Teachers Participate in Summer Institutes to Bring History to Life

What does it mean to be an Ozark Tiger? Two central themes we often hear when answering this question are “passion” and “lifelong learner.” And that is evident with the summer adventures that two Ozark teachers, Sandi Criswell and Amanda Clark, participated in. 

Criswell, an English teacher at Ozark High School, attended a Teaching Jewish Memory & Holocaust summer teacher academy in Hungary and Serbia. And, Ozark Middle School history teacher Amanda Clark participated in three week-long summer institutes: A Traveling Revolutionary North trip with Founding Forward; The White House History Teacher Institute; and Colonial Williamsburg through the Bob and Marion Wilson Foundation. 

“I'm grateful our teachers are embracing their own learning through competitive grants and foundation-funded opportunities to study in-depth and bring back such rich, first-hand experiences to share with their students,” said Dr. Craig Carson, assistant superintendent of learning. “It speaks volumes about their passion and commitment that they invest their time to deepen their knowledge and student engagement.”

Criswell and Clark both said the experiences left them with lots of ideas and excitement to bring into the classroom this school year — some of those ideas they have already implemented. 

“Participating in this academy was the best professional development I have ever experienced, as I teach about the Holocaust in all three of my classes,” said Criswell, who visited synagogues, as well as toured a former concentration camp and historic Jewish cemetery. “My biggest takeaway was that teaching the Holocaust means we also need to teach about Jewish life so students can appreciate the people who were taken from the world, and then they can develop empathy to help stop further atrocities.”

Clark said she has applied for experiences related to U.S. history curriculum for the past three summers. She completed others in previous years, including visiting Civil War East battlefields, participating in a deep dive on Abraham Lincoln’s speeches, a week in New Orleans at the National WWII Museum, and a week in Washington, D.C., focused on Civil War Washington.

“At the White House History Teacher Institute, we had after-hours, ropes-down access to the White House and spent the week getting to know the presidents’ neighborhood through the years by visiting Frederick Douglass’ home, the Decatur House, the Blair House, and many other Washington, D.C., sites,” Clark said. “Colonial Williamsburg was a very full week of living history experiences to bring back to Ozark students what life was like as we were becoming America through the eyes of those affected by the massive changes of this time period.”

Criswell and Clark both encourage other teachers to consider applying for similar experiences that could help enhance their teaching in the classroom. 

“It was so enlightening and so awesome. If you are a teacher, definitely look into it,” Clark said. 

Not only do these experiences enhance the students’ classroom experience, but Carson said they also line up with our new Strategic Plan. 

“These types of relevant professional learning opportunities are aligned to our district strategic plan and lead to improvements in instructional practices,” he said.