2nd annual Texas History conference.  Not only did they hear outstanding speakers, but were able to visit our first capital and see other historic sites.

February brought the annual trip to the Law Related Education conference in Austin.  I hear the speakers and break-out sessions were up to the usually high standards for the Texas State Bar.

In March, we have to take a break, but in April a small group will be able to attend the National Council for History Educators conference in Williamsburg, VA.  I look forward to hearing from all of you about the things you learned and saw on each of these trips.

The East Coast tour has come and gone! Twenty-nine PACETAH participants, Social Studies Advisory Council members, and some (brave) spouses  departed on Sunday, June 25 for 9 days of whirlwind activity in 3 states (Massachusetts, Maryland, and Virginia) and the District of Columbia! Although we didn’t have time to see “everything”, we certainly crammed as much into the 9 days as possible.  We were able to overcome a couple of “glitches” with EF Tours in order to see everything we needed to see.  (Who would go to Jamestown and Yorktown without expecting to see the “real deal”?  Go figure… )

We traveled by air, train, bus, and for some of us, by sea!  We missed the floods but NOT the humidity!!  The USA Today, in its Friday, June 30 edition, listed ”10 great places to steep in American History.”  We managed to see 6 of the 10:  The Old North Bridge, Concord, Mass., the Old North Church and Old South Meeting House in Boston, The National Archives and American History Museum in DC, and Yorktown Battlefield.  What did we miss?  Fraunces Tavern, NYC, Independence Hall and Betsy Ross Home in Philadelphia, and Ft. McHenry in Baltimore. One teacher, with great foresight, carried a pedometer.  Before we left Reagan Airport in DC to come home, it read almost 47 miles!  We worked hard and we played hard, and I want to thank all of the travelers for being so congenial and for making the trip great fun! 

As part of our WTAMU Summer Institute, 2006, 32 history educators traveled to Independence, Missouri to spend time at the Harry S Truman Library and Museum.  Not only did Library staff make available access to their archives, we modeled innovative ways to use primary sources in the classroom!

 After we finished will the Cold War, we stepped further back in time to visit the National Frontier Trails Museum and the Arabia Steamboat Museum.  I found both to be fascinating vignettes on life in the 19th century American West.

The Texas Panhandle was represented by seven participants at the OAH conference in Washington,D.C. in April 2006.  We were pleased that Dr. Shaffer was able to join us on the first day of the conference.  As always, the OAH offered provocative sessions which encourage critical thinking and debate!  Our teachers occasionally were amazed (and dare I say, horrified?) at some of the sessions.  The off-site sessions offered such rarities as a behind-the-scenes tour of the National Archives, the nuts and bolts of digital access to the Library of Congress, and other useful and fascinating topics.  For my part, best of all was simply being in the nation’s capital and actually seeing all the things we teach our students.

Seventeen grant members attended the NCHE conference in Austin last week.  The sessions were really informative!  On Thursday we did our own tour of historic sites in Austin, including the Texas State Cemetary, the Capitol and downtown Austin, as well as the LBJ Library.  We observed the “circus-like” atmosphere on the Capitol grounds as, on one side of the Capitol, we observed a group promoting ethanol (several teachers got both a free meal and a free T-shirt out of that deal!). On the other side of the Capitol a protest against the proposed immigrant legislation allowed lots of students and a few older folks to wave flags, chant, and perform for the TV cameras that were in evidence.  It appeared that most were having a good time.  Our teachers had a good time, too, although I didn’t notice any of ours dancing in front of the TV cameras!