Leaders in Teaching with Primary Sources - Flipped Work

Two-Day (+3 hours of flipped work) Summer Workshop via SEEM Collaborative

Course Site: Melrose High School Learning Commons

In-Person Meeting Times: June 27-June 28, 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM

Facilitator: Robert Mahoney

By the end of the three hours of flipped work, you will have a revised professional development activity ready to go, organized within a Google Site. The work will be broken up into three parts, outlined below.

Challenge 1. Finishing the first draft of your site (1.5 hours).

Include each of the items below within your first draft:

  • Polished Site with multiple pages.
  • A stated goal/objective of your PD activity.
  • An outlined agenda.
  • A slideshow embedded within your Site (the slideshow you will show the attendees of your PD).
  • On your slideshow, highlight the power of teaching with primary sources (especially in terms of your PD "angle").
  • On your slideshow, highlight the differences between primary and secondary sources (especially in terms of your discipline).
  • On your slideshow, identify important parts of loc.gov/teachers that you know can help your audience.
  • Primary source examples (at least one from the Library of Congress) cited appropriately, and how to analyze a primary source (LoC tools).
  • Provide important links and explanations to helpful resources from the Library of Congress and elsewhere.


When finished, publish your site and make sure all of your sharing settings (in slides, for example) are set to "anyone can view with link"

Post to this Padlet Link: https://padlet.com/rmahoney/bxtvbi5ywyk6

For help sharing your site, click here.

Use the resources below to help you create your site:

Challenge 2. Review and provide feedback on at least 5 of your colleague's Google Sites (30 minutes).

Review Google Sites on the Padlet, linked here.

When reviewing the Google Sites, provide feedback on the Padlet in the format below: (Make sure to include your name on your comments).

  • Praise
    • what is one (or more) element of the Site that works for you? Be specific so the recipient knows what they have done well.
  • Probe
    • ask a question about the Site. What is something that is unclear to you? What do you need further clarification on?
    • this step will help us in the revision of our Sites; it is important to be thoughtful in your questioning.
  • Propose
    • provide an idea (in the form of a friendly suggestion) for an addition/revision to the Site that will help your colleague achieve their stated goal/objective.

Challenge 3. Apply the feedback you received from your colleagues and revise your Google Site and PD (1 hour).

Revise your Google Sites and PD activities.

When finished, please email the three of us (rmahoney@melroseschools.com, mmcgowan@melroseschools.com, jcristiano@melroseschools.com) your finished work, along with a written reflection on what you accomplished and next steps.

Reminders: