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Public
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May 16, 2001 50
Educators to Participate in Library of Congress American Memory Fellows
Program for 2001 The National Digital Library Program of the Library of Congress has announced the selection of 50 educators to participate in the 2001American Memory Fellows Program. The program is an opportunity for outstanding elementary, middle and high school humanities teachers and library-media specialists to learn more about the use of digitized primary sources from the Library in the teaching of American history and culture in their schools. "The American Memory Fellows Program is a chance for the Library to partner with educators across the nation in exploring the value and use of electronic primary sources," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "The 50 educators who will come here this summer, and the 200 who preceded them, are enthusiastic online ambassadors who spread the word to other teachers about our National Digital Library Program's importance to education." The American Memory Fellows will gather in Washington for two sessions of a National Digital Library Educators Institute. The first session, July 15-20, is for elementary and middle school educators, grades 5-8; the second session July 22-27, is for middle and high school educators. Fellows will learn about the Library of Congress's digitized American Memory collections of photographs, documents, manuscripts, maps, sound recordings and motion pictures available at www.loc.gov. During the Educators Institute, the Fellows will share in a professional development experience that will shape the way that the Library's unique American Memory collections are used in schools across the country. The 2001 Fellows join 200 graduates of the Educators Institutes that began in 1997. Like their predecessors, the 2001 Fellows will create teaching units based on the nearly 7.5 million American Memory materials now online. Then, in the school year 2001-2002, Fellows will test their teaching units in the classroom and will revise them for eventual dissemination to the education community through both the Library's World Wide Web site and at professional education forums nationwide. Interactive teaching unit ideas proposed by the selected American Memory Fellows include projects on local history through architecture, the role of the African American soldier in the Civil War, the songs that "built" Kansas, Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence and women's identity at the turn of the 20th century. The Educators Institute "has been the most stimulating experience of my professional life," said Jane Garvin, of St. Joseph's Academy in St. Louis, Mo. Another Fellow said: "I think the most important thing that I discovered this week was almost a complete paradigm shift in how I access and use information. ... Now, I can't imagine not using primary resources." Twenty-five, two-person American Memory Fellows teams, selected by an independent review panel from 150 teams of applicants, comprise teachers, librarians, curriculum coordinators, media specialists and other educational professionals from across the nation. The American Memory Fellows are frequent users of technology in the classroom, and they are experienced in using primary sources to motivate students, promote critical thinking and help students connect history to their lives. All the Fellows are active leaders in the field of education and have the ability to disseminate their expertise to educators in their region. American Memory Fellows will also cooperate throughout the school year in an online National Digital Library Teacher Network. Through this forum, they will exchange ideas and learn from each other through organized online discussion groups. The American Memory Fellows Program is part of the National Digital Library Program, which, through more than 100 online collections is making freely available nearly 7.5 million American history items from the collections of the Library of Congress and other repositories. The 2001 National Digital Library Educators Institute is made possible by a grant from an anonymous donor, who is helping the Library reach out to the education community. # # # PR 01-080
2001 AMERICAN MEMORY FELLOWS Alabama Nancy Law Arizona Julie Spangler California Heidi Wolf Lisa Rillingale Lynne Therriault Donna Krasnow Bonnie Price Zorana Ercegovac Mark Simpson Florida Margaret Rohrbach Georgia Mary Ann Johnson Illinois Kenneth Smith Indiana MiSang Han Kansas Mary Stahl Massachusetts Mary Alice Misuta Maryland Anna Park Muher North Carolina Dana Stone New Hampshire Linda Hedrick New Jersey Elizabeth Park New York Natalie Farina Susan Allen Mary Rockwell Cathryn Franchino Peter Mastrogiovanni Ohio Linda Specht Oklahoma Gayle Lawrence South Carolina Merrie Fisher Tennessee Renee Semik Washington Nancy Mowat Wisconsin Micheal Larson |
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