Professional Development

Teacher Professional Development

Partnerships: NCHS has served as co-partner on several TAH grants, including ones awarded to El Monte School District (California); Los Angeles Unified School District; and several with the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

Speakers: Gary B. Nash, NCHS director, has presented at more than twenty TAH programs in many states including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, and California. [More information on Professor Nash.] In addition to serving as Academic Director for two TAH grants with Chicago Public Schools, Co-Director, Professor Tobie Higbie, has also given talks for TAH grants in Los Angeles [More information on Professor Higbie] as has Co-Director Professor Kelly Lytle-Hernandez [More information on Professor Lytle-Hernandez].

In addition to its directors, when arranging workshops, NCHS draws from a wide list of speakers who are excellent historians with experience working with K-12 teachers.

NCHS has hosted Friday evening Dinner with a Scholar programs for several years. Meeting at sites such as the Huntington Library and the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, teachers hear an accomplished historian talk about a new book or research project and receive related NCHS teaching units after a catered dinner.

NCHS Director Gary Nash was coordinator and lead historian for the one-week NHD Summer Institute in Philadelphia in 2007. Twenty-eight teachers participated in the program with morning sessions devoted to U.S. History content on the theme of innovation. Afternoon sessions included tours of the Eastern State Penitentiary, the Wagner Institute, and the National Constitution Center.

Philadelphia TAH Teacher Institute: In the summer of 2007, NCHS hosted 27 Philadelphia teachers for a week at UCLA on the history of the American West. The trip and the institute were provided to the teachers by arrangement with their TAH grant. In addition to lectures from top historians of the American West, research at UCLA's libraries and special collections, the workshop included included guided field trips to the Huntington Library and UCLA's Fowler Museum of Culture.

Conflict Resolution Institute: NCHS hosted the New Jersey Center for Civic Education at Rutgers University for a one-week Conflict Resolution Institute. Led by Arlene Gardner and facilitated by NCHS Director Gary Nash, 25 teachers explored conflict resolution through various eposodes in U.S. History. After 10+ years of presenting these seminars around the country, Arlene Gardner and Prof. John Chambers have produced a two-volume curriculum, Conflict Resolution and United States History, available from their center. [NJ Center for Civic Education].

Gilder Lehrman Institute Summer Seminar NCHS Director Gary Nash has led a one-week teacher institute on the American Revolution at UCLA for the last two years. The seminar will be offered again in the summer of 2111. Consult the Gilder Lehrman Institute website to apply for this opportunity, which includes field trips to the Getty Museum and the Huntington Library [Gilder Lehrman Institute].