Seven Maryland Teachers Honored with Professional Development Scholarships for History Education
Professionals Hail from Baltimore, Easton, Marriottsville, Sykesville, and Snow Hill
(Baltimore) – Seven Maryland teachers and one other history education professional have been selected for Inspiring Student Research with the Library of Congress, a National History Day® (NHD) fall professional development program. Teachers Shirley Davis and Tanisha Sheppard—in addition to Lower School Technology Coordinator Pamela Hamm—instruct in Baltimore City (at The Belair Edison School, Henderson-Hopkins Partnership School, and Boys’ Latin School of Maryland, respectively). Lindsay Matthews teaches at Easton Middle School; Brittany Pennell serves as the Media Specialist at South Carroll High School in Sykesville; Lynn Rashid (Maryland History Day Statewide High School Teacher of the Year 2021) serves as the Media Specialist at Marriotts Ridge High School in Marriottsville; and Beau Williams serves as the Media Specialist at Snow Hill Middle School. Stephanie Boyle is Maryland Humanities’ Program Officer for Maryland History Day and Maryland Voices: the office is located in Baltimore City, though the organization and Boyle’s work are statewide.
Davis, Hamm, Pennell Rashid, William all participate in Maryland Humanities’ Maryland History Day program, an affiliate of National History Day. For Maryland History Day, students create original documentary films, exhibits, performances, research papers, or websites exploring a historical topic of their choice on an annual theme. Affiliates of National History Day include all 50 states and the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, and international school programs in China, South Asia, and South Korea. The 210 professionals selected for the professional development opportunity represent 40 of National History Day’s affiliates across the country and around the world.
The professional development program focuses on using online Library of Congress primary and secondary sources to develop and support student research skills. In this virtual program—a feature of NHD’s membership in the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Consortium—participants will attend webinars with an expert historian and create a plan to use resources from the Library of Congress in their classroom in the upcoming semester. The content will support the 2022 History Day theme of “Debate & Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, Consequences.” Upon completing the course, participants will have demonstrated the ability to pair Library of Congress resources with active learning strategies.
“We are fortunate to have this sustained partnership with the Library of Congress as a TPS Consortium member. Some of the most dedicated educators and subject matter experts work closely with the program’s participants,” said National History Day Executive Director Dr. Cathy Gorn.
Along with NHD, Maryland Humanities is also a member of the Library of Congress TPS Consortium through a partnership with Maryland Public Television and Maryland State Department of Education, funded by the Library of Congress. Through this membership, Maryland History Day at Maryland Humanities has created 190 online history inquiry kits for use by educators and students engaged with research. The kits examine social studies/history themes and allow for students to select a research topic of interest and analyze themed primary sources from the Library of Congress and other online resources. Our TPS Consortium funding also supports two week-long professional development workshops for Maryland educators held each July in partnership with Salisbury University and the National Archives. The TPS program just awarded Maryland Humanities an $82,187.12 grant for an English Learners curriculum focused on teaching primary source research: the grant will also support related outreach and professional development resources for educators.
The inquiry kits, a dozen interactive learning modules, and other resources can be found at thinkport.org/tps.