Bringing Teachers to the History Museum

Lora Cooper, Continuing Education Coordinator at Monticello, facilitates the interdisciplinary work of providing professional development to historical interpreters and classroom teachers. She earned a Master of Education in Curriculum and Development from the University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development and a B.A. in history from Christopher Newport University. She has been involved in the evaluation of teacher professional development at historic sites and museums since 2015, and her work has been featured in the Journal of Museum Education (2018). Linnea Grim, Vice President of Guest Experiences at Monticello, is passionate about creating meaningful learning experiences for all guests and is especially interested in building relationships with educators. She earned a M.A. in history museum studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program and a B.A. in history from the College of William and Mary. Her publications include a chapter in Interpreting Slavery at Museums and Historic Sites (2014), co-author of “Taking the Next Step: Confronting the Legacies of Slavery at Historic Sites” in the Journal of Museum Education (2017), and co-author of “Museum Management Tune-Up” in History News (2015). Gary Sandling, Vice President and Chief Content Officer at Monticello, has worked in public history for more than two decades and at Monticello since 2005. As Vice President of Education and Visitor Programs for eleven years, he led the talented teams that produce Monticello’s onsite programs, including the reshaped Monticello Teacher Institute.

• ContentsDedicationAcknowledgmentsIntroduction – Lora CooperPart I: Theory1.Teachers as Learners – Stephanie Van Hover 1A. Teacher’s Perspective – CherylAnne Amendola 2.Translating Content into Pedagogical Content Knowledge – Christine Baron 3.Antiracism: The Both/And to Shaping Change – Dina Bailey3A. Teachers Perspective—Alysha Butler 4.Interdisciplinary Connections: Learning about STEM at a History Museum – Kristin Burton and Robert Wallace4A. Teacher’s Perspective—Georgette Hackman5.The Value of Evaluation – Christine Baron Part II: Practice6.Setting Goals: The Crucial First Step in Creating Your Museum’s Teacher Professional Development Program - Mike Adams 7.Effective Teacher Professional Development Program Design – Allison Wickens 8.Recruitment and Selection – Melanie Bowyer and Jacqueline Langholtz8A. Teacher’s Perspective—Karen Richey9.Teacher-Created Projects: Classroom and Museum Resources – Krystal Rose 10.Evaluation: Measuring Impact -Sarah Jencks 11.Implementing Evaluation Findings – Lora Cooper and Krystal Rose Appendix I: Logistical Tips and TricksAppendix II: A Note About Scaling and FundingCreditsIndex

This research-to-practice handbook will become a powerful much-needed resource for museum professionals, public historians, teacher educators, and teachers who are interested in developing, implementing, and evaluating ambitious and sustainable professional development learning experiences at historic sites and museums. Bringing Teachers to the History Museum fills an important gap in the literature by tightly coupling theoretical perspectives and practical insights on place-based education, public history, and high-quality teacher professional development designed to prepare teachers not only to get the most out of bringing students to historic sites and museums but also appropriately addressing and discussing potentially difficult topics and histories represented on site.