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Press Release, October 2004
For Immediate Release
October, 2004
Tufts University implements Project LOCAL (Learning Our
Community�s American Lore), a teacher training institute in
collaboration with the school districts of Everett, Medford,
Revere, Somerville and Winthrop and the Shore Educational
Collaborative.
The purpose of the three-year grant is to train teachers to
incorporate local examples of American history from the
seventeenth century through the late twentieth century into
traditional American history curriculum. Project LOCAL
teachers will develop curriculum in which students learn to
think like and do the work of historians by learning the
narrative of American history, the practice of historical
research and ways of connecting the national experience to
their local community. In exploring history through local
sites, students engage in learning about their own lives and
communities.
For the three years of the grant life, Project LOCAL will
directly involve approximately 75% of the teachers of
American History in each district and will impact on over
4,800 students (approximately 964 students per district).
Project LOCAL will host a series of professional development
workshops in which participating teachers meet with
historians at sites with community, regional and national
significance. Additionally, throughout the duration of
Project LOCAL teachers meet with renowned curriculum
developers, Dr. Steven Cohen and Mr. Steven Levy to explore
teaching strategies that foster higher-order thinking
skills.
The online course tools and video-based teaching cases
developed through Project LOCAL will be available to
teachers nationwide. The first of these cases will be
uploaded by spring 2005 and will continue to serve as a
resource for further implementation of projects in these and
other communities beyond the life of the grant.
Local historical sites, including The Judge Corwin House,
The Royal House, The Crowninshield-Bentley House, Revere
Beach, Somerville Theater and UMass-Boston, will partner to
support the individual community effort.
(*see Project LOCAL advisory group)
For more information on Project LOCAL contact Daniel
Cogan-Drew, Tufts University, Department of Education at
(617) 627-4764.
* Project LOCAL advisory group will include administrators,
parents and historical society members in each district as
well as Dr. Christopher Capozzola (Assistant Professor of
American History at Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
The grant team includes
- Dr. Calvin Carpenter (K-12 History
Curriculum Director, Medford Public Schools),
- Mr. Joseph
Burke (Head of History, Somerville High School),
- Ms. Lissa
Onderdunk (Shore Educational Collaborative),
- Daniel
Cogan-Drew (Tufts University, Dept. of Education),
- Mr.
Robert McGreevey (Brandeis University),
- Dr. Steven Cohen
(Tufts University, Dept. of History and Education),
- Dr. Evan Haefeli (Tufts University, Dept. of History) and
- Mr. Steven
Levy (Lexington Public Schools, Expeditionary
Learning/Outward Bound).
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