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CHARLES REDD CENTER TEACHING WESTERN HISTORY AWARD
The Western History Association and the Charles Redd Center are sponsoring four K-12 Teaching awards that will provide teachers the opportunity to attend and present at the Western History Association Annual Conference in Los Angeles, California, October 26-29, 2023. Selected teachers will share their lesson plans and teaching strategies at panels during the conference.
The Award includes the following: conference registration, award ceremony ticket, ticket to the opening reception, and $1,000 towards conference-related costs. An added benefit is the opportunity to be in conversation with leading scholars in the field of Western history, with your lesson ideas and pedagogical expertise adding significantly to the field.
Application materials must include the following (please email to each committee member listed below):
One-page resume
Short statement (one page) of how winning the award will benefit you and your students
Lesson Plan (any grade level K-12) on the North American West pertaining to the 2023 conference theme, “Restorations and Repairs: Lives and Landscapes Across Many Wests.” (We consider the North American West to include northern Mexico and western Canada as well as the western United States.)
-2023 Awards Cycle opens January 25, 2023
-2023 Award Submission Deadline: August 1, 2023
The WHA office sends notifications to selected award recipients at the end of August.
Conference Theme:
The WHA 2023 conference theme is “Restorations and Repairs: Lives and Landscapes Across Many Wests,” emphasizing approaches that challenge traditional ways of thinking about western history.
As you consider lesson plan development you may consider what preconceived notions students bring to the study of western history, how you challenge and complicate student thinking on these subjects, and what innovative approaches can best be employed to encourage students to look at western history in new ways.
How do you present the North American West to your students and strive to reflect the broad horizons that encompass the histories of the region? What teaching strategies are most effective when teaching the American West? What primary sources work well in your lessons?
The lesson plan must include examples of Active Learning and Assessment and be factually correct. Include a bibliography of materials and sources used to create the lesson and reference any historical scholarship upon which the lesson is based.
* All applicants for the award consent to the Western History Association and the Charles Redd Center posting winning lessons on their websites and other publications. Your work will remain your own and you will be given credit in any digital or print reproductions of your work.
Brendan Bell, Cristo Rey High School, Sacramento, California, "California and the Western Foundation for Educational Equality in Schools: A Side-By-Side Comparison of Legal Methods and Development of Educational Rights Through Westminster v. Mendez and Brown v. Board of Education"
Ruth Ferris, Washington Elementary School, Billings, Montana, "Expanding Western Horizons: Looking at the Fur Trade Through Multiple Perspectives"
Shauna Hirota, Kailua Intermediate School, Kailua Hawai'i, "Analyzing the History and Impact of Racial Identification"
Donna Moore and Dalton Savage, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, "Oklahoma History, The 1930s: Reconstructing Memory - How did the Great Depression define Oklahoma?"
2015
Peter Prindiville, St. Patrick Catholic High School, Biloxi, MS, "Building and Breaking Barriers at the Oregonian Ballot Box: Voters, Courts and Personal Liberty in the American West", Prindiville is also a teaching fellow with the University of Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education
2014
Heather Penrod and Diane Wilson, Reseda High School, Los Angeles, "Global Warming in the West"
Michael Kennedy, Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary High School, Montebello, Los Angeles, "Railroads: Economic and Cultural Significance across the Continents."
Mitch Askew, Flagstaff High School, Flagstaff, Arizona, and Molly Golden, Alpine Leadership Academy at Mount Elden Middle School, Flagstaff, AZ, "The Bisbee Deportation"
2013
Edel Mooney, "The Gold Rush and the Central Valley"
Mark Johnson, Concordia International School Shanghai, "Anti-Chinese Sentiments in the US-Mexican Borderlands"
Heather Penrod and Diane Wilson, Reseda High School, Los Angeles, "Vital Signs vs. Homelessness in the American West"
Daniel Thele, "The Arizona Ethnic Studies Controversy"
2012
Meaghan Crowley, St. Rose of Lima Catholic Academy, Rockaway Beach, New York, "Native Americans: An Integrated Elementary Lesson"
Mark Johnson, Concordia International School Shanghai, "'His Death Avenged!:' Empowering Students as Historians to Understand the Chinese Experience in the American West"
Kevin Kimberly, Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Catholic School, Memphis, Tennessee, "America Expands West: Development or Intrusion?"
Karie Lynch, Westlake High School, Westlake Village, California, "Women of the 19th Century Prairie"
The WHA is located in the Department of History at the University of Kansas. The WHA is grateful to KU's History Department and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for their generous support!
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