One of my principle responsibilities in the History Department at Cleveland State is to help build the department’s social studies program, educating the next generation of history teachers.
I do this through my teaching and training of undergraduate social studies majors. We help them understand that their history courses are a critical part of their professional development. I recommend that students become deeply conversant in history as a discipline, able to move between breadth of vision and depth of narrative. I would also recommend that they become teachers who emphasize skills and sources, teaching critical thinking, as well as historical thinking. Being a history teacher is, in other words, pretty challenging!
Additionally, I work in the area of teacher professional development. Along with colleagues at the Center for Public History & Digital Humanities, I have been the principal investigator on four Teaching American History grants, receiving more than $5 million in funding. The Academy for American History and Rivers, Roads, and Rails were both partnerships with Euclid City Schools and first-ring suburban school districts, as well as teachers from the eight-county Northern Ohio area. The more recent projects, The Sounds of American History, and Constructing, Consuming, and Conserving America are partnerships with the Educational Service Center of Cuyahoga County.
Altogether, we have worked directly with about 250 regional teachers, from 50 school districts teaching in grades 2-12. We have offered a varied program, but have always emphasized focused professional development that helps teachers develop a better understanding of United States history and how to teach history and social studies more effectively.
Mike King and Jann Gallagher present a poster at a conference.
