September 21, 2015 Library of Congress Selects Two 2015-2016 Teachers-In-Residence

Tom Bober, librarian at R.M. Captain Elementary School in Clayton, Missouri, and Trey Smith, science teacher at Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia Charter School, have been selected to serve as the 2015-2016 Teachers-in-Residence at the Library of Congress.

Since 2000, the Library has recruited educators to work with its Educational Outreach office to help teachers and school librarians incorporate the Library’s digitized primary sources into high-quality instruction. The Educational Outreach office is responsible for directing and developing the Library’s efforts to make its resources accessible, relevant and compelling to the nation’s K-12 community.

Over the past two decades, the office has used digital technology and its collective educational expertise to bring the Library’s collections—and powerful strategies for integrating them into classrooms—across the country. This is the first year that two educators have been selected for this opportunity.

 

Bober has been the school librarian at R.M. Captain Elementary in the School District of Clayton in Missouri since 2010. He formerly served as its educational technologist and previously worked at Pattonville School District as an instructional technology specialist and elementary classroom teacher. He earned master’s degrees in education and information science at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and University of Missouri Columbia, respectively, as well as a bachelor’s degree in elementary education at St. Louis University. He attended the 2013 Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institute and the 2014 Library of Congress Science Seminar and has presented on the use of primary sources in the classroom and library at state conferences as well as regional and district workshops.

Smith has been a high-school biology and chemistry teacher and science department chair at Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia Charter School in West Philadelphia. Previously, he was a middle-school science and social studies teacher and technology teacher leader in the School District of Philadelphia. During the 2014-15 school year, he served as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow placed in the Washington, D.C., office of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. He earned a master of science in education from the University of Pennsylvania and earned bachelor’s degrees in political science and communication studies from Louisiana State University.

Each Teacher-in-Residence undertakes a project to benefit his or her home school or district, to be implemented during the following academic year. For his project, Bober will collaborate with his district’s middle-school librarian and teachers to incorporate the use of primary sources into students’ assured research experiences. Smith will partner with science and history teachers from his school to document the development of a series of lessons that can serve as models for integrating primary sources into existing science curricula and for making cross-curricular connections.

"Primary sources in a wide variety of media can be powerful teaching tools across the curriculum and the grade spectrum," said Lee Ann Potter, the Library’s director of Educational Outreach. "My team and I are very excited to work with Tom and Trey to share the Library’s resources and teaching strategies with even more teachers."

To be considered for the Teacher-in-Residence position, candidates must submit an application along with a current resume, project plan, letters of recommendation and a letter from a school or district authorizing official approving the personnel agreement. Applications are evaluated based on the teacher’s creativity and willingness to contribute to the educational community, as evidenced by description of past activities and recommendation letters, and the feasibility and value of the proposed project.

The Library of Congress, the nation’s first federal cultural institution, is the world’s preeminent reservoir of knowledge, providing unparalleled integrated resources to Congress and the American people. The Library serves the public, scholars, Members of Congress and their staffs. Many of the Library’s resources and treasures may also be accessed through the Library’s website at loc.gov and its specialized educational resource site at loc.gov/teachers/.