Professional Organization

The National Council for History Education is an organization committed to “promoting the importance of history in schools and in society.” They provide a communication network for educators who wish to share their ideas and get ideas from others. They also host a conference for members to get together and learn about new ways to teach history. An online publication provides articles about teaching history in schools.

As far as professional development, an NCHE Colloquium put on by historians, teachers, and curriculum specialists as well as the yearly conference provide opportunities for teachers to learn how to better teach their subject matter. The Colloquium is unique to NCHE and they pride themselves in the individual attention and discussion that can occur.

This seems like a good organization to join, and I would certainly be open to hearing from a team in the colloquium setting. It seems to be important to remember that as a teacher you can always learn how to teach material in a new way that perhaps will make sense to your students. I think after I have been teaching for a while it will be difficult to change how I approach the material.

I do not know if this will be particularly useful this semester; however, as I look to the future it will be good to keep in mind the various professional organizations.