What it is: I have posted about Picturing America before (March 18th) but I just received my Picturing America kit yesterday and had to post again and make sure everyone was taking advantage of this amazing resource. I knew that the kit was going to be good but I truly had no idea how AMAZED I would be. The quality of materials is amazing (there really isn’t another word for it!) I’ll post pictures of my actual kit so you can get an idea for just what you get in this kit. Did I mention it was FREE?! The Picturing America program is completely free for schools and libraries and provides them with 40 high-quality masterpieces, a teacher resources book, and the program website. The National Endowment for the Humanities gives a grant making this all possible. As the recipient your only task is to write up a one page report about your experience. They give almost a calendar year for you to do this.
How to integrate Picturing America into your curriculum: What better way to teach your students American history than actually bringing history into the classroom and providing students with real ties to the past? I wish that I had the opportunity to learn history this way!Picturing America is going to bring authentic conversation into your classroom about American history. It would be the perfect use of web 2.0 collaborative tools where students can discuss the history and the art in Picturing America. Picturing America masterpieces would also be easily integrated into the art classroom or in literacy as writing inspiration. The teacher resource book is going to provide you with wonderful tie ins to your current curriculum. This is an amazing program, I encourage you to take part in it! These masterpieces will beautify your walls and provide teaching opportunities year round regardless of the age of students you teach.
Tips: Apply for the Picturing America program today. I can’t tell you how completely blown away I am by this program!!!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Picturing America in your classroom.
