Incorporate cspan programs in their teaching. D. C. Join us in washington, for four weeks in july to develop new teaching materials. They also help lead cspans summer educators conference. Tell us about your school and your students. I am fortunate to be able to that ispopulation almost entirely first generation americans. Most of my students are bilingual coming into their english language skills. I get to take a group of students who really want to learn, immigrant children love learning. They see immigration as their way out. Theres their parents are super involved. I get to teach them about World History and about government and to help them see their place within this country that sometimes does not always see them as a part of it. You told us you are moving to a New High School in the coming fall. Typically, what have you taught in the past . When i started, i was the only history teacher, so i ran the whole gamut this coming year, i will be focused entirely on government. When you talk about focusing on government, what are the topics that class covers . I get the teach a full year of government so we get to go over the branches, the functions, all the different levels, then i have time to talk about media and bias in it. We learn about journalism and media studies. To me, those are all a huge part of government. We get the right things about how to vote and they get to research. We get to see not just how the government functions but how we participate in the functioning of the government. You talked about one of the challenges that exists. You are teaching mainly firstgeneration american kids. What are some of the other challenges in getting concepts of the constitution, government and washington across the High School Students . In general, history is hard to convince people that it is not just something that happened before but it is something that is actively happening now. History feels like something in the distant past that we dont get a say in. I hope to make those connections for students that these are issues we are still reckoning with. To cares the john adams try limit free speech . It is important to our conversation today about what is hate speech and what should be allowed and part of the discussion online. It takes making those connections for them that they might not make for themselves. What current political figures are the most talked about among your students . Donald trump is person number one, they will always come in and say, did you hear . Did you see . Do you believe . And then we get to talk about the historical significance and those relationships and put things into context. When the 2016 debates, we go 1960and watch the president ial candidates and how cordial they were together. Nixon and kennedy were so nice to each other. About not holding his opponents youth and inexperience against him. We can trace where the divisive tactics start, where things become more divisive. How did we get here . How can we navigate away back . Trumpther it is president or issues in political history, how hard is it for you as a teacher to keep your views in check and listen to what they have to say . The most important thing i see my role as is teaching them how to think independently and that starts with research. How can you conduct research to verify things you find online . We like to think as adults that young people are geniuses with technology. They know exactly what they are doing. They know the shortcuts and the lingo, but they dont have any reasoning skills about what they see online. The teachers, the adults, the parents dont think we could teach our Kids Technology skills, but we have to. They dont know, innately, to verify if something is true that see online. They see conspiracy theories on youtube and they take it as gospel truth. At the core of teaching them how to identify what is true and what is not, we can apply those to politics, as well. It is the same thing when a politician says something. Is it true . Lets prove it. Cspan has a really important place in that. It is not just a soundbite. Lets watch the hearing. My students became obsessed with the Brett Kavanaugh hearings. I switched around my lesson plans and they got to do mock congressional hearings, they pretended to be people in the Senate Judiciary committee and we watched cspan. We watched the hearings. We watched our senators engaging in those backandforths and they could see what it was like and learn about the politics behind everybodys choices and what they were saying. If you could bring those students to washington and take them to one place to teach a lesson, what would that be in the Nations Capital . I would like to take them off of capitol hill. I think we spend a lot of time at the mall but the real history is of those other places. A lot of student groups dont get into southeast d. C. Getting to go somewhere like the Frederick Douglass house in anacostia, it is somewhere people might not think of but it has a rich multicultural history that students need to learn, especially my students. They see history as something that old white people did and to show them they have a place in that history, as well, that is why i like to take them to see the Frederick Douglass house and teach them about what he did. You are one of our three teacher fellows this summer, why did you apply in the first place . Unique,t like i had a but becoming less unique, perspective teaching english learners, teaching students who are immigrants that the face of americas changing and i had been on the frontline with those students. I wanted to bring my perspective of teaching a kid was been left behind. Month iike after this am going to be a much better teacher for my students. You are here with your other teacher fellows and other teachers coming in for a teacher conference developing curriculum for middle school and High School Students, what are some of the interesting ideas or practices you have heard from your colleagues . They have been taking on the history,oing state something a lot of middle School Teachers need, it is easier to find the National