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History Programs Overview

ESD 112 > Services > History Programs

In order for students to succeed to their highest potential, they need exceptionally well prepared teachers. The History Programs service of ESD 112 aims to develop the capacity of teachers by deepening their content knowledge and strengthening best practice strategies. This work benefits the 200 schools in six counties serviced by ESD 112. Since 2002, ESD112 has been awarded three Teaching American History Grants by the Department of Education: Constitutional Connections and Causes of Conflict: Digging Deep to Understand American History are our current programs.

Program Partners: Constitutional Rights Foundation Center for the Constitution Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lectureship Program The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction Center for Student Success (Evaluator)

Constitutional Connections Since 2006, Constitutional Connections has challenged teachers to teach US History through the lens of the US Constitution. To deepen their content knowledge, teachers have attended Constitutional Academies with nationally renowned scholars; summer Constitutional Institutes organized by the Constitutional Rights Foundation ; and expeditions to James Madison's Montpelier for seminars held at the home of the “Father of the Constitution.” Teachers find community in their efforts to make instruction effective and meaningful through working in History Professional Learning Teams; HPLTs also provide the basis for a sustained focus on student work leading to implementation of Washington 's new Classroom Based Assessments . To date, over 100 elementary, middle, and high school teachers have participated in a program that one participant described as “the best and most important professional development program in (her) 35 year career.”

Program Partners: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History The Center for Columbia River History The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction

Causes of Conflict ESD 112's newest Teaching American History project is Causes of Conflict: Digging Deep to Understand American History. Awarded in 2008, this project will lead teachers' examination of three critical conflicts in US history: The Civil Rights Movement, the Civil War, and the Revolution. In studying each of these three episodes, participants will attend Seminars with Scholars examining the legal, economic, and social histories of the conflicts; History on Location Expeditions, studying the conflict in nationally and locally significant historic sites; and the Reading History Workshop Series, focusing on the literacy skills demanded in the teaching and learning of History and the Washington CBAs.

Upcoming Activities:

Past Events:

Constitutional Academy: The Doctrine of Discovery, Native America, and the U.S. Constitution

How can we view Native American history through a constitutional lens? In answering that question, Bob Miller , Lewis & Clark Law School professor and Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, uncovered the history of Federal Indian Law. Professor Miller led us to see the Doctrine of Discovery's long reach, from the founding of the colonies through the writing of the Constitution all the way to Russia planting its flag on the Arctic seafloor last year.

Constitutional Academy: Liberty, Checks and Balances, and The Constitution

On April 29, 2008, Constitutional Connections participants examined what Idaho State University Political Science Professor David Gray Adler described as the great constitutional crisis of our day: The usurpation and abdication of constitutional roles by President and Congress. Building his argument on the concerns of the Framers, Dr. Adler pointed to the endangerment to liberty posed by the erosion of checks and balances.

 

Constitutional Academy: Equality, Equal Rights Movements, and The Constitution

Julie Novkov, Associate Professor of Political Science and Women’s Studies at the University of Albany, SUNY, provided an overview of 230 years of struggles for equality, focusing on the role of the Constitution and the courts in movements for African American and women’s rights.

 

Constitutional Academy: The Constitution and Social Justice in the Progressive Era

Michael Willrich of Brandeis University presented Social Justice and the Constitution in the Progressive Era. Utilizing rich multimedia resources, Willrich led participants in an investigation of the birth of the modern welfare state, exploring a time when so many ideas we now regard as "common sense" found their origins. Willrich paid special attention to two court cases: Lochner v. New York (1905) and Muller v. Oregon (1908).

 

Constitutional Academy: The Common Good, Immigration, and The Constitution

Paul Finkelman of Albany Law School was our featured speaker on October 3, 2007. In The Common Good, Immigration, and the Constitution, Finkelman informed, provoked, and inspired with a wide ranging discussion of the Constitutional history of citizenship in the United States.

 

Constitutional Academy: Diversity, Urbanization, and The Constitution

Eric Arnesen is Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Chicago, where he specializes in issues of race, labor, and politics in American history. His September 13 presentation addressed the interplay between the African-American experience between Reconstruction and The Great Migration, the US Constitution, and shifting democratic ideals.

