The annual meeting features a number of workshops for attendees. We especially encourage those not currently on the program looking for opportunities to participate and share their work to register for workshops.
Preregistration is required. Sign up when you register or add to your registration at historians.org/myaha. Additional workshops may appear in the AHA annual meeting program. Please reach out to annualmeeting@historians.org with any questions.
Op-Ed Workshop
Writing short articles for the general public is an important skill in the historian’s toolkit. From newspaper op-eds to magazine articles to blog posts, there are many publications where historians can share their research, connect it with current events or popular culture, and reach new readers. This workshop will include two parts. A panel of experienced editors and writers will begin the session by discussing how to pitch, write, and edit op-eds meant for a general audience. In the second part, small groups will be able to workshop their own ideas for short-form writing with each other and the experts.
Teaching Writing Workshop: Teaching Writing in the Age of AI
Arguably, teaching and assessing writing is one of the most difficult tasks educators attempt in the history classroom. Most recently that task has been complicated by the introduction of openly accessible AI writing tools. As a result, teachers might find it harder to make a case for writing assessments in their classes, but few are ready to let go of writing as a central part of a history student’s education. This workshop aims to engage a panel of educators and the audience in a conversation on teaching writing in the history classroom. The workshop will begin with a short panel discussion, during which the workshop facilitators share their approach to teaching and assessing student writing in their curricula. The bulk of the time will be reserved for participants to discuss their practice in small groups; to share advice and frustrations; and to workshop assessment prompts, rubrics, and other grading strategies. Participants are strongly encouraged to bring examples of writing assignments and student samples to the workshop.
K–16 Educators’ Workshop: Finding and Elevating Missing Voices from the Past
Primary sources such as membership cards, receipts, certificates, and more can provide insight into the interests, activities, and values of individuals who lived in the past. They can also inspire conversations with students about the benefits of association and collaboration, and they can motivate student research. In this roundtable, which will be followed by a hands-on workshop, Library of Congress education specialists will engage participants in teaching activities featuring compelling and unusual sources, and will provide tips and strategies for finding additional materials in the library’s extensive digitized collections at loc.gov.
Teaching Things Workshop
Learn about the AHA’s new digital object library and online resources for high school and college educators teaching historical artifacts in the classroom.
Sinclair Workshop on Historical Podcasting
In an effort to encourage the combining of historical scholarship with podcast technology to disseminate historical knowledge to the public, the AHA will hold a workshop on podcasting during each of its next 3 to 5 annual meetings. The first workshop will be held in 2025 in New York.
The length, format, and content of the workshops will be determined at the discretion of the AHA. However, the goal of the workshops is to provide a comprehensive exploration of the key components and strategies of podcasting and address the skills and knowledge necessary to create engaging and historically informed podcast content. Topics covered may include: an overview of the podcasting landscape, technology, successful collaborations, balancing factual accuracy with compelling storytelling, scriptwriting, audio production, and more.
Preconference Workshop: Building a Small Liberal Arts College History Department
This workshop will provide an opportunity for faculty members at small liberal arts colleges (SLACs) to discuss themes related to the question “What should today’s liberal arts college history department look like?” Some discussions will be curricular—for example, how should institutions and programs define faculty lines, curricula, and major requirements as we look toward the future? How can a SLAC history department build student interest for majors and non-majors alike? How should faculty advocate for the importance of our work to administrators and interact and collaborate with communities on campus and beyond? How do we create a shared departmental vision while supporting individual faculty interests and aspirations at all career stages? Sponsored by the AHA’s Working Group on Small Liberal Arts Colleges, this workshop is part of a larger effort to build community among SLAC faculty and to create new venues for the discussion of issues facing historians at liberal arts colleges. Participation in this workshop will be limited to small liberal arts college faculty.