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 24-27, 2024. 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 2024 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.)

-2024 Awards Cycle opens January 15, 2024

-2024 Award Submission Deadline: August 1, 2024

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.

View and circulate the Redd Center Teaching Award Announcement here, the Lesson Plan Criteria here, and the Lesson Plan Format here. Please direct all materials and questions to the chair of the committee, Mark Bernhardt, at mark.a.bernhardt@jsums.edu

*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.

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