Stuff online, but finding something specific about north dakota, that is harder. They have been digging through cspans Library Finding the city tours and those fun stories you would not expect, that the city, church in salt lake they built that and were able to build that because of the end of polygamy. They were not able to get federal funding until they ended polygamy. These little stories that you think, it is really small to a place, but also has big political ramifications. Getting to see how we can find ourselves in a more local context and make those larger connections. You have ahink better understanding of a policy or process of the government that you did not before that you can relate to with kids a little easier now . Delight toeen a real have going on in the background the gaveltogavel coverage. All day i have that on a screen next to me. You get to see those little moments that get missed. You get to see the Little Things are congresspeople get to do to connect back home that dont get covered, but they are always out there sharing a picture of someone important to local. We think of them as National Figures because our media is so nationalized. To everythingions are congresspeople do that connect us to them, the local to the national. I think that its something ive been able to see and experience. You mentioned the Frederick Douglass house in anacostia, what other fun things that you do while in washington . The National Sculpture garden, i have been able to get a couple five dollar games and it is been taking the time to see a place that has been here so long. We have but here one month. It is not a two day whirlwind around d. C. , but taking the time to spread out into different places. Spreading out beyond the core boundary that most of us think of when we picture d. C. It has been a real delight to get to live in the place and feel like i am knowing where im going. As you head back to california, head back to school at a New High School, is there a followup process to what you have learned here . I will be moving to a much bigger high school this coming year they will have a full History Department to get to work with, not just me and a few other colleagues. I am excited to get to share this process, how to dive into the cspan library 250,000 hours of it. I would love to bring that practice to my fellow teachers. It is not just history teachers. There is content for english teachers and environmental studies teachers. Fellowscspan teacher from california, thank you so much. Thank you i appreciate it. 2019 teacher fellows maureen teaches in rhode island, tell us about your students. Our school is on an island. Our students are together k8 and they are excited when we have military students that make up 25 of our population. Here are new people to meet so basically the islands start out as a farm for sheep and then stayed that way really until we got another bridge in and then thats when our population kind of exploded from about 2,500 people. You teach middle school five through eight in your system. Seven and eight. What are some of the courses you teach . Top nix western civilization. Focusing on the historical message. How to gather information. And present it to the audience. That is the common theme, gathering of information that you studied. One, how cspan offers so many materials. Were starting to use documentbased questions. One of the challenges is to allow students at our grade level to access primary documents and the real portion of the cspan has been a great way to get my students to have that access because it is awe they wantic to the time. We can utilize a lot of the clips that we can make and students can gather information in an awe they wantic way. What current political or policy issues or issues in history are your kids most interested in aside from the things that you are covering in the class . Big issue on chasing coral and were stunned by whats happening in our ceans that we dont see. They were successful with getting the plastics policy changed. If you could bring your kids from jamestown here to washington and teach them a class in one location, where would that be and what would the class be about . The Supreme Court is less known as to what they do, because they toned think the laws are passed by congress and again signed by the president and taken to the Supreme Court. The other picture is it is like a trial they see on law and order. To dispel the kind of jurisdiction it is and the process in which the justices go through a case. Thinking about guilt or innocence and the Appellate Jurisdiction and look at the constitution and due process. Youre in washington as the Big Decisions are coming down from the Supreme Court. As it is happening too. Absolutely. I use tinker versus bell. It captivates my students. The idea of freedom of exsuppression a big one. The other big issue for them is vaping. Because they were really disturbed by how it wasnt being dealt with and how the industry was allowed to regulate itself. This week i was watching quite a few of the Committee Hearings on that and am looking forward to bringing back clips of that to have them evaluate what would be the next step. To write to their congressman or senator or even the local school boards. How would they deal with the problem. You teach seventh and eighth grade. Eighth grade is mostly civics. I also do history day with them. You mentioned they are their understanding of the Supreme Court. What other miscon semmingses about washington or the process of the federal government do you think you can further clarify after your experience here . I think one of the things that was interesting, the hearing process, how they bring together different people of different backgrounds and opinions and how that process goes through in terms of the testimony. I think im going to look forward to utilizing that in the classroom. You have been here in the summer conference before. Cspan. This year as a teacher fellow. What prompted you to apply for the fellowship . I realized that my first time being here with cspan that i just got the service and