Alexandra Drone, a reading specialist at John Adams Elementary School for the past 5 years and educator with ACPS for 10 years, has been selected from a pool of more than 300 applicants to participate in the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Summer Teacher Institute this week.
Each year, the Library of Congress provides the opportunity for a carefully selected group of K-12 educators that typically includes school library media specialists, school administrators and classroom teachers to attend one of its five teacher institutes. Applicants to the Teaching with Primary Sources Summer Teacher Institutes reflect the diversity of the world of K-12 education. Those selected come from many different states, representing large metropolitan school districts and smaller, rural school districts.
“As a reading specialist, I am very excited to participate in this wonderful program at the Library of Congress, which is our nation’s most important library. I applied to this program because I wanted to learn how to access the materials and resources available through the Library of Congress that relate to our curriculum. The program will provide tools and strategies enabling me to reach English Language Learners, as well as all students, to increase their understanding of history, social studies and science. I’m also excited to join a network of teachers to share our resources and materials online,” said Drone.
During the five-day program, participants work with Library education specialists and subject-matter experts to learn effective practices for using primary sources in the classroom, while exploring some of the millions of digitized historical artifacts and documents available on the Library’s website.
Educators participate in and develop primary-source-based teaching strategies that they can take back to their school districts, apply in the classroom and share with colleagues.
Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects that were created at the time period under study. They are different from secondary sources — accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience.
Students working with primary sources become engaged learners while building critical-thinking skills and constructing new knowledge. Teachers working in the Library’s collections will explore the largest online collection of historical artifacts with access to millions of unique primary sources for use in instruction.
“We are thrilled to have one of our own teachers be selected to participate in this exceptional program. Ms. Drone is well deserving of this honor,” said John Adams Assistant Principal Paul George.
The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States — and extensive materials from around the world — both on site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.
All educators may freely access classroom materials, teaching tools and strategies for teaching with primary sources from the Library’s site for teachers.