Hoosier teachers develop lesson plans for America’s 250th birthday

Two Indiana teachers have developed curriculum that will be included in a classroom resource to help teach American history in advance of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. They are among a group of 30 teachers nationwide who are contributing to Revolutionary Ideals, a classroom resource being offered by the education nonprofit National History Day.

The educators are Alan Birkemeier, a teacher at Central Middle School in Columbus, and Kristin Rentschler, a teacher at Columbia City High School.

NHD says Birkemeier and Rentschler helped prepare the classroom materials that will help middle school and high school social studies teachers engage students with unique primary sources and engage active learning strategies to further historical thinking skills.

“This resource is designed to start the celebration of our nation’s anniversary by exploring the foundational ideas on which this nation was built,” said National History Day Executive Director Cathy Gorn. “By engaging expert scholars and historical collections, the teachers produced lesson plans to help teachers across the nation engage their students with the questions and ideas that permeated the founding era while engaging diverse stories that help students see the time period in a new light.”

National History Day kicked off its programming last summer to celebrate the semiquincentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

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