Faculty Testimonials
As an advisor to teachers-in-training here at CSU East Bay, I see first-hand the challenges future history and social science teachers face in pulling together the disparate threads of American history. The Alameda County Office of Education’s Teaching American History Grant has consistently offered rich opportunities for new and experienced teachers to see the connections between long-standing themes in American history, and to learn how to draw their own students into sophisticated ways of thinking historically as they investigate seminal events in our nation’s development.
–Bridget Ford, Assistant Professor of History and History-Social Science
Single Subject Advisor, CSUEB
It was a great pleasure for me to teach in the CSUEB -TAH – Words that Made America program. It is always good for university faculty to stay connected to the issues and concerns of teachers. We need to bring our scholarship out of the ivory tower and think about how it can be applied in the K-12 classrooms. This program gives us an opportunity to do just that. I was very impressed with the teachers I met. They were quickly able to take the issues I presented and see how they could construct lesson plans from them.
–Caroline Cox, Professor and Chair, Department of History,
University of the Pacific, and author of A Proper Sense of Honor:
Service and Sacrifice in George Washington’s Army
I had the unusual and very valuable opportunity to address practicing teachers through the Words that Made America Program. As a result, I learned what teachers deal with in the classroom in teaching students of many kinds about the American past. My own contribution was to expand their knowledge so they could incorporate children into their curriculum as a subject with which students could make a connection and gain a sense that they too are history makers.
–Paula Fass, Margaret Byrne Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley, and author of Children of a New World: Society, Culture,
and Globalization
I met with groups of middle and high school teachers on two separate occasions during the 2008 academic year. My focus was on Lincoln and his times in general and Lincoln and wartime civil liberties specifically. I found my fellow educators receptive to new ideas and interpretations, and eager to integrate them into their lesson plans. It was indeed uplifting to sense their commitment to inspire their students to appreciate the richness, diversity, and splendor of the American experience. What I found especially instructive, moreover, were the challenges they confronted in the classroom, which, in turn, helped me to rethink my pedagogical strategy and tactics, since so many of my students are planning to teach on those levels.
–Gerald Henig, Professor Emeritus of History, CSUEB, and author of A Nation Transformed: How the Civil War Changed America Forever
The grant has enabled us as professors to interact with and understand the restraints high school teachers face with teaching to the standards, and under strict budgets with hectic schedules. The experience of learning about that reality has inspired me to think about how my field — environmental history — can be introduced to high school students in a variety of practical ways — helping the teachers utilize fresh approaches and hopefully inspiring future scholars.
–Linda Ivey, Assistant Professor of History and
Public History Coordinator, CSUEB
I thoroughly enjoyed my participation in the Words that Made America with the federal Teaching American History program. I was inspired by the teachers’ interest in improving their teaching effectiveness and by their eagerness to expand their knowledge of American history.
–Francisco Jimenez, Fay Boyle Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures, Santa Clara University, and author of Breaking Through,
The Circuit, and Reaching Out
My opportunity to present to high school teachers through Words that Made America has extended far beyond the one seminar. I have brought what I learned from my interaction with the teacher participants to my talks with students and teachers since.
–Ruthanne Lum McCunn, author of Thousand Pieces of Gold and
The God of Luck
My day with Alameda County K-12 teachers, made possible by a TAH grant, was gratifying. I was uplifted by the quality of the teachers, their engagement with the materials I was presenting on the American Revolution, and the stimulating questions they posed. This seemed to be exactly the kind of professional development for U.S. History teachers that the Department of Education seeks.
–Gary B. Nash, Professor Emeritus of History, University of California, Los Angeles, and author of The Unknown American Revolution:
The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America,
Co-Chair of the National History Standards Project from 1992-1996,
and Director, National Center for History in the Schools
As a presenter at several WTMA2 programs I have contributed the perspectives I’ve gained from the study of American Indian history to considerations of critical themes in American history: the development of political freedom, the definition of American citizenship, the role of government in people’s lives. In my work as a coordinator with the Meet the Scholars series of lectures I have helped bring noted historians to speak on their research.
–Khal Schneider, Assistant Professor of History, CSUEB
As a university lecturer in Latin American and Inter-American history I derived great satisfaction in spending time with colleagues who were teaching in local high schools. It was good for me to acquaint myself with the challenges of their curriculum and I was impressed with the 4 San Leandro High School teachers. They were bright, engaged, and very serious about their vocations. I look forward, in time, to teach these teachers’ students as they matriculate into higher education.
–Louis Segal, Lecturer, Latin American Studies, University of San Francisco
I had a very good experience presenting to the Words that Made American program thanks to the very responsive and insightful teachers who asked thoughtful questions.
–Alan Taylor, Professor of History, University of California, Davis,
author of Writing Early American History,
and Faculty Advisor with the California
History-Social Science Project at UC Davis
It has been a privilege to work with teachers sharing my knowledge of U.S. women’s history. In 2006 and 2007 I participated in programming the “Meet the Scholars Workshops” on theme of “Present-ing the Past” where we invited scholars with expertise in fields related to current ‘hot-button’ events to assist teachers in the mission of ‘making history relevant.’ I presented to teachers on four occasions and been delighted by their questions and ideas for classroom applications. Teachers benefited from learning about Nixon’s Southern Strategy, the history of African American women’s civil rights activism in the early 20th century and discovering the free documents-based lesson available on Women and Social Movements on anti-lynching activism, the transformation of POW wives to activists during the Vietnam War, and most recently, a presentation on the multicultural women’s west that provided documents that enabled participants to begin to answer the question: Was moving West liberating for women? These experiences assisted me immensely in the preparation of a new course History 3400, U.S. to 1900—a course designed specifically for Liberal Studies majors, many of whom plan to teach. In preparing each of my presentations I’ve discovered new sources that I also incorporate into my own classes, using them in ways influenced by my interactions with the teachers.
–Jessica Weiss, Associate Professor of History, CSUEB, and author of
To Have and To Hold: Marriage, the Baby Boom, and Social Change
I had the opportunity to make a presentation for the Words that Made America program in March of 2008. I spoke on the use of juvenile fiction in the social studies curriculum. This was a worthwhile experience – it not only allowed me to sharpen my perspectives on the topic, but it provided an opportunity for me to engage in a dialogue with a group of very talented public school teachers.
–James Zarrillo, Professor and Chair of Teacher Education, CSUEB, and
author of Are You Prepared to Teach Reading?:
A Practical Tool for Self-Assessment
