Humanities Tennessee Awards for Teachers and Students

Nominate an Outstanding Humanities Teacher

Humanities Tennessee seeks nominations for the *2010* *Awards of Recognition
for Outstanding Teaching of the Humanities*.  Full-time public or private
3rd – 12th grade school teachers in Tennessee are eligible, and any
Tennessean may nominate a teacher.  The award is available to teachers who
have demonstrated excellence in teaching the humanities and make the
humanities an important part of their students' lives.

Up to six teachers will receive a *$2,000 fellowship* *to further their
professional development in the humanities*. The teachers’ schools will also
receive a *$1,500 for humanities programs and materials.*  “Teachers often
tell us this award is a career highlight,” says Paul McCoy, Program Officer
with Humanities Tennessee.  “Teachers have followed the trail of Lewis and
Clark, toured archaeological sites in Mexico, visited European basilica
mosaics, seeing for the first time what they have long taught.  Simply put,
this program changes lives.”

Since the Teacher Awards program began in 1985, Humanities Tennessee has
provided almost $400,000 to Tennessee teachers and schools.  The humanities
include, but are not limited to, the study and interpretation of the
following: language; literature; history; philosophy; archeology; ethics;
and the history and criticism of the arts.

Draft nominations must be postmarked by December 31, 2009.  Final
nominations must be postmarked by January 31, 2010.   Nomination forms may
be obtained by contacting Paul McCoy at 615-770-0006, ext. 17,
paul@humanitiestennessee.org, or by visiting www.humanitiestennessee.org.
 
Letters About Literature Contest for Students

Humanities Tennessee, Home of the Tennessee Center for the Book has
officially launched the 2009-2010 Letters About Literature contest. The
Letters About Literature contest is a national reading and writing promotion
program for 4th-12th grade students. To enter: students - select a a fiction
or nonfiction book, a short story, poem, essay or speech (sorry, no song
lyrics) you have read and to which you reacted strongly or about which you
have strong feelings. Write a letter to the author about your reaction and
send it in with the entry form. There are cash prizes and more for winners
at all levels!

Deadline for Letters About Literature is December 12, 2009. If you would
like further information about how to get your school involved or for full
guidelines, please contact Lacey Cook: Lacey@HumanitiesTennessee.org or
visit our website:www.humanitiestennessee.org/youngwriters/letters.php.

 Read, write, reflect, connect!

NHD Online Discussion on the Web Site Category

NHD Online Discussion
Web Site Category

When: Tuesday, November 10
3:00 – 5:00 pm EST

Where: Logon to the NHD website, www.nhd.org. The exact location and instructions will be announced soon.

How: Email your web site category questions to info@nhd.org starting on Friday, November 6 with “online discussion question” in the subject line. We will post answers to these on Tuesday at the start of the online discussion. From 3 – 5, you can participate in a live online discussion by sending questions to the same email, info@nhd.org and watch the answers post on our website.

Remember – this online discussion is all about the web site category and the new changes for this year.

Gatlinburg area viewing of History Day projects

If you're in the Gatlinburg area this weekend, join the East Tennessee Historical Society at Gatlinburg's Anna Porter Library on Sunday, October 4, 2009 at 2 p.m. for a public viewing of some of the projects on Gatlinburg, Pittman Center, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park from last year's History Day competitions. For more information, check out the press release here: http://www.tennesseehistory.org/HistoryDayNews.htm.

Website Changes for 2009-2010 Competition Year

The 2010 Tennessee History Day competition will mark the third year for the website category! Teachers and students, please take note that there ARE significant changes to the rules for the website category for this year. The "official" rules for the website category for the 2009-2010 competition year are posted on our website. To follow a link to those rules, just click on the title of this blog or visit our website at www.tennesseehistoryday.org and click on "Website Category."

Beginning with the 2009-2010 competition year, National History Day will require web site projects to be created using Weebly, a web site building program. The National History Day Weebly website portal will be available on the National History Day website by early September 2009. All students MUST go through the NHD Weebly website portal to access the weebly tools and construct their website. Students CANNOT go directly to Weebly.com. Students may begin working on their website in early September and will work on the same Weebly website as they advance through levels of competition. Students are free to access and work on their sites at any time other than judging periods when their website will be closed to any editing. Please contact your State Coordinator with any questions. You may reach me by email at historyday@tennesseehistory.org, by responding to this blog, or through our Tennessee History Day facebook page.

