Upcoming Event: Teaching With the Good Stuff: Educational Strategies for Archives, Libraries, and Museums, November 20

PACSCL is pleased to sponsor a free half day event at the Kislak Center of the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, “Teaching with the Good Stuff: Educational Strategies for Archives, Libraries, and Museums.”

This half-day event will include workshops on using collections to teach undergraduates and high school students, plus six case studies and ample time for a wide-ranging discussion.

Date: Thursday, November 20, 2014
Time: 12:30pm – 5:00pm (but possibly 6:00pm if we end up adding wine & cheese)
Location: University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Kislak Center, located on the sixth floor of Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center.

Free Registration Here »
Open to individuals from all institutions and with all levels of experience.

PACSCL brings you a one-afternoon event that combines presentations on practical practices for K-12 and college/grad students, lightning-round case studies, and attendee-driven conversations. We bring together a whole variety of people teaching and managing student programs and projects using archives, rare books, museum collections, and other special collections materials.

PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE

12:30pm Arrival and Check-In

12:50pm Welcome and Introduction

1:00-1:45 Beth Twiss Houting, Senior Director of Programs and Services at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania will share ideas for how to teach with documents with the K12 audience. She will review characteristics of the audience and then present examples of programs that have worked to excite students about the past and build their research and critical thinking skills. A model for working with National History Day students will be included.

1:45-2:30 This presentation will explore the various approaches that can be taken when using special collections with undergraduates and graduate students. It will also examine ways to integrate the history of material texts into these encounters. Session lead by Lynne Farrington (Curator of Printed Books) and John Pollack (Library Specialist, Public Services), University of Pennsylvania Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.

2:30-3:00 Coffee break

3:00-4:00 Six Case Studies that will drive initial discussions

Rachel Buurma (Swarthmore) & Jon Shaw (Penn Libraries) – description forthcoming
Sarah M. Horowitz, Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts & Head of Special Collections, Haverford College. My case study will focus on assessment of student learning in the Special Collections classroom at both Haverford and Augustana College (Illinois).
Melissa Mandell, Program Manager for Education and Interpretation, Legacy Center Archives, Drexel College of Medicine. Case study: Developing a website (Doctor or Doctress?) to connect high school students and teachers with primary sources. When students “do history” by coming up with evidence-based interpretations of history, what can a website provide that a classroom setting can’t? What gets missed doing it this way?
JC Cloutier & Holly Mengel – Case study: A semester-long University of Pennsylvania English course designed to de-mystify the archives for future researchers. Students researched both processed and unprocessed papers created by literary figures and were exposed to the hands-on work of an archivist, with a focus on deciding how collections should be assessed, arranged, and described.
Adrienne Whaley, Curator of Education & Public Programming, African American Museum in Philadelphia. Case study: Using objects from our Trailblazers to Freedom Traveling Trunks, which are traveling extensions of our core exhibit, Audacious Freedom: African Americans in Philadelphia 1776 – 1876, I will talk about how we imagined K-12 teachers would use them in the classroom and some of the ways they have actually been used, both in classroom and in the museum itself.
Jessica Baumert, Executive Director, The Woodlands Cemetery. Case study: A yearly project where 11th graders at Philadelphia School District’s Masterman School do authentic historical research on individuals buried at this historic cemetery.
4:00-5:00 Discussion on topics driven by attendees. This will function like a mini unconference.
Discussion Room #1 (Room xxx) – Topic to be determined day-of
Discussion Room #2 (Room yyy) – Topic to be determined day-of
Discussion Room #3 (Room zzz) – Topic to be determined day-of
Discussion Room #4 (Room &&&) – Topic to be determined day-of

5:00pm Wine and cheese (possibly…tune in…)

6:00pm End