Evan Carrier Portfolio Page

About Me

Current High School Social Studies Teacher. Experience Teaching 7th - 12th grade.

My Topic and Purpose

Engaging students in Public History is a experience that can go along way with helping create lifelong learners. Studying Public history is studying how people learn about history outside of a classroom as well as how people interact with historical landmarks, museums, and other spaces where history is meant to be learned. One of my most interesting classes in undergrad was Intro to Public History. This class taught us how to explore the ways the public learns and interacts with history. This course culminated with a project where the students created web pages detailing a specific monument or historical landmark in their community. it was a unique way to instill the ideas and skills of being a lifelong history learner. The course would also serve as a way to get show students how to be more involved in their community and help them develop a sense of belonging to that community.

Scope of Learning Outcomes and Content

What is Public History?

How the general public learns about history.

How the general public interacts with history.

How to conduct research within a specific community.

Basic Interview Skills

Creation of research projects for a specific community.

Benefits of student engagement in their communities.

Fostering sense of belonging

Appreciation for their surroundings

Needs Assessment

(MOD 5) Report findings from your needs analysis to clarify the gap of knowledge/skills that exists related to your mini-course topic. See the chapter of Shambaugh & Magliaro (1997) Needs Assessment provided in Mod 5. You may use a literature review or/and survey to inform your analysis of the current reality, the "ideal," and the gap in between.

You may use the following subheadings to organize your report in this section (feel free to adjust as you need).

• educational opportunity
  • The goal of creating lifelong learners seems to take a backseat to making sure students pass the standardized tests of today. Teaching students about public history opens the door for them to gain skills that will help them be able to engage in their community's history throughout their life and feel a sense of attachment and belonging to that community, wherever it may be.
• Learners/participants
  • Participants in this course will be Graduate level students with some level of teaching experience (I.E. full-time, part-time, or student teaching). Participants will come from a variety of educational backgrounds and experiences. This course will be geared towards those studying to become social studies or FACS-type Teachers/Professors but will be open to any and all disciplines looking to further their educational portfolios. This course will be used to support the growth of Public history Education in k-12 schools and provide teachers with the resources and skills needed to develop valuable learning experiences for their students to engage in public history. This course will run for about 6 weeks (PENDING) and will require access to a computer, online databases, as well as local libraries.
• Analysis of gaps
  • My analysis comes from a survey of Social Studies Certified Teachers across 7-12th grade in New York State. Out of 11 Surveys sent out I received 4 back. Analyzing responses to the survey, 3 major points jump out. Frist, none of the teachers who responded said they felt confident in defining the term public history. while each of their definitions were on the right path, their confidence ranked average or lower. Second, only half of those who responded said they had completed a unit or project in which they asked their students to engage with their communities. Those teachers, notably, were middle school teachers who don't have a content specific final/standardized test at the end of the year. Lastly, all surveys returned indicated that teachers would like to learn more about how to engage their students in public history practices such as local research projects and increase community engagement.
• Existing efforts to my knowledge, public history is not an individual subject taught in local schools near me. The tenants of public history are somewhat covered as a part of existing social studies courses, mainly US History, Participation in Government, and Economics. There are many courses and local colleges covering this topic in one way or another. However, more focused efforts need to be made in order to ensure this vital part of social studies education is being taught at the middle school and high school levels.
• Intent statement: This course will help teachers understand the meaning of public history as well as create projects/assignments to help their students be more engaged in their communities and become better equipped to be lifelong learners.

Analysis of the Learner and Context

(MOD 5) Write here your more detailed analysis of your learner and the context in which they will learn using this mini-course. Who are the participants (learners)? Prior personal/cultural experiences, knowledge and skills, or interests they have? In what settings will they use this mini-course to learn? How much time will they spend? What resources will they need?

Done Above For now

Performance-Based Objectives

After completing this mini-course, learners will be able to:

1.     Define the term Public History

2.     Discuss the importance of Public History in our daily lives

3.     Create projects centered around the principles of Public History

Task and Content Analysis

(MOD 7-8) For each course-level target objective, consider 1) what the participants need to know in order to achieve this objective (e.g. the prerequisites that enable or support the objective); 2) what specific learning content and activities may address the prerequisites and target objectives. Then consider how the learning contents and activities will be organized into a process of learning through several learning units (e.g. 3-5). See example Task Analysis).

Curriculum Map

(MOD 7-8) Upload a visual map to show the sequence of learning units, each with its own objectives and activities. The units should work coherently to support the achievement of the ultimate objectives of the whole mini-course. Use this map to guide the creation of the actual learning units while adapting it when needed. The key idea is to fine-tune the objective-content/process-assessment alignment.

References and Resources

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