Kentucky Teacher

Kentucky students were rewarded for their talents and research in history at the 51st Kentucky Junior Historical Society (KJHS) Conference and Kentucky History Day held at the University of Louisville.

Student activities included the impromptu exhibit contest, history test, quick-recall History Bowl and the Kentucky History Day contest. More than 600 students, parents and educators attended the events.

Kentucky History Day is affiliated with National History Day, a yearlong academic program focused on promoting historical research by students in grades 6-12. Kentucky History Day competitors work throughout the school year researching a personally chosen topic and present a final project as a dramatic performance, imaginative exhibit, multimedia documentary, website or research paper. Kentucky History Day winners have the opportunity to compete at the national level at the University of Maryland in June.

Click here to view the winners.

Parents, guardians, and teachers, the United States Mint is inviting young people through age 13 to unleash their inner artist talents by creating a coin design that captures the theme “What’s Great About Baseball.”

Children and students have an opportunity to become a part of a historic competition designed to connect America through coins and the mutual celebration of our national pastime, baseball. Children ages five and under, six to ten, and eleven to thirteen are encouraged to enter. The competition runs through May 23.  For more details about the competition, visit http://kidsbatterup.challenge.gov/.

Heidi Givens

(Editor’s note: When used as a cultural label, the word deaf is often written with a capital D in speech and sign. When used as a label for the audiological condition, it is written with a lower case d. This column uses the term Deaf/deaf in deference to the Deaf culture.)

I am not much of a history buff; I don’t watch The History Channel or read history-related books for pleasure. However, as an educator it is my responsibility to be knowledgeable about history.  It is in all facets of our curriculum; whether it is U.S. or Native American history, the history of music or of scientific discovery. As a teacher of deaf and hard-of-hearing students, it is my responsibility to be well versed in Deaf history so that I can share with my students the rich past that is rightfully theirs just for having a hearing loss.

We are in the middle of National Deaf History Month (March 13 to April 15) which celebrates Deaf culture and history and promotes awareness of this proud community. This observance overlaps two months to emphasize three important milestones in Deaf history. On March 13, 1988, after 124 years of not having a Deaf president for their college, the Deaf President Now student protest resulted in the selection of I. King Jordan as the first Deaf president of Gallaudet University. On April 8, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a Read the full story

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Ron Adkisson discusses the Age of Exploration with his 8th-grade American History class at South Oldham Middle School (Oldham County). Adkisson was named the 2012 Kentucky History Teacher of the Year.
Photo by Amy Wallot, Oct. 2, 2012

South Oldham Middle School’s Ron Adkisson may be the 2012 Kentucky History Teacher of the Year, but he credits his wife with inspiring him to be a better teacher. Before you think Adkisson is just trying to score brownie points with his spouse, realize that he means it literally.

Cheryl Adkisson works at South Oldham as a gifted and talented coordinator, and it was she who encouraged the 8^th-grade American history teacher to start a “living history” program in his classroom similar to what they saw on a trip to Colonial Williamsburg about 10 years ago. The program involves him and his wife dressing as historical figures three or four times a year and asking the students to do the same.

“I don’t want to just teach history – I want the kids to do history,” Ron Adkisson said. “So any time I can get a group of kids dressed up and role playing, acting our parts of history and doing an interpretation of a character, I want them doing it. We bring history to life by teaching it this way.” Read the full story

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Eighth-grade students Laylee Burchell, Blake Turner and Hannah Harrison display their Civil War bullets during Sharon Graves’ 8th-grade American History class at Clark-Moores Middle School (Madison County). Each student in the class was assigned a bullet and wrote a narrative about it. Photo by Amy Wallot, Oct. 15, 2012

Blake Turner, an 8th grader at Clark Moores Middle School (Madison County), is flying through the air. He’s scared. He doesn’t want to hit anything or anyone. Luckily, he doesn’t.

Turner, in this case, is a bullet misfired just as the Battle of Perryville is getting underway back in the Civil War days. The bullet is thankful it didn’t hit anyone “but disappointed that I would not be able to help out my master at all.”

As the bullet’s journey comes to a close, it is retrieved by a man after being buried in the ground for 150 years “thinking and oxidizing.”

Turner’s narrative of a bullet is one of many in Sharon Graves’ social studies class, where students are studying the Civil War.

As part of their studies, students were given bullets from other Civil War battles like Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Graves has collected several of these from various trips, she said.

Some bullets were mangled, while others had teeth marks or were in mint condition. Students were told what type of bullet they had and where it was found. Read the full story

The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) offers many field trips designed to support and enhance Common Core English/ language arts standards and 21st-century skills.

All programs encourage students to think critically, develop creative points of view and communicate their ideas. Through these programs, students will analyze primary source documents and artifacts while using evidence to support their interpretation.

