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K-16 Collaboration Committee
K-16 Collaboration Committee Report 2005
Submitted by Kreg Abshire, Pearl McHaney, and Kathleen Stoker
The Secondary Education Committee met in November 2004 at the annual convention in Atlanta primarily to discuss 2005 plans with 2005-2006 ASA President Karen Halttunen whose Presidential Initiative is Secondary Education and K16 collaboration. Members of the committee shared collaborative programs presented in their regions and offered suggestions about using Washington humanities sites for workshop-type programs.
Following the Annual Convention, President Halttunen worked with the Secondary Education and Program Committees and with Vicki Adamson, past Secondary Education Committee and ASA Council member and teacher in the Washington area, on the Secondary Education K16 Collaboration Initiative organizing on-site workshops, focus panels, encouragement of the Committee to propose a panel of their own past collaborations, and the Secondary Education Luncheon.
The Committee is pleased with the excellent work of the Program Committee and the Executive Committee to present the Secondary Education initiatives in a prominent and easily-understood manner in the program book: clear explanations of Initiative and workshop sessions and luncheon in the “General Information” pages and the highlighting of sessions referencing K16 collaborations throughout the convention.
The Secondary Education Committee has continued to look for ways to encourage teachers to attend the annual convention. We have returned to a Secondary Education program that is largely contained on Saturday, even though we continue to believe that it is important to encourage secondary-school teachers to attend the entire conference. The Saturday program features panels that take teachers and scholars to significant locations near the convention—specifically, the Frederick Douglass Historic Site, Ford’s Theatre, and the new National Museum of the American Indian. This plan came about, in large part, as a result of recognizing the wonderful opportunity to use locations around the convention in Washington. The Secondary Education Luncheon and the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring on “Teaching History and Literature through the Lens” are scheduled for Friday in an attempt to encourage teachers to take advantage of elements of the program that are not specifically targeted at them.
The Secondary Education Luncheon (12:00 - 1:30 PM, November 4, 2005) speaker Richard Yarborough will address “Multiculturalism in the Academy: Hard-Won Victories, Ongoing Struggles, and New Challenges.“ Vicki Adamson will introduce him.
In addition to the site-based program, the Secondary Education Committee has planned a session entitled “Creating Spaces for Collaboration,“ chaired by Secondary Committee co-chair Kreg Abshire, and featuring the Committee’s other co-chair, Pearl McHaney, and the Committee’s representative to the Executive Council, Kathleen Stoker and a K-12 school American Studies Institute co-chair. The panel will encourage discussion of successful models of engaging teachers and scholars in collaborative learning opportunities, much like the ones we’ve helped to put together in the other Saturday panels.
The Secondary Education Committee is continuing to work on the initiative of bridging the gap between Universities and Secondary Schools. One new member was added to the committee, Adam Golub of Guilford College. Kathleen Stoker will present a call to ASA Regional Representatives regarding the recruitment of a Secondary School Educator position on their Regional Committees. Stoker has served on NEASA’s Council for the past 8 years and has collaborated with NEASA members to provide one-day workshops for Secondary Educators in New England. The ASA Secondary Education Committee’s hope is to network with regional teachers through contact with the Regional Councils that could support more workshops and further partnerships (See Partnership Tool Template) between educators. Terms of two members, Pearl McHaney of Georgia State University and Gerri Hadjuk of Wheeler High School, Georgia, expire in June 2006; at the 2005 Committee meeting, we will discuss nominations to fill these two positions.
The Program text of the Secondary Education K16 initiatives follows:
The Secondary Education Initiative
Under the theme of “Groundwork: Space and Place in American Cultures,“ this year’s Annual Meeting will explore the creative opportunities of K16 collaboration-the partnership of K12 teachers with college and university teacher-scholars-that are offered within the ever-renewing field of American Studies. K16 collaboration is an educational initiative that has been growing dramatically over the past ten years, and expanding into broadening areas of public humanistic practice in museums, libraries, theaters, and other community centers. The centerpiece of the 2005 ASA initiative is a K16 conference-within-the-conference, consisting of workshops and panels, located variously at the hotel and sites around Washington, D.C., scheduled mostly on Saturday, and highlighted in the Program Book. Both K12 and college/university teachers are invited to participate in these sessions, several of which are being led by American Studies scholars in partnership with K12 teachers. At the National Museum of the American Indian, Ford’s Theatre, and the Frederick Douglass Historic Site, workshop participants will focus on curricular materials and strategies concerning Native American history and cultures, the assassination of Lincoln, and the making of African-American identity. At the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring (a short metro ride from the hotel), a Friday afternoon session on “Teaching History and Literature through the Lens” will be offered.
