OCM BOCES District Superintendent Jessica F. Cohen is pleased to announce that Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES has been awarded nearly $1 million from the U.S. Department of Education to improve the quality of teaching American history locally.
The grant for $989,497 over three years, will support the OCM BOCES "First Person America" project, focused on teaching history from a first-person perspective.
The Department of Education announced the grant in early August, with BOCES being named as one of 16 school districts or school groups in New York State to receive a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Nationwide, 124 districts received part of the total $115.3 million awarded.
Through the grant, approximately 30 teachers each year will have the opportunity to attend week-long history lessons, monthly meetings and field trips to bolster their knowledge of American history and enhance their teaching strategies. OCM BOCES is partnering with the State University of New York College at Cortland to offer the teachers a chance to take history lessons from college professors and to create a series of lesson plans focused on in-class instruction.
During the 2010-2011 school year, the group of instructors from OCM BOCES and their 23 component school districts, will visit colonial Williamsburg to focus on the American Revolution. Additional field trips are planned to Gettysburg, where teachers will view the civil war through the eyes of African American soldiers, and to New York City to learn about modern-day immigration.
The U.S. Department of Education's Teaching American History grant program aims to enhance teachers' understanding of American history through intensive professional development, including study trips to historic sites and mentoring with professional historians and other experts.
For additional information about OCM BOCES' "First-Person America" project, contact BOCES' Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Support Services Jeff Craig at 315/433-2627 or by email at jcraig@ocmboces.org
