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 and the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. With generous support from the Puffin Foundation

Applications for this Summer program are no longer being accepted.

Dates:
Thursday, June 26(evening) – Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Place:
New York University

Coordinator:
James D. Fernández, Associate Professor of Spanish, NYU

Guest participants (partial list):
Peter Carroll, Chair, Board of Governors, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives; Lecturer of History, Stanford University
Robert Cohen, Chair, Teaching and Learning, Steinhardt, NYU
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, etc.).

Stipend and benefits:
All teachers chosen to participate in the program will receive a $1000 stipend, a package of curricular materials (books and DVDs) valued at about $500, and a certificate of participation.

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 NYC 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, a booklet of fully developed lesson plans will be circulated among the participants, and posted on the ALBA website. Follow-up activities will be organized for the 2008-2009 school year. Successful participants in the pilot seminar may be invited back in subsequent years as consultants or master teachers.

Application:
Please complete the Application here and submit it online.
Applications should be received by May 1.
Applications are no longer being accepted. Thank you!

For more information, please contact

Lee Frissell
Director of Field Projects
Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
New York University
(212) 998-5021
lf1@nyu.edu