OXFORD – SAD 17 has received a nearly $1 million federal grant to allow 70 teachers from 15 western Maine school districts to participate in a professional development program aimed at enhancing the teaching of U.S. history.

“I’ll go wherever I can to keep these important programs going for our staff and students. If this is the only avenue we will pursue them,” Superintendent Mark Eastman said Friday.

The $973,529 from the U.S. Department of Education’s Teaching American History Grants will support a three-year program designed to raise student achievement by improving teachers’ knowledge and understanding of and appreciation for traditional U.S. history.

Participating schools

Other participating school systems are: Auburn, Jay, Lewiston, SADs 9 in Farmington, 21 in Dixfield, 36 in Livermore, 39 in Buckfield, 43 in Rumford-Mexico, 44 in Bethel, 52 in Turner, 58 in Kingfield and 61 in Bridgton, and Unions 29 in Poland and 37 in Rangeley.

“This program recognizes the importance of understanding and teaching U.S. history,” U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a statement announcing the award Friday. “This funding will help give teachers the tools that they need to make history more engaging for their students, thereby increasing student achievement in this important subject.”

Eastman said SAD 17 will act as the administrator of the program. It will organize the professional development sessions at Bowdoin College in Brunswick and provide top-notch people in the field to work with the teachers, among other responsibilities.

Partnership

The program is a partnership between the Maine Humanities Council and a consortium of 15 western Maine schools led by SAD 17. U.S. history and social studies teachers of grades five through 12, as well as librarians and administrators, are eligible to sign up for the professional development program. The initiative is designed to improve the teaching of American history as an independent subject by increasing knowledge of the subject through close study of American biography.

“The approach used is teaching through the use of biography,” explained Eastman of the desire to immerse students in history through the lives of those who lived it rather than providing a strict “memorization of facts” curriculum. “It makes history come alive.”

Eastman said he is excited about this latest venture. “We’re always interested in finding high-quality staff development for our teachers.”

“Think like historians”

Project writers say they hope teachers will “think like historians” and that the program will teach them how to conduct independent research in Maine archives and beyond, and use their findings to develop teaching units for their classes.

The program includes a series of after-school, academic-year studies, a two-week in-residence summer institute at Bowdoin College, field trips, a writing workshop and a summary conference event.

Program developers said the most significant outcome will be a body of well-researched new lesson plans using biography and coordinated with the newly revised Maine Learning Results for Social Studies. The work will also be available on the Maine Humanities Council Web site.

“It’s neat for the teachers,” Eastman said of the opportunity.

“The state has cut back dramatically on staff development, so this is a real boost,” Eastman said of the grant. “With this downturn in revenue incomes you have to be as creative as you can. We were pleased.”