Social
Studies Awards
PRESERVE AMERICA HISTORY TEACHER
OF THE YEAR
Working with the
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Keene Middle School's Sean O'Mara Named
New Hampshire Preserve America
History
Teacher of the Year 2005
At Keene Middle School, Sean O'Mara is making history tangible
for
his eighth grade students. For the last three years, he's brought
his classes to
the Wyman Tavern Museum, maintained by the Historical Society
of Cheshire County. Dressed in period costume,
the students act out the debate between
Loyalists and Patriots that preceded the American Revolution.
This is just one
of the many creative ways to teach history that earned O'Mara
the New Hampshire
Preserve America History Teacher of the Year Award.
Plymouth State University and the Gilder Lehrman
Institute for American History, a leading private institute of
American history,
announced
the
award on September 20. The SAU 29 teacher was selected from a number of highly
qualified teachers by a panel of historians and history educators
from across
New Hampshire.
Preserve America is a White House initiative
that encourages and
supports community efforts to preserve America's cultural and
natural heritage.
The goals of the initiative include a greater shared knowledge
of the nation's
past, and increased local participation in preserving the country's
cultural
and
natural heritage assets. The History Teacher of the Year Award recognizes
outstanding American history teachers and the crucial national role of American
history education.
O'Mara notes that learning history should be “an
ongoing interaction between students and their world.” He continues, “The
active and
imaginative study of history can help empower students to think critically, to
look at the world around them with curiosity, and to encourage them to take an
active role in that world.”
John Krueckeberg, associate professor of history
at Plymouth State,
was selected by the Gilder Lehrman Institute to coordinate the award in New
Hampshire. He points out, “An important part of the submission
for the award
includes video footage of the teacher at work. O'Mara's video submission
revealed his success in the 2004-05 school year at having students engage in
the
creation of museum-like displays. Putting the students on the spot, O'Mara
quizzed them about their methods of inquiry, forays into researching
the primary
documents they selected and their purpose for assembling their histories as
they
chose. The judges for the Preserve America Award saw for themselves how O'Mara
inspires his students as active historians.”
In addition
to a plaque, O'Mara will receive a check for $1,000. The Gilder
Lehrman Institute is also donating over a dozen books, high-quality
reproductions of several primary documents, multimedia DVDs,
subscriptions
to
four history journals and a collection of materials about Alexander Hamilton
and
the making of modern America to the Keene Middle School library, in O'Mara's
honor. The history discipline in Plymouth State's Department
of Social Sciences
will present O'Mara with a book award at the New Hampshire
Council for the Social Studies conference in Manchester on
November 3.
This fall a committee in New York City and Washington, D.C.,
will select a national Preserve America History Teacher of
the Year from among
the
state winners, such as Sean O'Mara.
Contact Information New Hampshire Coordinator: For more information,
please contact
the New Hampshire coordinator, John Krueckeberg
at 603.535.2332 or jkrueckeberg@plymouth.edu.
Gilder Lehrman Institute: The Gilder Lehrman
Institute of American History promotes the study of love of American
history on an international basis. For more information, please
visit: www.gilderlehrman.org.
Preserve America: Preserve
America is a White House initiative that encourages greater
shared knowledge about
the
nation’s past and increased local participation in preserving
the country’s cultural and natural heritage assets. For
more information, please visit: www.preserveamerica.gov.
2005 Teacher of the Year: Sean O'Mara, Social
Studies Teacher at Keene Middle School
2004
Teacher of the Year: Thomas Gilfoyle of
Pelham, Social Studies
Head Teacher at Nashua North High School |