The Power of Perspectives:

Teaching with Primary Sources to Engage Multilingual Learners in Democratic Discussions in Social Studies

What Will Be Accomplished in This Program?

Upon completion of the program, participating teachers will be prepared to:

    • Engage in Teacher Action Research within a Critical Education framework
    • Articulate the benefit of using primary sources to further develop students’ critical historical thinking skills and multiple perspectives
    • Navigate gov/teachers to locate, select, analyze, and use primary sources in your unit/lesson plans
    • Analyze the cultural and linguistic complexities of instructional materials, topics, and primary sources and determine ways to scaffold for equitable access
    • Design inquiry-based instruction using primary sources and the NCSS C3 Framework
    • Engage Multilingual Learners in deliberative democratic discussions by designing units and lessons using Learning for Justice’s (formerly Teaching Tolerance) Social Justice Standards
    • Engage students in the Claims-Evidence-Reasoning framework to articulate evidence-based claims to support a particular perspective
    • Support Multilingual Learners in engaging in argumentation within social studies/history and across academic disciplines

A team of experts will assist teachers in conducting Teacher Action Research to design a rigorous study, collect and analyze data, and report valid findings. Participants may be invited to present their research and experiences at PDE’s annual international ELD conference (virtual in  April 2022). 

What does liberty look like?What Is Required to Complete the Program?

This project is grant-funded and has both evaluation and research components to determine the effectiveness of the project (evaluation) and to inform the ongoing development of high-quality professional development for teachers of MLs (research).

  • Complete two online surveys/questionnaires
  • Attend all workshops (schedule is listed below)
  • Redesign one of your existing instructional units/plans to align with and include the content and approaches explored in the TPS program and implement your instructional plan in your classroom in spring 2022.
  • Submit artifacts of engagement (e.g. original instructional plan, updated plans, researcher journals, final research report, etc.)
  • Participate in various online discussions with colleagues in the professional learning community
  • Participate in one interview with the project researcher
  • Complete a program evaluation

The Power of Perspectives: Teaching with Primary Sources to
Engage Multilingual Learners in Democratic Discussions in Social Studies

Program Schedule

DATE & TIME WORKSHOP LOCATION
2021-2022 Academic Year
Wednesday, October 13 2021
2:30 – 4:00 p.m.		 Welcome and Overview: Preparing for Teacher Action Research Zoom
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
2:30 – 4:00 p.m.		 Introduction to Primary Sources and the Library of Congress Resources and Tools Zoom
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
2:30 – 4:00 p.m.		 Inquiry-Based Instruction and the C3 Framework Zoom
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
2:30 -4:00 p.m.		 Using Primary Sources to Engage in Content and Language-Rich Instruction Zoom
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
2:30 – 4:00 p.m.		 Teaching for Social Justice: Designing Democratic Dialogue using Primary Source Analysis and Social Justice Standards Zoom
Wednesday, January 19, 2021
2:30 – 4:00 p.m.		 Choosing Good Sources: Analyzing Cultural and Linguistic Complexities of Topics and Sources Zoom
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
2:30 – 4:00 p.m.		 Putting the Pieces Together: Instructional Design Zoom
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
2:30 – 4:00 p.m.		 Analyzing Instructional Plans for Cultural Relevance, Equitable Access, and Social Justice Considerations Zoom
March-April 2022 Instructional Plan Implementation
Please schedule individual or team coaching sessions with the instructors as needed		 Individual Classrooms
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
2:30 – 4:00 p.m.		 Reflections on Practice Zoom
Wednesday, May 11, 2022
2:30 – 4:00 p.m.		 Data Analysis and Research Findings Zoom
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
2:30 – 4:00 p.m.		 Presentations of Research Findings/Projects and Program Wrap-up Zoom

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Our shared past is not static collection - Colonial Williamsburg FoundationHow Do I Construct A Team?

  • A team should have a minimum of 2 or a maximum of 6 members who teach in the same grade level, ideally in the same building, and have MLs in their classrooms. At least one member of your team must teach Social Studies and at least one member must hold an ESL Program Specialist certification.
  • All members of the team must be employed by the same school district but do NOT need to be assigned to the same school building
  • We encourage the inclusion of an administrator (principal, ELD Coordinator, Curriculum director, etc.) on the team.
  • Each team is asked to include the contact information of the administrator who supports the team’s participation

Ready to Apply?

Please direct program inquiries to Dr. Andrea Kolb at akolb@csc.csiu.org or Dr. Alison Kreitzer at akreitzer@csc.csiu.org.