This unique approach to history professional development uses the colloquium model as its foundation. The colloquium, Latin for to share together, can be conducted anywhere from three to five days--or longer. It consists of a tri-partite team of colleagues, which includes a historian, master teacher, and learning/curriculum specialist.
- Each colloquium is
planned according to participant needs, and the team
constructs the content to be delivered based on those
needs.
- Members of the
colloquium team are treated as equals, and teacher
participants are treated as history professionals.
- The colloquium focuses
on history and history content and promotes teachers to
develop themselves as historians and teachers as part of
their profession.
- Teachers are encouraged
to talk and share ideas, which also promotes collegiality
between teachers and professors. The goal is for teachers
to view themselves as professionals that work together
and learn from one another.
- Teachers have the advantage of learning in a comfortable environment and go home with free books and materials.
The History Colloquium: Continuing Education for History Teachers
Editor's Note: On January 4, 2002, NCHE Editor Joe Ribar participated in a panel at the American Historical Association Annual Conference in San Francisco. This piece is excerpted from his remarks stressing NCHE's bedrock conviction that classroom teachers must see themselves as history professionals. He reviews one key mechanism, The History Colloquium, we use to promote that ideal. Joseph P. Ribar, Editor, NCHE
For the National Council for History Education, collegiality between teachers and professors is in our "genes." NCHE was incorporated in June of 1990 as the successor organization to the Bradley Commission on History in Schools. Our first chair, Columbia University historian Kenneth T. Jackson, had been the chair of the Bradley Commission and had insisted from the beginning of that project that it not be just a Commission of university people who, so to speak, told the school teachers what to do. Fully a third of the Commission was composed of practicing classroom teachers, and they assured that it was well grounded in the real world of history education.
When Ken Jackson called for the creation of NCHE, he envisioned it as an organization that was to be open to more than just the seventeen who served on the Commission. Jackson enlisted 186 others who became the founding members of NCHE. They were a mix of university scholars; K-12 teachers; public history educators representing historical societies, museums and historical sites; authors and publishers, parents, and history buffs. What they had in common was, in Jackson's words, "...a passion for history and a concern for the way it is taught." The mix and passion of the members remains the same today.
It should not be surprising then that when, in 1991, NCHE was awarded a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) to develop a model program for providing professional development for K-12 teachers, the principle of collegiality would be central to our efforts. The model that resulted from that grant is called the History Colloquium and colloquia have been successfully held in Ohio, Massachusetts, California, Maine, Michigan, Hawaii, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Alabama, and Alaska.
As we met to plan the History Colloquium, we began talking of things we did not like about past inservice programs. Among the things we knew we did not like were:
- outside experts with the
attitude that we needed to be "fixed"
- one day or, even worse,
half-day wonders who came, put on their "show," then
left, never to be seen again
- workshops on some
teaching process or technique - we were hungry for
content; we wanted to talk about history
- being treated as if we knew very little and were not professionals.
We tried consciously to avoid those pitfalls by imagining: "If we could do it the way it ought to be done, what would it look and feel like?" Before thinking about how feasible the idea was, we tried to envision a good program. Once we knew what a good program would be, then we tried to overcome any obstacles that stood in the way.
We arrived at several distinguishing characteristics for the program:
- it would be a
"Colloquium" rather than an "inservice workshop" for two
reasons. First, we wanted to promote professionalism and
collegiality. We did not want to be "outside experts"
coming to tell the locals how everything should be done,
so we were consciously there to "talk together," to share
our ideas and listen to our participants. Second, we
wanted to avoid the inservice image-implying that
teachers needed to be driven in every couple of thousand
miles and have the oil changed.
- it would be led by a
tri-partite team of three equals: a classroom teacher, an
historian, and a learning specialist, each of whom has
important things to suggest to the other two. And the
participants would also be treated as history
professionals.
- it would be three days
focused on history so the experience would be intense and
intellectual; we wanted to have time to get into issues
in depth.
- it would be in the
school district. We'd take the program to the teachers;
they could live at home and go to "work" each day, but
not in their classrooms-we wanted to promote the idea
that developing themselves as historians and teachers is
part of their profession, not a special activity, done
away from home.
- we would tailor the
agenda to meet what the participants themselves told us
ahead of time were their needs and desires.
- we'd make the three days a pleasant/profitable experience by having free materials/books for each teacher, providing refreshments/lunch, holding meetings in as comfortable a setting as we could arrange.
We are convinced that there is no dichotomy between content and pedagogy.
That led us to the Tri-Partite Alliance and The Collegiality Principle.
The Tri-Partite Alliance means that a colloquium is led not by one person but by a team of three equal members: a Master Classroom History Teacher, an Historian, and an Education Specialist--the Historian, because this program is about history and content is essential; the Education Specialist, because we want someone who has thought professionally about how to teach history effectively and how students of all ages learn; the Master Teacher, because the practical pressures of the classroom and school schedule are different from the university and it is the professional teacher who translates academic research into teachable lessons. The team is also a model of professionalism that we hope history teachers will adopt for themselves: as true and needed colleagues of university professors.
The Collegiality Principle means that participants and team leaders meet in the History Colloquium as professional colleagues, each essential to history education. Opinions within the Colloquium stand on their own truth and merit, not on the title or institution of the speaker. We believe that we are all in the profession of history education together and no one aspect is dominant over the others. To teach history well requires good history content and historical research, it requires knowing and using the best in learning research and pedagogical technique, and it requires the practical application of both those bodies of knowledge in the classroom. Therefore we designed a program in which local participants and team leaders consider themselves to be in a meeting of colleagues.
Leaders and Participants As Colleagues
"Thank you for not talking down to us."
That is the most frequently voiced comment on NCHE Colloquia evaluations, and expresses the relationship which develops between the Colloquium leaders and the participants.
Colloquium Leaders are leaders of the program in the sense that they take the responsibility for keeping the program moving along. They throw out questions or provide topics, materials, or readings for discussion, but in no sense are they there to provide "the answers." The team makes a conscious effort truly to exchange ideas with participating teachers, rather than talk down or lecture to them as students. Colloquium leaders often report that they take as much knowledge away from the colloquium as they contribute.
Master teachers receive the same honoraria as the historian and the learning specialist. We do not use the title of "Dr." in any written correspondence, phone calls, or in planning meetings. Also, we make it clear that each team member has as much say in the decision-making process as any other. Within the team, we model the collegial environment we want to establish with our participants during the colloquium.
Participants Are In On The Planning
Because our participants are colleagues, we seek information from them before we begin planning the agenda. We always use a four-page information sheet asking opinions of what the colloquium should focus on. This Backgrounder allows us to plan to meet the needs of a majority of the individuals, and it opens the collegial process.
Pay Attention to Teachers As Learners
A teacher's daily work leaves little time for reflection on how to bridge theory and practice, research and teaching, or historical content and history's habits of mind. NCHE colloquia build in time for teachers to think through the substantive reasons for teaching. Teachers appreciate time in the agenda to work on things that matter to them, and they respond to a staff that is attentive to their concerns, interests, and needs.
A Schedule That Provides Time
Typical Colloquium agendas include large blocks of time (1.25 to 1.50 hrs.) that allow leaders to delve into a topic for 40 - 50 minutes, yet leave ample time for discussions with the participants. When people are interested and have good questions, we do not want face the problem of having to cutoff questions simply to move on with the schedule.