Thanks!

Kelly Wilkerson
State Coordinator for Tennessee History Day

Innovation in History

The theme for the 2009-2010 History Day competition is Innovation in History: Impact and Change. What does this mean, you may ask? Does my topic have to be scientific in nature? Do I have to pick an invented object for my topic? What counts as an Innovation?

Well, that is all up to you. While science topics may seem the most obvious, the theme is much broader than that. The Merriam-Webster definition of "Innovation" is: 1) the introduction of something new 2) a new idea, method, or device. When searching for a topic, consider your interests and what you'd like to research and find out what is innovative about that subject area? What happened during the time period that is the result of a human idea, creation, or action and changed the way people think about or do things.

For example, how did the bottling of Coca-Cola in Chattanooga change the way we consume soft drinks in the world? How about Piggly Wiggly? How did the establishment of this grocery store chain change the way we shop for groceries in the U.S.? Consider Oak Ridge National Laboratory? How did it change the world? The Grand Ole Opry? Sequoyah and the Cherokee Alphabet? Changes in Music? These Tennessee history examples are all ideas to consider when interpreting this year's History Day theme, Innovation in History: Impact and Change.

Remember to adequately tell the story of an innovation, you have to place the topic in context. So, do some research about what else is happening in the world at the time your innovation occurs and include that research in your project!

Teachers and students with questions about the theme should consider reading the excellent essay on this year's theme written by Julie McCullough. If you visit our website at http://www.tennesseehistory.org/2010HistoryDayTheme.htm you'll find it there along with the teacher curriculum guide for this year's theme. A list of sample topics is also available and in the upcoming weeks, we'll be posting a list of Tennessee related topics.

If you have questions or would like some feedback on a topic idea you have, feel free to email your state coordinator at historyday@tennesseehistory.org. Good luck with your History Day research!

Tennessee History Day 2009

Tennessee History Day 2009 is behind us and I must say that I think it was a great success! Tennessee students turned out great work as usual and our group of judges and volunteers was first class! Thanks to everyone for all your hard work.

The Tennessean did give us a bit of news coverage this weekend. Click here to see the story...http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090405/NEWS01/904050388

Also, we were fortunate to have Dr. Cathy Gorn, executive director for National History Day, spend some time with us doing advocacy work for History Day. Senator Mark Norris presented us with a great opportunity for Cathy to address the Tennessee State Senate on Thursday, April 2nd during their session. She did a great job raise the profile of History Day in Tennessee and we are grateful to her for her time and attention. To see archived video of this speech, go to the Tennessee State Senate website and click on "Senate Video." The session you'll want to watch is the one for Thursday, April 2nd.

To see a list of winner's from this weekend's Tennessee History Day, go to our website at www.tennesseehistoryday.org and click on "See List of State Winners!"

Thanks to all for their interest in and support of Tennessee History Day!

Kelly Wilkerson
State Coordinator, Tennessee History Day
Tennessee Historical Society

History Day Registration

Teacher and Student registration for district level competition is open at the Tennessee History Day website. The districts for East, West, and Southeast opened their registration on January 1, 2009. Registration for the Middle Tennessee district opens on January 15th.

If you have questions about registering, please take a look at the registration tutorials provided within the registration system. You simply go to www.tennesseehistoryday.org, scroll down on the page and click on the red "Begin Registration" button on the left hand side of the screen. Registration tutorials are provided there for both teachers and students. Once you look at this tutorial, choose the district you are participating in and follow the instructions on the screen to register. TEACHERS MUST REGISTER THEIR STUDENTS FIRST!!! After teachers enter participating students, the students will then need to go and enter their information.

Any more questions, contact your district administration (contact information is found on your district news page at www.tennesseehistoryday.org or contact your state coordinator at 615-741-8934 or by email at kellyw@tennesseehistory.org.

Good luck!