Saturday, November 5, 9:00 AM to 12:00 noon
LIMITED TO 40 PARTICIPANTS -$10.00 per person
The Making of African-American Identity, 1865-1917: A K16 Workshop
This workshop, held at the Frederick Douglass Historic Site, will introduce K16 teachers to a “toolbox” of primary sources-including documents and letters, paintings, poetry, and fiction-concerning the making of African-American identity from the end of the Civil War through World War I. Using such sources as the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, short stories by Charles W. Chesnutt, the writings of Frederick Douglass, and a range of visual images, workshop participants will discuss ways of teaching the challenges faced by African-Americans in the half-century following emancipation, and their responses to those challenges in such areas as education, religion, business, family, and political action. In addition to K16 teachers, historic preservationists may find this workshop of interest because the Douglass house is currently undergoing restoration. Classroom-ready curricular materials will be provided to registered participants. Bus will depart from the Renaissance Hotel (K Street side) at 8:30 AM and return to the Renaissance Hotel at 12:30. To register, please contact Kathleen Steeves at ksteeves@gwu.edu.
Saturday, November 5, 8:30-11:00 AM
LIMITED TO 40 PARTICIPANTS - $10.00 per person
Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre: A K16 Workshop
This workshop, held at Ford’s Theatre and the Petersen House, will examine the assassination of President Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre, the national mourning that followed, and the broader implications of Lincoln’s violent death for the post-Civil War period. Using press coverage, works of literature, visual images, and material artifacts, workshop participants will explore pedagogical strategies for integrating the Lincoln assassination into history and literature classrooms from middle school through high school and college/university. Classroom-ready curricular materials will be provided to registered participants. Bus will depart from the Renaissance Hotel (K Street side) at 8:30 AM and return to the Renaissance Hotel at 11:30.To register, please contact Kathleen Steeves at ksteeves@gwu.edu.
Saturday, November 5, 9:00-11:00 AM
LIMITED TO 20 PARTICIPANTS - $10.00 per person
Teaching American Indian History and Culture at the NMAI: A K16 Workshop
Curated by individuals and collectives of American Indian people, the new National Museum of the American Indian offers unique opportunities to consider the story of Native Americans within the context of U.S. and world history. This workshop will focus on the pedagogical possibilities raised by the museum, including the use of individual objects, collections of objects in storage and on display, and the curatorial interpretations offered by Indian people. At this workshop, K16 teachers will work together to discuss these pedagogical possibilities. Classroom-ready curricular materials will be provided to registered participants. The National Museum of the American Indian is within walking distance. To register, please contact Kathleen Steeves at .
NOTE: THESE WORKSHOPS ARE SCHEDULED FOR SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT TIME PERIODS-THOUGH ALL TAKE PLACE ON SATURDAY MORNING.
In addition, K16 sessions at the conference site include workshops and panels on teaching through dance, popular youth culture in the classroom, teaching the urban, teacher-certification in American Studies, and teaching ethnic studies, to name a few. Other panels address broader activities and collaborations beyond the academy, such as the arts and activism, the role of public intellectuals, guerilla poetry, and American Studies and the making of public policy. Once again, we want to stress that all who attend the Annual Meeting are encouraged to attend these collaborative sessions. It is the hope of the 2005 Program Committee that Association members not merely discuss but actively engage in the groundwork of collaboration with fellow practitioners of American Studies both in K12 education and in the larger communities around us.
Secondary Education Luncheon
Richard Yarborough will speak on the subject entitled, “Multiculturalism in the Academy: Hard-Won Victories, Ongoing Struggles, and New Challenges.“ Please note that the Secondary Education Luncheon, 12:00 - 1:30 PM, November 4, 2005, requires a ticket. Early reservations are advised because tickets are available in limited quantities. NO tickets will be sold after 5:00 PM, November 3, 2004. Cost of tickets is $15 for regular members, $8 for students, $5 for international scholars.
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