For Educators
Advocating for History Education: Insights for Historians
In the ongoing battle over “divisive concepts” legislation in schools, historians find themselves on the front lines. This 2022 panel provides historical context for this controversy and helps equip historians with the tools they need to advocate effectively for the professional integrity of history education in the United States.
Online Teaching Forum
From June 2020 to January 2021, the AHA organized the Online Teaching Forum, a series of virtual events designed to help historians plan for teaching in online and hybrid environments. These webinars and workshops were supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities CARES Grant and part of Virtual AHA.
Assignment Charrettes
The AHA’s Assignment Charrettes, hosted from 2018-23, provided an opportunity to workshop individual course assignments with fellow history educators. In a facilitated and collegial small-group format, participants had the opportunity to discuss their goals and concerns for their own assignment, ask questions, and get input from peers. Presenters also received written feedback from other participants on how they might revise their assignment to address their teaching concerns and improve student learning.
Curriculum Mapping
The AHA hosted Fine Tuning Program Outcomes: A Curriculum Mapping Workshop in January 2021. Curriculum Mapping helps instructors identify how the assignments they create support the learning outcome they intend. The exercise of mapping helps instructors identify which learning outcomes are well addressed and which are absent or downplayed. It can also reveal the need for further discussion, collaboration, and revision of assignments and program learning outcomes so that both may better address what the instructor and the department want students to learn and do.
Video Resources for K–12 History Teachers
AHA video resources for K–12 history teachers include filmed workshops on teaching subjects such as westward expansion, the Civil Rights movement, and World War I. Other workshops cover using primary sources and technology in the classroom. The playlist also includes several sessions reflecting broadly on K–12 history education.
Graduate Education
Career Diversity for Historians Faculty Institutes
The AHA’s Career Diversity for Historians Faculty Institutes brought together working groups of faculty leaders to consider the purpose and future of doctoral education. Faculty discussed emerging models for integrating Career Diversity into doctoral education. Our common goal was to better align doctoral education in participating departments with a more expansive vision of the professional opportunities available to historians and to more effectively articulate the value of history and historical thinking.
2022 History Graduate Student Association Workshop
What can we do to support graduate students? From professional development to mental health to community-building, the AHA has found that History Graduate Student Associations are integral points of intervention for student support and success. At our first HGSA Workshop, we invited graduate students to collaborate on and exchange models for HGSAs that serve students' needs and empower students' agency.
Professional Development
Op-Ed Writing for Historians
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. A panel of experienced editors and writers discussed how to pitch and write op-eds meant for a general audience, as well as what to expect from the editorial process.
Virtual Career Development
In 2020-21, the AHA hosted a Virtual Career Development series, with professional development webinars and workshops emphasizing career exploration and skill development for graduate students and early-career historians.
Resource Library
Check out the AHA’s Resource Library for teaching and learning resources, AHA Online recordings, professional development, and much more.