Zachariah lowe of sumter South Carolina. Zach lowe is a teacher at middle school in sumter, South Carolina. Tell us a little bit about your students. My students come from a very rural, very impoverished backgrounds. Were very on the edge of Sumter County in South Carolina. Its kind of shaped a little bit like oklahoma, so our school comes from the panhandle, so we are completely away from the nearest city. And we have about 400 kids, grades k through 8, so a very small school as well, but the kids are determined to grow. They are determined to learn and just great personalities and desire to try and make their communities 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 would learn . Actually i came to cspans educator conference about four years ago. It was my first real big professional development experience. It was right after my first year of teaching, and its kind of hard for my students to realize what happens in washington, because some of them have not really ever left Sumter County or, you know, theres a field trip that we actually took last school year where it was the first time that most of the kids ever been to a zoo, right . So that conference kind of planted the seed of using cspans footage and clips in my classroom to kind of actually show them whats happening in washington and why its so important. Over the last couple of years, i have made it a point to use those primary sources, and this fellowship then would offer an opportunity for not only to learn more about the state history resources that cspan offers but also to try and contribute and some more and build on top of what already exists what are some of 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 maybe you changed your opinion on . Yeah, i didnt realize how much cspan had to offer. I knew about the gavel to gavel coverage on the house and senate. But we had referenced that conference a couple years ago about American History tv, the cities tour, book tv, and things of that nature, but as teachers, as practitioners, we often dont have a ton of time to watch through the videos and see exactly whats inside. So this experience really showed me just how much stuff there is, play space, history, museum tours, discussions with other people that i didnt realize existed with cspan. But i think that, you know, theres that adage that theres more that unites us than actually what divides us, and i think this experience really showed me that, come to fruition, not just in politics where youre viewing your legislators communicating with each other in a friendly nature, friendly discourse, not so much you might see on across the media and things of that nature, but working together to try and solve some of the issues that are in our country. But then also the pride that local communities have in their history and their stories and in each other that come up to the top when youre watching through this footage. What a history in South Carolina. You said thats primarily your focus, but you told us before the interview 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. Yes. It must have taken you quite a bit to get up to speed on South Carolina history. Yeah. South Carolina History course is basically i guess you could say u. S. History but with a couple extra things. Sure. I mean, it is just in youngstown, theres a ton of good history, but in South Carolina, what you just mentioned, one of the original 13 colonies. At least another hundred, 200 years of history there. You know, just an example, my grandparents came down to visit, probably just about two, three weeks ago, and their big thing is they like to go visit cemeteri cemeteries; right . See who is buried where, but i didnt realize but the town im living in has the grave sight of the guy who shot the cannon at the battle of fort sumter to start the civil war. So theres so much history that i dont even know about, and i think you could say that im doing a moderate disservice to my students because im still learning in the process, right, but i think thats the fun of history is theres always something to be discovered and showing my students that maybe they can then go be empowered to try and find their own history. If you can take them on a bit longer field trip than the one to the zoo, if you could bring them here to washington, among the places youve seen or visited while youre in washington, where would you take them to teach them a lesson . What would that lesson be . I think i would try and bring them here for a month and go everywhere. Im just giving you a day. [laughter] i think you have to go to the africanAmerican History museum. That directly connects to a lot of my students lives. Thats what piques their interest, kind of their own heritage. 