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Home > History Museum > Education > History Day > Teachers and History Day
TEACHERS AND HISTORY DAY1. WHAT IS HISTORY DAY? History Day is a nationwide competition for students in grades 6 through 12. Although it has been operating nationally since 1979, the first History Day contest in Washington State was held in 1982. Students may enter any one of seven categories of competition--historical papers, individual exhibits, group exhibits, individual performances, group performances, individual documentary or group documentary presentations--in Junior (grades 6 through 8) or Senior (grades 9 through 12) divisions. Participants first enter a regional contest held in February or March in their Educational Service District, from which the best 3 to 6 entries in each category and division are chosen to compete in the state contest held on the campus of Central Washington University in May. First and Second place State contest winners may then compete in the national contest held on the University of Maryland campus near Washington, D.C. in mid-June. History Day in Washington State has grown from 125 participants in the state contest in 1982 to about 3000 in 2004. 2. WHY IS IT WORTHWHILE FOR STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN HISTORY DAY COMPETITION? There has been much said recently about the need for excellence in education. History Day is an instance of excellence. It is a program that works. History Day participants develop skills in research, writing, and presentation. They learn how to define a historical question, locate source material, take notes, analyze information, and present it in an effective manner. They learn about scholarly devices such as footnotes and bibliographies. They learn to do what the historian does, and because they know from first-hand experience what goes into historical research and writing, they are better able to appreciate and to read critically the history books they encounter in normal class activities. Developing skills of research, analysis, and writing is difficult. The competition and public recognition of History Day provides the motivation that keeps the students at their intellectual task. History Day contests represent the culminating activities that, according to educational principle, make the learning process more effective. The public recognition given to those who achieve in History Day competition communicates to students that our society values historical study. And the History Day process reinforces the instruction provided by the classroom teacher. The judges at regional, state, and national contests are part of the instructional team. In addition, students learn from one another at these contests as they talk together and view one another's entries. 3. WOULD PARTICIPATION IN HISTORY DAY MAKE TOO MANY DEMANDS ON MY TIME AND ENERGY? Teachers already work long hours. It is understandable that they would want to look closely at any new project before committing themselves to it. Keep in mind, however, that it is possible to participate in History Day at varying levels of intensity.Some teachers have only a few students involved; others involve whole classes. Still others get "hooked" on History Day. They have many students participate and still find time to serve on their regional steering committee that helps plan and implement the History Day program. The degree of commitment of these people is living testimony to the value of the program. As you make your decision about how you wish to participate in History Day consider the following points: a. As a social studies teacher, historical instruction is one of your paramount responsibilities. History Day facilitates historical instruction of the most fundamental kind. Furthermore, because of its multi-disciplinary character, it also improves student skills in writing, dramatic presentation, documentary presentation, orvisual imagery, depending upon which mode the student chooses. The decision about how to present the results of research calls into play the student's creative powers. b. The students do the work. The teacher is an advisor, a coach, and a facilitator. These roles can be as much as the teacher chooses to make them. c. Even if you cannot commit a great deal of time to the program, just getting students involved in it is worthwhile. The contest process itself is instructive.Judges at regional, state and national contests make valuable suggestions to contestants on how to improve their entries. Students learn from each other and from one another's projects. As the students do their research, librarians, archivists, and museum people give them guidance. d. You may be able to recruit community volunteers to help you with your program. Parents of History Day students are sometimes willing to donate time and energy. Another volunteer resource is the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). e. If you feel you need help with your program, members of the History Day Advisory Committee are eager to help. Just call the state coordinator and he will arrange to have someone work with you. 4. HOW DO I PERSUADE MY STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE? Some teachers announce History Day to their classes and ask how many would like to participate. A number of students may show some interest and the teacher gives them the material and hopes they will come up with something. This procedure usually does not work. History Day is an interesting and exciting competition, but students already have many interesting and exciting things in their lives, and they often respond to that which is nearest in space and time. History Day is a coaching activity and the teacher is the coach. Students need encouragement, deadlines, and a little prodding to keep them on task. Many successful History Day teachers incorporate the History Day entry into regular course work. Some make it a class assignment. Students do not have to enter the contest but they do have to produce an entry according to History Day specifications. Other teachers make the History Day entry a class option, for which students receive credit in lieu of or in addition to other term assignments. Successful teachers integrate history projects into their regular curriculum and make the creation of an exhibit, performance, documentary presentation, or research paper a requirement in their social studies or language arts courses. They establish a schedule in their classrooms, and specific dates are given for the selection of a topic, completion of research, production of the entry, etc. The teacher monitors the students' activity to make sure that progress is being made. Such interest communicates to the student that History Day is important and that he or she should be working on their project throughout the year. Let parents know what is going on, what History Day is all about. They may take an interest and add their own encouragement of the students' effort. Remember, someone--teacher or parent--must help students, especially the younger ones, contact libraries, museums, archives, etc., to locate materials they need in their research. 5. IF I SHOULD CHOOSE NOW OR SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE TO IMPLEMENT A FULL-BLOWN PROGRAM, WHAT WOULD A MODEL HISTORY DAY PROGRAM LOOK LIKE? In the following model program, social studies teachers would routinely require that all of their students do a term project in accordance with the History Day guidelines. Slower students, who lack confidence and the fundamental skills to work on their own, would be encouraged to join a group. The culminating activity of the assignment would be a school or district History Fair, scheduled in February or March, just before the History Day regional contest. Students would display their entries. Parents, school personnel, and interested people would be encouraged to attend to view the exhibits and presentations and to talk to the students about their entries. Paper writers could have a brief one or two page summary of their papers to hand out to interested patrons. The presentations may or may not be judged, depending upon the local preference. Planning and putting on a History Fair involves considerable work, so the social studies teachers would need to form a committee composed of themselves, parents, and any interested people. Space and time would need to be scheduled for the various kinds of presentations. The Fair would need to be advertised. Parents would need to be encouraged to talk to the students, question them, and, in general, demonstrate that they consider the students' work worthwhile. A program of events would need to be printed, so patrons could quickly tell where and at what time the performances and documentaries would be presented and how to find their favorite paper writers and exhibit constructors. All students would be required to participate in the Fair, but entry into the Regional History Day contest would be optional, although all would be encouraged to enter. Since History Day is multi-disciplinary in nature, social studies teachers could work with colleagues from other disciplines in coaching the entrants. English teachers could be asked to help with paper writing (they might accept the paper as a term project for English as well as for History). Drama teachers could help with performances. Art teachers could help with exhibits, where visual impact is paramount. And media specialists could work with the documentary entries. As an outgrowth of the Fair, the teachers could identify especially well-done entries that would be available for programs to the community. Working with the teacher-parent committees, a flyer would be produced listing the historical topics, types of presentations, and students involved. This would then be circulated to service clubs, church groups, women's clubs, and other community organizations. Such student-presented programs might last about 20 to 30 minutes each, including question time. Performance and documentary programs would be the easiest to implement, because they could be presented as they would be in the actual History Day contest. For paper and exhibit entries, however, special oral summaries (forbidden in the contest) would need to be prepared. This aspect of the History Day program would have a double benefit. It would give students an opportunity for further recognition (many very good entries do not win at regional and state) and hence reinforce the ideat hat the broader community considers what they are doing to be important. Also, this would be an instance of the students giving the community a historical education, which is always a benefit. |
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