June 6, 2010 Library Selects 2010-2011 Teacher-In-Residence

Sara Suiter, a third-grade Spanish-English immersion teacher at the Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School in the District of Columbia, has been selected as the Library’s 2010-2011 Teacher-in Residence.

Since 2000, the Library of Congress has recruited teachers to work with its Educational Outreach Division to help teachers incorporate the Library’s digitized primary sources into high-quality instruction. The Educational Outreach Division, a unit of the Office of Strategic Initiatives, is responsible for directing and developing the Library’s efforts to make its resources available and useful to the nation’s K-12 community. Over the past decade, the division has used digital technology and its collective educational expertise to bring the Library’s collections and scholarship into classrooms across the country.

Suiter received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Clemson University. In addition to her classroom duties, she serves as grade-level chair, leadership and curriculum team member and mentor teacher. She is the fifth person to hold the Teacher-in Residence position at the Library of Congress. Past Teachers-in-Residence have come from Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and Alaska.

Each Teacher-in-Residence undertakes a project to benefit his or her home school or district to be implemented during the following academic year. Suiter’s project, “Creating Digital Culture Boxes: Increasing Teacher Use of Primary Sources,” will integrate the Library’s primary sources into her school’s curriculum. She will also train the teachers in her school in the effective use of the Library’s digital resources.

To be considered for the Teacher-in-Residence position, candidates must submit an online application along with a current resume, project plan, letters of recommendation and a letter from a school or district authorizing official approving the intergovernmental personnel agreement. Applications are evaluated based on the teacher’s creativity and willingness to contribute to the educational community as evidenced by his or her description of past activities and recommendation letters, and the feasibility and value of the project that the applicant proposes. Finalists are contacted for a brief phone interview prior to the selection decision.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution. The Library seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.gov and via interactive exhibitions on a personalized website at myLOC.gov.