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Congratulations Dave Johnson and Marie McGrath, History Day Outstanding Teachers
posted by: Cindy Omlin | August 13, 2014, 05:20 PM   


Dave shares that in 2013, the school had four teams go to the State History Day competition in April and one of those teams went on to the National competition in Maryland later in June.  He truly loves NHD's approach to research and creativity.  “It’s not just writing a typical research paper but, rather, taking the research into a project application - a museum exhibit or a play or a documentary or website - expressing the data in a more expressive manner. And my kids really shine in this area!”  Because of their great experience, Dave and his students went again this year.

Dave teaches 5th - 9th grade Social Studies. Last year, the school’s 5th - 8th graders participated in the NHD. This year, Dave plans to take teams from the school’s 7th and 8th grade classes. Dave tries as hard as he can to make history very interesting because he believes it is!  To Dave, history should never be boring. And if it is, he believes that he is not doing his job.  This is what motivates him to include projects, among other activities, in his curriculum to maintain interest in history.

Read more about Marie’s award and other recent Idaho Arts Charter school achievements here.

At the state and national History Day competitions students and teachers can win prizes and scholarships.  Many of the prizes are tied to specific themes such as military history, women's history, and historic preservation.  A list of National History Day prizes can be found on the National History Day website.

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