the materials and using it with my students. That was the biggest thing. Even being here a month, i know i could use so much more. It was a pleasure to be offered the opportunity to do research and helped by the staff. You cant find them. Let me help you with that. It was wonderful. You mentioned some of the issues. Vaping. What other political issues did they come to you and say we dont understand this. Why did he say this . Why are they doing this . Sometimes it is how people talk to people. I used cspan. Im kind of shocked at how people speak and we live on an island. Being civil is really important. Sometimes they have a lot of questions about that. Sometimes it is interesting to navigate and ask questions back. You mentioned a lot of your kids are children of military parents. Do you have a discussion about the role of the military in terms of our presence in afghanistan and iraq and elsewhere . Im sensitive that sometimes the parents are deployed and i leave the conversation to them what they feel would be appropriate for the students. I dont know which families are touched by 911. I let them guide the discussion and facilitate if it goes in a drks that needs a little support. For the most part, they usually bring in a lot of pride that their parents serve their country and we try to make sure that choirn the military tear, children of the military will take to say thank you for your service because they do give up a lot of that. Correct me if i am wrong, you mentioned before the interview that you went to school while we were teaching. Ms. Mcguirl i replaced my predecessor who is 60, mr. Nderson. It has been a pleasure to go back to my community because i do know them and it is great i also live on my island which is unusual, because not a lot of houses are affordable for teachers. But i have been proud to be able to have that community connection. We are glad to have you in washington. As you have been around, your schedule has been busy with the conference. But what fun things are interesting places have you gone in the city while you have been in the Nations Capital . Ms. Mcguirl i have loved walking everywhere and running everywhere, particularly in the eighborhood behind the library of congress a marvelous history in itself. I had never been there. Other than to the park. I have been enjoying the diversity and ethnicity of the different neighborhoods i have gone to, and purposely gone out to go check those out whether it be up on new street, to try something, or go out to see potomac park and go running along there. It has been an exciting did you get into the library of congress itself . Ms. Mcguirl i did, i went into the exhibit on the women to vote and got my library card. You can go back and use it now that you have your library card. Ms. Mcguirl absolutely. Any citizen can get their library card. Ms. Mcguirl they just have to go down to the basement. Absolutely. Maureen, thank you so much for being one of our teacher fellows and being with us this summer. Ms. Mcguirl thank you. Appreciate it. Zach lowe is one of our 2019 cspan teacher fellows. He is a teacher at Ari Davis College prep in sumter, South Carolina. Tell us about your students. My students come from a very rural, impoverished backgrounds. Very on the edge of sumpter county and South Carolina. It is shaped like oklahoma. Our school comes from a panhandle. We are completely away from the nearest city. We have about 400 kids grades k8, very small school. The kids are determined to grow, they are determined to learn, and just great personalities and a desire to try to make their ommunities a better place. Your focus as a teacher is state history, South Carolina state history. What prompted you to apply to be a teacher fellow . What did you think you will learn . Mr. Lowe i came to cspans educator conference for years ago. It was my first real big professional development experience. It was after my first year of eaching. It was hard for my students to realize what happens in washington. Some of them have not really ever left sumner county. There was a field trip we took last school year where it was the first time most of the kids had a been to a zoo. That conference planted the seed of using cspans footage and clips in my classroom to show them what is happening in washington and why it is so important. Over the last couple years, i have made it a point to use those primary sources. This fellowship would offer opportunity for not only to learn more about the state history, resources that cspan offers, but to contribute more and build on top of what already exists. What are the practical things you take away from this experience here in washington in terms of as a teacher . And secondarily, what do you think you learned about policy or politics here that may be changed your opinion on . Mr. Lowe i did not realize how much cspan had to offer. I knew about the coverage on the house and senate. But we had referenced the conference a couple years ago about American History tv, cities tour, booktv. As teachers, as practitioners, we often dont have a ton of time to watch through those videos and see what is inside. This experience really showed me just how much stuff there is, museum tours, discussions with other people, that i did not realize existed with cspan. I think there is that adage that there is more that unites us than divides us. This experience showed me that. It came to fruition not just through politics where you are viewing your legislators communicating with each other, not so much he might see across the media and things of that nature. Working together to try and solve some of the issues in our country. And also, the pride that local communities have in their history and their stories and any tether that a come up to the top when youre watching through this footage. What of history and South Carolina, you say that is your focus but you told us you are from youngstown, ohio. South carolina obviously the center, one of the original 13 colonies. Certainly the start of the secession crisis, and the civil war. It must have taken you quite a bit to get up to