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About Us

Connecting to the Past is funded by a Teaching American History grant from the United States Department of Education.

The project is a partnership between the Tri-County Educational Service Center (Tri-County ESC), The Ohio State University (OSU), and the Ohio Historical Society (OHS) to present a professional development program in American history targeted to the content needs of area teachers in 4th, 5th, and 8th grades.

Connecting to the Past will serve twenty-four teachers each year from the seventeen school districts located in Ashland, Holmes, Wayne, and Medina Counties.

The goals of the project are as follows:

  1. Increase the American history content knowledge possessed by teachers

  2. Improve teacher’s ability to access, analyze, and use primary sources in their classrooms

  3. Increase teacher skill in using technology to enhance American history education

  4. Increase student performance in American history

Each year, approximately 24 teachers (72 over the three years) will participate in three content-intensive monthly seminars linked to the Ohio Academic Content Standards. Participants will also take part in two site-based historic experiences, which they will bring into their classroom through their capstone project. In addition, teachers will come together for an intensive, five-day summer institute.

Connecting to the Past is the sixth Teaching American History grant that the History Teaching Institute has received and administered since 2001. Approximately five hundred teachers have benefitted from these professional development programs.

Latest News!

 

 
So much historical information is available on the internet that teaching with primary sources and finding answers to questions has never been easier. But how do you know what you find is accurate? Check-out some resources on the new Evaluating Internet Resources page 

 

National History Day

Interested in History Day? Check out a new resource for students from the Ohio Historical Society! The History Day Expert Blog is full of tips for topic selection, project creation, and research.

 

The National Atlas

 

The National Atlas (at nationalatlas.gov) was produced by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The site provides maps which seek to help users understand the United States and its place in the world. Map topics include agriculture, biology, boundaries, climate, environment, geology, government, history, cartography, people, transportation, and water.

The site offers several maps ready for printing which emphasize historical content. The available topics include Native American reservations, presidential elections between 1789 and 2000, territorial acquisition from 1783 through present day, and others. A selection of wall maps are presented for purchase, including the presidential election map.

Narratives of Slavery: Analyzing Primary Sources

In this 5 minute video teachinghistory.org  (you can also read a transcript), historian Richard Follett analyzes two narratives of slavery: an investigative report written by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1853 for the New York Times and Solomon Northrup's book Twelve Years A Slave. He discusses each document separately and then compares their very different perspectives on slavery in Louisiana's sugar growing parishes. Follett models several historical thinking skills, including: close reading;attention to key source information, including who wrote each account, when, and for what purpose; and exploring how to make sense of multiple perspectives and conflicting accounts. Note that the Primary Source Activity Assignment related to the The Slave Trade seminar is on organized on the theme, Point of View.
 

 

 
 

 

on our eHistory site

logo: Origins

ORIGINS: Current Events in Historical Perspective