 

Constitutional Institute: Focus on Classroom Based Assessments and Professional Learning Teams

Our work together August 2 and 3 drove us to deeply consider the work Constitutional Connections participants are doing with their students as well as with their History Professional Learning Teams. Thursday, Rick Dills from Portland State University’s Center for Student Success guided participants through a meaningful examination of the teacher and student work samples collected by the program over the past year. Friday, HPLTs met to reflect on their work over the previous year and to chart the coming year together. Participants left better equipped for the work ahead.

 

Constitutional Institute: The Constitutional Rights Foundation's Seminar with a Scholar

Staff from the Constitutional Rights Foundation led a three-day workshop deepening understanding of 19th century US history teaching and learning with a focus on the US Constitution. John Lloyd (Cal Poly Pomona) guided historical content while CRF staff members Keri Doggett, Karen Hirsch, Tanya Manabat and Carol Wright led participants in classroom-ready activities.

 

Constitutional Academy: Civil Liberties, The Constitution, and The Perils of Secrecy

On May 3, Athan Theoharis (Professor Emeritus of History at Marquette University) drew from his immense expertise in FBI history to paint the story of federal surveillance policy during the Cold War. He guided participants through a reading of case study documents that reveal central threads of the story but also speak to the challenges of studying history. Speaking of The Patriot Act, Theoharis discussed ways in which the Cold War story has contemporary resonance.

 

Constitutional Academy: Historical Perspectives on Human Rights and International Justice

On March 14, Liz Borgwardt (of the Washington University in St Louis) recaptured a multilateralist moment in US history, leading Constitutional Connections participants to consider the seminal role the Atlantic Charter (1941) played in developing modern institutions of human rights and international justice. In exploring the “constitutionalization” of these rights, Dr. Borgwardt helped us see how the Bretton Woods Charter (1944), the UN Charter (1945), and the Nuremberg Charter (1945) emerged from Roosevelt and Churchill’s earlier proclamation much as the Constitution evolved from the Declaration of Independence. Dr. Borgwardt encouraged participants to consider how to use their students’ concerns regarding contemporary human rights issues to develop a deeper understanding of U.S. History and the Constitution.

 

Constitutional Academy: The Real Story of Josefina Montoya, American Girl: Women, Property, and Conquest on the Mexican Frontier

Three dozen program hale and hearty folk braved snowy roads January 17, 2007, for an excellent presentation by Maria E. Montoya, associate professor of history at New York University. Dr. Montoya’s presentation focused on the collision of legal regimes regarding property rights that followed the US-Mexican War. She guided us through interrogation of primary documents, looking at two versions of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Taking as its starting point the fictionalized account projected by the American Girl doll, she discussed both the benefits and challenges of many children’s first engagement with that history: One which takes place in an idyllic age, uncomplicated by questions of contingency and enamored with the myth of progress.

 

Constitutional Academy: Slavery and the 19th Century Constitution

Grant participants enthusiastically received University of California, Berkeley Professor Robin Einhorn’s November 30, 2006 presentation on the often overlooked legacies of slavery: Civil War Amendments intended to end slavery which transformed the Constitution’s reach and a lingering popular association between taxation and oppression with surprising historic roots.

 

Constitutional Academy: Patriots, Revolution, and Constitutions

Grant participants enjoyed a lecture and workshop led by Patrick Manning (University of Pittsburgh) on October 12, 2006. Dr. Manning's presentation, Patriots, Revolution, and Constitutions, added to our Constitutional understanding by situating its foundation in a global context. He urged us to consider social movements from around the world in our quest to understand ways in which the US Constitution was both unique and representative of the era.

 

Constitutional Institute: Focus on Creating Effective Professional Learning Teams

August 4, 2006
On August 4, participants gathered to investigate Professional Learning Teams, Lesson Study, and Classroom Based Assessments.

 

Constitutional Institute: The Constitutional Rights Foundation's Seminar with a Scholar

August 1 - 3, 2006
Staff from the Constitutional Rights Foundation delivered a three-day workshop focused on the founding documents and principles of American democracy. Jack Rakove from Stanford University lectured on historical content while CRF staff led participants in classroom-ready activities.

 

Constitutional Institute: "What Is It? A Constitution & A Bill of Rights"

March 31 - April 3
& April 3 - 6, 2006
Dr. Will Harris explored the distinctive theory of American constitutionalism. Over several days in the Virginia Piedmont, fifty K-12 teacher - participants engaged in Constitutional thinking, uncovering the history, systems and personal and professional implications of the Constitution.

 

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