Last year I had so much fun at the Primary Sources Summer Institute at Mars Hill that I signed up this year for level II.
This week is like a summer camp for educators (and in this case, librarians but all educators are welcome). The daily schedule runs from 9:00 - 3:30, ending at 1:00 on Friday. There is no cost to the program (grant funded by the Library of Congress) and there is housing available on campus for a very minimal fee. A light breakfast and full lunch courtesy of the Pittman Dining Hall is available, but dinner is on your own. Downtown Asheville is about 20 minutes away with tons of restaurants, shopping and entertainment. I lived large this week and still didn't break my wallet. But back to the topic at hand....
The first year of the program, we dove deep into the digital resources that the LOC had to offer. We learned how to access and evaluate primary sources as well as integrate them into our lesson plans using common core standards. By the end of the week, we had to submit our own lesson plan using primary sources that we could execute the following year. I didn't use my full blown lesson plan on the Dust Bowl, but I did successfully use primary sources (mostly with 5th grade) and they LOVED it. We used primary sources from Colonial America, the Revolutionary War and the Civil War to align with what they were studying in class.
The first year was great, very useful and fun. So I signed up for year 2 without any hesitation. This year's topic? Appalachian Studies. And not only did we use digital resources, but we were able to put our hand on the real thing in the Ramsey Center in Renfro Library.
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| Missy, pouring over a collection of Appalachian newspapers. |
On Tuesday, we were given a private concert by Joe Penland. This was a real treat. We learned about the history of English Ballads in Appalachia, the music of Sodom Laurel and the story of Cecil Sharp who saw the beauty and value in the music and worked to preserve it.
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| Joe Penland |
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| Rural Life Museum at Mars Hill University. |
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| Les Rekker, Museum Curator |
We were even able to go on a farm tour of Lori's place. Lori raises sheep, goats and rabbits for their fur. She spins and knits. She also raises vegetables and sells at the local farmers markets. Lori treated us to some homemade peach tea and zucchini bread.
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| Lori (red shirt on left) fielding questions while we enjoy a homemade treat. |
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| Dr. Karen Paar, Director of the Ramsey Center and Archivist for the Southern Appalachian Archives |
At the culmination of the week, we had to present our lesson plans that we had worked on all week. There were so many interesting things to choose from that it was sometimes difficult to choose. But all in all, everyone came away with some new tools and ideas to implement for next year.
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| Brenda presenting her project using oral histories. |
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| And our fearless leader, Anne Marie Walter with Dr. Karen Paar looking on. |
Although the week was chock full of resources and ideas, it was not "all work and no play". We did break away each evening to get a little dinner, do some shopping and some sightseeing. It was so nice to relax and connect with other like minded educators.
If you are in North Carolina and you are interested in attending one of Anne Marie's summer institutes next year, be sure to contact her: http://www.mhu.edu/tps/workshops-and-summer-institutes. If you aren't in North Carolina, and want to look for a TPS partner near you, check out http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/regional/contacts.html.
Well, in closing I want to say thank you so much to our hosts, Anne Marie Walter and Karen Paar. I also want to say thank you to Brenda, Missy, Jennifer and Marty for begin my in-house PLC. I hope to see you next year at level III!