Museum educator led programs

• Visual thinking strategies - Students will analyze and interpret primary source artworks, photographs and artifacts using visual thinking strategies, an open-ended discussion format that fosters critical thinking and communication skills.
• National History Day - Students will learn how to access and analyze primary source documents and begin developing the skills necessary to create a project for National History Day. Read the full story

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Kentucky Chautauqua performer Obadiah Ewing-Roush, as Berea founder John G. Fee, talks to Sioux Finney, a social studies teacher at Woodford County Middle School, after Ewing-Roush’s presentation at Boone Tavern in Berea. Photo by Matthew Tungate, July 13, 2012

Abraham Lincoln was a native Kentuckian, as Sue Breeding teaches her 8th-grade social studies students at Monticello Middle School (Monticello Independent). That he was an attorney, became president, freed the slaves and was assassinated are among the other highlights of his life Breeding shares with her students.

He was not, in any way or under any circumstances, a vampire hunter.

“I’m always saying, ‘Don’t learn history from Hollywood. They’re out to make money. The movies are fine for fun, but go to the primary sources to learn history,’” Breeding says, laughing and shaking her head.

She also encourages her students to visit historical sites, of which Kentucky has plenty.

“It just comes alive. It puts you there how it would have been 100 years ago or 200 years ago. You can’t get that from just reading,” Breeding said.

Breeding and about 30 other teachers visited several sites important to the history of emancipation in July as part of a tour organized by the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) following the Kentucky History Education Conference in Frankfort. Read the full story

The Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History will be hosting two events that may be of interest to educators.

On Saturday, July 14, there will be a workshop called Welcome to the Blogosphere. This is an introduction to genealogy blogs and how those interested can join the blogging community.
Cheri Daniels, senior librarian and reference specialist at the Kentucky Historical Society, will host the morning session and provide an introduction to genealogy blogs and the supportive community of bloggers that has created a dynamic information network.

Topics include the various types of blogs available and tips on how to read and follow blogs. Beginning and intermediate bloggers are welcome.

The afternoon session will cover the various blog formats, followed by a demonstration of how to start a public or private blog. This session will be hosted by veteran genealogy blogger and the Federation of Genealogical Societies’ official blogger for 2011, Linda McCauley, who has been blogging at Documenting the Details since 2009.

Registration is required before noon on Friday, July 13 for this free workshop. A light lunch is available, if requested at time of registration, for $6, payable at the door. Contact the KHS Reference Desk at KHSRefDesk@ky.gov or (502) 564-1792, ext. 4460.

Also, on Wednesday, July 18, Kentucky’s Bookends to the Civil War: Maj. Robert Anderson of Fort Sumter presentation will be held at noon.

Kentucky had a unique experience during the Civil War. The leaders of both the U.S. government and the Confederate States of America were born in Kentucky, and another native Kentuckian, Maj. Robert Anderson, featured prominently in national events at both the beginning and the end of the war.

Don Rightmyer, editor of Kentucky Ancestors, will discuss Maj. Anderson, a West Point graduate and the commander of Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor at the beginning of the Civil War. The presentation will examine the family history and Kentucky heritage that prepared him for the roles he played on the national stage.

Reservation is required by Friday, July 13: $18 for KHS members and $25 for all other patrons. Contact Julia Curry at (502) 564-1792, ext. 4414 for more information or to register.

There are still a few spots currently available for an upcoming field study bus trip, “Emancipation in Kentucky: A Key Turning Point,” on Friday, July 13, 2012, where participants will be visiting historic sites associated with African American Emancipation in Kentucky.

This unique professional development day will start in Frankfort at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History and include stops at White Hall (home of emancipationist Cassius Marcellus Clay), Berea (with lunch at Boone Tavern), Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage Park and then return to Frankfort. Cost for the field study bus tour is $100.

Space is limited, and registration ends July 6 by 4 p.m.

For more information, go to http://history.ky.gov/aor contact Tim Talbott at tim.talbott@ky.gov or at (520) 564-1792, ext. 4428.

The Kentucky Literacy Leaders Academy for History and Social Studies, provided in partnership by the Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky Historical Society, will be June 19-21 in Frankfort.

This event will kick off a year-long project designed to train history/social studies literacy leaders who will focus on the integration of Common Core literacy standards/skills into history and social studies.

The academy will consist of the three-day session; two virtual academy sessions in the fall; and one virtual academy session and one face-to-face academy meeting in the spring of 2013.

Only 24 teachers will be selected statewide (preferably an elementary, middle and high school teacher from each of the eight educational cooperative regions in Kentucky) to participate.

Teachers will be required to train other teachers within their districts and education cooperative regions. Travel expenses, hotel accommodations, meals, stipend and books/resources will be provided to all participants selected. Read the full story