95 africanamerican so it covers a lot about their history and also some of the challenges they are dealing with today in the 21st century. I think right here the u. S. Capital is a good place to visit as well, see the actual process in action, taking them by the white house, talking a little bit about the office of the presidency and the role the executive branch and trying to filter through all the divisiveness that is currently occurring in our country and getting down to really what are they actually doing for you as a citizen of the united states. You and your colleague eleanor green, your fellow colleague have used the term primary sources in talking about teaching your kids where to find information. How hard of a challenge is it to get them to use those sources and not to use less reputable sources of information . I think my students generally have a pretty good knowledge of what constitutes a reputable source. I think that with some of the terminology thats being thrown around in our country today, that theyre questioning everything, which is good, so they are trying to find the answers to their questions, what can we use . What cant we use . But i think to dive a little bit deeper, it is really not just saying whats reputable, whats not, but can we find a source on both sides, and how can we use that to examine the claim, but then also to look at the other side as well. As you leave your fellowship and head back to classes this fall, what sort of practices or things that you picked up from either your teacher fellows or the broader summer conference here at cspan, what sort of things might you bring back into the lass room . Classroom . For me personally just a renewed passion to teach about American Government and the principles of democracy. Being here, play space vocation, right, play space history, being in the middle of it all has been a rejuvenating experience. But for my students, i think the idea of personal stories, right. Through all these professional developments i have done over the last couple of summers, it is all about what makes people tick, what makes people make their decisions, and i think this experience looking through footage from all 50 states, puerto rico and washington, d. C. , talking with people here in the town of washington, d. C. Has really kind of honed my focus in telling individual stories and how they have an impact on everyone around. Weve covered American History tv and sort of the local cities tour folks have been into South Carolina quite a bit, havent we . Yes, greenville, charleston and i believe columbia as well. As you have been in washington, what interesting sites or fun things have you had a chance to do . What would you point out . I got to go to the south lawn on the white house and watch the president give a press conference. That was actually announcing the resignation of the secretary of labor alex acosta and i got to watch the president depart on marine one. That was a pretty cool once in a lifetime experience. This is my fourth straight summer in d. C. For some sort of fellowship, so i really got a chance to kind of go find those things kind of off the beaten path. This is my first time getting to go to the zoo myself, which i referenced earlier. The national zoo, but kind of maybe going back and spending some more time at places i had already been, for instance, the africanAmerican History museum, got to spend a couple hours. Wasnt too terribly crowded. Got to go to apollo 11, Washington Monument which was very very cool. 50th anniversary. 50th anniversary, yeah, just kind of getting into more detailed focus on what washington, d. C. Has to offer. When students come into class and there are big political things happening, president trump, etc. , says something or congress does something, what is the number one thing you sort of hear from your students in terms of current political events when they come to you . They kind of regurgitate in a way whatever their parents say, whatever viewpoints that they carry from home into the classroom. Thats pretty much their focus, right . So regardless of issue, it could be gay marriage, could be abortion, it could be the military. It is whatever their parents have taught them. And thats why we definitely try and instill the capacity and the ability for the kids to read through the sources themselves and make their own determinations. In fact, i had some of the students take the i side polls to find out which Political Party they would line with. There were several they thought they were democrat and they took the quiz and completely conservative; right, and also on the flip side. Teaching them to understand what the Political Parties represent, their platforms and what each individual candidate brings to the table and counteracting some of the hearsay of things they hear in the news or their family members. 2019 teacher fellow for cspan, we are glad you are here this summer. Glad to be here. For more information about cspans education resources, including lesson plans and our teacher fellowship program, go to cspan. Org class room. Sunday on q a, New York TimesStaff Photographer doug mills talks about photos covering president trump. Obviously he enjoys having us around. I really believe despite his constant comments about fake news and the media and so forth, i really i really feel he enjoys having us around because it helps drive his message, helps drive the news of the day which he can do every day and does every day. Hes constantly driving the message. And therefore, having us around really allows him to do that. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. The house will be in order. For 40 years, cspan has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and Public Policy events from washington, d. C. And around the country. So you can make up your own mind. Created by cable in 1979, cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. New a look at the united kingdoms relationship with the u. S. Now a look at the u. K. s relationship with the u. S. British secretary of state for International Trade talks about economic trade opportunities for the two nations. Her remarks at the Heritage Foundation in washington, d. C. Are about 15 minutes. Good morning, everybody. It is fantastic to be here at the Heritage Foundation today. An organization which gave so much impeto