Educator applications due April 15 for Delaware history program

The Delaware Historical Society is seeking innovative educators to develop and pilot comprehensive lesson plans and units utilizing archival collections. The project, Liberty in Our Grasp: Delaware’s Freedom Seekers Database, 1759-1864, is funded by the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs and M&T Bank.

From May through November, educators will work with staff members of the Delaware Historical Society and the Hard History Project to create new classroom strategies for teaching the story of slavery in Delaware. Pilot participants will also model and provide feedback for the strategies they create, and will have an opportunity to share their classroom strategies with a national audience.

The project is managed by a team of educators who understand the demands of teaching during a pandemic, so it will not be a heavy lift.

The society is seeking six teachers to form the pilot group: two third-fifth-grade teachers, two sixth-eighth-grade teachers, and two ninth-12th-grade teachers. Educators selected for this opportunity will receive a stipend of $1,000 upon completion of the above activities.

Selected teachers will be asked to:

• Participate in 4-6 hours of online learning and collaboration
• Understand various aspects of the history of slavery in Delaware using DHS resources
• Collaborate with other educators to create a new teaching strategy
• Model their activity with their class or a group of students
• Observe and reflect on the lessons and how they worked with their class
• Participate in a nationally syndicated webinar for educators
• Complete assessments throughout the process.

The deadline to submit applications is Thursday, April 15.  Interviews will take place via Zoom the week of Monday, May 3. Project kickoff will take place from 5 to 6 p.m., Tuesday, May 25.

To request the Google form application, email info@dehistory.org or call 302-655-7161. 

Applicants are required to upload a PDF of a sample lesson plan that utilizes primary sources in a creative and accessible manner. Project facilitators are interested in seeing a lesson plan that applicants are most proud of and that was successful in their classrooms.

The Delaware Historical Society owns and operates the Delaware History Museum; the Jane and Littleton Mitchell Center for African American Heritage; a nationally recognized research library; Old Town Hall; Willingtown Square, four 18th-century houses surrounding a picturesque urban courtyard in downtown Wilmington; and the Read House and Gardens, a National Historic Landmark.

For more information, go to dehistory.org.