Barat

Program Testimonials

Workshop Testimonials

“This has been a wonderful experience, both in the classroom and online. From beginning to end, it was a pleasure.” High School Literature and Composition
“I believe that all teachers should have access to this class. I have learned so much that it is so beneficial to teaching.” K-3 Reading
“I was very impressed with the information. The resources available for teachers are excellent and well prepared.” High School World History & Government
“This is a great way for teachers to learn new things. I've really enjoyed myself during the three workshops.” 5th Grade
“Thank you! I really enjoy going through all of the resources in the American Memory program, as well as using the LOC.” Middle School French, Spanish
“I think this was very valuable to teachers who were not aware of the materials available. I think teachers could spend hours in some of the ‘vaults’ to enrich their own teaching or their own understanding of the world around them. Certainly this enables teachers to give more to students and provide them with a stronger foundation to the world.” High School English
“I learned so much . . . I will continue to explore over the coming months and am looking forward to working on my first projects with students. I am so pleasantly surprised that, in fact, there was much more information for a Spanish teacher than I had hoped for and anticipated that there might be.” Middle School Spanish
“I am thankful for the opportunity to learn about the Library of Congress. It is my hope to use the LOC in my class. Again, thanks so much for the opportunity to increase my knowledge base.” High School Business Education
“Instruction in today's classroom can be enhanced using computer technology and combining it with the resources at the Library of Congress. I was surprised to find the amount of science related information on the LOC; [it] provides valuable, multifaceted resources that make learning interesting and real.” High School Science
“It is wonderful to find a resource such as the Library of Congress website and the American Memory Initiative that were designed for use in the general education population yet can be so beneficial to our special needs.” Special Education teacher
“[It was] wonderful to have an opportunity to learn more about technology! [I] can’t wait to introduce new units!” 4th Grade
“I appreciate having the information . . . It's a shame that more teachers aren’t aware of it.” High School Economics, Psychology
“[It] has shown me how to use the LOC to improve my lesson plans. The information will be very helpful in increasing my knowledge on various topics.” PreK
“I'm so glad I've been introduced to the American Memory collections. I can't wait to start using these sources in my classroom.” High School Literature
“I think this was very valuable to teachers who were not aware of the materials available. I think teachers could spend hours in some of the "vaults" to enrich their own teaching or their own understanding of the world around them. Certainly this enables teachers to give more to students and provide them with a stronger foundation to the world.” 9-12 English
“This was a rewarding experience for me. It has encouraged me to continue building on what I learned as a result of completing the modules.” K-3 Writing
“I am thankful for the opportunity to learn about the Library of Congress. It is my hope to use LOC in my class. Again, thanks so much for the opportunity to increase my knowledge base.” 9-12 Business Education
“I am very glad to have learned about the LOC. Sites like this are fundamental tools for teachers to develop a better teaching approach. Every teacher should be aware of LOC, and therefore every student.” 2nd grade
“I'm so glad I've been introduced to the American Memory collection. I can't wait to start using these sources in my classroom!” High School Literature
“This has been a wonderful experience, both in the classroom and online. From beginning to end, it was a pleasure.” High School Literature & Composition
“I believe that all teachers should have access to this class. I have learned so much that it is so beneficial to teaching.” K-3 Reading
“Thank you so much for this opportunity. I will definitely use Primary Sources in my teaching.” 1st Grade
“I feel much more confident in advising students after I have been through this program.” 11-12 Spanish
“Thank you for an excellent online learning experience and for the exemplary workshops highlighting the diverse and exciting array of materials available online through the LOC.” PreK-5 Library/Media Specialist
“I liked how we learned to analyze photos in class and now I was able to do this on my own with the first Thanksgiving Photo.” PreK Special Needs
“I think that teachers in the field of ESL or bilingual education should be made aware of this program. It is an excellent resource for teaching ELLs.” 9-10 History/Government

