Our Mission
This website is a companion to a collaborative professional development project, funded by a federal Teaching American History grant, that was developed by New York University and New York City Community School District 4, and launched in September 2005. The project, which aims to improve history instruction in elementary classrooms, is built on the theory that in order to improve history education at any level, teachers need, above all, to be able to think historically. Thus through workshops, institutes, and in-school and online support, we help teachers develop both their knowledge of US history and their ability to critically interpret the past. In doing so, we insist that teachers and students of all ages work directly, first of all, with primary documents—oral histories, photographs, objects and material culture, maps, drawings, letters, and so on—and that they "read" these documents not as conveyers of unbiased fact, but rather as indicators of their creators' beliefs and ideas. Second, we want to provoke teachers to broaden their pedagogical toolkits, developing in particular a range of arts- and kinesthetic-based teaching strategies. In specific, we emphasize drama-based pedagogical strategies. And always, we align this work with the New York State Learning Standards.
Our Resources
This website contains a range of resources and provocations specifically designed to help elementary educators interested in critical history education do this work. In addition, we provide a rationale for some pedagogical practices that we have found to be effective and powerful tools for teaching history to young people. We hope that these resources will not only assist elementary educators as they do their work, but also foster, among them, conversations about best practices in elementary social studies education.
Here you will find:
- resources for teaching with primary documents
- teacher-created lesson and unit ideas for teaching US history in the elementary school
- ideas and suggestions for using process drama methods
- ideas and suggestions best literacy practices to teach history
- links to print and web-based resources
Finally, though, these resources are meant only to be provocations and jumping-off points for teachers' own pedagogical and classroom work. And the site itself is a continual work-in-progress. We welcome your comments and ideas. Write us!
Who We Are
The Becoming Historians Project is a collaboration between the NYC Department of Education and New York University.
Dr. Terri Ruyter, Project Director
Dr. Rachel Mattson, Historian-in-Residence
with thanks to: The New York University Department of Teaching and Learning, especially Dr. Robby Cohen and Mary McShane; the New York University Department of Educational Theater, especially Dr. David Montgomery; the teachers of NYC Districts 1,2, 4 & 7, especially Liz Wong, Thea Krumme, and Lisa Jaffee; our web designer Han Yu; Marc Aronson, Marina Budhos, Dr. Betsy Esch, Dr. Adam Green, Dr. Barbara Krauthamer, Dr. Madhulika Khandelwal, Judith Sloan, and all the many other individuals who have participated in, and enriched, this work.