speed on South Carolina history. Mr. Lowe South Carolina history courses basically u. S. History, with a couple extra things. It is just in youngstown, there is a ton of good history. And South Carolina, one of the original 13 colonies. We have a couple at least another 200 years of history there. Just an example, my grandparents came down to visit about two or three weeks ago. There big thing is they like to visit cemeteries. See who is buried where. I did not realize but the town im living in has the gravesite of the guy who shot the canon of the battle of fort sumter to start the civil war. There were so much history that i dont even know about and i think you could see them doing a disservice to my students because i am learning in the process. Hat is the fun of history. Theres always something to be discovered. Howing my students that, maybe they can be empowered to find their own history. If you could take them on a longer field trip, if you could bring them to washington, among the places you have seen or visited while you are in washington, where would you take them to teach them a lesson . Mr. Lowe i think i would have to try to bring them here for a month and go everywhere. Giving you a day. Im just getting. Kidding. Mr. Lowe you have to go to the africanAmerican History. It piques their interest. It is their heritage. 95 africanamerican. That covers a lot about their history, and also the challenges they are dealing with the 21st century. Right here, the u. S. Capitol is a good place to visit as well. To see the process in ction. Taking them by the white house, talking about the office of the presidency, and the roles of the executive branch and trying to filter through the divisiveness that is currently occurring in our country and getting down to what are they actually doing for you as a citizen of the United States . You and your colleague eleanor green, your fellow colleague has used the term primary sources in talking about teaching your kids where to find information. How hard of a challenges it to get them to use those sources and not to use less reputable sources of information . Mr. Lowe i think my students generally have a good knowledge of what constitutes a reputable source. I think with some of the terminology being thrown around in our country today, they are questioning everything, which is good. They are trying to find answers to their questions. What can we use, what cant we use . To dive deeper, it is not just saying what is reputable, what is not. But can we find a source on both sides and how can we use that to examine a claim but also to look at the other side as well . As you leave your fellowship and had back to the classes this fall, what practices or things you have picked up from either your teacher fellows or the broader summer conference here at cspan, what things might you bring back into the classroom . Mr. Lowe for me personally, a renewed passion to teach about American Government and the principles of our democracy. Being here, being in the middle of it all has been a rejuvenating experience. For my students, i think the idea of personal stories. Through all of these professional developments i have done over the last couple of summers, it is about what makes people tick . What makes them do this 6 of their decisions . Looking through footage of all 50 states, puerto rico and washington, d. C. , talking with people in the town of washington, d. C. Has really honed my focus in telling individual stories and how they have an impact on everyone around. We have covered American History tv and cities tour has been into South Carolina quite a bit. Mr. Lowe yeah, greenville, charleston, and i believe columbia as well. As you have been in washington, what interesting sites and fun things have you had a chance to do a side from seeing the capital, what would you point out . Mr. Lowe we got to go to the south lawn of the white house and watch the president gave a press conference. It was the resignation of the secretary of labor, alex acosta, and got to watch the president depart on marine one. That was a cool onceinalifetime experience. This is my fourth straight summer in d. C. For some sort of fellowship. I got a chance to go find those things off the beaten path. This is my first time getting to go to the zoo myself, which i referenced. The national zoo. Mr. Lowe the national zoo, right. It made me go back and spend time in places i have already been. The africanAmerican History museum, got to spend a couple hours. It was not terribly crowded. Got to go to the apollo 11 upon Washington Monument it was very, very cool. 50th anniversary. Mr. Lowe yeah. Getting into more detailed focus on what washington, d. C. Has to offer. When students come into class, there are big political things happening, congress does something, what is the number one thing you hear from your students in terms of current political events when they come to you . Mr. Lowe they kind of regurgitate whatever their parents say, whatever viewpoints they carry from home into the classroom. That is pretty much their focus. Regardless of issue, gay marriage, abortion, the military, it is whatever their parents have taught them. That is why we definitely try and instill the capacity and ability for the kids to read through the sources themselves and make their own determinations. In fact, i had some of my students this last year take one of the i side with poles to find out which Political Party they would align with. Some said solely democrat and they take the quiz and it is completely conservative. Also on the flipside. I think teaching them how to understand what the Political Parties represent in their platforms and what each individual candidate brings to the table and counteracting the hearsay and things they hear in the news or from their family members. Zach lowe, 2019 teacher fellow from cspan, we are glad you are here this summer. Mr. Lowe glad to be here. Announcer for more information about cspans Education Resources including lesson plans and our teacher fellowship program, go to cspan. Org classroom. Erik wasson joining us as