Online Module Testimonials

“Materials from this [Primary Sources] module are very useful. I will be frequently consulting all these great strategies and techniques for using primary sources in my classroom.” K-5 ELL Resource/Primary Social Studies
“There is a lot of information provided in this module [Online Searching]. But like any skill, with practice, I will become more proficient.” 1-3 Social Studies
“Teachers of all subjects and grade levels would benefit from learning to use the LOC. I reviewed all of the modules and learned about theories and new ideas that I will try to implement into my high school science classes in the future. In addition, I found it is very helpful to know the types of activities that my students have used in their middle and junior high school classes. Last year my daughter was assigned the American Memory and Me Birthday Project in her language arts class. I am pleased to know that her teacher participated in the American Memory Initiative and used one of the projects with her students!” 9-12 Science
“This module [Using the LOC] contains information that I plan to use at my school. Planning activities are an excellent resource which I plan to share with my fellow teachers at Gages Lake School. We are a Special Education Alternative School. Our needs are very diverse and different from the general education population. It is wonderful to find a resource such as the Library of Congress website and the American Memory Initiative that were designed for use in the general education population yet can be so beneficial to our special needs. I look forward to further exploring the LOC and sharing with teachers in my program.” K-8 Technology Resource
“I love learning and teaching with technology and primary resources. This module [Using the LOC] was a great experience for me.” 3rd grade
“This module [Using the LOC] has shown me how to use the LOC to improve my lesson plans. The information will be very helpful in increasing my knowledge on various topics.” PreK
“I learned so much from this module! I will continue to explore over the coming months and am looking forward to working on my first projects with students. I am so pleasantly surprised that, in fact, there was as much information for a Spanish teacher as I had hoped for and anticipated that there might be.” 7-8 Spanish
“This module [Project-Based Learning] helps teachers to be more aware of what better teaching practices look like.” K-3 Reading
“This project-based module was very useful especially for my specific class within graphic arts. All the modules have gotten me very interested to accomplish my masters degree within education. The layout and aspects were very useful and very encouraging.” 11-12 Graphic Arts
“I think project based learning is effective and important. This module made me think more about why I don't use much project based learning and about ways that I can overcome this. I think I will use more project based learning in the future.” 11-12 Mathematics
“The module [Primary Sources] was an excellent source for teachers. As a librarian it was helpful to know that when I introduce primary sources to a class, the teachers will now have a better understanding of the resources.” High School Librarian
“Application of resources in PE is under a somewhat different context. However, this module [Primary Sources] provided differentiation of how to manipulate that application for more successful teaching.” 9-10 PE/Health
“Even though I used the Internet many times previously, I've found out I don't know as much as I thought I had. There are so many facets to online searching.” K-5 Library/Media Specialist
“This module [Online Searching] forced me to consider things that I thought I already knew about yet I found out so many different new things to try.” 7-8 Social Studies/Science
“In the past I relied on Google as the only search engine when conducting online searches. Having completed this module, I plan to use other search engines and advanced search options. I found the experience very useful because I now have a better understanding of how search engines operate and how to use them to locate specific information.” 9-12 Science
“I really enjoyed doing this module and I learned a lot about effective online searching.” PreK
“It was very helpful to learn tips and tricks for online searching. There is a lot of nonsense on the internet, it is always important to be able to weed out bad information.” 1-5 PE/Health

Project Testimonials

“Thank you for providing users with a multitude of easily accessible class projects and lesson plans through the LOC. The projects and lessons plans are well-organized and detailed, and offer engaging student activities. More ideas for projects to use with primary students would be welcome.” PreK-5, Library Media Specialist
“I was very impressed with the information that the students can retrieve. The resources available for teachers are excellent and well prepared.” 9-10 World History/Government

