Three Teachers Spend Week at Library of Congress

Maggie Hatling

Nikel Bussolati

Pamela Henderson

Three local teachers just spent a week participating in a program at the Library of Congress.

Maggie Hatling of Paisley IB Magnet School, and Nikel Bussolati and Pamela Henderson of Reynolds High School were chosen from a pool of more than 400 applicants to participate in the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Summer Teacher Institute for the week of July 28 to Aug. 1.

“We are finally back on North Carolina soil after having a fantastic week in D.C.,” Henderson said. “It was an amazing opportunity to learn how to best utilize primary sources within our classrooms, and we only wish that more teachers had the chance to experience this caliber of professional development.

“We look forward, with great anticipation, the opportunity to employ what we learned during our time at the Library of Congress within our classrooms. There is no doubt that our students will benefit immensely from our training.”

“The week at the Library of Congress was an amazing time to collaborate with teachers from around the United States and learn new strategies to help in my classroom,” Hatling said. “I am excited to take my new knowledge back to my classroom and colleagues.” 

  

Each year, the Library of Congress provides the opportunity for K-12 educators to attend one of its five teacher institutes in Washington, D.C.

During the five-day program, participants work with Library education specialists and subject-matter experts to learn effective practices for using primary sources in the classroom, while exploring some of the millions of digitized historical artifacts and documents available on the Library’s website.

This session focused on items in the collections that support teaching and learning about civil rights struggles throughout American history, highlighting those that led to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the subject of a Library of Congress exhibition to open in September.

Educators attending the teacher institutes develop primary-source-based teaching strategies that they can take back to their school districts, apply in the classroom and share with colleagues. Teaching with primary sources is a powerful way to help students ask engaged, probing questions, develop critical-thinking skills, and gain knowledge.

All educators can access classroom materials, teaching tools and strategies for teaching with primary sources from the Library’s site for teachers at www.loc.gov/teachers/.

Applicants to the Teaching with Primary Sources Summer Teacher Institutes reflect the diversity of the world of K-12 education. Participants in a teacher institute session typically include school library media specialists and school administrators, in addition to classroom teachers. Those selected come from many different states, representing large metropolitan school districts and smaller, rural school districts. The expertise provided by the Library of Congress during the institutes can benefit every level of K-12 education.

Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects that were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources—accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience. Students working with primary sources become engaged learners while building critical-thinking skills and constructing new knowledge. Teachers working in the Library's collections will explore the largest online collection of historical artifacts with access to millions of unique primary sources for use in instruction.

The Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution. The Library serves the public, scholars, members of Congress and their staffs. Many of the Library’s resources and treasures may also be accessed through the Library’s website at www.loc.gov.