March 13, 2012
Graduate students from the Department of
Curriculum & Instruction participated as Judges in New York
City History Day which took place at The Museum of the City of
New York on Sunday March 11th.
As part of a course in Methods and Strategies of
Teaching Social Studies taught by Dr. Julie Carter, Associate
Professor in the School of Education, students acted as judges at
this all day event during which middle school and high school
students competed for a chance to advance to New York State History
Day in Cooperstown, NY in April, and finally to National History
Day to take place in Maryland in June.
Participating as a NYC level judge in History Day
gave graduate students, all preparing to be teachers, a chance to
help history come alive for New York City youngsters. They worked
hard to provide constructive feedback and assessment on the
projects submitted by youth as young as 6th grade. Participation in
NYC History day helps young people discover the history, culture
and lives of real people through authentic and hands-on projects.
The lens of this year’s theme was “Revolution, Reaction and Reform
in History.”
Judging teams reviewed as many as twelve
individual and group submissions throughout the day in documentary,
exhibit, website, performance and research paper formats. Dr. Carter noted, “It was a
fabulous learning experience for the St. John’s students as it
connected what they’re learning in class about authentic
instruction to real-world examples of kids doing what historians
do.” Nirka Tejada, a
student in the Teaching English to Students of Other Languages
program commented, “Now I really see the importance of using
documents and artifacts in building a historical story.”