Scholar Testimonials

“The LOC project has given me an opportunity to work with other teachers in developing curriculum that can record the oral histories of our veterans. Being reintroduced to the LOC with Julie facilitated my search methodology and gave me materials to use with students. I've found online resources to use for oral history projects and used some of them this last spring when my students researched WW2. Having a model to use with peers and students will be greatly beneficial because, honestly, there is not much substantive info currently on the web in a model fashion for the age group with whom I work. This next year I am planning on using the whole project with WW2 and putting the student work online. The project materials are easily adaptable for any modern unit, including doing oral histories with military vets today involved in Iraq and Afghanistan. Once students became involved in oral historical research, I find they become more invested in the study of American history.”
Cheri Pinchot, Lake Zurich Middle School North
“Students were very excited and engaged in the Digital Stories of Our Heroes project. They gained an immense amount of historical information, not typically available to 5th grade students. hey were generally very positive in their evaluation of the project and their learning. The experience of interviewing during a live taping was somewhat daunting to them, but as such, they grew and gained much cognitively and emotionally. It was all quite impressive. The interviewee, Mr. Sam Ozaki, was impressed with the students’ background knowledge and level of questioning. It seemed obvious that he was pleased with the interview and its outcome. Likewise, we were excited about the project and the learning that was taking place and were very pleased with its outcome.”
Kate Kelly & Mary Marks, Hough Street Elementary School, Barrington
“Effective teachers are life-long scholars. It's exciting to have a tool available, like the Library of Congress to use, with my own academic development in and out of the classroom. Even greater are the implications for teaching students to take control of their learning and instructing them to use the Library of Congress as a research tool. As a teacher scholar, I learned more effective ways to search the Library of Congress and developed new conviction on the importance of teaching primary sources. Using the project created by myself and my colleagues, I plan to have my students research an event in history that happened on their birthday and report to the class the information they find. I am grateful to have been selected to work with such an innovative group of people and look forward to implementing these projects.”
Justine Braskich
Hawthorne Elementary School
“Being a part of this program has been an exciting and enriching opportunity. I am now more likely to take advantage of the wonderful resources the Library of Congress has for teachers. For example, I can now bring my students closer to history's past using photographs and other primary source documents. I was also very impressed by the flexibility of Ms. Decker. My partner and I were assigned to a project that did not meet the needs of our students so we were given the opportunity to create our own project that we and many other teachers will use. Not only am I proud of our accomplishments, but excited to implement the project with my students!”
Lisa Herner
Lake Zurich Middle School South
“This project has been a wonderful opportunity for me. I like to think of myself as creative, but creativity takes time. And doing a job well done takes even more time. I am quite proud of our project, Photos & Perspectives of the Civil War. If it were not for this program, I would not have found the time or energy to create this extensive project. Learning U.S. History through primary source documents found on the LOC personalizes the past and connects our students to real people, places, and events. I look forward to introducing this project to our district's seventh-grade students as well as to teachers in other districts. In my classroom, students will research, analyze/interpret point of view, and create a newspaper using primary source documents found in the LOC. Not only does this project meet many national social study standards, its interdisciplinary nature allows it to meet many national reading and language arts learning standards as well. I hope the sponsors realize the value of this project as much as I do.”
Mary Dooms, Lake Zurich Middle School South
“With the use of technology constantly on the rise, and the need to be able to access information from all different sources, my experience thus far with the LOC has been invaluable. While searching into the LOC, I became more knowledgeable about how digitized information is stored - and how limitless search designs can be. This helped me more greatly understand and appreciate what is available from the LOC. The American Memory collection has the ability to introduce students to this vast resource in a much more user friendly way. With students given the opportunity to go from link to link, the concept of searching is learned in a hands on and interesting way. That the pictures in the LOC are so easily downloaded will bring history into the classroom in a more authentic way. The teachers and students I have introduced to the site have been very impressed. That people of so many different ages can learn from and enjoy this site is wonderful. I believe this project will bring the Library of Congress to students and teachers alike in a user friendly way. Having been given the opportunity to work in a group with teachers from other schools has been a great experience - and watching you pull things together has been fascinating!”
Kate Strong
Central Elementary School, Lake Bluff
“The Library of Congress project that we have been working on these last months I feel is going to be great for all students. We want to make students aware of different periods and events that have happened in history and what better way then through the 2 projects that we have been working on. Being that I teach LD students, I wanted to make sure that what we created a project that would be something that even they would be able to participate in as independently as possible. The birthday project is very interesting to me and I know that my students will love it. We have all kinds of resources available to us, but sometimes we need a little push in the right direction to help us see what our resources can offer us.” My main goal with my students is to get them introduced to the Library of Congress website with these two projects. From there they will hopefully feel comfortable and will be able to use this site as a resource to help them with future Social Studies projects.
Erica Drehobl
Lotus School

Teacher Praise for the Focus with Photos Learning Series

“I believe that all teachers should have access to this class. I have learned so much that it is so beneficial to teaching.” K-3 Reading
“It is wonderful to find a resource such as the Library of Congress website and the American Memory Initiative that were designed for use in the general education population yet can be so beneficial to our special needs.” Special Education teacher
“[It] has shown me how to use the LOC to improve my lesson plans. The information will be very helpful in increasing my knowledge on various topics.” PreK
“This was a rewarding experience for me. It has encouraged me to continue building on what I learned.” K-3 Writing
“Thank you so much for this opportunity. I will definitely use Primary Sources in my teaching.” 1st Grade
“Thank you for an excellent online learning experience and for the exemplary workshops highlighting the diverse and exciting array of materials available online through the LOC.” PreK-5 Library/Media Specialist
“I liked how we learned to analyze photos in class and now I was able to do this on my own with the first Thanksgiving Photo.” PreK Special Needs
“This is a great way for teachers to learn new things. I've really enjoyed myself during the three workshops.” 5th Grade
“I learned so much . . . I will continue to explore over the coming months and am looking forward to working on my first projects with students. I am so pleasantly surprised that, in fact, there was much more information for a Spanish teacher than I had hoped for and anticipated that there might be.” Middle School Spanish
This has been a wonderful experience, both in the classroom and online. From beginning to end, it was a pleasure.” High School Literature and Composition
“I think that teachers in the field of ESL or bilingual education should be made aware of this program. It is an excellent resource for teaching ELLs.” High School History/Government
“I'm so glad I've been introduced to the American Memory collections. I can't wait to start using these sources in my classroom.” High School Literature
“Instruction in today's classroom can be enhanced using computer technology and combining it with the resources at the Library of Congress. I was surprised to find the amount of science related information on the LOC; [it] provides valuable, multifaceted resources that make learning interesting and real.” High School Science

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