Learning and Teaching the Spanish Civil War Through the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives: The Use of Primary Sources in the Classroom

A Summer Institute for High School Teachers

Sponsored by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA)

In cooperation with The King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center of New York University, the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development and The NYU Tamiment Library.

With a generous contribution from The Puffin Foundation

Dates and Schedule

Friday, June 26 4 pm - 8 pm: Opening Session and Welcoming Reception
Saturday, June 27, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Mon-Thurs, June 29 - July 2: 9-4:00.

Place

New York University

Coordinator

James D. Fernández, Associate Professor of Spanish, NYU

ALBA Project Director

Jeanne Houck, Executive Director, ALBA

Guest participants (partial list)

Peter N. Carroll, Chair, Board of Governors, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives; Lecturer of History, Stanford University
Robert Cohen, Chair, Teaching and Learning, Steinhardt, NYU
Juan Salas, PhD Candidate, Performance Studies, Tisch School of the Arts
Jordana Mendelson, Associate Professor, Spanish and Portuguese, NYU

Eligible applicants

Any full-time teacher in a public high school working in the Humanities or Social Sciences, including the Spanish language (eg. History, Social Studies, English, Spanish, Art, etc.). Preference will be give to cross-disciplinary teams from the same school (e.g. one History and one Spanish teacher from the same school) Applicants are therefore encouraged to enlist colleagues from other disciplines in their schools to apply.

Stipend and benefits

All teachers chosen to participate in the program will eligible for a $600 stipend, a package of curricular materials (books and DVDs) valued at about $200, and a certificate of participation. The stipend will be paid in two parts: half upon satisfactory participation in the Institute, half upon completion of lesson plans/curriculum modules assigned during the Institute.

Description

The study of a war is not just about conflict and battles, but more importantly about how and why a country chooses to fight—or not to fight. The Spanish Civil War was the “Vietnam” or “Iraq” of the 1930s, an early battleground of World War II that forced Americans in all walks of life to take sides. Some, like the men and women volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, actually went off to war in violation of U.S. neutrality laws. Others supported the military-led uprising against the democratically elected government of Spain, sent aid to Franco's rebel forces, and urged the United States to intervene on behalf of Franco--or at least to maintain a neutrality that served Franco's interests. This program is inspired by the recent acquisition by NYU of the complete archives of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. These archives include thousands of personal letters, photographs, posters and other original materials from participants in the war. This unique collection offers a special opportunity for high school teachers to introduce their students to the use of primary source materials in learning about history and the relationship of war to society and American culture. Workshop participants will have direct access to the Archives, and access will be further extended to their students through the web. The opportunities for original historical exploration by high school students are outstanding. Moreover, the Spanish Civil War, because of its great complexity, is a very difficult subject to teach at any level, and especially in the high school grades. But the issues raised by that war are very much alive today. By making these archives, and this professional development workshop, available to high school teachers, we hope to renew interest in study of the War as an important historical laboratory. High school teachers will work directly with University faculty and archivists to develop lesson plans specifically geared to high school classes. We hope that these lessons will enable us to assemble a curriculum which can be made available to high schools all over the country.

Objectives

To foster professional and curricular development of public school teachers; to enable ALBA to learn more about the curricular needs of public school teachers for the purpose of developing a curriculum that can be widely used in high schools; to increase awareness about, and make use of, the unique resources at NYU related to the Spanish Civil War and US participation in that conflict; to explore a crucial episode in world history and US history from multiple perspectives (history, literature, visual arts, etc.); to examine these issues as a case study of the links between democratic principles and foreign policy decisions; to discuss the various sources of historical understanding, and how to work with, teach, and interpret those sources.

Outcomes

Participants will enjoy a week of intense professional and curricular development, while meeting a group of leading scholars and working with a set of unique primary sources. ALBA will learn about the curricular needs of public school teachers, which will help the organization as it plans subsequent educational/curricular initiatives. After the institute, participants will be expected to contribute to a compilation of lesson plans, curriculum modules, etc. that will be circulated among the participants, and other high school teachers, and posted on the ALBA website.

Application

Please click here to complete and application and submit it online.

Applications are closed for this summer.

Applications should be received by May 15.

For more information, please contact

Lee Frissell
Director of Field Projects
Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
New York University
lf1@nyu.edu