About Teaching with Primary Sources - MTSU
The mission of the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program is to: build awareness of the Library's educational initiatives; provide content that promotes the effective educational use of the Library's resources; and offer access to and promote sustained use of the Library's educational resources. The Library achieves this mission through collaborations between the Library and the K-12 educational community across the United States. The program contributes to the quality of education by helping teachers use the Library's digitized primary sources to engage students, develop their critical thinking skills and construct knowledge. Learn more about the Library's TPS program and other resources available to teachers at www.loc.gov/teachers.
Funded by a grant from the Library of Congress, the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program at Middle Tennessee State University joined the national TPS Consortium in May 2008 and is administered by the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU. TPS-MTSU seeks to link current state-focused educational initiatives to larger national themes and to emphasize the student exploration of history, science, arts, and culture through the use of primary sources available from the Library of Congress.
TPS-MTSU reaches out to all Tennessee educators: K-12 teachers as well as undergraduate and graduate students in education, faculty and administrators of collegiate departments of education, school and institutional librarians and media specialists, and educators at museums and cultural institutions and heritage organizations. TPS-MTSU offers a wide variety of workshops, institutes, and presentations free of charge. We welcome invitations to partner with school districts, universities, museums, and cultural institutions across the state.
Professional development activities under Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) progress along three program levels. K-12 educators have the option of taking workshops and courses, offered by TPS Consortium members, under all or some of these levels, depending on their interests.
Level 1 - Participants gain strategies for using primary sources to help students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills and build content knowledge.
Participants learn:
- What are primary sources;
- Why teach with primary sources; and
- How to teach with primary sources
Level 2 - Participants evaluate, create and teach topic-specific, content-informed lessons that integrate primary sources from the Library of Congress and exemplify effective instructional practices.
Participants:
- Gain a thorough understanding of effective instructional practices with emphases on inquiry-based and student-centered learning using primary sources
- Learn to identify exemplary learning experiences
- Create standards-based, content-informed learning experiences integrating primary sources from the Library of Congress that exemplify effective instructional practice
- Teach, assess and reflect on their experiences using primary sources in instruction
- Evaluate primary source-based learning experiences
- Investigate the effects of primary source-based instructions on student learning
Level 3 - Experienced educators advocate the use of primary sources to help disseminate the ideas, methods and products of the TPS program.
Participants:
- Mentor colleagues on the effective instructional uses of primary sources
- Evaluate learning experiences for widespread dissemination and use
- Interact and collaborate with other teachers who are using Library of Congress primary sources
- Conduct research into the effective use of primary sources in education
- Contribute to the use of effective practices for using primary sources in instruction by leading professional development activities